Everyone has a story to tell about the teacher who inspired them or the one who made them lose interest in learning. So, how do you know which kind of teacher you are?

Evaluating your teaching is the only way to know and to develop your teaching skills further. After all, if students need to be assessed to get better at what they’re doing, then so do you! If you didn’t do so well, it just means you have to work on improving your teaching because everything we do takes effort. If you find you did well, nothing beats the ‘high’ of a job well done! But of course, there’s always room for improvement.
Here’s how to gather evidence to evaluate your teaching:

Self-Observation

At the end of each class, make it a point to ask yourself if you’ve met the learning objectives of your lesson. A self-evaluation checklist can keep you focused (e.g. Did I give clear instructions? Did I manage the time well? Did students participate enthusiastically? What difficulties were there? What would I change if I had to do this again?). Decide what you need to improve in and set yourself some goals.

Diary

Try keeping a diary and include your self-assessments. Jot down some notes after class about what worked well or what could be improved about the lesson. It will help you track your progress as you achieve your goals over time.

Teaching Portfolio

Creating a teaching portfolio is useful. You could write about your experiences as a teacher – what teaching you’ve done, your teaching philosophy and strategies, your self-assessment of your strengths and weaknesses, constraints, your action plans and what you hope to improve in. The feedback that you gather about your teaching can also be part of your portfolio.

Record Yourself

If you're feeling brave, you can audiotape or videotape yourself in action. When you watch the video or listen to the tape, note what worked and what didn’t. You can even record more than one session and make a comparison of how you performed each time.

Feedback from Colleagues

An experienced teacher can offer constructive criticism by observing your teaching in class. Be prepared to accept the feedback and discuss improvements. You can also learn a lot from watching someone else teach, and from giving them feedback on what you see in their teaching. So, try asking colleagues if you can sit in on their classes to get ideas.

Feedback from Students

You may secretly dread reading comments from student evaluations of your teaching because you can’t predict what students will say. But take it all in stride. Good comments tell you that you’re on the right track while critical ones mean you’ve work to do.
Try to get your own feedback from students regularly or during the middle of the semester. You could design a questionnaire or simple form that students could answer anonymously. Your students will respect you for showing that you value their feedback and are willing to act on some of them to improve your teaching.

Do you have more tips on how to evaluate your teaching? Drop us a line at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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