Teaching Evaluation

In the feedback I received from River Road teachers and students it was clear that the work I did met and exceeded expectations. Teachers wrote often that they felt the materials were age-appropriate and engaging for the students. They appreciated the variety of learning methods used (audio/visual) as well as the focus on hands-on learning. Another piece of specific feedback I received was the way we explained activities for students in a step-by-step manner that made it clear for students what they were expected to do. This was implemented by clearly explaining every aspect of the lesson’s activity for that day, and then asking for students to repeat the steps we were taking to have all students hear the instructions twice. As with learning any new skill, receiving feedback on what can be improved is crucial, the main feedback I received in this regard was my use of Spanish- which was used in small amounts in the beginning of this experience as I got acclimated to my role as an educator and my comfortability with using the language within that role. As I became more comfortable with both, Spanish was incorporated more into the lessons as well as conversationally with students. This growth was noted in the responses from teachers in their feedback sheets.

Feedback from project managers has been crucial to my growth as an educator. In the beginning, the feedback I received focused on becoming more comfortable with quick adaptation to technological challenges. This was later implemented when my team learned to quickly adapt our lessons to not relying on technology, or to have one member start recalling what happened in the last week while other members continued to work on setting up the presentation. Other feedback was around providing more scaffolding on the more intensive activities. I used this evaluation to look over my future lectures and put more detailed structure into them which proved very beneficial to the overall flow of lessons. The last piece of feedback I received from the project managers was on the general preparedness of lesson materials. There were a few instances where we didn’t have the correct number of field guides and this was a definite hindrance to lesson plans. These experiences and reflections made it very clear the importance of double-checking that all materials were with us before arriving and the benefit of making extras while keeping sustainability in mind.