Evidence of Teaching Effectiveness

While teaching at Brown, I had the opportunity of receiving anonymous student feedback for each class I taught. Additionally, I asked my students for informal anonymous mid-semester feedback to help me assess if the class met their expectations and adapt accordingly.

The following summary presents a quantitative average of “teaching effectiveness” across all the courses I taught at Brown, together with selected comments taken out of the students’ end of semester evaluations. These comments are organized to reflect my ability to reach my teaching goals rather than by course. The complete student evaluations are available in the paper version of my teaching portfolio. The comments copied here have not been edited for either content or grammar.

1) Quantitative average of teaching effectiveness

Scale

Very Effective: 1

Effective: 2

Somewhat Effective: 3

Ineffective: 4

Very Ineffective: 5

Average: 1.09

2) Selected students’ evaluation reflective of my teaching goals

Encouraging student engagement (student-centered classes):

“Phenomenal at keeping meaningful, active discussions going. Was limited in her involvement, but simultaneously managed to keep us focused and engaged. Also, very approachable yet stern enough to maintain control. The in-class readings she provided were very helpful and added another dimension of meaning to the works. Best TA I've had at Brown.”

“With her subtle brilliance, Edwige nudged our section discussions to interesting and profound depths. While she could easily have levied an intelligent and informed opinion on every point that arose, she capably facilitated discussion between students in section, validating and interrogating our ideas in productive ways that got us thinking even more.”

“Best teaching assistant I have had at Brown in three years of humanities/social science classes. She found a great balance between openness and constructiveness. It felt like an exploration of the topic in section and not purely an assessment-based section where everyone tries to get in their comment to prove they did the reading. At the same time, however, the discussion did not wander off in aimless ways. It felt focused on the material at hand and organized. Left section feeling like I had a greater grasp on the material rather than feeling more confused.”

Creating a comfortable space for learning :

“Very kind and intelligent. She was incredibly accessible and helpful to talk to during office hours or after class. And she was a very effective section leader who led discussion well and encouraged students to speak.”

“Edwige is always kind and encouraging. She's an excellent instructor who always greets students with a smile. Her ability to make a comfortable and warm learning environment makes all the difference and keeps students engaged and motivated.”

“She was great with discussion and very approachable. the space she created in section felt safe and open”

“Edwige was encouraging when we responded to questions. She mentally took note of common grammar and pronunciation mistakes we made and pointed them out at the end of the unit which was extremely helpful. She gave the class a great ambience because she always smiled and made us comfortable to learn the language. I loved her; she was an amazing instructor.”

“the professor was very helpful and always encouraged discussions. She also encouraged us to participate, even if we make mistakes, and explained the right way we were supposed to say things. She is soooo nice!!”

"Edwige was an absolute pleasure to have as a professor. She is very easy to understand, makes sure that you are aware of assignments and expectations, and goes above and beyond to help her students. I cannot even begin to express how much I recommend taking a course under her direction."

Providing students with well-structured, meaningful classes and varied activities:

“She was organized all the time, incorporated different types of sections like workshops or close readings-focused.”

“I LOVED edwige. She was really great at leading section, and bringing in new ideas and resources.”

“Edwige was an extremely good Ta. She was always well-prepared and creative in The discussion-sections. She always knew how to unpack texts and she encouraged critical thinking and discussion among The students. When someone said something in class she would always validate their contribution before commenting on what had been said to foster further discussion. She made us all have individual presentations, which I think was a useful way of making everyone speak. She also sometimes brought in outside material to further shes light on The readings which was very helpful and interesting.”

“Class time was well organised. It included listening to audio clips and giving individual responses, discussing and forming responses in groups with other students and learning from PowerPoint presentation. The grammar book was used in conjunction with a unit book. Grammar points brought up in each unit were explained well in the grammar book and there were plenty of exercises to do to cement the grammar rules.”

Providing actionable feedback in and outside of class:

“Edwige was very good at leading section discussions and also available to answer questions in person and by email. I really enjoyed section this semester.”

“Edwige's comments on written work were insightful and productive, and I appreciated her insight.”

“Edwige was always available when necessary and clearly had a very deep understanding of Faulkner. Great, great TA overall”

“I met with Edwige to receive help in regard to the direction of my final paper. Her advice was encouraging and she offered direct and clear suggestions as to how to improve my outlook on the topic. I felt much more confident in the process of writing my paper after meeting with her.”

"Edwige provided a lot of feedback on writing assignments and was always very approachable! I really enjoyed having her as my teacher."

Reaching content goals :

“This course helped me develop my speaking skills, such as pronunciation and formulation of ideas in a more articulate and effective manner. I also improved my writing skills with the practice of writing Compositions and the draft system. Further, my grammar improved as did my vocabulary from the in class discussions and the textbooks.”

“I learned important points of grammar, improved my speaking and listening comprehension skills. I also learned how to read and analyse literature through read a short but powerful novel from the 19th century called Pierre et Jean. I also improved my team working skills when I worked on presentations with others.”

“It was an immersive experience because before this I had learnt French in English-taught classes. To have to listen and speak in French 99.0% of the time (1% for when you had no idea of expressing a word or phrase in French) was so helpful in building my confidence in speaking and listening.”