Website for rating teachers
EDTECH Editor-Eiffert
What about Private schools? Teachers hired at Private schools aren't
accountable to the public only their selected families that they accept at
their institution. So should these schools be included on this website for
the "PUBLIC" to view?
I have read the posts relating to this website. I find them to be
interesting in the fact that the underlying principle behind this website is
to rate a teacher. What good or bad can become of this? Will parents start
pulling their children out of schools? Will teachers change their behavior
based upon anonymous reviews? Will administrators fire teachers based upon
those same reviews? Will parents demand that their child be moved to a
teacher with a more favorable rating?
My opinion is that nothing will change as a result of these ratings. Parents
who send their children to public school have little choice in the school
and teacher their children get. Teachers can read these opinions but in the
end most won't be affected by them and will teach the same way.
Administrators would be sued if they fired teachers based upon anonymous
posts. Even parents at private schools have nothing to do with the teacher
that their children get.
Conclusion:The website is just a place for someone to vent(anonymously) some
good or bad feelings. If someone uses this website to vent instead of a
weapon then I'm all for it.
Jeff Wheeler
Beth McDonough wrote:
>Surely teachers aren't public figures that offer their lives up to this
sort of
>exposure, are they?
x-From: Howard Solomon <hms...@garnet.acns.fsu.edu>
>Actually, teachers are in the public eye. Whether school boards are
>appointed or elected, the board members are responsible to the community
>for the quality of teachers that they hire into and remove from teaching
>positions. This means that teacher performance is discussed in meetings.
>Most of the time, there are exceptions to public meeting acts that allow
>specific deliberations about personnel issues to be discussed behind
>closed doors. But specific statements can be made by the public in
>public meetings, which are recorded in minutes by the recording
>secretary. So if your disgruntled colleague wants to attend a school
>board meeting and stand in front of the board and say that Ms. McDonough
>is unprofessional, her statement is a public record. But it's also a
>public record that Ms. Nutcase was the person who made the claim.
>Sites like ratemyteacher.com can be abused and allow the Ms. Nutcases of
>the world an opportunity to libel. Besides telling you that all
>complaints originated from one computer, they also should be able to
>supply you with a specific computer identificaton number which your
>system administrator might confirm is her computer. This could be used
>to as documentation for personnel complaints that you might consider
>lodging against her. Given the apparent vindictiveness of her nature,
>I'd be reluctant to believe that she's the kind of person I'd want
>influencing the judgement making capacities of children.
---
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SIGNOFF EDTECH
EDTECH Editor-Eiffert
Jeff,
Why should teachers have to bring comments to their attention? The website
should be aware of everything that is placed on their site. Why should the
victim need to be the policing entity? So what if it didn't contain vulgar
words? If the website makes a claim then they need to be held accountable
and responsible. Just like the teachers that are being rated. If they can't
do their job then they need to get rid of the site. Think of how many
comments have "slipped through the cracks" on this site because the poster
didn't use vulgar words.
Jeff Wheeler
x-From: "Hogan, Jeff" <hog...@ocps.k12.fl.us>
>That definitely was an oversite. It contained no vulgar words and just
>slipped through the cracks. Bringing it to their attention (instead of
>ours) would have solved the problem.
>X-From: Nancy Willard <nwil...@responsiblenetizen.org>
>Have you seen this site's rating rules? Here they are
>http://www.ratemyteachers.com/RateRules.jsp
>ALL COMMENTS THAT:
>contain vulgar or profane words
>are sexual in nature - including 'Sexy' or 'Hot'
>have to do with personal appearance (cute, short, fat, bad clothes,
etc.)
>WILL BE DELETED.
x-From: Michael McMullin <mcmu...@iol.ie>
>that being so, how come I found this on the first rating I viewed:
>12/17/02 5 3 3 When they say easy she is easy! She put out on the
>first date. She is pierced!
EDTECH Editor-Eiffert
My understanding is that the teacher has to complain about the comment
if they truly want to be sure that it is removed. Also, from my
understanding, they have volunteers who "monitor" the comments.
