Teaching
Evaluation
Course
Evaluation for "German 115a
for Beginners", Fall Semester 2004-5,
Time:
All
Weekdays,
Evaluation
received, 8 evaluations out of 9 students
Instructor
Evaluation (rate from 1 to 5, from Poor to Very Good)
Instructor’s
overall teaching:
6 students checked 5,
two students checked 4
Displayed
concern for student understanding:
7 students checked 5,
one student checked
3,
Set
out and met
clear objectives for the course:
6
students checked 5, two checked 4
Displayed
thorough
knowledge of course material: 8
students checked 5
Presented
clear
and organized sessions:
6
students checked 5, two checked 4
Was
available
outside of class:
7
students checked 5, one checked 4
Selected
Comments:
(From
Departmental Evaluation Forms) Question: What specifically about the
course did
you like and you think should not change?
Comment
1: Having class
everyday is a necessity. Qinna
Rules.
Comment
2: The class
dynamic and teacher’s
understanding nature.
Comment
3: I think Qinna
was a great TA, so that
helped a lot. Actually, I haven taken many language classes, and I
think this
works just fine.
Comment
4: Good pace,
good coverage of topics.
Comment
5: I like the
way that the class met every
day and this should not change. The instructor (Qinna Shen) is
knowledgeable
and cares about her students.
(From
Online
Evaluation Forms provided by the Registrar) Question 1: Looking back on
German
115 01, what is your overall assessment of the course?
Comment
1: My favorite
part of class was when we
played games. I also like whenever we read out loud, especially when we
read
German literature like poems and short stories. I think the role plays
are an
excellent idea for fall semester, but second semester an oral with the
professor would be good. It is an excellent way to make sure students
are
developing some fluency. I really think Qinna was just about the best
German
teacher ever. She was always available to meet after class, and she was
always
well prepared for class with fun activities.
Comment
2: I have a lot
of experience with language
classes, and I found this class effective.
Comment
3: This is a
great class with very very good
results as far as your writing and speaking skills, for what can be
expected of
one semester of a new language.
(From
Online
Evaluation Forms provided by the Registrar) Question 2: Please evaluate
each
instructor of German 115 01. What are the instructor’s strengths and
weaknesses, and in what ways might his/her teaching be improved?
Comment
1: My TA was
awesome, I think she did a
fabulous job organizing the class and really responding to our needs.
Comment
2: Qinna is the
best! She became our friend
and truly helped us a lot inside and outside of the class. Her very
friendly
way of being made our
Comments
3: Qinna was
always well prepared for class.
She always had exercises or games prepared to help us to practice
German. I
only wish that she would do less exercises from the book in class.
Sometimes
they become tedious, although they are necessary.
(From
Online
Evaluation Forms provided by the Registrar) Question 4: How would you
summarize
German 115 01 for a fellow student? Would you recommend German 11501 to
another
student? Why or why not?
Comment
1: I would
recommend it.
Comment
2: German 115 is
a lot of work, but is an
enjoyable experience. There is written homework almost every night, and
everyday students are expected to review sections of the textbook. I
took
German in high school for five years, but I have learned a great deal
doing the
first semester. My pronunciation, my reading skills, and my speaking
skills
have improved significantly.
Course Evaluation for "German 115b", Spring Semester
2005,
Time:
All
Weekdays,
Evaluation
received: 5 evaluations out of 8 students
Instructor
Evaluation (rate from 1 to 5, from Poor to Very Good)
Instructor’s
overall teaching:
5
students checked 5 (5 x 5)
Displayed
concern for student understanding:
5
x 5
Set
out and met
clear objectives for the course:
5
x 5
Displayed
thorough knowledge of course material:
5
x 5
Presented
clear
and organized sessions:
5
x 5
Was
available
outside of class:
5
x 5
Selected
Comments:
(From
Departmental Evaluation Forms) Question: What specifically about the
course did
you like and you think should not change?
Comment
1: I thought
the teacher was fantastic. Qinna
was well prepared for class and linked course materials to daily
themes. The
additional exercises that she provided were very helpful. I don’t think
the
structure of her lessons should change.
Comment
2: The essays,
presentation and group
presentation are a great way to learn new material.
(From
Online
Evaluation Forms provided by the Registrar) Question 1: Looking back on
German
115 01, what is your overall assessment of the course?
