I have been collecting student evaluations by giving small index cards and asking my students to give me feedback about my teaching. Here are some student evaluations and my reflections for their feedback on my teaching of Quests and Questions about Physical Phenomena courses.
My reflection: I agree that we moved too fast in certain chapters. I took this feedback into consideration and shared it with the other course instructors so that we can keep this in mind while preparing the syllabus and the course content in the future.
My reflection: I try to learn my students’ names as soon as possible in order to develop a positive classroom dynamic and facilitate the students’ overall learning experience.
My reflection: I believe in individual differences of the learners and I try to find different ways to make the information available for diverse learners.
My reflection: I give importance to the organization of the materials I am teaching. I like being organized and I believe it is important for students to know what they are going to learn, in which order. I start the class reviewing the previous class content and try to make a connection with the current day’s content. This feedback made me realize that it may not be enough for some students. I may try different review activities before the quizzes.
My reflection: I like using the board to draw diagrams and write short notes because research suggests that some students learn better with visuals. Even though we use various visuals on the powerpoints or present some videos, I like drawing on the board and I believe it helps students to see the formation of the visuals. Besides, we had been using different activities to keep students active in the classroom. But there were lecturing times too. I will give more importance to student participation at all times.
My reflection: I ask my students at the beginning of the semester if they have allergies or have any problems with having a dog in class every once in a while. If everyone agrees, I sometimes bring my dog to the class. She is a really calm dog, never barks or acts in a way to distract students. She just sits at the back of the classroom during the course times. My students like spending time with her before and after class.
My reflection: Unlike the other student who suggested improving student participation, this student gave positive feedback on keeping the class engaged. They may be talking about different instances but this difference shows me the individual difference between students.
My reflection: I try to answer student emails as soon as possible and try to arrange a time to meet with them if my office hours do not work for them.
My reflection: I try to get a sense of students’ prior knowledge with different brainstorming activities before teaching the material. I guess some students may find this challenging if they do not have enough background on the content and may make them uncomfortable.
Please also read the faculty evaluation regarding my teaching at Syracuse University.