Obviously, this volunteer was not doing his job.
All that being said, who's the teacher? Is she single? Just kidding!!!!
-Chris Arndt
Montgomery, NY
>X-From: Nancy Willard <nwil...@responsiblenetizen.org>
>Have you seen this site's rating rules? Here they are
>http://www.ratemyteachers.com/RateRules.jsp
>ALL COMMENTS THAT:
>contain vulgar or profane words
>are sexual in nature - including 'Sexy' or 'Hot'
>have to do with personal appearance (cute, short, fat, bad clothes,
etc.)
>WILL BE DELETED.
x-From: Michael McMullin <mcmu...@iol.ie>
>that being so, how come I found this on the first rating I viewed:
>12/17/02 5 3 3 When they say easy she is easy! She put out on the
>first date. She is pierced!
?
EDTECH Editor-Eiffert
Jeff Wheeler wrote:
>
>
"Teachers can read these opinions but in the end most won't be affected
by them and will teach the same way."
Jeff,
I disagree with you about whether teachers change as a result of reading
opinions . Teachers aren't locked into a style. There's no assembly line
mentality that leads them to do the same thing every day. The classroom
is a fertile ground for experimantation with techniques directed at
helping student achieve the ill-defined goal of learning. And most
teachers don't develop a "script" because they know that what worked
last year doesn't work this year. Formative feedback during the
experimental process is almost entirely lacking.
As an experiment this semester, I gave students an assignment that they
were to complete in a chat client in Blackboard. While they were
chatting, they were also commenting about my teaching style. I
discovered that I had a habit of walking around the room and
interrupting people by asking questions to which they sometimes didn't
know the answers. I've tried to modify the practice by introducing
questions for groups instead of for individuals. It seemed to help. But
I wouldn't have known much about my "style" without feedback.
There is so little feedback that isn't obtained in a very top-down
manner in a classroom. Chat, as a tool, carries a sense of anonymity
that lets students become looser in their comments. RatemyTeacher offers
the same kind of anonymity to students. When I heard about it, I looked
there immediately but wasn't listed. Had anything negative been there,
I'd have probably felt hurt about it at first, and then started thinking
about what to do about it.
My point is that teaching styles change quickly in the presence of
information indicating that they don't work.
- Howard Solomon
EDTECH Editor-Eiffert
From: Beth McDonough <elizabeth...@bcsemail.org>
Jeff:
Thanks for this information. Isn't Ratemyteacher.com
distinguished from email lists and blogs since it sells
advertising on its site?
Beth
x-From: Jeff Hogan <hog...@ocps.k12.fl.us>
>Beth,
>Look at http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,59424,00.html
>In it you will find that online journals cannot be held
>responsible for libel.
<snip>
Beth McDonough
Librarian/Technology Facilitator
A.C. Reynolds High School
One Rocket Drive
Asheville, NC 28803
EDTECH Editor-Eiffert
I have also been very interested in this thread about the teacher rating.
Howard, I think that you make some very valid points...and I can relate to
your experiments in using technology with the kids. I am in an experimental
stage, now. The kids groan...they know the signs and have been my "guinea
pigs" before. They also know that some things work while others flop...so
they go along for the ride. What might seem to flop in my eyes might be
great for the students. Feedback is important.
I still have some issues with the inability for teachers to remove their own
names from the web site. (I know many teachers in my school who would be
very upset if they knew that their names were listed in such a manner.)
I also think that the students need the anonymity of the internet to say
what they really think. Yes, they are putting stuff on the site that isn't
appropriate, but they are also putting some really good stuff there.
I teach middle school, but my daughters go to HS. Their teachers are
actually directing them to go there and rate their teachers. There is a
student that monitors the comments before they go up. (I hope that the
student is only taking out the really bad stuff.) Perhaps, if run in such an
open manner, the students would see it as a positive, constructive tool
rather than a teacher bashing tool.
