Fall 2002 (Pitt) 3 recitations for Business Calculus
(MATH
0120)
| well-prepared for recitations |
4.64 |
4.56 |
4.36 |
| knowledgeable about course material |
4.77 |
4.75 |
4.45 |
| clarified material covered in lecture |
4.5 |
4.63 |
4.09 |
| showed interest in students' understanding |
4.46 |
4.75 |
4.45 |
| returned assignments on time |
4.5 |
4.88 |
4.64 |
| helpful answers to questions |
4.64 |
4.75 |
4.36 |
| treated students with respect |
4.54 |
4.75 |
4.64 |
| constructive feedback on assignments |
4.36 |
4.25 |
4.00 |
| maintain environment where students felt comfortable
asking questions |
4.31 |
4.63 |
4.45 |
What's kinda ironic about this survey is that I didn't
grade
assignments, and that is where the lowest score
in each column came.
These scores are out of 5
possible points. These are the ratings of
students.
The personal feedback was extremely kind.
Spring 2003 2 recitations for Differential Equations
(MATH
0250)
One class did not have evaluations done, since the day I had
them scheduled, the prof decided to cancel the recitation/and it was
immediately after an exam (rescheduling was impossible). The other
class had only 6 people come, which was not enough to do a bubble-sheet
survey as was done in the fall. You will have to trust my
self-reporting at this point, that most found me acceptable. Several
people felt that I made difficult concepts easier than the prof had, but
that they wanted me to do problems from beginning to end, and in
excruciating detail. I will just comment at this point that the reason
I did things the way I did was to save time. When we were actually learning
a particular subject, I did do things in more detail, but that after we had
moved on to another topic, I assumed--rightly or wrongly--that it would be
better to do more problems on the new material than spend an entire class
doing one problem, when half of the concepts that were needed to complete it
had already been tested on. I generally do believe in going into
detail when doing basic concept problems, but some differential equation
problems can take two pages to do by hand, and this did not seem to be the
best use of class time. This is a situation in which I suspect
that I can't win... some students will be bored, and some will like more
detail. I will ask my next class which they would prefer. To my
former students, thanks for the input.
Summer 2003, 1 Recitation for Algebra (MATH 0031)
| well-prepared for class |
5 |
| knowledgeable about course material |
5 |
| clarified material in lectures |
4.8 |
| interest in the students understanding |
4.9 |
| returned assignments in a reasonable time |
5 |
| concerned about students' progress |
5 |
| helpful answers to students' questions |
4.9 |
| treated students with respect |
4.9 |
| constructive feedback on assignments |
4.9 |
| environment in which students were comfortable asking
questions |
5 |
| available outside class |
5 |
| recommend instructor to other students |
5 |
These scores, as for Fall 2002 above are out of five points.
The students were clearly happy with my performance, and these are generally
students who really struggle with math, and on a condensed summer session.
The handwritten interviews cited my patience and laid-back approach.
With algebra, I also tried to give more than one way to do a problem, and
some students appreciated that.
Fall 2003 1 Recitation for
0120 Business Calculus and 1 Recitation for 0413 Introduction to Theoretical
Math
0120 0413
| well-prepared for class |
4.08 |
4.21 |
|
| knowledgeable about course material |
4.92 |
4.21 |
|
| clarified material in lectures |
4.67 |
4 |
|
| interest in the students understanding |
4.67 |
4.5 |
|
| returned assignments in a reasonable time |
4.67 |
4.36 |
|
| concerned about students' progress |
4.33 |
3.85 |
|
| helpful answers to students' questions |
4.67 |
4.07 |
|
| treated students with respect |
4.92 |
4.57 |
|
| constructive feedback on assignments |
4.42 |
4.07 |
|
| environment in which students were comfortable asking
questions |
4.83 |
4.71 |
|
Naturally, I got higher marks on the course I'd taught
previously. I really enjoyed teaching the theoretical math course
though. It was quite a challenge.
Spring 2004, 2
Recitation for Differential Equations (MATH 0250)
| well-prepared for class |
4 |
| knowledgeable about course material |
4.38 |
| clarified material in lectures |
3.63 |
| interest in the students understanding |
4.13 |
| returned assignments in a reasonable time |
4.75 |
| concerned about students' progress |
3.71 |
| helpful answers to students' questions |
3.88 |
| treated students with respect |
4.29 |
| constructive feedback on assignments |
3.86 |
| environment in which students were comfortable asking
questions |
4.25 |
| available outside class |
4 |
These are for my afternoon recitation. The morning
recitation did not have enough students showing up that day to give
numerical results. This was a systemic problem in both classes for
most of the term. Most students felt they didn't need me, and didn't
stay for recitation unless obliged to. Despite the lower than typical
numerical scores, comments from individual students remained generally
positive, with negative comments largely directed at the time of day for the
morning recitation, and largely non-existent in the afternoon, although, one
student didn't like that I explained the same differently than the
instructor.