I recently asked my students to evaluate their experiences in my class this year. I did not require them to put their names on their papers; I wanted an unfiltered response. And an unfiltered response I received. The students were much more honest than I'd planned for them to be. While I had many critics, none of my student critics saw the same complaints that I did with the courses. There were no complaints of: "I wish Mr. Walker had challenged us more; far too often he taught only to the middle half of the class. I wish that he had shown me more of the diverse intellectual world," although this sort of complaint should have predominated. The English I critiques were decidedly mixed; the Learning Strategies were mainly positive; the Drama were universally laudatory (I didn't ask my Latin students to complete a critique). Of course, these results are exactly the opposite of what they should be: I still have no idea what I am doing as a Drama teacher and it's only the students' extraordinarily low expectations that have allowed the class to be considered a success.
At any rate, here are some selected responses. I won't say that they are representative, but they are the most interesting. Sometimes, students can be surprisingly perceptive:
(English I student)
In 1st period we start off with a bellringer. Then we start writing a large amount of notes. Next Jamal start to ged mad about something. Then Mr. Walker tries to be funny. Next thing you know the bell ringer before we get done with anything.
(English I student)
In this class some days it be boring sometimes it don't. I think Mr. Walker can give us a break. People don't feel good at the end of the day. Then we have a lot of word that some people don't understand. That's what I think about this class.
(English I student)
My experience in this class has been wonderful. Ive learned a lot. Ive learned many different words. I learned how to play chess and work with others. I like the after school part to its fun.
(English I student)
My experience in this class has been like a seesaw. Something bad something good. One thing good the ticket pirce up there. North Carolina suck. The bad thing about Mr. Walker is North Carolina they suck. The good thing [incomprehensible].
(English I student)
The things that I have experienced in this class are a good challenged teacher who force that you learn. this class has introduced me many new words and ways to increase my intelligence. The bad things in here are that the teacher sometimes gives the students who are willing to learn and do good the punishment with the students that are misbehaving. Over all I wish that Mr. Walker would be more tolerant of people who don't know better and help them learn. This is what I've experienced in this class.
(Learning Strategies student)
This class is very boring and we always do work. But Mr. Walker always talk about everything that he don't suppose to talk about. One day he told us he got into a fight with a bear and that's not nothing dealing with english. But for now on we need to do more fun activities like jepurdey and play more games.
(Drama student. I have no idea what she was thinking of when she wrote this, because while I would like to be the teacher that deserves this sort of a review, I certainly have not earned it this year in Drama)
Throughout this school term I have learned responsibility and to take responsibility for my own actions. I have learned that greatness doesn't come easy that you have to work for it and earn it. I am thankful that Mr. Walker was drama teacher because he helped to push the best out of me. I have no bad memories in class and I have enjoyed it to the fullest.
Comments
Props. A good chunk of my students would probably rate my class in very similar ways (boring and challenging). Boring = they actually do written, grade level-appropriate work on a consistent basis and challenging means...they actually do written, grade level-appropriate work on a consistent basis!