Teaching is not what I do for a paycheck; it defines who I am as a professor. That is why I conduct a regular and ongoing reflection on the quality of my teaching. Sometimes while in the midst of it. I do not gauge the quality of my teaching based on the end of semester course evaluation like others because that would be foolish. I routinely do it because the students depend on me to prepare them to be hospitality managers one day and the onus is on me to deliver.
Here is a tip on gauging the quality of your teaching on a routine basis. We have a student-led debrief session to wrap up the quantity foods lab. We want them to reflect on how they thought they did in the front and back of the house. The student managers of the day are taught how to lead the session because they will be doing it one day as a manager. One of the tools they use to gauge their performance is the results from their Report Card, which is what we renamed the customer comment card. We interject occasionally into their conversation when a manager says “we were awesome today!” They are asked to cite the specific things that they observed that led to them to declare their “awesomeness.” Otherwise we listen.
But while they are talking about their performance in the lab on any given day I listen carefully for clues on what they are signaling to myself, the chef instructor and TA as to the quality of our teaching. Are the problems they encountered when cooking and serving the food due to they way we taught them in the first place? Are the successes they had due to the way they were taught? We need to find out in order to revise our approach to teaching the lab perhaps the next day or day one of the following semester so they will be successful.
So next time students are talking, do some active listening to see what they are saying to you about your teaching. When acting on that feedback you will steadily improve upon your teaching and the best part of all – student learning!
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