(SKKN 2022) THE BENEFITS OF TEACHER SELF EVALUATION TO 10TH GRADERS IN BIM SON HIGH SCHOOL

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGBIM SON UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHING EXPERIENCE & THE BENEFITS OF TEACHER SELF-EVALUATION TO 10TH GRADERS IN BIM SON HIGH SCHOOL Teacher

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

BIM SON UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

&

THE BENEFITS OF TEACHER SELF-EVALUATION TO 10TH

GRADERS IN BIM SON HIGH SCHOOL

Teacher: Tran Thi Thu Hien

Post: The teacher of English

School: Bim Son High School

Subject: English

TABLE OF CONTENT

1 Reasons for the condition and the title of the study 1

1 Specific limitations without teacher self-evaluation: 3

2.

2.1.

2.2.

2.3.

2.4.

2.5.

2.6.

3.

4.

The process of self-evaluation in teaching:

Identifying questions, setting goals and answering

questions reflecting on field work

Journal Writing

Student Observation

Peer Observation

Video Recording

Using teacher self-evaluation checklists

Benefits of self-evaluation:

Effectiveness of teacher self-evaluation to the “control

group” and the “experimental group”

3 4 5

6 6 7 7 8 9

THANH HOA, YEAR 2022

Conclusion and suggestions for further study

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Reasons for the condition and the title of the study

The role and functioning of schools and teachers are changing

“What are teachers expected?” “How can teachers move beyond the level

of automatic or reutilized responses to classroom situations and achieve a higher level of awareness of how they teach?” “Do they make more effective use of suitable teaching methods?” One way of doing this is through observing and reflecting on one's own teaching, and using observation and reflection as a way of bringing about change The issues of teacher evaluation and teacher professional development have always been

at the centre of policymakers and administrators’ attention As a multidimensional phenomenon, teacher evaluation research has closely been intertwined with other concepts and notions such as teacher effectiveness that tends to serve as an important element in teacher evaluation systems Concerning with the teacher self-evaluation issues, the researcher found that self-evaluation was a concept and a process that worth investigating, as it provided the possibility for autonomy of one's evaluative decisions and the changes made to one's practices As a teacher, you probably reflect naturally

Thoughts will come at a lesson’s end (“How wonderful to see students so eager and concentrated today” “Hmm, the lesson didn’t go as planned” “Why was it so boring?” “Why were some students sleepy?” “how is it going?”; “Are they with me?”; “Am I losing them?”; “Are they interested or bored?”) Teacher

self-evaluation as a means of systematic reflection has become a significant aspect of professional development for teaching practitioners It is being introduced widely

in many Western countries whereby teachers are becoming more actively involved in the assessment of their own teaching practices and reflecting on the nature of effectiveness of their teaching in order to improve its quality

In Vietnam, there has been growing interest in this process of self-evaluation as a more autonomous method for teachers to gain a better understanding of their teaching practices and as a means to take the initiative to focus on areas of improvement In other words, teachers should self-evaluate their teaching lessons to find out what needs to be changed However, how teachers evaluate in reality, how many ways a teacher could use to self-evaluate their teaching and why he/she takes advantages of the self-evaluation to

improve teaching and learning effectiveness Self-evaluation is an excellent method to reflect on my teaching and learn from my experiences Clearly, principal observation, student work, and parent interactions are an excellent source for self-evaluation

Based on the results of the tests, lesson plans, assessments on the receptive ability of Bim Son high school students from teachers in tests, I can recognize the difficulties in the process of teaching and learning The endeavor to seek innovative methods to teach students is the reason for me

to write the study entitled “THE BENEFITS OF TEACHER SELF-EVALUATION TO 10 TH GRADERS IN BIM SON HIGH SCHOOL” The

aim of this initiative is to discuss why teachers should self-evaluate, how best to

go about self-evaluating in language education and to propose guidelines for future research in this area It begins by deconstructing “evaluation” as a concept and reviewing the status of evaluation studies in English language teaching (ELT)

2 The study aims:

With the above rationale, the main aims of this study are:

