Feedback and teaching effectiveness
A critical component of my pedagogical development is the solicitation of feedback from students and peers and subsequent iteration upon my teaching practices.
Student feedback
Students provide a direct assessment of our teaching effectiveness and classroom environment.
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My students say:
"Janine was excellent to put it shortly. She was always willing to help students and does a great job of breaking down complex/unintuitive concepts very well. She also does all these things very enthusiastically. Janine is also very approachable and very friendly... You did great Janine, you are the unsung hero of this course.”
Peer feedback
The advantage of soliciting feedback from peers is an outside perspective and insightful recommendations. ​
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My peers say:
"She creates a welcoming and inclusive course environment by using affirming and community-building language, asking students questions and listening actively to gauge their understanding, and making full use of multiple modalities of learning.
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At the end of interactions with Janine students frequently respond with audible signals of understanding, including phrases like ‘that makes sense, finally,’ and at least one chorus of ‘Ooooooooooh.’"
When things go wrong...
I believe a fundamental part of the teaching process is iterating on my teaching and being dynamic and responsive to student needs. To the left is a lab assignment I designed and implemented in Introduction to Mineralogy mid-way through the semester when we moved from hand samples to looking at minerals in thins section.
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I wanted to focus the lesson on inquiry-based exploration of the thin section and led the lab by asking students to choose an unknown mineral and begin by noticing and describing the mineral's properties.
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The students were overwhelmed by this approach and I had to pivot mid-lesson to a more structured investigation in which we all looked at one mineral together, projected at the front of the room, and then students were responsible for finding an example of the same mineral under their own microscope.
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Sometimes I misjudge how students are going to engage with the course content, but I'm flexible enough in my teaching and create a supportive atmosphere in which students can express their needs and we readjust on the fly.