Today was our last class of this academic year.   And, with each last class, students were asked to respond to an anonymous evaluation of the Life Skills program and teacher Stephen Cronin’s performance as its teacher.

Students responding to the anonymous evaluation of teacher Stephen Cronin and the 2014-15 Life Skills program.

Here are some of the questions students were asked to respond to:

• Here’s a chance to grade the teacher.  Select one letter grade for this “Life Skills’ class and teacher Stephen Cronin’s performance from the grade criteria listed here:    Stephen Cronin’s grade: ______

A – Excellent. I found the class very interesting.  Mr Cronin made me think about ‘change’ in my life and things I need to do if I am to fulfill my aspirations for success:  (e.g. building a strong personal brand and an effective, diverse network, getting out of my comfort zone, taking measured risks, healthy perspectives on failure and mistakes and success, empathy, important interpersonal techniques like eye contact, smile, and a good handshake, the importance of ‘asking’, telling your personal story, etc ).   I also learned life lessons from many of the people I met during the class, some of whom became part of my network. Many of the readings in the textbooks were interesting and made me reflect on my own life and future.

B –  somewhat interesting.  The class did make me think about some things about my life,  but overall the class didn’t inspire me to improve or take risks or consider personal changes to improve my opportunities for lifetime success.  Most of the readings were either boring or didn’t apply to my life.  I could not relate to most of the guests to our class.

C – fair; unremarkable class.  This is a typical class I experience in high school.  Nothing more.

F – waste of time.  Did nothing for me.  Stephen Cronin and I should have stayed home.

• Did Stephen Cronin accomplish each of the following objectives?  Please note “very successful”, “partially successful” or “unsuccessful’:

  •  increased my awareness and understanding of these concepts: ‘brand’, ‘change’, ‘success’, ‘hope’ and ‘leadership’.
  • increased my awareness and understanding of skills like:  networking, job interviewing, personal brand development, resume writing, interpersonal techniques like eye contact, the power of a smile, the non-verbal message from body language like how a person sits in their chair and a good handshake,  always showing ‘respect’, empathy,  collaboration, creativity, ‘controlling first impressions’ ‘asking questions’, etc)
  •  increased my awareness and understanding of attitudes like:  getting out of your comfort zone, taking measured risks, accepting responsibility of our actions and the personal brand they create, courage to be creative,  always showing respect, accepting mistakes as valuable lessons, etc
  • textbook readings increased an awareness of history’s lessons about ‘personal brand’, ‘story telling’ and ‘change agents’, and the ‘future’
  •  caused me to think about and evaluate my own performance and attitudes and be open to constructive criticism

•  Field trips:  write either “liked” or “disliked” after the name of each field trip to indicate how you felt about each of the following “Life Skills’ field trips this year:

  • CVS  Health Job and Career Day            _____________________
    TeeSpring visit   _______________________________________
    Roger Williams University tour  _______________________
    BIF  Story Telling  at Trinity Theatre_____________________
    Pawtucket Red Sox game Networking Night _____________________

•   THE TWO (2) ‘best’ guests and why:

  #1. Guest Name:  ______________________________________
  #2. Guest Name: ____________________________________
  Reasons:   ________________________________________________________________

• Please grade your performance during the Life Skills classes this year on a scale of 1 to 5 in the areas below:

              5 being the best (meaning you always met the classroom expectation) and 1 the lowest (meaning you never met the classroom expectation).

  Expectation                                                             Grade

  • Visit Site

  on time to class                                                      _________________
  class attendance                                                     ________________
  completing textbook reading and writing assignments    _____________
  greeting all guests with handshake, smile, and eye contact  ______________
  asking guests questions during class discussions         _________________
  created a network of successful people and exchanged business cards for contact information __________
  sent follow up emails to guests to build your network    ___________________
  saying ‘thank you’ and shaking hands of guests with a smile and eye contact at the end of class ______________
  your willingness to push out of your comfort zone gradually improved as school year progressed ______
  List reason(s) why you gave yourself any grade of 3 or less in any of the aforementioned expectations: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  Please answer the following questions by answering  ‘yes’ or ‘no’:

• • was it a reasonable expectation of Stephen Cronin for you to attend each ‘Life Skills class each week except due to sickness?  ___
  • was it a reasonable expectation of Stephen Cronin for you to be on-time each week to the‘Life Skills’ class? ___
  • was it a reasonable expectation of Stephen Cronin for you to text, email or call to inform him, ‘BEFORE class’, whenever you would be late or absent?  _____
  • Since one of Stephen Cronin’s ‘Life Skills’ program goals is to prepare you to be successful in a job or a career, is it realistic for Stephen Cronin to expect on the days you attend the ‘Life Skills’ class for you to be at your desk 5 minutes before the class begins as employees at CVS and many other great companies are expected?  ___
  • was it a reasonable expectation of Stephen Cronin to expect you to read and respond to his homework and class summaries posted on the Hope Life Skills web site after each class?  ____
  • was it a reasonable expectation of Stephen Cronin for your guardian or parent to meet Stephen Cronin and learn about the ‘Life Skills’ class some day or night within the first month of the school year?  ____
  •  was it a reasonable expectation of Stephen Cronin for you to read the “Life Skills’ text books on ‘Personal Brand’, “The Future”  and others and complete the written assignments posted on the Life Skills web site by the due date? ___
  •  Would you recommend any Hope High School sophomore or junior to become part of  Stephen Cronin’s ‘Life Skills’ class next year if ‘Life Skills’ is a class for credit? _____

• Please list any recommendations to improve the effectiveness of this ‘Life Skills’ program