- Limitations without teacher self-evaluation

- The process of self-evaluation in teaching

- To find out the benefits of self-evaluation

3 Scope and participants of the study

- Subjects of study: the research is carried out on 10th graders in Bim Son High School, Bim Son, Thanh Hoa The study also mainly focuses on the effectiveness of self- evaluation

- Scope of study: teaching classes

Two classes of 10th graders were chosen for the present study They were both of mixed ability and supposed to be best represented the above average level of English among the 10th graders in the whole school The total number

of students from these two classes is 89, and they are divided into the “control group” and the “experimental group” All are at the age of 15 or 16 and have 7-year experience of learning English I myself often evaluated my teaching strategies when I taught students in the experimental group so that I could recognize their strengths and identify weaknesses In the study’s control condition I did not change my lesson plans, I did not care for students’ feedback

I taught at the fast pace and never stopped to check students’ comprehension and encouragement

4 Methods of the study

(1) to draw from experience of my teaching

(2) to consult many documents relating to self-evaluation

(3) to study colleagues’ experience

PART B CONTENT

1 Specific limitations without teacher self-evaluation:

- The lessons were ineffective because I sustained proper discipline with students I couldn’t create positive relationships with students Classroom environments are not conducive to learning and achievement at high levels

- I can’t zoom in on problems that are pressing to me because I didn’t want to change my old lesson plans and my teaching habits My teaching strategies couldn’t be improved

- Due to the limited time of a 45-minute lesson, but having to solve many exercises, there was not much time to consider what was and wasn’t working in the classroom I rarely asked for students’ feedback, which made me unable to discover problems in my teaching style and find ways to fix them

- I seldom praised students’ answers and never used probing questions to extend their answers

- There was no a warm classroom climate Students were not allowed to speak freely

- The student's failure to grasp the content of the lessons resulted in an inability to get good results for tests and examinations

By analyzing difficulties in the process of teaching and learning I find that teacher quality is positively linked with student learning This is the primary reason to develop, implement, and continue efforts to improve my self-evaluation systems

2 The process of self-evaluation in teaching:

I myself propose the following research question for the study: “How should I self-evaluate in reality?” Many different approaches can be employed if one wishes to become a critically reflective teacher Carroll (1981) suggests personal reflection through self-rating forms; self-reports; peer observation and; self-study material Airasian and Gullickson (1997) also suggest: teacher portfolios, student performance data, collegial dialogue, experience sharing, and joint problem solving Richards (1990) recommends personal reflection through

journals or diaries; self-reporting by completing inventories or checklists and audio or video recordings of a lesson In my school teaching context, identifying questions and setting goals, student observation, peer observation, journals or diaries, self-reporting, video recording and using the teacher self-evaluation checklist seem to be the most suitable ones

2.1 Identifying questions, setting goals and answering questions reflecting on field work

Entrepreneur, writer, and avid self-evaluator Chris Guillebeau suggests starting with two major questions:

• What has gone well?

• What hasn’t gone so well?

To connect this to your teaching, it’s a good idea to expand these and get specific You may choose to ask yourself questions like:

• What feedback have I received this year?

• When have I felt at my best in the classroom?

• How satisfied am I with my work/life balance?

• What were my best moments this semester?

• When have I most enjoyed teaching?

• When have I not enjoyed teaching?

• What skills have I learned or improved upon this semester?

• What has made me feel proud this semester?

• What has been a major win this semester?

• How have I overcome a particular problem?

• What are my strengths as a teacher and how are they developing?

• What are my current challenges as a teacher?

Then, set goals for the following semester by asking questions such as:

• What skills would I like to develop next semester?

• What are two areas I want to improve on first?

• Where can I find free resources to develop my teaching?

A simple process is as follows: after teachers have taught the lesson, sit down and write down comments, reactions, etc., on the lesson plan itself (marginal notes) Later, teachers should then write a more formal reflection

for each lesson taught and respond to questions such as the following (adapted from Reed & Bergemann, 2005):

• How did the characteristics of the students affect your lesson plan? (Remember your contextual factors.)

