Adventures in Guangzhou!

I had four different sections on the eval. The first prompted them with the very basic questions, "What was your favorite topic/subject that we learned during this school year? What was your least favorite?" This seems to be a very unpredictable section. If I was looking for consistency, it was wishful thinking. With three hundred different students, I received over three hundred opinions. Some students thought the project on Reality TV was the best. Others hated it with a passion. Some enjoyed my "bellringer" writing prompts. Others found them to be a chore. Some enjoyed anything involving acting in front of the class. Others abhored having to perform in front of everybody.

Out of all the responses I've gotten so far there have been only two consistencies in this section. First, a significant number of people cited my lesson on law as the best. I can't remember if I blogged about this before, but Todd and Nancy, recent law school graduates, helped me design a lesson on the absolute nature of law. That is, is it ever acceptable to break the law? In a society that is dominated (at least on the surface) by the Communist Party, the thought of breaking the law is never unobjectionable. The government teaches that the law is in place to provide stability--something the people crave. Therefore it doesn't make sense to break it. Ever. However in that lesson I challenged my kids to think a bit more outside of the box and consider other circumstances. Once they allow for the possibility of exceptions, it becomes a lesson in defining terms and creating boundaries--something that they rarely have an opportunity to think about. I'm glad that it made a lasting impression on a good number of them... Oh, and the other consistency? A significant number of students cited the exam as their least favorite part of the class.

The second section of the evaluation asks the students, "What will you remember from the class 20 years from now?" This question is half for fun and half for me to try and find out what had any lasting effects. Again, the answers were a riot. A few mentioned pop culture. A few mentioned the unit on improvisation. A few mentioned that they'll remember my Ari-isms such as, "Good guess... but not exactly," "Good start but we can do better," and "Move up!" Well, I guess that's better than nothing.

A few random evaluations had non-sequiter responses to this section that I found particularly amusing. For example:
"Maybe"
"I have said 'Only the strong survive'"
"Wolfe is a really strange family name"
"Really special things"
and perhaps my favorite,
"You are a boy"

The next section asked, "What was the most difficult part of the class?" I did get some amount of consistency here, as many students agreed that the informal speech and dialogue was the toughest. However, some students also noted that they thought the exam was most difficult. It is interesting to note the correlation here that the students who wrote that particular comment tended to have the lowest scores. In most cases I would guess that they simply didn't study. My favorite response to this question, though, was one student who wrote very simply, "words." Yeah, I guess words are pretty tough!

The last section of the evaluation asked for some suggestions on improving the class for next year. Some students wrote very cute comments about how nothing should be changed because it was all perfect. Others asked that the class be easier. I did find a somewhat unexpected response amongst a big chunk of students--they asked that I take the class outside and teach outside of the classroom. Ummm, what? I mean, I guess I used to beg for that in high school too but did it ever happen? Not a chance! And if we did go outside, I spent the rest of the period staring off on to the track. I have to work hard enough INside to keep everyone engaged; there's no way I'm taking them outside. I think that's just asking for daydreaming. I think my favorite comment from this section was from one student who wrote, "Don't talk about the things we already know." I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to know, but I suppose he makes a good point!

Besides that, I now have a vacation since the Senior 3 students are all taking the Gao Kao, the college entrance exam. I feel bad for them, but I am excited to have another chance to travel before heading home. I think tomorrow or the day after I will be traveling to Yangshuo, supposedly one of the most beautiful places in all of China. I can't wait! With my time off so far, I finished watching season 5 of "24." One of my students knows about my man-crush on Jack Bauer and burned the whole season on to DVD for me. Gotta love it. I have to agree with my favorite sportswriter, Bill Simmons, who noted that Season 5 was "Ridiculous, far-fetched, improbable, over-the-top and somewhat ludicrous. Absolutely the worst of the five seasons. And with that said, I enjoyed every minute and can't wait for Season 6. Especially since Jack Bauer will finally be taller than everyone he's fighting." I am psyched to see how they deal with the whole China angle.

Otherwise, I'm taking off for the US in only 8 days. What happened to this year?!