Roger Turner

Philosophy | Experience | Syllabi | Evaluations

Teaching Evaluations

Undergraduates twice evaluated my work as a teaching assistant at Penn. The first course was an introductory lecture-based course, the second an upper level, reading-intensive elective. In both, my primary tasks were leading discussion sections and grading students' oral and written work. In their course evaluations, students rated the quality of my teaching in ten categories, and commented on the most effective aspects of my teaching techniques.

Average Ratings of Teaching Effectiveness

"Please rate your TA on the following Items using a 0-5 scale, with 5 being the highest score." (N=50 responses)

Preparation for Recitation Periods 4.5
Knowledgeable about the material covered 4.6
Organization of material presented 4.3
Effectiveness of Communication 4.4
Ability to stimulate discussion 4.2
Receptivity to differing views 4.6
Fairness in grading 4.1
Originality, liveliness, enthusiasm 4.4
Accessible outside of classroom 4.6
Effective comments on writing 4.2

 

Selected Student Comments

  • "During recitation Roger always opened discussion with a question to stimulate group discussion, and patiently awaited our responses. He contributed his own knowledge/beliefs, but was careful not to overshadow our own thoughts/discussion."
  • "Roger's style seemed laidback, so I think people felt comfortable speaking and expressing their opinions in class."
  • "Roger's obvious interest in the subject matter helped to stimulate my interest. He also ran very helpful review sessions before tests and gave helpful comments on papers."
  • "He challenged us when we wrote our one page papers."
  • "Roger's comments on the weekly papers were always insightful, and he was always available after class."
  • "I thought that he was able to create an atmosphere that was conducive for discussions. You never felt pressure to talk. Also he was very nice about answering questions; very easy going person to talk to."
  • "Roger was wonderful in leading discussion and stimulating interest in the course. He was (by far) the best TA I've ever had in regards to leading discussion--he challenged our points at times, he asked good and hard questions and tried to get everybody involved. He was able to clarify concepts very well and had a lot of interesting insights. ...He was the best part of this class."
  • "I liked how he typed up explanations for our grades!"

 

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