I have been finding that the teaching demonstration part of the teacher candidate visit is the most unlikely component of evaluating an individual’s suitability for the position. Consider it – For teaching-centric institutions, teaching presentations are highly concerned and are often a mandatory component of candidate job visits. The general belief seems to be that a person cannot be evaluated without seeing in front of a live classroom.
To me, it seems a lot like expecting an interviewing doctor to do a continuous surgery and take over the surgery for half an hour before retreating and handing the patient over to the original surgeon. This seems unfair to the visiting physician or A troubled patient.
Teaching presentations usually involve candidates having to teach a portion of the lecture in an already existing and functional course. Now, the entire premise of teaching presentation is unnatural and flawed. Neither the presentation giver nor the presentation recipients benefited nor were observers (i.e., the unfortunate member of the search committee), they were the ones who invested the most in the presentation and did not receive any value. Yes, maybe you can determine how the candidates can speak in front of the audience in 20 minutes, but you can also collect this fact from research or job-seeking speeches. In a speech at that job, perhaps the candidate can also talk about his or her teaching philosophy. To me, this seems to be more valuable and useful information to collect.
One of my big problems with my teaching demo is that the students in attendance know it’s a demonstration and may not be too fussy about getting too much attention, because knowing that any demo covered by the demo is unlikely to make it Go to the exam or quiz. Provided by their regular coach. So it’s no surprise if they are based entirely on random criteria, such as the sartourial-style feel.
Essentially, demonstrations distract students – a way to let their minds wander from regular programming. I think this demonstration is destructive for student learning and regular teacher teaching. We have spent valuable time and students will be given regular teaching to get them into teaching demonstrations, and in the long run, they know that it doesn’t matter.
Of course, this demonstration interrupts the teaching plan of regular instructors. Now, lecturers must hang out during the demonstration time and let their attention wander, just like students. The instructor then has to go back to their regular courses, where half an hour or more has been wasted.
Furthermore, any evaluation obtained from the instructional presentation is not entirely trustworthy. There is evidence that course evaluations (performed throughout the semester) are biased against women and minority professors. Note that that is after the entire semester – on Earth, how do people expect a 25-35-minute demo evaluation to be fair? They certainly won’t be fair and may reflect similar biases against minority groups and women candidates. I’ve been hosting several search committees and have seen some really random comments about the demo evaluations listed. Needless to say, these comments are not Jewish for the actual situation, as they provide no useful evidence of the candidate’s ability to teach.
Additionally, this type of teaching demonstration is particularly rough for candidates suffering from social anxiety or introversion. Teaching involves building a rapport with your students – 20 minutes are hardly enough time to do this. It is entirely possible for a candidate to conduct an unfair assessment of the candidate based on a small portion of the time. A great teacher might have a bad teaching presentation, while a poor teacher might have a good teaching presentation – to be precise, to judge someone’s teaching ability based on a brief lecture? Isn’t it more accurate to actually take some time to carefully study the teaching evaluation of candidates? Yes, they are prone to errors, but think they are not as prone to errors as teaching presentations. Like teaching presentations more than a more complete semester assessment, similar to judging movies from their trailers. The trailer may be great, but the movie may still be bad. Same as teaching demonstration.
Alternatives to teaching presentations
I suggest some alternatives to teach demonstrations. The first is to include a small teaching part in the work conversation. Give candidates room to talk about his or her teaching philosophy, perhaps their pedagogical approach. When combined with a teaching evaluation for the actual semester, it will be more useful than a 20-minute or 30-minute presentation. Anyone can pretend to be good and approachable for 20 or 30 minutes – this is much harder throughout the semester. Even faculty and staff who are usually considered rude and inaccessible by their usual students can disappoint themselves, which is great and approachable for a 20-minute window. The way they behave throughout the semester is more useful and predictive.
Another alternative to live instructional demonstrations might be to make it asynchronous. Have the candidate record their own video speeches, and then have teachers and students watch the videos to evaluate the candidate’s teaching performance. After all, the goal is to see how candidates show and teach – why not take away the anxiety part of the live demonstration, but make it more fairer? Of course, recording the video itself may cause anxiety, but it is more anxious than a live demonstration in front of a crowd, is it OK?
A third alternative to live instructional presentation is to open up candidate research speeches to students. Often, research speeches are only attended by department faculty (some of which must be reluctantly divided from their offices by the search committee chairmen). Opening these speeches to students will achieve a dual purpose, which not only enhances the audience but also gives students a good idea for the exchange of candidates. This is the same thing as the teaching presentation does, but it is more effective and effective.
in conclusion
All in all, I suggest we get rid of teaching demonstrations on teacher job seekers’ visits. Now it is time to eliminate the useless rituals followed simply because of tradition. Let’s send the teaching demonstration in a dodo way.