Comment
1: It is a very
rigorous, but well structured course. It’s perfect for introductory
German.
Comment
2: The course was
extremely informative and well-organized. I learned a lot. One of the
best
things about the course was the diversity of the assignments. Sometimes
we had
role-plays, sometimes we gave oral presentations. We wrote essays and
read
short stories and non-fiction writing. We also did various in-book
exercises
and watched films and video clips. Sometimes we just spent the entire
class
talking in German. Although some of these activities were harder than
others
and some were not always exciting, I really liked that the class used a
variety
of teaching and learning methods because what I find to be beneficial
may not
be helpful to another student. Still, one weakness was the value of
work. I do
think lots of practice is important when studying a foreign language,
but
sometimes too much work is just over-kill.
(From
Online
Evaluation Forms provided by the Registrar) Question 2: Please evaluate
each
instructor of German 115 01. What are the instructor’s strengths and
weaknesses, and in what ways might his/her teaching be improved?
Comment
1: Qinna was a
great instructor. She was
organized, provided the class with extra revision material and was
always
available for extra help.
Comment
2: Qinna was an
amazing instructor. She was
always prepared for class, and she works really well with her students.
She was
always ready and willing to do extra work to help her students. I
really
appreciate the efforts she put in. I feel that our German class was
probably
the best and most fun. […] Qinna did an excellent job.
Comment
3: Qinna is
excellent in understanding
students, in becoming more like a friend and in creating a great class
environment for discussion.
Comment
4: Qinna was
fabulous! One can tell that she
really cares about how each student is doing, and really went above and
beyond
to help us learn. She really pushed us to do well and go to the next
level, and
I think that she is a great teacher because of that.
(From
Online
Evaluation Forms provided by the Registrar) Question 4: How would you
summarize
German 115 01 for a fellow student? Would you recommend German 11501 to
another
student? Why or why not?
Comment
1: I
would recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning German.
However, the
workload is quite substantial, so be prepared to work harder than other
classes.
(From
Online
Evaluation Forms provided by the Registrar) Question 7: Do you think
the
instructor has incorporated a good amount of literary texts and
cultural
materials? What have you learned from this class besides German
language
skills?
Comment
1:
Wow, yes. Qinna did a great job incorporating literary texts.
Sometimes
the reading level of texts was difficult, but the texts helped to
expand my
knowledge of vocabulary, pronunciation and culture. I can’t remember
specifics
at the moment, but Qinna would bring in news articles and other
literary and
biographical texts to familiarize us with German cultural material.
Qinna is
definitely passionate about German, and that passion was evident in her
incorporation of cultural text and materials.
Comment
2: yes, we
learned much from history,
politics and general lifestyle in
Comment
3: We read a lot
of newspaper articles which
I appreciated a lot. Also, we did many songs which were often silly but
good, I
think. I think we definitely learned about German culture.
Course Evaluation for “German for
Evaluation
received:
6 out of 8 students
Question: Your general rating of this course:
Excellent, Very good, Good, Fair, Poor.
Results:
Two
students checked “Excellent.” Four others checked “Very good.” Most
students
feel that at least add one more week to the class would be necessary.
Selected
Comments:
Question 1: How would you best describe this class?
Comments
1: Just as it
was described – an excellent
quick overview of German for reading and translation
Comments
2: Very Good.
Comments
3: Discussion of
German grammar and
translation at a reasonably intense level
Comments
4: This is very
short to deal with the whole
thing of German, but it is very effective for me to learn the basic
elements of
German.
Comments
5: Very
challenging, but informative for me,
somewhat frustrating but that is also because of my own busy schedule.
Question 2: What did you
like the most about the class?
Comments
1: The
instructor was excellent. Small class
size was great.
Comments
2: The organized
approach of the instructor.
The many helpful handouts that she provided. The definite expectations
she set.
The very helpful attitude of the instructor – She was always willing to
help,
answer questions.
Comments
3: lots of
practical questions and answers.
Comments
4: Learning to
read and pronounce German. The
handouts were very useful to do at home and go over in class,
especially since
the Übungssätze are online and the handouts were more focused
on a particular
grammatical topic.
* Copies of Student Evaluations are available upon
request.