I am glad that I had the opportunity to ask students for feedback on my performance. Learning what they think of my teaching practice shows me a valuable perspective. I am able to gain insight on the direct impact I have on my students. That being said, what I chose to focus on from the feedback survey are items that refer to Standard II: teaching all students. More specifically, I focused on a few key items that address how I establish a safe learning environment, how I maintain cultural proficiency and how I set high expectations.

Item 1 states that “my teacher demonstrates that mistakes are a part of learning” and item 3 states that “my teacher believes in my ability.” All of the students responded that they either agree or strongly agree with those statements. The overwhelmingly positive response I received regarding those two statements affirms my goal of fostering a sense of confidence and self-esteem in each of my students. I aim to make sure that every student feels capable in my classroom, regardless of their background in art, because they are in fact capable of making art.

I am constantly telling students to never throw their work away even if they make a mistake or they hate it. Every draft is practice that helps students develop the technical skills used in art. Every mistake helps students get closer to meeting or exceeding the expectations I set for them. I also constantly encourage students to work through their mistakes instead of giving up. Making a mistake does not mean they failed. Making a mistake does not mean an entire project is ruined. Making a mistake does not mean they need to start over. I have encountered students who struggle immensely with the idea that they can fix their mistakes or adjust their projects to integrate their “mistakes.” They fight to throw away all the hard work they put into their projects thus far and beg to start over. When I refuse to let them give up and push them to finish what they started, they may hate the situation (and/or me) in the moment but I notice that the next time I encourage them to work through their mistakes, I hear them complain a little less. That observation coupled with the positive responses to items 1 and 3 tell me that students have a slowly but surely growing sense of confidence in their abilities.

Every student is able to accomplish the projects I assign if they are willing to apply themselves and put in effective effort. My assignments do not require an innate artistic ability to complete them. I strive to instill that mindset in each of my students, which closely aligns with item 55 that states “my teacher believes that hard work, not ability, will ensure our success.” Contrary to the overwhelmingly positive responses on items 1 and 3, students had mixed responses to item 55. Some agreed, some strongly agreed, and still some disagreed and some even strongly disagreed.

Those responses surprised me mainly because if students agree that I believe mistakes are a part of learning and that I believe in their ability, I would assume that they would also agree that I believe hard work leads to success. I see working through mistakes as hard work and I wonder how I can express this more to my students. Several students have asked me why they received a low grade in the class or on a project, and much of my reasoning was because I felt they did not put in genuine effort to finish their assignments. They are shocked by that and argue that they did try, to which I ask if they can honestly tell me they put in as much effort as they could to create the best artwork they could. More often than not, those same students who initially argue that they did try cannot answer my question honestly. I know that my students are capable of meeting my expectations if they put in significant effort. So if they know that hard work goes a long way in terms of succeeding in my classroom and I remind them of this, I wonder why students had mixed responses to item 55. I would have guessed that their responses would have been more agreeing.

Finally, item 50 states that “the teacher and students respect each other in this class.” Though not exactly half, many students responded that they either agree or strongly agree and the other students responded that they disagree or strongly disagree. I respect my students as individuals in addition to as learners. I try to be as open as I can with students – providing honest feedback and criticism, validating every effort whether it is a comment or an assignment, listening to their needs and making an effort to accommodate them. I also show them that I have an interest in their lives and well-being outside my classroom. I ask about their food and water intake to check that they are taking care of their physical health. I ask about their mood and their reasoning, empathize, support, advise, etc. So it would surprise me if students had responded that they disagree or strongly disagree with item 50 because they did not think I respected them.

I would be less surprised if the negative responses were because students did not think they respect each other in my classroom. I do not tolerate bullying or malicious criticisms in my classroom. I try to address negative comments immediately to first determine whether they were intentionally aimed to hurt and second to redirect those conversations in a more positive way. However, I recognize that not all my students are friends with or friendly to each other (in the sense that they do not seem to want to make new friends). There is no problem with that, but I wonder if the negative responses to item 50 were due to students not really knowing each other or not really communicating with each other and associating that with disrespect.

I believe that overall I received mostly positive feedback from my students. There were not many comments written in the free response section but all of the ones I did read were very positive. A few highlights are: “for a class full of annoying freshmen (mostly) she kept her cool and kept thing in control. she’s cool and helps me after school;” “very good teacher!! honest and fair always keep it a buck, no less!!;” “Ms. Jung is an amazing teacher who does her job well! Your one of my favorites, I know you’ll be successful!”