Using Mid-Term Feedback

General Strategies

· Decide what you want to assess. For example, do you want to find out how well the students are learning the material, the effectiveness of your teaching, or something else of interest to you? The type of feedback you wish to receive will determine the questions you ask.

· Schedule fast feedback at times appropriate to the course. If you have just begun teaching, have drastically revised a course, or observed that students are having difficulties, you may want to hold a feedback session as early as the third week of classes. Otherwise, you may want to wait until mid-semester. Remember, though, if you ask for feedback after the mid-term test, most of the comments will relate to the exam.

· Use different feedback techniques throughout the semester. Experiment with techniques that appeal to you and see which produce the most helpful information. Consider developing your own methods for obtaining feedback.

Collecting Feedback

· Review student work to collect informal feedback. Use students’ in-class questions and work on assignments as gauges of their understanding of the course material. You might also periodically check their notes to see how well they are taking in the information.

· Ask the students to reply anonymously to a few questions. You can ask what is going well in the course and what needs improvement. Or you could ask what to start, stop, and continue in the course. Ask for specific comments so you can interpret the ideas accurately. Leave the room while the students write their comments and have a student collect the responses and return them to you. You could also devise a questionnaire for them to complete.

· Use a suggestion box. Place a large envelope on your office door and encourage students to drop off questions, comments, or problems. You can bring a box to each class, too, if you wish.

· Have your class observed. You could arrange to have either a CTE representative or a colleague observe one or more classes to give you feedback before the term is over. You may also opt to have a class videotaped by staff in Instructional Technologies and Multimedia Services.

· Do your own analysis. You can be collecting your own mid-term feedback by writing your own reflections on your lecture notes after each class, keeping a teaching journal, or completing checklists. One tip here is to make sure you record concepts that caused students difficulty or really insightful student questions so that you can alter your future lecture to deal with those areas.

· Ask CTE to run a formal feedback session with your students. After you leave, the facilitator will ask questions, agreed upon by you, which students first answer individually, then in small groups, and finally, together as a whole class. With the class, the facilitator summarizes the points on which there is consensus, asks for clarification on points of disagreement, and probes for more detail where needed. The written comments are collected and a confidential report is created for you. Collecting student feedback on your own, however, typically helps to strengthen your rapport with your students.

Responding to Students’ Feedback

· Respond to feedback as soon as possible. Collect feedback when you are in a position to immediately review the comments. Respond to feedback received by other means, such as e-mail, as appropriate. Clarify any misunderstandings about your goals and their expectations. Tell them what suggestions you will act on this term, those that must wait until next term, and those that you will not act on and why. Ask them to continue to help you improve the course.

· Consider carefully what students say. Review the positive comments about the course first, since it may be easy to be discouraged by negative comments. Then consider the suggestions for improvement and group them into three categories:

o Those you can change this semester (e.g., turnaround time on homework)

o Those that must wait until the next time the course is offered (e.g., the textbook)

o Those that you cannot or, for instructional reasons, will not change (e.g., the number of quizzes or tests)

· Thank them for their comments. Students appreciate knowing that you care about what they say.

Source: Centre for Teaching Excellence

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Classroom Management: Creating an Inclusive Environment

Here are some tips on how to create a positive classroom atmosphere early in the session:

• Introduce yourself to your class. In addition to telling students how you wish to be addressed, say something about your background: how you first became interested in the subject, how it has been important to you, and why you are teaching this subject and class. Genuinely convey your enthusiasm for teaching the subject.
• Give students an opportunity to meet each other. Ask students to divide themselves into groups of three to five and introduce themselves. Or go around the room and ask all students to respond to one question, such as “What’s the one thing you really want to learn from this class/grade?” or “What aspect of the curriculum seems most appealing to you?”
• Ask students to fill out an introduction card. Have students indicate their name, home address, telephone number, and electronic mail address, year in school, and major interests and hobbies.
• Learn students’ names. By learning your students’ names, you can create a comfortable classroom environment that will encourage student interaction. Knowing your students’ names also tells them that you are interested in them as individuals.
• Ask students to interview each other outside of class. If your course has a writing component, you might ask students to write a brief description of their partner. The class could agree on the interview questions beforehand or each student could devise his or her own items.
• Divide students into small groups. Give groups a small task, such as a brainstorming exercise, and then place responses on the board for discussion and interpretation.
• Encourage students to exchange phone numbers. If all students agree, ask them to write their name, telephone number, and electronic mail address on a plain sheet of paper and make copies of the roster for them. Encourage students to call their classmates about missed classes, homework assignments, and study groups. Or have students complete index cards and exchange them with two or three classmates.

