Summary of Student Feedback

Dawn Walts
English
Winner 2005 Graduate Associate Teaching Award
The Ohio State University

“I think this was an exceptional course. I say this because in the beginning I was a little unsure about the topic and how well I would do because I couldn’t understand it. But after the first day of class, my whole mindset changed. You were very informative as well as helpful in breaking down the info. and putting it in ways that I could grasp the concept (information that I won’t forget after the final).”
Student quote from end-of-term evaluation

Enthusiasm for Teaching and Passion for Subject
When my advisor observed me teaching English 220: Introduction to Shakespeare in autumn of 2004, she told me I was an excellent teacher. The class was very lively and full of energy that day largely due to my own excitement about the text we were reading, Taming of the Shrew. One of the students in the class mentioned on his or her discursive end-of-term evaluation that “You can tell she loves to teach Shakespeare, which motivated me to learn more!” Another student in the same class wrote “She was always very excited to be teaching and it made me want to do well for her.” While passion for the subject matter is a key ingredient in a successful class, it is not enough if not coupled with an enthusiasm for teaching. I also try to remember that I’m not teaching a subject, but rather, I am teaching students about a subject. I can know everything about a subject and do everything right in the classroom, but if I don’t inspire my students to engage in the learning process, it doesn’t matter how much I know about a subject or teaching. In my classes, I combine my passion for the subject with my enthusiasm for teaching to inspire students to develop their own passion for the material and their own enthusiasm for learning. Another Shakespeare student wrote “Honestly one of the best professors [sic] I’ve had in my four years here. She cares about her students and she wants to teach. Thank you Dawn!” After the term was over, I was still hearing from my students. In an e-mail, one student wrote “I looked forward going to class every Tuesday and Thursday. I never knew what new wrinkle or new perspective about a character would be presented in class.” And finally, one student sent me a note via the “Thank A Prof” system that said “The class could have easily been very dry and boring, but the teacher was enthusiastic, which made us students enthusiastic, and made the class fun.”

The material I teach is challenging and thought to be inaccessible by many of my students. And my standards as a teacher are very high; I expect a lot out of my students. With challenging material and high expectations, it is essential that I, as an instructor, bring out the beauty of the text and the joy of learning. In their end-of-term discursive evaluations, students in English 201: British Literature (Medieval to 1800) wrote:

• “ The course was incredible. I never thought I would be interested in learning about literature in the past centuries, but I became very interested.”
• “ She taught the class very well; this is the only English class I enjoyed coming to; she explained everything very thoroughly & was always willing to help; this class always kept me wanting more.”
• And my personal favorite: “Never a problem staying awake and focused in this class.”

Students in English 260: Introduction to Poetry (Literature Survey) have had this to say about how my energy in class motivated them:

• “ Probably the best testimony of [the success of this class] was my excitement at going to class.”
• “Dawn was very effective mostly because she was so passionate about poetry. That kind of enthusiasm is bound to rub off on students, especially the struggling ones.”
• “ She has such a passion for this information and to teach it to us. The energy she projected was ‘catching’ and helped me to get excited about it too.”
• Several students from this section, over the Summer I might add, mentioned wrote that that they wished the class could meet more than twice a week!

Preparation and Planning
All the enthusiasm and excitement in the world is useless if I don’t know what I’m talking about and don’t have a plan about how to talk about it. I spend a great deal of time thinking about how I can communicate complex ideas and push my students to wrestle with difficult texts. Some days I am planting seeds by teaching them literary terminology; other days I am preparing them for battle with historical and literary context. When I was preparing to teach English 201: British Literature (Medieval to 1800) for the first time, I was able to present three lessons in front of Prof. C.A. Jones’ class. In his written evaluation of my work, Prof. Jones wrote “In each of her three modules, she presented material in a clear, well-organized, and always accessible way. Most successful, I thought, was the way she led students through Donne’s complex poems with the help of diagrams and lists of key words/images organized by category on the blackboard. It was one of the most lucidly conceived and student-friendly presentation of Donne I’ve seen, and on it I intend (with her permission) to model my own future teaching of those poems.”I invest a great amount of time and energy into planning my lectures and preparing for class in order to create an environment where students enjoy learning. As one student observed “There was never a dull moment.”

End-of-term evaluations from my 200-level classes say lectures were “organized,” “relevant,” and, my personal favorite, “VERY COOL!”

• “ I pushed myself hard because the course was run very professionally and it made me want to do well.”
• “ I was consistently interested in the readings and lectures, much to my surprise.”
• “ I really enjoyed the teaching style. I think it is one of the few classes I have ever taken where it feels like a class… good atmosphere for learning.”
• “This course was very refreshing. A lot of English classes are very boring and monatunous [sic]. This class was very fresh every day. I like how we went through the entire history of poetry.”

