Episode 014: Cheers to Student Evaluations

Hello, music teacher friends.  Welcome to Episode 14 of the Beyond Measure podcast.  I am your host, Christina Whitlock, happy as ever to be in your ears as your Anytime Piano Teacher friend.

We are currently in a series of episodes centered around reflection practices in the studio.  This started in Episode 12, where I presented a twist on the whole “One Word” philosophy for our students, and last week, Episode 13, we talked about a simple way to create your Teaching Philosophy.

Today, we’re diving head-first into the idea of writing student evaluations.  Dun dun dun….

First, let it be known:   As many of you have proven, it is totally possible to be an independent music teacher who DOESN’T have a written teaching philosophy…. Or one who doesn’t devote specific time reflecting on each individual students’ needs… or one who doesn’t make lesson plans… or, in today’s case, one who doesn’t write student evaluations.  I don’t want to ruffle feathers, but you might even be able to teach somewhat effectively without doing these things.  HOWEVER:  I will contend you will never be your BEST teacher self without doing at least some of these things.  If adequate teaching is sufficient for you – and, I know, for some, it is, well, there you have it.  But – I know a LOT of music teachers, and many of us are just not content unless we know we are giving our best efforts, and providing our students with the very best experiences we can.

For the record, I am NOT saying independent teachers should work hours and hours off the clock without proper compensation.  Of course, our school teachers do plenty of that, but they have less control over their pay than we do. The reflection activities I’m talking about this month all add up, in my eyes anyway, to a premium lesson experience.  Which means you can charge accordingly and sleep well at night, knowing (a) you are doing great work, and (b) you are being paid fairly.

Okay – stepping off that soapbox now –   J

Let’s talk about student evaluations!

Communicating student progress can be a difficult process, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore it.  Parents have differing degrees of involvement in their children’s lessons, which means they have varying amounts of understanding as to what you are accomplishing and how their child is meeting (or falling short) of your expectations.

Before my studio was meeting entirely online, I would ask periodically remind parents to read their child’s lesson notebook on a weekly basis, so they could see consistencies in feedback, note any pieces that were problematic, and, in general, know what they should be hearing from the piano each week.  Despite having the best studio families around – and I mean that; I seriously do – I can probably count on one hand the number of parents who actually did that weekly.

Since moving online for pandemic purposes, I deliver weekly assignments through Tonara, but, again, I’m not sure many parents are checking in on that (and, in fairness, I haven’t asked them to).

Writing student evaluations 2-3 times per year has proven, for me, to be one of the best things I can do to keep students, families, and myself aware of the work we are accomplishing in lessons.

This is a system that has waxed and waned over the years.  I’ve definitely not been as consistent as I’d like to be, but now that both of my kids are in school full time, I’m starting to climb out of the mom-fog and take better control over matters like these.  I say this because the LAST thing I want to do is heap guilt on you if you feel like this is not manageable in your current situation.

That said, as usual, I have a simplified system to share for you, that I think makes compiling student evaluations quite manageable.  Here goes…

• Step One: Set a goal for when you are distributing said evaluations.  I’m working on a round of them right now.  I find that first week in February(ish) to be a great time to send evaluations.  Kids are halfway through the schoolyear, so parents are naturally curious.  Also, the craziness of festival/competition season hasn’t really hit my studio full-force yet, so I have a bit more time to put these together.  The timing may be different for you, but start here:  pick a target week to distribute, so you know what you’re working for.   Bonus points if you choose a week to distribute your NEXT round of evaluations, since this will help you set goals this round.  For reference, again, I’m aiming to send out evaluations the first week in February, and again the last week of May.
• Step Two: Start taking notes during lessons.  I try to take brief notes on each student for my own reference every week.  But, let’s face it, some days are more consistent in that regard than others.  J   If I know I have evaluations to distribute, that helps me frame what I’m noting in a lesson.  I keep a notebook or a word document open for the week, and take a few notes on each student.  I’m specifically looking for things we’ve recently accomplished, and things I hope to accomplish over the next few months.  Please, don’t skip this step.  Compiling student evaluations is SO MUCH EASIER if you’ve already started the process during the student’s lesson.
• Step Three: Plan time to write.  As I mentioned in Episode 12 when I was talking about choosing One Word Goals for your students, I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect to crank out large numbers of these evaluations in one sitting.  I find an hour, maybe an hour and 15 minutes is about all my brain can handle before quality starts to suffer.  For me, when it’s time to write evaluations, I try to block out a single hour each day for two weeks.  That’s what feels manageable for me.  Of course, you get to do what works for you.  But, I’m a big fan of PLANNING the time in your day, just as you would plan for a lesson.  Of course, each evaluation will differ, but I generally assume I can write 5 solid evaluations in an hour – assuming I have taken notes in lessons prior.
• Step 4: Write the evaluations. Like most things I talk about, I’m all about keeping this as simple as possible.  There was a time when I designed a very formal evaluation form, and it had all kinds of sections for various types of feedback.  It took FOREVER to complete, and, in the end, it just wasn’t a sustainable system.  It took too much time, so I avoided it, and then I just stopped altogether.  Rather than driving yourself crazy, I recommend a three-part evaluation.  It would be easy to create a cute document in Canva or whatever, but honestly, the easiest thing for me to do right now is to use a plain ole Word document.  I include the student’s name and date, then have three bullet points:  1: Strengths and Accomplishments, 2: Upcoming Goals, and 3:  Additional Feedback.  That’s it.  Easy, yet incredibly effective.

