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Times Advocate, 1999-09-29, Page 5feedback'tq their "School Success Teams* that are made up of parents, staff and students to evaluate programs, teachers and administration. Meaningful dialogue brings forth positive changes to their. home school. The student survey asks: "my teachers will give me extra help if i need it, I feel safe when I am at school, I find my classes � boring, 1 get involved in a variety of extra curricular activities, the staff help me feel good about myself". To, get a complete review of our schools we have to have teaching and support per- sonnel 'input:: "staff in our school work together as a team, ideas are listened to - and used, the school administration provide me with constructive feed- back regarding my perfor- mance." The teacher evaluations are school based and often are not specific, to particular instructors. The universities have been using course evaluation questionnaires to provide meaningful feedback for many years. The anony- mous ratings are not released to the instructor until the final grades are submitted. •The students are asked to evaluate their profs: "Displays enthusiasm and energy in conducting class sessions, shows Concern for stu- dent progress and offers to help students t <: with their prob- lems, has moti- vated me to v increase , my LEONARD knowledge and LESSER competency in COUNSELLOR the area of study, all things considered, is effective as a university teacher." I believe senior students are able to provide feed back to their teachers on delivery and the relevancy of their education. The vast majority of good teachers have been asking for feedback for many years and are not afraid to be evaluated by their students. My Student Service department had annual questionnaires completed by our gradu- ating students to rate our performances in trying to serve their needs. The feedback was, on the whole, very positive but there was always room for improvement. I have been told that Janet Ecker, our Minister of Education, is a fair per- son who has an open mind. Hopefully the notion of province wide teacher testing will be scrapped and thrown in the basket. We do not need to re -invent the wheel and waste millions proving what we already know; The vast majority of teachers are caring, competent, talented individuals who chose teaching because they enjoyed working with youth. The true test of a teacher's competency lies in the hands of the stu- dents and parents who pay their salaries. Sorry, there are no exams that can discern ones ability to encourage students to enjoy learning. Len Lesser provides educational and career counselling. ST. MARYS CALL 284-3348 • Complete courses • Private lessons • Refresher Courses for Seniors • G 2 Test Preparation Standard Shift or Standard Transrnislon lessons 4 • wednesdty pie r g9'.'1999 In the news 4 Backrd bird watchers needed Bird Studies Canada and the Canadian Nature Federation are calling on bird enthusi- asts from across the country to help monitor winter birds in Canada. You can participate in this important bird research - without ever leaving.home! - by join- ing Project FeederWatch. Founded in 1976 as the Ontario Bird Feeder Survey, Project FeederWatch now has over 14,000 participants across North America. These "FeederWatchers" tell scientists how winter bird populations are growing or declining, and how their conti- nent -wide distributions are changing -. infortha- tion that is crucial to effective bird conserva- tion programs. It's easy to become a FeederWatcher. Just watch birds at your backyard feeder once every two weeks from November through March. Count the kinds and numbers of birds you see, record the information on FeederWatch data forms, and send the forms back to Bird Studies Canada in the spring for analysis. Or, enter your data through our interactive web page and, at the same time, keep track of everybody's results! Participating in Project FeederWatch is easy, and for an annual $25.0.0 registration fee, participants receive the FeederWatch instruc- tion booklet, resource manual, data forms, a beautiful bird calendar, a poster of common feeder birds, and three issues of the newsletter BirdWatch Canada, as well as the Bird Studies Canada Annual Report. Bird Studies Canada is an indepen- dent, non- profit research institute studying birds and their habitats for conserva- tion. Make the winter months a lot more fun by watching birds at your feeder, and turn a backyard hobby ,into valuable conservation research by joining Project FeederWatch. To register, call Bird Studies Canada toll-free at 1 -888 -448 -BIRD (2473), or write to P.O. Box 160, Port .Rowan, Ontario NOE 1MO, or E- mail us at < ptwebsc- eoc.org >. w True test of competency lies with students Ontario teachers willbe the first in Canada required. to pass compe- tency tests in order to prove they are qualified to keep their positions in front of the class. We have not been told if the testing' will be in written exams or classroom inspections. When will they ever learn that the essence of teach- ing can't be measured by tests or visitation? In my early years of teaching the Ministry of Education sent out inspectors with their "black books" to evaluate our performances. Every teacher had their favourite, best lesson dusted off to present once again for yet another pre- sentation. The students were told to be on their best behaviour because the visitor was their to evaluate their behaviour. On the whole the visit was at best a joke for the old timers and a little nerve wracking for the rookie teachers. Written tests of competency will evaluate one's knowledge of the subject material but not teacher effectiveness. In my 30 plus years of counselling students, the question of academic knowledge was not .the main concern ofthe stu- dents. Sometimes the very brilliant teacher had prob- lems getting across the material to his/her stu- dents. So what do we do about teacher evaluation in our schools?. Sure, the staff has to be accountable but the questions we have to ask are what, why and who. What are we trying to test? Why are we testing and who does the evaluat- ing? No, we do not have to find new wrinkles to answer our queries. . My suggestion for teacher evaluation is to give the decision making • to the students. and par- ents of our schools. Unique new ideas, grass roots up, the customer )ias input into appraising the services that they receive. The Ministry of Education doesn't have to spend mil- lions of dollars and threats of intimidation. and alienation of our teachers to evaluate our schools' curriculum • and teachers. The teachers are not responsible for the content of the Material that they have to deliver. So enough of the ques- tions, how do we solve them? The local Board of Education was most help- ful. Thank God my fax machine allows me to access copious amounts of material. The Thames Valley and London District Catholic School Boards have been surveying par- ents, staff and students to get their input into indi- vidual school goals and priorities. The inquiries are far reaching trying to get at the essence of quail- , ty teaching. Some of the Thames , Valley questions asked o1' the'; parents: "stu- dents and parents have input in the school plan- ning, the atmosphere in this school encourages learning, my child has a positive attitude, there is a positive feeling through- out the school, the school has high expectations for students in reading, writ- ing and speaking". The Catholic School Board evaluates their schools on a yearly basis to provide Fire Prevention Week Octo&$9 E DRI The Great Esc v IIPAismiPtda, 1 Develop a home escape plan and pralite it on October b at 1:00 p.m. emw40. FIRE PREVENTION WEEK Sporty • and Spooky Ins Firs Dog") an trademarks of NFPA. ANNOUNCING Contest for all. grades • 3-4 students from Exeter Public, Usborne Central, Precious Blood Schools. • Developing a fire escape plan for their home and practicing it. • Prizes for best plan submitted for a boy and girl from each school • Overall winner sent on to National level with grand prize Of a trip to Disney World, Florida National Fire Escape Plan practice at 7 p.m. October 6 Siren to be set off to let people know of start of practice Open house at Fire Hall after 7 p.m. for viewing of submitted entries and award of winners.