Wednesday, June 8, 2016

A Short Reflection on My Teaching of Last Semester

My SFQ (Student Feedback Questionnaire) of last semester got 4.11 (out of 5 points), which is the highest so far. I am quite happy with the result, but at the same time, I am a bit anxious about whether I could keep on the good work in the future.

According to the students’ written comments, my main strengths as a teacher include:

  •  Being caring and amiable (many students thought that I could be awarded for being caring).
  •  Giving clear instructions and explanations.

These are not new. Many previous students also mentioned these characteristics. I think I made a couple of small yet important changes this semester that might help improve my teaching. For example, I used a microphone to increase my volume so that no one complained that my voice was too soft to be heard. So, although I don’t like microphone so much, it seems that I need to continue to use them. I would also try to use a remote controller of computer so that I can control and flip the PPT slides freely while walking around the classroom.


On the other hand, the main area that I need to work on is: Making the class teaching more interesting. It means two things. First, I can be more humorous and funny. Previously, some students also complained that I should be more humorous. However, I pessimistically think that humor is a kind of inborn personality trait that one can hardly acquire by learning (maybe I am wrong). I also admire the teachers with humor, but  I don’t think that  I have the gift or ability, at least now. I think what I can do is to become more confident and relaxed as I accumulate more teaching experience. Secondly, I should try to make my class more interactive. Less one-way lecture; more interactive activities. I think this is more applicable for me than becoming a humorous teacher. Also, I think it may be more effective to promote students’ learning. But it takes time to learn how to have a more interactive classroom.

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