Friday, September 30, 2005

Good news to end the week

As part of the review process, my colleagues have been parading in and out of my classes to observe my teaching. I'm fairly comfortable with my teaching style and appreciate the comments and suggestions from my colleagues, so I don't usually mind being observed. But there are a few members of my department that are, well, "intimidating" in the sense that they are such fabulous teachers; they are universally loved and respected by the students. They set a high bar.

One such colleague observed me this week, and I spoke with him afterwards to get his feedback. I didn't think either class was my best ever, but they didn't totally suck either (a few moments of "doh!" when I flubbed an explanation or 2, but that's it). So I had no idea what he would say.

The verdict? Completely positive. This colleague even went so far to say, several times, that I'm a wonderful teacher! He picked up on things that I didn't even notice---how much I hold the attention of the class, how much of the class is actively engaged and participating, etc.

Yay!! I so needed this after all the shenanigans of the past week.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay! Congrats! Of course *I'm* not surprised. :-)

What Now? said...

wonderful! What an encouraging verdict; congratulations.