10/1/2012
My Beloved Colleagues Assalamu Alaikum,

How to Evaluate Your Teaching in the Classroom

The perfect teacher is a myth. There is always room for improvement for every teacher. When teachers are willing to evaluate themselves critically, it indicates firstly, they take their profession seriously, and secondly, they are willing to improve themselves. The following are some vital principles of self-evaluation:

1. Personal Observation: The teacher can evaluate the effectiveness of her lesson by observing her students’ behavior or facial expressions during her lesson. Do they look confused, bored or sleepy? Or are they participating enthusiastically in the class discussion? From her observation, the teacher can modify the method and style of her teaching to suit her students’ learning styles. Such observations, therefore, give valuable and immediate feedback to the teacher to improve her teaching style.

2. Session Recording: Audio and video recordings of the classroom provide vital feedback for the teacher to evaluate herself. The information retrieved from video recordings will be an eye-opener, revealing her actual teaching style in the classroom. It also shows her facial expressions and the way she interacts with her students. After watching the video recordings, the teacher will surely find some interesting revelations about herself. From this feedback, she can take the necessary steps towards transforming herself to be a better teacher.

3. Learners’ Feedback: Learners provide the best feedback regarding the effectiveness of a teacher. They know whether the teaching style of the teacher matches theirs. The teacher can obtain learners’ feedback by distributing simple questionnaires about their ability to understand her instruction and her teaching methods in the class. Another important source of information is to interview students individually or/and in groups. Their feedback is an invaluable source of information to help the teacher restructure her methods of teaching to suit the learners so that real learning can take place.

4. Learners’ Grades: Students’ performance in the term examinations or monthly test is a good reflection of their performance. Sometimes learners are shy to discuss their performance in the class. As such, their ability will only be known through their test or examination scores. Based on this information, the teacher will have a better picture of her students’ academic progress. She should then take steps to improve her techniques of teaching if her students are unable to achieve the goals intended.

© Dr. Faryadi (FST)