• How did you utilize different performance modes (writing, speaking, reading, doing experiments, solving, puzzles)? Why?

• Why did you select the particular teaching assessment strategies you incorporated in your lesson?

• Evaluate the assessment strategies you used in your lesson

• How did the students respond to your enforcement of rules and application of consequences?

• How successful was your lesson? What was most effective? Least effective?

• What did you learn from planning your lesson? What did you learn from teaching the lesson?

• What did you learn about the teaching strategies you used?

• How did you adjust your instruction as a result of student learning?

• How well aligned were your content objectives with your formative assessment and instructional activities? Your unit goal with your summative assessment?

2.2 Journal Writing

Having a self-reflective journal is probably the easiest way to keep track of what happened during the lesson After class, jot down a few notes detailing my reactions, feelings, and any observations I made about my students To ensure

my assessment’s consistency, break down my journal into sections like lesson objective, classroom management, and materials

According to Powell and Bailey, a procedure which is becoming more widely acknowledged as a valuable tool for developing critical reflection is the journal or diary The goal of journal writing is:

a to provide a record of the significant learning experiences that have taken place

b to help the participant come into touch and keep in touch with the self-development process that is taking place for them

c to provide the participants with an opportunity to express, in a personal and dynamic way, their self-development

d to foster a creative interaction

• between the participant and the self-development process that is taking place

• between the participant and other participants who are also in the process of self-development

• between the participant and the facilitator whose role it is to foster such development

2.3 Student Observation

Students love giving feedback, so provide them with the opportunity to share their opinions Hand out a survey or questionnaire that allows them to express what they feel about your lesson Remember to write the questions in a way that enables them to express their thoughts thoroughly

If students won’t be willing to write their thoughts, conduct focus-group interviews or have an outside person take over instead to ensure objectivity Ask the questions you have in mind and probe the students to get more detailed information and clarification However, only choose this path if your student-teacher relationship is strong and built on trust

If you’d rather not be as direct, you can evaluate your technique and how well your students are learning by looking at their assignments and test results, provided that they’re well-designed to measure students’ learning achievements You’re also welcome to conducting oral tests after each class, but you’ll need to make sure that everyone participates

2.4 Peer Observation

Peer observation can be used to provide opportunities for teachers to view each other's teaching in order to expose them to different teaching styles and to provide opportunities for critical reflection on their own teaching Teachers are able to share their teaching experiences by reading one another's diary entries They also feel that we can learn as much from one another's entries as they are from their own

Have a colleague observe your teaching As the observation is more casual in nature, you’ll be able to teach naturally, and your observer will

be able to provide insight into your instruction Since your colleague is as busy as you are, create a questionnaire using questions like those below so they can fill it out as they observe

- Was the lesson too easy or too difficult for the students?

- Did you teach to ensure students comprehended the information?

- Did any issues arise in class?

- During which parts of the lesson did the students seem most engaged?

- Which parts didn’t seem as interesting?

- Do you think that the materials used in class helped? Which ones were the most useful and which didn’t work in the lesson?

- Do you have any suggestions for better materials I can use?

- Were my lesson instructions clear?

- Was I delivering the course material at a reasonable pace?

- Did all the students participate in the activity?

- How effective was the lesson overall? Do you have suggestions on how I can improve to encourage more involvement or increase learning?

- How well do you think I managed to handle problems during instruction?

- Do you think I was perceptive and sensitive to my students’ needs?

- How were my attitude and delivery overall?

After collecting this information, you should begin analyzing it First, look for recurring patterns

2.5 Video Recording

A valuable method to facilitate self-reflection, video recording is probably the best It gives you an unbiased view of how effective your lesson was from both a teacher and student perspective While viewing the video footage later, you may even come across errant behavior that you didn’t catch while teaching your camera record something that kept happening several times during your class? Are several students pointing out the same issue in their feedback forms? Jot down areas that need change and start looking for solutions

2.6 Using teacher self-evaluation checklists

Use a checklist to focus teachers’ attention on areas they wish to improve A

checklist will increase teachers’ focus on strong or weak areas and remind them

to seek actions to help them reach their goals for improvement