Teach42

Via The Education Wonks: Irish Teachers Union Nervous About “Rate My Teachers.com”

Be careful. Students are starting to realize that they can actually use this thing called the internet to share what they think! I know that sounds frightening, but we’re going to have to get used to it.

If you haven’t been to Rate My Teachers yet, you’re going to need to take a look at it as soon as you’re done reading this. Basically it’s a place where students (and now parents) can rate their teachers and leave comments about them. Remember how when you were younger, you would talk to your friends about which teachers you liked and which ones you didn’t? Remember how last weekend when you were at the bar, reminiscing about your school days, and you discussed with your friends teachers you liked and teachers you didn’t? Well, there’s a way to archive those conversations.

I don’t know what all the fuss is about. Let me state a little known fact for you; not every student is going to like you. In fact, there are going to be some students that genuinely dislike you. That’s just the way it goes. So if you visit Rate My Teachers and find that there’s a bad review of you there, take it with a grain of salt. If there’s ten bad reviews of you there, then maybe you ought to do some serious reflecting and think about why that might be.

Some people seem to be upset that the reviews are anonymous. I’m not quite sure why that’s such a problem. If you’re filling out an evaluation of a class, how often do you actually sign your name? Are you really going to write something negative if you have to admit your identity? Highly doubtful. Without anonyminity, you have little chance of any honesty.

I know students can be cruel sometimes. I know it hurts when you see someone say that they think you’re an awful teacher. However, you can either take it as constructive criticism and decide for yourself what to do with it, or you could believe that the opinion of a 12 year old is significant enough to require you to make a career change. It’s what happens when you’re a public figure of sorts. People have the ability to take pot-shots at you. And never forget that teachers are public figures.

[sarcasm] As to the Irish teachers who are trying to ban the site within their school, all I have to say is thank goodness these students can’t access the internet from home. Otherwise they might have a real problem on their hands! [/sarcasm]

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