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Appendix E

Teaching Self-Evaluation Form

How Do You Teach?

Encountering the Instructional Self

Purpose:

Many instructors teach day after day but without a clear and accurate knowledge of what they do. If they had to describe their teaching in terms of the behaviors they use, most of the lists would be short. In part the problem results from the fact that typically, descriptions of teaching are general and abstract. For example, research results repeatedly identify enthusiasm as one of the characteristics of effective instruction, but "enthusiasm" per se is an attitude, an internal state, something an instructor is. Until enthusiasm is described in terms of what someone who has it does, an instructor`s ability to develop it is inhibited. The point is simple--instructors must be aware of their teaching behaviors, specifically and concretely. The premise is that implementing changes in teaching style is difficult if one is unaware of what one is changing from and to. This simple form aims to stimulate that sense of instructional awareness--force instructors to think about teaching strategies and style in terms of behaviors--what it is they do when they teach.

Administration:

Administration is simple. Begin by carefully reading the items on the form. Are the answers to the questions known for sure? Do some questions cause hesitation? That may justify observation. Are there questions that cannot be answered? Note them. Over the next couple of days, try to discover the answers. Pay attention to teaching behaviors. Write reminders in the margins of lecture notes to stimulate observation in particular areas. Quite simply, work to become aware of teaching at this most mechanistic and fundamental level. And recognize it might take several days to discover all the answers.

Interpretation:

Interpretive concerns are not paramount to this endeavor. The goal is to discover the nuts and bolts that hold a particular teaching style together. The activity can be considered complete when an instructor is able to write a detailed description of his/her teaching style. Two tricks: the description can include no mention of content and no mention of physical characteristics like hair or eye color. The activity can be considered successful when the description is complete and accurate enough to allow identification of the instructor by someone else.

 

Recognize the almost automatic reaction of most instructors to judge behaviors. That is not the point now. Implicit in the questions on the form is not some pre-established criteria delineating what instructors ought to do. At this juncture, the objective is entirely descriptive. Discover what you do; then go about determining if it ought to be done differently.

 

Obviously, being aware of instructional behaviors is not the denouement of instructional development. Behaviors do convey messages--important ones about attitudes, like enthusiasm, for example. So, instructors must, by various means, acquire input as to the impact of the behaviors they use. There are plenty of other forms in this catalogue designed especially to provide that input. But first, foremost and most fundamentally, instructors must know how they teach.

How Do You Teach?

1. What do you do with your hands? Gesture? Keep them in your pockets? Hold onto the podium? Play with the chalk? Hide them so students won't see them shake?
2. Where do you stand or sit? Behind the podium? On the table?
3. When do you move to a different location? Never? At regular ten-second intervals? When do you change topics? When you need to write something on the board/overhead? When you answer a student`s question? At what speed do you move? Do you talk and move at the same time?
4. Where do you move? Back behind the podium? Out to the students? To the blackboard?
5. Where do your eyes most often focus? On your notes? On the board/overhead? Out the window? On a spot on the wall in the back of the classroom? On the students? Could you tell who was in class today without taking roll?
6. What do you do when you finish one content segment and are ready to move onto the next? Say okay? Ask if there are any questions? Erase the board? Move to a different location? Make a verbal transition?
7. When do you speak louder/softer? When the point is very important? When nobody seems to understand? When nobody seems to be listening?
8. When do you speak faster/slower? When an idea is important and you want to emphasize it? When you are behind where you ought to be on the content? When students are asking questions you're having trouble answering?
9. Do you laugh or smile in class? When? How often?
10. How do you use examples? How often do you include them? When do you include them?
11. How do you emphasize main points? Write them on the board/overhead? Say them more than once? Ask the students if they understand them? Suggest ways they might be remembered?
12. What do you do when students are inattentive? Ignore them? Stop and ask questions? Interject an anecdote? Point out the consequences of not paying attention? Move out toward them?
13. Do you encourage student participation? How? Do you call on students by name? Do you grade it? Do you wait for answers? Do you verbally recognize quality contributions? Do you correct student answers? On a typical day, how much time is devoted to student talk?
14. How do you begin/end class? With a summary and conclusion? With a preview and a review? With a gasp and a groan? With a bang and a whimper?

     

    
    

    

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Last updated: January 31, 2001