Self Evaluation of Your Course
To improve your history of mathematics course, you will have to develop the habit of evaluating your performance yourself. If you develop the habit of thinking carefully about what you have done and how you can improve and continually reflect on these issues, then it is likely that your course will continually improve.
After Each Class
After each class you should make notes about how the class went, what went well, and what you can do to improve.
It will take discipline to do this, for it is much easier to just stuff
everything from the day in a folder and forget about it until the next time you
teach the course. But it is well worth your time to organize the material in the
folder so that it is ready to go again and then spend some time making notes to
yourself for the next time.
Here are some things you should do after each class:
- Record what material you covered in the class. Make notes on your classnotes
about things that you did and didn't cover.
- Make some honest comments in your class notes about what went well and about
what should have been better prepared. Devise a plan for improving weak points.
- Be sure that your class notes list all of the references you consulted in
preparing your lecture, including the page numbers consulted.
- Were there journal articles that you wanted to consult while preparing class
and that were not available in your library? If so, order them via interlibrary
loan now so that you will have them later.
- List the overheads that you used in class. What comments
did they evoke from the students? What overheads did you wish you had? Made a list of the kinds of overhead that you are looking for and then keep them in mind as you look at various sources during the term. Perhaps you will find what you want. If not, post a note to a
history email list asking where such materials can be found.
- What questions did the students ask in class? Which of these questions were you unable to answer satisfactorily. Can you do the
research necessary to answer them by the next class? If so, do it. If the questions were factual, an email list provides a good way to answer them. This saves time during the next class, provides an
answer while the student who asked the question still has it in mind, and convinces the whole class that you care about their interests.
- What questions occurred to you during the class? Were there historical questions that you wished you knew the answers to? Were there mathematical issues where you wished you had more detail?
- Did any exam questions occur to you while lecturing? Was there a point that you made in class that you put special stress on? If so, perhaps it should be developed into a potential exam question.
- Did any ideas for student papers occur to you?
There is no question that it takes considerable diligence to do what has just been suggested. But it is very helpful.
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If you have comments, send email to V. Frederick Rickey at
fred-rickey@usma.edu .
Posted 19 January 1998. Revised 11 January 2003.