Have you ever thought about how we evaluate ourselves? We hear that word a lot in the world of education. It becomes a part of our every day language when we are dealing with students and when we reflect upon our own practices.
I believe I evaluate my effectiveness as a teacher upon the successes and failures of my students. We are gearing up for assessments next week and I am anxious for the results. One of the focuses for next week will not only be "how well " the students perform, but the "effort" they exhibit when they take the assessments.
I couldn't help but notice one of my student's reaction to my approval when he showed me his math homework this week. We have been stressing the importance of "showing" your work and "thinking" when solving problems. Our students do not always want to slow down to show all of these things. I knew this student was proud when he was practically putting his work in my face. Of course, I made sure I praised his "effort". I didn't really look to see if the work was correct because I wanted my students to know the importance of "effort". It felt so good inside to see that big smile across his face when I recognized his deliberate efforts. I believe those are the small moments in which we gain momentum with our students.
Does anyone have a moment to share when they made the connection with their students over the past few weeks. I would love to hear about it. How do you evaluate yourself?
I think that, as educators, we are much harder on ourselves than we are on our students. We continually praise them for their effort, rather than the outcome, but it is so rare for us to apply that same logic to ourselves.
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