Evaluating Your Own Teaching

The same principles apply: judgment plus evidence, honesty, and using the evaluation to improve.

Why teachers must self-evaluate

A teacher who only evaluates students never improves their own teaching. They stay at the same level year after year. The growth formula (Knowledge + Experience + Reflection = Growth) requires reflection on one’s own teaching alongside student learning.

Self-evaluation is the form of reflection that focuses on the teacher. After teaching the lesson, the teacher asks: how did I do? What worked? What did not?

Self-evaluation is for self-improvement. Not for the principal. Not for colleagues. Not for an external evaluator. The honest record of one’s own performance is what allows the teacher to identify what to work on next.

Seven questions for self-evaluation

Question 1: Did I achieve my objectives?

This is the central question. The lesson was designed around specific objectives. Did students reach them?

A strong answer (with evidence): “I achieved my first two objectives. Twenty-two out of twenty-five students correctly described the parts of a plant on the worksheet I gave them. The third objective on plant functions was only partially met; only fifteen students could explain even one function correctly.”

A weak answer: “My objectives were achieved.”

Question 2: Did I build the lesson on students’ responses?

This question checks whether the teacher used students’ prior knowledge as a starting point, or pushed forward without checking.

A strong answer: “Yes. I started with a brainstorming activity asking students what they already knew about plants. They mentioned leaves, flowers, and roots. I built the lesson on these prior associations and gradually introduced new vocabulary.”

A weak answer: “I taught the lesson as planned.”

Question 3: Did I communicate clearly with the students?

This question checks whether instructions and explanations landed.

A strong answer (showing honest weakness): “Communication was uneven. When I introduced the term ‘photosynthesis’, several students looked confused. I should have given a simpler analogy first. Instructions for the labeling task were clear; only one student asked for clarification.”

A weak answer: “Communication was good.”

Question 4: Did I provide equal learning opportunity to all students?

This question checks whether the teacher reached the whole class or only the loudest students.

A strong answer: “I called on different students throughout the lesson. I noticed I tended to call on students in the front row more often. Three students at the back never spoke during the whole lesson, even when prompted with simple yes-or-no questions.”

A weak answer: “All students participated.”

Question 5: Did I keep eye contact with students?

Eye contact connects the teacher to individual students. A teacher who only looks at the board or at notes loses connection.

A strong answer: “Eye contact was uneven. I noticed late in the lesson that I had been looking mostly at the left side of the room. A student on the right side mentioned that I should have called on them too. This was a clear sign that my attention had drifted to one side.”

A weak answer: “I kept eye contact.”

Question 6: Did I give constructive feedback?

Feedback was covered earlier as a key teacher skill. Self-evaluation checks whether the teacher actually delivered constructive feedback during the lesson.

A strong answer: “Feedback was mostly limited to ticks and short comments like ‘good’. I did not name specific strengths or weaknesses on student work. For the writing activity, I should have pointed out specific things each student did well.”

A weak answer: “I gave feedback to the students.”

Question 7: Did I manage time and resources effectively?

This question checks the practical execution of the lesson.

A strong answer: “Time management was off. I spent twelve minutes on the brainstorming activity (planned for seven), which compressed the practice time at the end. The labeling activity ran short. Resource use was good; the plant from the school garden worked well.”

A weak answer: “Time was managed well.”

The pattern across answers

A pattern emerges across all seven questions. Strong answers share three features:

1. They are specific. Not “good” or “bad” but exactly what happened.
2. They include evidence. Names of students, numbers, observations, exact quotes.
3. They name weaknesses honestly. A teacher who claims everything went perfectly is either teaching a perfect lesson (rare) or hiding from honest evaluation.

A teacher who answers all seven questions with specifics, evidence, and honest weakness produces a real self-evaluation. The next lesson can use the answers to improve.

Flashcard

What three features mark a strong answer in self-evaluation?

Tap to reveal

Answer

Specificity, evidence, honest weakness

Specific: not “good” or “bad” but exactly what happened.

Evidence: names of students, numbers, observations, exact quotes.

Honest weakness: a teacher who claims everything went perfectly is hiding from real evaluation.

Action points for the future

After answering the seven questions, the teacher should write specific action points for the next lesson.

Examples of action points:

1. “Next lesson, call on students in the back row at least three times each.”
2. “Plan a simpler analogy for any new technical term before introducing it.”
3. “Allocate seven minutes to brainstorming, not twelve.”
4. “Walk to the right side of the room at least twice during the lesson.”
5. “Mark student writing with at least one specific strength and one specific weakness named.”

Each action point is specific and testable. After the next lesson, the teacher can check whether they did the action and whether it worked.

This is what turns self-evaluation into improvement. Without action points, self-evaluation is a description of what happened. With action points, it is a plan for the next lesson.

A common mistake: writing for others

A warning about writing self-evaluation for the principal or for colleagues. A teacher who writes for others tends to soften failures and inflate successes. The result is a useless evaluation.

The fix is to keep self-evaluation private. The teacher’s own notes, in their own notebook, for their own use. No one else needs to see them.

If the school requires post-lesson evaluation for inspection or appraisal, the teacher can keep two records. The required record is more diplomatic. The private record is honest. Only the private record drives real improvement.

Self-evaluation is for you, not for someone else. Be honest. The honesty is what makes it useful.

Two kinds of evaluation work together

Both happen after every lesson.

Together, they form complete post-lesson reflection:

1. What did students learn? (student evaluation)
2. What did I do well or poorly as the teacher? (self-evaluation)

A teacher who does both gets a full picture. The student evaluation tells whether learning happened. The self-evaluation tells whether the teaching was the cause of any gaps. Together they point at what to change.

A teacher who does only student evaluation may blame students for not learning when the real issue was teaching. A teacher who does only self-evaluation may overlook student-side issues that matter. Both kinds of evaluation are needed.

Flashcard

What is the relationship between evaluating student learning and evaluating your own teaching?

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Answer

Both are needed; they fill different gaps

Evaluating student learning: did learning happen?

Evaluating your own teaching: was the teaching the cause of any gaps?

A teacher who does only student evaluation may blame students unfairly. A teacher who does only self-evaluation may miss student-side issues. Both together give a full picture.

Why self-evaluation is the engine of a long career

Most teachers spend most of their effort on the lesson itself. Planning gets some attention. Self-evaluation often gets none. Treats this as the central failure of long teaching careers.

A teacher who only plans and implements is teaching in the dark. They do not know what worked. They do not learn from their own classroom.

A teacher who adds the post-lesson step learns from every lesson. Over a career, this compounds. The teacher who reflected on lesson 1 has 10,000 reflected lessons by the end of their career. The teacher who never reflected has lesson 1 repeated 10,000 times.

This is why self-evaluation is not optional. Beyond the seven questions about classroom performance, the teacher should also ask: what did I learn from this lesson? What surprised me? What will I do differently? Call this evaluation of teacher learning. It is the part most often skipped, and it is where personal growth actually happens.