So in essence, I agree in theory with the rateyourteacher website, but think
that there might be a slightly better way to go about it.
********************************************
Laura J. Dowling
Saunders Middle School, Manassas, VA
Seventh Grade Language Arts
The Dream Team
http://teacherweb.com/VA/SaundersMiddleSchool/Dream_Team
mailto:dowl...@pwcs.edu
http://www.dowlingcentral.com
AIM: tchmrsd
EDTECH Editor-Eiffert
We informed our staff of the ratemyteacher.com web site so they knew it
existed. The students on occasion have talked about it but interest has gone down
since a flurry of activity back in December.
I have read the student comments about myself and others and overall they
were very positive. They did mention some things they did not like, such as too
many notes, hard tests, etc but that is not necessarily bad to hear these
concerns. There were a few postings for various teachers that looked unfair but
overall I think the students gave pretty fair responses, at least from their
point-of-view.
I am one of the few teachers that encourages students to share what they like
about my courses and what can be improved (keep it positive). I have often
taken legitimate student considerations into account as I revise lessons and
methods of teaching. Personally I think all teachers should do this and not
automatically dismiss all student criticism as invalid.
Michael Rio
Harper Creek HS
Battle Creek, MI
EDTECH Editor-Eiffert
I think it's quite funny that so many educated professionals are so
worried about what a bunch of pre-teens or teenagers think of them.
If we all do our job and do it well, there are enough wonderful
compliments and daily intrinsic motivators to keep us doing what we love
to do. The irony is that we give report cards on kids all year long,
and while I suspect nearly every one of them is respectful and
appropriate, even if it describes serious deficits, that is what the
difference is in (a) age, (b) professionalism, (c) ability, and (d)
care.
You're right. Teaching is not a popularity contest, but it's also
not different from anything else in this world. As a person doing
something to/with/in front of other people, you are open to criticism.
Suck it up and move on.
This whole conversation has little to do with technology, and everything
to do with content. A student has just as much ability (though at a
cost) to take out an ad in the local paper describing why he doesn't like
his teacher. BIG DEAL.
My kids do a report card on me every single year on the second to last day
of school. I hold up their report cards and show them that they are
already done. The trust has been established all year. The
trust is "reminded" at that moment to show them that their
comments (positive and/or negative) will not affect the outcome of their
report card and we go from there. If you ever want feedback on
teaching, from whom can you get better feedback than those who have
watched you all year???
In my experience, I never feel under-appreciated except when our union
enters its regular bickering session with our government to argue for a
salary increase and forbids me to do things that, interestingly enough,
are on my own free, voluntary time. Yes -- in British Columbia,
coaching *IS* voluntary. We do *NOT* get paid. MORE evidence
of INTRINSIC motivation. I have had countless parents thank me for
the daily work we do. My principals have been very positive about
thanking me for the work I do. It's nice, but it's not needed.
And one more thing... when someone tells me that they would do
something a little differently? I strike it up as a learning
experience and I actually do this cool thing we expect all our students to
do: I LISTEN.
One last thing: I'm getting tired of hearing that teachers are
under-appreciated. If you're doing your job to be appreciated by
people, quit to make room for people who are doing their job to help
others and go work for the local Steak and Seafood Restaurant. The
better you do, the bigger the tip. Oh yeah, that's feedback.
That also means that if you do a poor job, your criticism will mean
that your tip is smaller.
Brad Helland<br> Grade 7 Teacher<br> Surrey School District<br> British
Columbia, Canada<br>
____________________________________________________________<br> "A
teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary"<br>
-
Thomas Carruthers<br>
____________________________________________________________<br> <br> <br>
EDTECH Editor-Eiffert
I think ratemtteacher.com is a good resource for students. I have a link
from my website that allows students to go directly to my page on
ratemyteacher. I have gotten mostly positive responses but some negative
ones too, but aren't the kids aloud to write what they want and express
their opinions.
Paul Perskin
IS 93
New York, NY
x- From: Michael Rio <Micha...@aol.com>
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