Blog Archives

5/31/2015 11 Comments

Making the Most of Student Evaluations - Developing Teaching Goals for Next Year

Using Unique Open-Ended Student Evaluations (of Self and Teacher) to Set Goals - downloads included

If you're anything like me, when you get your students' end-of-course evaluations, you read through them with a mix of smiles and frowns. Then you move on and enjoy your summer.

This year, try something new. Take advantage of those forms. Well, maybe first take one week to sit by the pool without letting students or school cross your mind. Then spend a few minutes transforming what your students wrote into a set of goals and plans for yourself.

In order for this to work, you need a GOOD format for student evaluations (and also an open mind). I think you will love this student evaluation sheet I developed. It is really open-ended and you will get such a variety of responses. Here is a sample of the structure:

Student Self-Evaluation and Teacher Evaluation Form

The full evaluation contains 7 questions in this format. Download it here.

The great thing about this format is that it combines student SELF- evaluation with a teacher evaluation. You will be really surprised how much information you can get from this. For example, a student may write:

"When I got stuck or needed help, I tried to set up appointments with the teacher but usually ended up getting a tutor instead by the time the test was coming around. My teacher was usually too busy to help me during the times I was free." You can learn from this that the student needed you, but your availability for one-on-one help could be improved.
"When I got stuck or needed help, I did not really do anything. My teacher did not know that I had more questions and kept going. You can see that this student is aware that they did not ask questions when they needed to. This student will hopefully learn from this self-evaluation, but you as the teacher can see that you have students who are hesitant to ask questions. Maybe you can re-think your lessons and add more formative assessments or try an exit ticket once in a while to see which students need help.
"When I got stuck or needed help, I used the textbook and then asked the teacher. My teacher sometimes explained it well, but sometimes she did not really get what I was asking. She usually told me to look in my notebook and then ignored me, but I had already checked my notebook and was only asking because I needed help still." A response like this may help you re-think the way you tell students to reference their notes. Instead of saying "check your notebook," maybe in the future you can ask "Did you try your notebook yet?" This student is feeling that you have dismissed them or do not understand what they are asking.

You will be amazed at the detailed answers you get when you use this style of open-ended questioning. Some students will answer in a reflective way, and some will answer in a very factual way, but ALL students will answer in a way that shows you what they felt or noticed the most. The responses will tell you what is most important to think about.

Click to download the student evaluation form.

Click to download the teacher goal-setting form.

After reviewing the student responses, make specific plans for your own improvement as a teacher. Not all student responses will be valid reasons to change anything, but you will have an idea about what areas you can work on. Set specific goals that you would like to accomplish. The goal-setting sheet has spaces for you to think about management, teaching style, and even goals for implementing technology in new ways.

Do this BEFORE July begins!! Make it a priority while the areas for improvement are still fresh in your mind. Then review your goals before you start the next school year.

Click the image below to hop on over to Ellie's blog (Middle School Math Moments and More!!) for another great idea to end your school year.

Mean, Median, Mode, and Range with Fortune Cookies

You know that you are a teacher when you get inspired by your Chinese lunch like I did the other day!

Here is a quick and simple way to make measures of central tendency a little more fun:

Get a big pack of fortune cookies.
Grab some takeout containers if you can find some (optional). This way, you can add some probability into the mix.
Print the downloadable half sheet (below).
Have your students record the fortune and the lucky numbers.
The worksheet will guide them to find the mean, median, mode, and range of the numbers and the word lengths.

To extend the lesson, try placing the cookies in containers at the front of the room before distributing them. Try some problems with probability:

Say "There are 15 cookies in each of these two takeout containers. Two cookies in the first container are broken. Three in the second container are broken." Have students determine the probability of getting a broken cookie if they pull:

one cookie from the first container
one cookie from the second container
two cookies from the first container
one cookie from each container

Using Lucky Numbers and Fortunes from Fortune Cookies to Practice Mean, Median, Mode, and Range

Your class will enjoy comparing their fortunes with classmates and doing the math with a fun and unique set of "data." Obviously, they will also like eating the cookies. See if you have any duplicate fortunes in the classroom, and if so, calculate the odds of a match.

Click the image of the worksheet to download the worksheet file.

If you enjoy the lesson and are interested in more updates, lesson ideas, and resources, just enter your email in the blog sidebar to subscribe to the Math Giraffe mailing list.

Free Download - Recording Sheet for Mean, Median, Mode, and Range

Click the image to download.

Pinterest Boards for Math Teachers

Get inspired!

With summer on its way, you will finally have the time to browse through tons of great teaching ideas!!

Set up a few boards of your own to save your favorite lesson ideas, then get started by checking out the boards listed below.

Follow the boards you like so that you can see future pins from the people that share your interest. This is a great way for all of us math teachers to share ideas and collaborate!

I've sorted some of my favorite boards by topic. Click the images to visit each board.
Happy pinning!