End of Year -- A thank you and final wish

This is our final Teaching Tip of the year, and we first would like to thank you for your dedication to students and learning, your passion for your subject, and your willingness to change and grow in our challenging and highly rewarding profession.  We especially want to thank those of you who responded to us with a much-appreciated comment, suggestion, or note.  Special shout-outs to Ken Loomis, Dale Lehman, Kelly Allison, Tracy Krause, Malinda Shirley, Kathryn Strojan, Hillary Ledford, Stella Patrick, Candi Lommen, Marissa Morelock, Tarie Sloan, Nancy Adamson, Dale Heinbigner, and and anyone we missed.

As English teachers (always and forever, regardless of current job title), Lara and I must end with a literary quote:

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”                                                                                                                                                                                              

—F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

May your life begin again on June 17, and may you know how very much respect, admiration, and gratitude we bear toward the best secondary teachers in the state!

Lara and Brooke

Course and Teacher Evaluations--Getting End-of-Year Feedback from Students

With the end of the year just around the corner, you may already be mentally planning for next school year.  Consider gathering anonymous student feedback to help you become an even more effective teacher.

Here are some sample Course/Teacher Evaluation forms you could use as a starting point.  Remember that you can use hard copies of these evaluation forms, or one that you create. You could also create your own Google Form version to gather feedback from your students. 

If you are creating your own evaluation, consider including some of the following:

·         Did students have a clear understanding of the learning target each day?
·         Did the learning targets fit together in a cohesive whole for the semester?
·         Did students know what it looked like/sounded like to be successful meeting the learning target?
·         Did students feel that they got sufficient feedback from you as they were learning? Did they know where they were strong and what their gaps were prior to their final assessment or project?
·         Did students feel a sense of ownership in their learning?
·         Was the course challenging enough? Too challenging? Just right?
·         Did students feel that the assignments helped them to achieve the learning targets?
·         What might have helped them to more easily master the learning targets?
·         Was the time during the class period well-spent?

If you would like help creating an end-of-course evaluation or a teacher evaluation, please contact your building coach or administrator.