Every day, students are given assignments, tests, and projects to be tested on their knowledge and understanding. For these assignments grades are given. Grades are a way for teachers to evaluate students' work and give constructive criticism to help students improve and understand better. What if students could do the same with teachers? Students could provide teachers with feedback on their teaching style, effectiveness, and even how they treat them. This way it can give teachers a better idea of how good of a teacher they are and help teachers improve and find out what is working and what is not. I believe teachers should be graded as a way for students to display their concerns and for teachers to be able to realize in which places they may improve for a better classroom environment.
There are many benefits of students grading teachers like teachers getting feedback that can help them improve just like we students are given every day. According to Lewis, “By students having the ability to grade teachers, it allows teachers to see their progress and be able to make their class more enjoyable for the students”. The teachers are responsible for ensuring the students are engaged in their classes to make them more successful. Teacher's job is to create an environment in which students can learn, and they should know whether they're succeeding. This way teachers can improve and have a better understanding of what methods are most effective and which are not. Some students may have opinions about their teacher that they do not feel comfortable sharing. Allowing students to anonymously grade their teachers would give them a chance to do this. Students would be able to raise there concerns without giving away their identity. By doing this, schools are giving students a voice and letting them be heard. The more effective teaching the students can get the more they can get out of their school years. Students see everything the teachers do daily, making them witnesses so they can give important feedback. Lastly, students will be able to express their opinions and feelings about their teachers and the school and this way it will let kids be honest about teachers while also staying anonymous.
Many believe that if students were given this opportunity to grade their teacher's, immaturity, revenge, disrespect would be displayed and all factors as to why students should not grade their teachers. Some students may take this advantage to poorly reflect on teachers even if they have good teaching methods. This may be true, but we should not take away the opportunity since not all students are like that, it is just the minority. According to Collins “During adolescence (ages 14-18) the brain develops moral reasoning”. It is the power of moral reasoning that tells the brain what is right and what is wrong, which can lead to incorrectly giving a negative review to a teacher. However, another point Collins made is that when it comes to intellectual power, the brain of an adolescent is equal to the brain of an adult. Hence, it is a good time to teach students to give positive and helpful feedback to anyone, even someone they dislike. If students are given the chance to grade their teachers, it gives them the skills they need to put feelings aside and honestly grade a person’s performance.
There is no harm in students being able to grade their teachers, in fact it improves the classroom environment. Why not grade teachers when they grade us all the time? Through this feedback, students will be able to express themselves and teachers will be able to initiate it in their classrooms. This way it benefits the school, teachers, and forms a healthy school environment. I belive students should be able to grade their teachers anonymously not only to empower themselves, but also to provide feedback to teachers on how to improve their classes, thereby increasing student engagement at school.
This is such a cool concept I have never thought of before, so creative! If we anonymously do it, I think the classes after us would be so greatly benefited, and maybe we could actually learn something in school.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting idea. I think it would help the teachers see how different students learn. Then they can adjust their teaching strategies accordingly.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a nicely written blog about a very interesting topic! The idea the students could grade teachers is especially intriguing because it would truly matter. While some teachers do ask for feedback semesterly, they are not forced to use it. If students were to grade teachers though, the feedback would likely hold more value and make more of a difference. I think that it is important that you mentioned the potential negative factors of allowing students to grade teachers, but found it interesting how you compared the adolescent brain to an adult brain. Many students will give thoughtful feedback with good intentions!
ReplyDeleteI think that give teachers feedback and would definitely be beneficial. However, I think like you said, many students would take advantage or not take it seriously, which would probably make it difficult for this grading to be useful. Overall though, I think this would be very useful for both the students and teachers.
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