1 – Under Strengths and Accomplishments, I highlight things the student is doing well.  Have they consistently passed their pieces in the desired timeframe?  Are they particularly enthusiastic about playing lead sheets?  Has their hand shape improved?  Are they practicing consistently?  Coming to their lesson with a good attitude?  The list can go on and on.

2 – Upcoming Goals is basically a nice way of discussing necessary improvements.  Expressing you have a goal for little Davey to be independently adjusting his wrist to the proper height by April is likely received much better than saying his hand position is atrocious and it needs fixed immediately.  If practice time is a concern with this student, this is the place to communicate a healthy goal to parents in a non-confrontational way.  As you probably know, some parents are quick to jump on the defensive when you tell them their child has something they need to improve (and, of course, others are the complete opposite).  Both are problematic, but I think framing corrections as GOALS for a set amount of time is a very effective way to keep most parents in a positive place.  In this area, I love to communicate specific repertoire goals, when applicable.  For instance, this round of evals I’m currently working on will include memory deadlines for all festival repertoire, so they can be helping me reinforce those timelines at home.

3 – For “Additional Feedback”, I simply include anything noteworthy that didn’t really fit in the 1^st two categories.  It might be a thank-you for their cooperation in working through a scheduling conflict.  It might be noting what a busy season it’s been for their family.  It may be something simple like, “I love how Clara always comes to her lesson with a smile on her face!”.  Even if you need to sneak some sort of concern in this portion, I always suggest ending on a positive comment.

So, that’s it.  An easily-adaptable way to communicate your student’s progress throughout the year.  Here are a few “catch-all” thoughts:

• This process is important and beneficial for families, but I also don’t want you to disregard how important it is for YOU as the EDUCATOR. I know we keep these running tallies of our student accomplishments in our brains, but putting them in writing has proven to be INCREDIBLY beneficial for me.  Sometimes you will see trends among student evaluations (re: if you have several students struggling with the same concept, it can serve as a red flag that, perhaps, you have something you can be planning more pro-actively to tackle).   Also, as much as we TRY to give equal attention to all students, these types of evaluations will make you VERY well-aware that – inevitably – there are some students who could probably use a bit more from you.  Diane Hidy once wrote a blog article about student evaluations and she referred to it as a way to “Sharpen Our Saws”.  Meaning, if you try to saw something with a dull blade, you just end up working 10x’s harder, with a less-than-stellar outcome.  Sharpening our saws (in this case, evaluating students) may take some time upfront, but, in the end, it allows us to do our work more effectively, with less effort, and better results.
• You can distribute these in any format you’d like -hand written or typed – whatever, but I will say, if you keep record of those evaluations, they can be incredibly helpful to refer back to when it’s time for the next one. Being able to say, “In February, I set a goal for Stephen to complete our 40-piece challenge, and I’m happy to say, at of May 12, he has exceeded his goal, and is currently sitting on 48 pieces learned this term!” oozes professionalism, and gives a point for celebration.  I would STRONGLY recommend keeping these on file, and actually revisiting them every few weeks to see how you’re doing.
• This may not need to be said – but PLEASE – when writing these evaluations, keep things primarily positive. If you hand a parent a laundry list of grievances you have with their child’s technique, their practice habits, their fingernails, their attitude, their posture, and their lack of attention to musical detail, well, I just don’t see that being well-received by any parent.  J
• Oh! And – by the way – I teach a fair amount of adult students, and perhaps you do too.  Please don’t think you should leave them out of this process.  Adult students, moreso than children, are often very eager (if not a little nervous) to receive any kind of formal evaluation they can get their hands on.  If you have taught adults, you know they need more reassurance than any other students, and they are coming into lessons with experiences that equate the learning process to their experience with school.  That makes evaluation, as long as it is supportive and genuine, a very welcome part of their lessons.  (Also, I have a few adults with elderly parents still living and they get a REAL KICK out of my written evaluations for them)  J

My friends, I really hope I’ve inspired you today to put student evaluations on your calendars this year.  I believe you will find them to be very well-received.  If you’re worried about whether or not families will actually READ them, you can ask if they prefer to receive a hard copy or an email copy.  You could also consider making a quick Google Form to have them sign after reading the evaluation.  I don’t know…just thinking out loud here.

Do know, there will probably be a family or two in every bunch who doesn’t read theirs.  I think that’s inevitable at this point.  I’d just communicate multiple times about the evaluations in one way or another, and that’s really all you can do.  J

(Music)

I think it’s a great time to offer up a little toast to YOU, and to all the premium communication you’ll  be offering this year!

Music teacher friends of the world, give yourselves a pat on the back.  Simply by listening to this podcast, you are proving that you are an educator who cares deeply about being your most effective teacher self.  J  A teacher’s heart can’t help but think often about ways we can improve our students’ experience, but it’s important we don’t go off the deep-end and try to implement too many things – or too complex of ideas – all at once.  That’s why I love the three-point evaluation I mentioned in this episode.

I raise my proverbial glass to you today, as we continue searching for ways to reflect on our students and their own unique situations – learning how to set aside an amount of time to do so that is not overwhelming.  May we give ourselves – and one another – grace in the seasons where time is in short supply, and may we take optimal advantage of lighter schedules when they appear as well.

Cheers to you, my admirable teacher friends!  Here here.

(New Music)

And just like that, episode 14 is in the books!  My continued thanks goes to each listener of this podcast.  Thank you for subscribing, for the supportive messages and reviews, and for sharing episodes with your teacher friends.  It all gives me fuel to keep this train rolling.  J

Until next week, this is me, wishing you the very best of what this week has to offer.  Keep on shining, my teacher friends!