Easing Anxieties and Overcoming Resistance
This is the one area I have put the most effort into and I believe it is one of my strongest qualities as an instructor. On the one hand, I want to put students at ease so that they will ask questions and feel comfortable enough to take risks necessary to learn; on the other hand, I need students to respect my authority in the classroom so that individuals do not decide to disrupt the learning environment. I am always working to refine this balance, but it always seems to hinge on two key behaviors: be respectful and be professional. Evaluating my persona in front of 40 undergraduates, Dr. Jones wrote “Whether lecturing or seeking to elicit discussion, Dawn has an unfailingly professional demeanor, authoritative yet unforbidding.”

Because the courses I teach tend to focus on Medieval and Renaissance literature, many students arrive on the first day of class with a high level of anxiety about the material. In my Introduction to Shakespeare in particular, a couple of students even e-mailed me about their anxieties before the first day of class. This is why I make such an effort to be accessible to my students and why I encourage them to contact me with questions and concerns. When my students expressed concern about their ability to understand Shakespeare’s plays, I wrote “The User’s Guide for Shakespeare.” This document simply spelled out some tips to help students in their reading of the plays. I also began to post discussion questions on WebCT for all of the readings one class period before our discussion. This not only gave students some ideas about what to read for, but also alleviated performance anxiety during class discussions. As one of my Shakespeare students wrote on the end-of-term evaluation, “I was apprehensive at first, being a science major, that I would have difficulty with the material. However, Dawn made it easy to discuss and understand the plays. I feel as though I have a much better understanding of Shakespeare.” Another student felt the same: “ Initially, I was weary of this class (Shakespeare). I didn’t think that I would do well. But Dawn is an amazing teacher and she taught me a lot.”

As a first-generation college student, I understand that Shakespeare and other literature can be very intimidating to students who don’t believe they have the right ‘background’ to understand these texts. Because I think it so important for all of my students to engage with these texts, I make an extra effort to arrive to class early and engage in conversation with them. One of my students mentioned how much he/she appreciated that I “spoke on our level—not intellectually snobby at all.” Another student wrote, “She made me feel comfortable in and out of class.” I have learned that the more comfortable students are with me as a person, the more likely they are to confide in me when they are struggling with the material; and when I know students are struggling, I can help them.

English 201: British Literature (Medieval to 1800) is known among undergraduate English majors as “the root canal” of major requirements. Most students dread taking the course and try to put it off as long as possible. Non-majors in the class are usually just as excited as the majors. Enthusiasm for teaching and my passion for the subject go a long way, but I have some pretty tough customers in this course. Students come into the class thinking that the material is boring—after all, it is really old—and too difficult to understand. Respecting the fact that many students came to the class reluctantly, I decided to make sure they were reluctant to see the class come to end.

• “ I thought this course was excellent. I’ve put off taking it because the period wasn’t a favorite. As a result of the class, I’m considering making it a focus. The course demands were rigorous yet stimulating.”
• “ I really liked this class, and I think that says a lot because I would not have taken it if it were not required. You helped me get interested in a lot of texts I may not have read otherwise (i.e. Sir Gawain, Lanval).”
• “Although I REALLY wasn’t looking forward to taking this class b/c of the subject matter, I actually found it very interesting.”
• “Let me first say that I did not want to take a class where I would have to read Beowulf again, not to mention other works. But, I found this class to be one of the best classes I have taken at OSU. Ms. Simmons (Walts) encouraged us to think for ourselves but was still structured in class. I REALLY enjoyed this course.”
• “ To be honest when I first signed up for this course I dreaded the thought of Brit. Lit. especially for this time period. However after getting into the course I found it very interesting and loved coming to class.”
• “I had before thought a lot of the readings were boring, but I changed my mind about them in this class. Now, I would like to study more from the time periods we studied.”

Even a course as seemingly simple as Intro to Poetry can make some students nervous or reluctant:

• “ I have to be honest, the first day of this course was awful to me and I thought I was going to hate it. In contrast, I loved this course. It challenged me because poetry is not second nature to me. Dawn was awesome! Very passionate about her teaching and was a great reason why I enjoyed the class.”
• “ In the beginning, I was thinking of dropping the course because it seemed too hard. At some undefinable [sic] point, it all turned around and I began to ‘get it.’ I now feel very confident in my ability to analyze poetry.”
• “ This was not an easy course at all, but it was very challenging. I’ve never known poetry to be as deep as it has been shown to me during the course. I think the professor [sic] was extreamly [sic] professional and easy to talk to. She does an amazing job at teaching & reaching her students.”
• “ I feel that you really went above and beyond what an average instructor would do in order to help your students and I appreciate that very much.”
• “ Personally, the subject matter was not my cup of tea, but Dawn did a great job trying to get everyone interested in the poems assigned. I would recommend this class and professor [sic] to other jocks that think poetry is just for women. That misconception changes very early in the quarter.”

