Surveying Your Clientele

As teachers, part of our formal evaluation for the current academic year will be based on student surveys.  Among my teacher friends, it is not necessarily a popular viewpoint to be in support of including this component in our evaluations.  However, I have always been of the opinion that student evaluations could serve as a useful tool for improving instruction.  Student evaluation forms are also used at the college-level, and isn't that our ultimate goal - to prepare students for college?  I think that student evaluations could prove to be very useful for teachers.  But, if it is to work, positive feedback trends and suggestions for improvement should be compiled at the administrative level and provided to teachers during the early summer.  This will allow teachers an appropriate amount to time to reflect on their practice and implement adjustments where necessary.

I have been piloting the Moodle Learning Management System with my design technology students, and I have asked them to provide formal feedback and evaluations of the Moodle interface (and the 5 E's framework).  So far, the feedback from students has been incredibly insightful.  As a facilitator, I have provided some meaningful learning activities that have been very successful, and I have encountered pitfalls and roadblocks (the students were quick to let me know when these happened).  Students (with initial support from me) were able to navigate the Moodle interface and communicate in meaningful discussion forums.  I have found uses for the Moodle blog feature, and I have been able to weigh the benefits and drawback of the Moodle quiz feature vs. other quiz/survey tools on the web.

As teachers (both in traditional classrooms and in virtual learning spaces), it is our job to provide instruction that works for students.  The students are our clients, and if we are unable to gauge how they perceive their learning, then we will also be lacking in the ability to improve the effectiveness of our teaching.  We need to be sure that we are serving our clients to the best of our ability. I have found that making lessons that are as interactive as possible is, more often than not, the right path for science instruction.  Still, there is a lot of room for improvement in my pedagogical practices, and these reflections definitely help to push me in the right direction.

The Learning Cycle (The 5 E's of Science Education)

The 5 E's (a great way for students to acquire and process science learning):

• Engage
• Explore
• Explain/Communicate
• Elaborate
• Evaluate

Gearing up to teach an online learning class has really got me thinking about ways to up my game as a teacher.  In my graduate school science methods course, I remember that the professor consistently stressed that the Learning Cycle (http://faculty.mwsu.edu/west/maryann.coe/coe/inquire/inquiry.htm) was considered the best practice for science education.  Another thing that I took away from that course was that science learning obviously should be experiential, and hand-on activities should be used as much as possible.

Well, so far in my career, I think that I have done pretty well in providing my students with concrete, hands-on learning experiences whenever they were appropriate.  But actually using the learning cycle to explicitly facilitate inquiry-based learning?  Admittedly I have been lacking there.  It seems that the timing is now right to develop my hand with the Learning Cycle.  For one thing, the shift to the virtual classroom will eliminate much of the opportunities for "hands-on" experiences, so I should replace those experiences with as much inquiry as possible.  Secondly, the learning cycle (http://www.dese.mo.gov/divimprove/curriculum/science/LearningCyclePlanInst11.05.pdf) offers a consistent framework that is meaningful and easy to follow, which will serve me well in organizing my distance learning lessons.  It will also allow for a logical learning progression for all students, providing support for those who need it, as they progress through increasingly challenging tasks.  The learning cycle approach provided ample opportunities for students to choose how they complete a task or direct their learning.  Therefore, it will also help me to meet the requests of school administrators that asking us to achieve higher levels of differentiated instruction in our classrooms.  The upshot is that I feel like I'm killing a lot of birds with one stone here.

I am so excited to really begin implementing the learning cycle with students that I have decided to pilot the process with one my classes this month.  More on that as it progresses.

This is a Personality Test

I recently completed the Keirsey Temperament survey:  http://www.keirsey.com/aboutkts2.aspx

If you scroll down to the bottom of the Keirsey website, you can see a brief synopsis of each personality type.  You can also click on the "four temperaments" tab at the top to read longer and more detailed narratives about the various personality types, including situational examples.

The sorter tells me that my temperament is that of the Guardian-Provider and, after reading through the description, I cannot argue with the classification.  I like to entertain and I am outgoing.  I am observant and friendly.  But I am also slightly obsessive-compulsive about order and organization, and  I tend to have a hard time digesting criticism from others (which might help to explain my adverse feelings toward the Danielson model of teacher evaluation).   I have compassion for others, but I am also sensitive and take most things personally (for better or for worse).  I enjoy participating in social activities and cooperating with others.  In fact, part of the reason why I left my previous job with an engineering company in exchange for a career in education was that  I felt I needed a job that would allow for more human interaction (as opposed to 'crunching numbers' on a computer all day).  The only aspect of the temperament that  I can take issue with is that I am supposed to be at ease and confident with public speaking.  While it is true that I kind of enjoy public speaking during and after the fact, it is also typical that I feel quite a bit of anxiety leading up to the event.  This is most likely related to my "attention to the details of furnishing goods and services".  Essentially, I stress out about making things as good as possible, which can be difficult to come to terms with as a teacher - the job is never done and there is always more work to do.

I am excited to use this temperament sorter with my students.  It will be a good metacognitive exercise for them as learners, and it also help me to get to know them better as individuals.  I can also use the personality 'data' to inform my selection of cooperative groups for various learning activities.  I have often wondered if everyone thinks that they have the "best" personality, at least most fitting for their temperament.  If I did not think that I was doing the best I could, then I would want to improve.  I have been recommending that everyone take Keirsey's temperament sorter.  For me it was informative and provided a framework for introspection (I think I "feel" too much, but I am okay with that).  At the very least, the temperament sorter is fun.  So the Guardian Provider in me is asking that you go back to the top of this post, copy the link into your web browser, and take the KTS-II right now.