Here are some tips on how to personalise the large lecture class:

• Let students know that they are not faces in an anonymous audience. In large campuses, students often think that their classroom behaviour (eating, talking, sleeping arriving late, etc.) goes unnoticed. Tell students that you are aware of what is happening in class and act accordingly.
• If your class has extra seating space, ask students to refrain from sitting in certain rows of the classroom. For example, if you teach in a room that has rowed seating, ask students to sit in rows 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8 and so on so that you can walk through the audience where there is an empty row.
• Recognise students’ co-scholastic and co-curricular accomplishments. Read school news letters, scan the results put up on bulletin boards, pay attention to all competitions, and let students know that you are aware of their achievements.
• Capitalise on outside events or situations, as appropriate. Relate major world events or events on campus both to your class and to the fabric of your students’ lives outside the classroom.
• Arrive early and chat with students. Ask how the class and studies are going. Are they enjoying the readings? Is there anything they want you to include in lectures?
• Seek out students who are doing poorly in the course. Write “See me during my office hours” on all exams graded C- or below to provide individualised feedback.
• Acknowledge students who are doing well in the class. Write “Good job! See me after class” on all exams graded A1 or above. Take a moment after class to compliment students who are excelling.
• Schedule topics for office hours. If students are reluctant to come, periodically schedule a “help session” on a particular topic rather than a free-form office hour.
• Talk about questions students have asked in previous terms. Mention specific questions former students have asked and explain why they were excellent questions. This lets students know that you take their questions seriously and that their questions will contribute to the course in the future.
• Listen attentively to all questions and answer them directly. If you will cover the answer during the remainder of the lecture, acknowledge the aptness of the question, asks the student to remember it, and answer the question directly when you arrive at that subject.
• Try to empathise with beginners. Remember that not all of your students are as highly motivated and interested in the discipline as you were when you were a student. Slow down when explaining complex ideas, and acknowledge the difficulty and importance of certain concepts or operations. Try to recall your first encounter with a concept – what examples, strategies, or techniques clarified it for you? By describing that encounter and its resolution to your students, you not only explain the concept but also convey the struggle and rewards of learning.

Adapted from Tools for Teaching by Barbara Gross Davis.

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Career Path Finder

The Five Most Common Resume Errors

An error in your resume can be the difference between you being considered for the position and actually getting the job.

When the competition is tight, even the slightest, most insignificant error can be the deciding factor on who will be hired and who will not. When managers need to select only one new employee from a pile of hundreds of resumes, they can get quite finicky about any type of error.

While there are literally dozens upon dozens of errors people make when writing and presenting resumes, there are a few that top the list of the most common resume errors. Let's call these the top five most common, most fatal (to your success, not to your life) resume errors. They are:

1. Including irrelevant information
2. Sloppy presentation
3. Vague or boring content
4. Lack of focus
5. Large chunks of text
   

1. Including Irrelevant Information

When you write your resume you need to remember that hiring managers are extremely busy people. Which is the main reason why they need more staff? After all, they wouldn't be looking for more people to help them if they already had too much free time.

Keeping in mind that hiring managers are busy people, you should be careful what you include in your resume. Only include what's directly relevant to the job you're applying for. It's highly unlikely that your prospective employer is really going to care about the spelling bee award you won in grade eight, or that you were the best grade eleven cheerleaders.

By sticking to information relevant to the job you would like, you show the hiring manager that you are an excellent communicator.

2. Sloppy Presentation

First impressions count. You wouldn't go to an in-person interview with uncombed hair and torn jeans. So make sure your resume is grammatically correct, clean and crease-free.

Don't get careless. A resume that is poorly presented gives the hiring manager the impression that you're lazy (or perhaps a little stupid), careless and not serious about the position you're applying for.

