Student evaluations: making a difference

Like every semester, I give an end of the year assessment of the course and my teaching methods so that I can continually improve my course and practice.  I feel that this activity shows my students that I care about their learning and their opinion; but more importantly that I am a lifelong learner. Learning doesn’t end just because I am no longer in university.  I thought it may be worthwhile to share some of the comments made my students.

One common theme that concerned students in all of my classes expressed was deadlines.   They have made it clear that they want a concrete and inflexible deadline.  This semester I gave a 2 week window for students to hand in their work and many became frustrated since they would not get their assignments in on time as they would procrastinate and then their assignments would pile up.  Next year, I will make sure that they are aware of deadlines and I will not change them and see how this works out.

My French Immersion 10 class:

I always ask a question about what they liked most about the class, what they have learned but also what they can improve on and how I can improve the course for next year.  Since I am teaching this class next year as well I would like to integrate all of these elements into the course plan.

Most of the students wrote that they can better understand the native French accent due to the “actualités” project I do with them (see XXX to see what this is about).  Many also appreciated the bi-monthly lessons on “anglicismes” as they were not aware that the words and expressions they were using were anglicized.

I did a lit circle with this class for the first time.  While there is still major room for improvement, I am proud of the results and the target language oral output that was achieved through the process.  I am looking forward to continuing the lit circles with all of my French Immersion classes next year.  One student said that: “c’est amusant comment nous pouvons parler à propos de nos opinions du livre et demander des questions.”  Their suggestions for books for next year show that they enjoyed the lit circle.  For example “plus de livres de la série de Séti…les autres livres de la série d’Aurélie laFlamme”

Since I got rid of all final exams this semester, here are some of their comments about this change and only completing a final project (see last month’s blog).  97% of the class preferred having a project over a final exam.  Some of their reasons included:

“Un projet donne plus de temps à finir et c’est bon pour améliorer ta note.”

“Un projet parce qu’il n’y a pas de stresse et sans le stresse on peut travailler mieux.”

And what I consider the most insightful: “Avoir un examen final est stressant, et reflète ce qu’on a étudié. Un projet reflète les vraies connaissances et abilités.”

My beginner’s French and Spanish classes:

One of my questions is “Did you find that the reading strategies helped you understand the texts? Did you feel proud when you could understand the text without a dictionary? Why or why not?”  I use authentic texts that interest their age group, like Disney Channel TV programs or articles about Top 10 songs from an artist. I am drawing from their background knowledge and cognates to incite them to try and understand a text.  Here are some of their answers:

“Yes, I sort of felt empowered because I could answer all of the questions in Spanish about the article.”

“I was proud but it made it easier because some root words are in English.”

“Yes, because I usually need a huge dictionary to help me read some French texts.” (This is coming from a French Immersion student learning Spanish and using French and Spanish cognates to help her read)

“The reading strategies helped me understand the text by making it easier to identify words that look like English words and words that I was familiar with. I felt proud when I was able to understand the text without looking at the dictionary.”

“Yes, I was proud because I felt I had accomplished something.”

“Yes, I found the strategies helpful and I felt proud because I would say “I KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS” and get excited.”

There were only 3 negative comments about the reading assignments in 2 classes.  By integrating authentic texts into the curriculum, students are feeling like they understand French and see much more of a purpose.  I am proud that they feel like they are “empowered” and that they have “accomplished something”; those are thoughtful reflections coming from Grade 8 and 9 students.

These classes also only had final projects this year and here are some of their opinions:

“I feel that more time and effort can be put into a project than a final exam. I think a project can really show what we know, rather than a test.”

“A final project is fun to do; showing your creativity and still proving the knowledge you know about the subject.”

“I prefer a final project because it includes everything all in one and it was less stressful.”

“The final project is better in my opinion because we get more time and we can creatively display what we’ve learned without answering simple straight forward answers.”

“A final project is better because it’s less pressure and not as overwhelming as a test, especially for students like me who flunk tests under pressure.”

All of these positive comments from some of the changes I have made this semester have made me feel like all of the extra work into changing my lesson plans and units are worthwhile.  I thought that it might be insightful to some who were thinking about making changes in taheir own teaching practices to see how change can make a difference.  These comments are in their own words, and are only a handful of many others expressing the same sentiment.

If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear them.

Leave a Reply