Every Voice Counts—Encouraging Dissent
In facilitating discussion, I aim to have as many voices participating as possible. I believe that teaching and encouraging students to disagree with one another (and me) respectfully is essential to developing critical thinking skills. When I first started teaching, I was terrified that a student might disagree with me; now, I hope they do. When students disagree with me or one another, it is an opportunity to turn the class’ attention to the ambiguity, complexity, or weakness of the text. I do a fair amount of moderating in the first few weeks of class, but I know I’ve succeeded when, by the end of the term, I hear students say things like, “I see your point, but I think the last line of the poem indicates another theme…,” “But the author also seems to be suggesting something entirely different…,” and “I can see how you came to that conclusion, but I’m not sure I agree with you given that…” There is a certain electricity in the air when students realize that they can read the same text and come to completely different conclusions. Literary analysis is about the strength of the evidence and presentation of the argument and that is what I push my student to pursue. My favorite days are when students struggle to convince me of the validity of their claims—that’s when I really see them shine. Students appreciate that I try to “get everyone involved” and “asked questions that provoked many different but important responses to the works.”

• “It (Shakespeare) was presented well because the instructor allowed for all interpretations. There was never just one answer.”
• Another student noted that my “ability to expose multiple interpretations” was one of the best things about the class.
• And several students throughout my teaching career have echoed what one of my Shakespeare students wrote in the fall: “She was respectful, knew the material well, and wasn’t afraid to think about something different a student suggested.”
• “It’s clear she is passionate about what she does and encourages individual opinions. She is not bothered if students don’t agree with her interpretations and welcomes students to challenge her.”
• “It was fun to actually be able to think in a class rather than reiterate what was taught to you.”

Room for Improvement
While my discursive end-of-the-term evaluations remain consistently positive, my SEIs for English 260 reveal a drop in numbers from the summer before. I was surprised that the numbers were lower because I was teaching the same material I had used with such success only a year earlier. Upon receiving the SEIs for the summer of 2004, I initially wanted to write it off as a few bad students—but I couldn’t. The discursive evaluations were not very helpful in indicating exactly where the problem lay, but one student did mention that I seemed “overwhelmed” that term. I did encounter many problems in that class (absences, late and incomplete work, tardies, poor work habits), but the real problem was in the way I responded to those issues. I realize now that I let my students’ lack of enthusiasm for the class affect my teaching, and while the discursive evaluations consistently reflect that, overall, the students were pleased with the course, the comments were not as overwhelmingly so as my previous courses. Those SEIs were a wake-up call reminding me that I need to be the one determining the energy level of the class. The next term, in English 220, I was more proactive in motivating students to attend class, turn completed work in on time, be on time for class, and read the material. I was much more positive about how I responded to students and resolved issues. That change in attitude not only benefited my students, but also allowed me to grow as a teacher and human being.

What Students Take away from the Course
In order to feel a sense of accomplishment, students need to accomplish something. Early in my teaching, I was amazed when I received negative or lackluster feedback for classes and assignments that weren’t very challenging. As one of my 201 students wrote “I have gained the success of accomplishing a hurdle. What started out as a class I thought I’d fail ended up being a course I loved.” Another 201 student wrote that they believed they had “a better work ethic, better understanding and respect for older works” after taking the class.

While an appreciation for the literature read in the class is one of the goals, it is not the ultimate one. On the first day of every class I tell my students that the main goal for the course that they leave my class at the end of ten weeks more confident in their ability to read great works of literature than they were when they walked in on the first day. I want them not only to be able to speak intelligently about the works we have read in class, but also to possess the skills necessary to explore other great works of literature on their own. As one of my Shakespeare students wrote “I now know how to think more critically about literature and how to search for a deeper meaning.” One of my Intro to Poetry students sums up what many students write at the end of every term: “I have the skills to read and comprehend literature I read in the future.”

Occasionally, students write that the class has made a deeper impression, as one of my Shakespeare students writes “I believe the information has made a lasting impact on my life.” Or like the final comments on an evaluation from an Electrical and Computer Engineer who struggled in Intro to Poetry wrote “I am now a Renaissance man!” I would like to point out that he spelled ‘renaissance’ correctly, something I insist all of my students know and something this student was particularly proud of.