Linked here are the unedited results of the annual student questionnaire given to my two sections of Advanced Placement Psychology in the Fall of 2013. Below are the requested reflection questions and my responses.

In which areas did your view of your teaching match your students’ perception? In which areas was there a difference? What might this tell you?

There were no surprises in reading the student comments this year. The things that work well, I know work well; and the things that I know that I can do better in, the students know too.

In what areas are you most effective as a teacher? What makes you successful in those areas?

Based solely on the written student comments, my strongest area as a teacher might be as an entertainer or comedian. I’m very glad that my joking doesn’t make students uncomfortable. One wrote: “His humor is biting, but he is careful not to offend anyone, and his amazing jokes make my day every time we meet for class.” Another student had a different take on my humor: “Sometimes his cheeriness, even when discussing rather grim topics is a little off-putting, and I want to make sure he’s like ok on the inside or something…”[1] While I’m happy to play the entertainment card when I have to, to maintain engagement, I’d rather that not be the only thing that students remember me for.

Judging by the numerical data, students acknowledge other areas of strength. The question on which I receive the highest average score (a 5.94 out of 6) from students is #10: “The teacher knows the subject very well.” My second highest average (5.90 out of 6) is for #17: “The teacher is interested in and enthusiastic about this class.” Third highest average (5.84/6) is for #6: “The teacher explains the material clearly and in ways that are easy to understand, offers alternative explanations or additional examples, and clears up confusion.”

In what areas would you like to improve as a teacher? What steps do you plan to take and how can the school help you?

AP Psych is almost entirely a content-oriented discipline; the skills necessary to succeed in the course, students already come to me prepared for. For example, students need to be able to write clearly and concisely for the AP test… well, they come to me as seniors already well prepared for college writing. The one “skill” necessary for success in psychology is noticing details in a person’s or culture’s “story,” asking the right questions to uncover further details, and then figuring out likely causal elements that explain the story.[2] The way I try and teach this cluster of skills is with the Case Study of the Week (the “Freak of Week” as students call it). In these regards, students either come prepared, or are easily taught and given practice in the necessary skills.

In regards to content however, the class is still largely lecture-based. A few students recognized this and wrote comments such as: “Mr Castro keeps class fun as we still get to learn the unit. He makes me want to engage in the class and also challenges me with projects, quizzes, and tests. I would suggest that he use a variety of activities for class instead of lecturing.” I try to make those lectures as entertaining as possible, but inherent in the methodology is a certain passivity. I would love to find or develop different ways of teaching technical content that is largely medical and/or scientific that isn’t so reliant on lecture. I need to talk to others who’ve negotiated this same shift, or to students who have experienced non-lecture classes in college that are approximate to AP Psych.

Looking at the numerical data, my lowest average (5.51 out of 6) is for question #19: “This class/ teacher encourages me to become a person for others.” That is the lowest score for the same question since 2004–5, when I averaged a 5.25. That’s a bit disappointing, but I understand why. The early course material (on the history of psychology, on research methodologies, and neurobiology) does not lend itself to me trying to encourage students to be persons for others. If the student questionnaire were given in January, I would score much more highly. The Christmas food drive gives me a natural and authentic way to talk about the topic — and it’s an opportunity that I take full advantage of every year.

With student feedback in mind, what is one specific goal for your teaching that you might pursue during the rest of the semester and next year?

Fortunately, Disorders & Therapy is largely project-based, with maybe 30-minutes of total lecture over the two-and-a-half weeks. This is a good test for our Psych program — or, rather, the test for the Unit will be a good measure for our Psych program: do students perform as well on a standard exam following a project-based lesson versus previous years’ lecture-based lesson? We’ll see…[3]