Sometimes it helps to read your resume out loud. It's easier to find mistakes this way. Or you can corner your friends and get them to give you some brutally honest feedback.

3. Vague or Boring Content

Be specific when you write your resume. Use action verbs (like organized) to prove to the hiring manager that you're a go-getter. Avoid straightforward and boring descriptions of every job you've ever held. Explain why you were good at your jobs instead, but only focus on those relevant to the type of position you're going after. Make your resume vibrant.

4. Lack of Focus

Tailor your resume to the job you would like. Focus on results and accomplishments instead of simply listing your responsibilities. How did you make a difference in your company or department?

5. Large Chunks of Text

The average resume is read in a speedy seven seconds. Huge chunks of text are intimidating to a hiring manager who needs to look at hundreds of resumes, and probably isn't too excited about doing so. Keep your paragraphs short and reader friendly.

Source: WWW.professional-resumes.com

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Using Creative Writing as a Therapeutic Tool

Several years ago I was lucky enough to spend some time in Eastern Asia. I visited a very un-touristy Buddhist monastery in China, and although I've never been hugely religious, I tucked myself up in a corner, got out my journals and wrote. After about an hour of being entirely engrossed in my scribblings, I noticed that one of the monks had come over and sat near me. After a while I gathered quite a crowd, monks, locals they all came to watch me write. The same happened in Japan, whilst visiting Shinto temples; I was sitting and contentedly writing when people gathered around me.

Emotional exploration, emotional release, emotional purging, (whatever you want to call it) through writing is a pretty internationally accepted way of gaining self-insight. You can write out your sorrow, write out your anguish, write out your unhappiness.

First researched in the 1970s, the phenomenon has been around for much longer, writing as 'therapy', keeping a journal or writing poetry has been used for several hundred years. Jawaharlal Nehru wrote to his daughter while confined in prison. Anne Frank wrote from her secret annexe. Franz Kafka did not even want his writings published.

Writing can also help clarify and develop thoughts, providing us with an independent coping mechanism, something that we can turn to whenever we need it, not just when we have the time and motivation to seek help.

Try these techniques to show your students how to use very simple writing exercises to help develop a sense of balance: -

• Hot penning. Sit down with a pen and paper and write the first thing that comes to mind. Write anything and everything, however silly it may seem. It can be useful to set a time limit if your students haven't tried anything like this before. Don't pressure them into reading anything out loud, however if there are volunteers you may want to let them share.

• Encourage your students to take a different route around school. Lots of writers will talk about seeing things through new eyes, by changing something as simple as the way you walk, you may notice the seasons changing or an unexpected event occuring. Stimulating your mind.

• Finish someone else's writing. If you feel like you can't express yourself, try using the first line of your favourite piece of writing and developing something from there. Try 'She walks in beauty like the night...', 'Much have I travelled in the realms of gold...', 'Do not go gentle into that good night...', 'Had we but world enough, and time...'

• Write the other side of the story. If you're unhappy or upset, try writing the other side of the story, write about the other person's life, see if you can work out why they are hurting you, whether they hurt too. See if you can understand and accept them.

• Write and release. You don't need to make anything of your writing; you can just take everything that is causing you difficulty and write it all down on paper. Then throw it away. Burn it. Put it in water to wash away the ink. A moment of catharsis can help settle your mind, and give you the freedom to concentrate on other things.

And it's not just your students. Be mindful of your own balance too. Make sure you can cope with the daily stresses of life, before being burdened with others.

Lord Byron (he of the 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' fame) saw things in a very similar way... 'If I don't write to empty my mind, I go mad'. His point is very true; an author friend of mine says she knows she has to write when the characters in her mind won't let her do anything else!

A quote I hold dear to my heart is 'write to save yourself and someday you'll write because you've been saved' written by Anne Michaels. Whatever reason you have to write, whatever the difficulties you face in life, tackle them, don't let them overwhelm you.

If you're interested in learning more about the field mental health and wellbeing, you might also want to sign up for Mental Health Matters, providing you with the best tips, practical ideas and materials in the field.

Source:teachingexpertise.com

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