Teaching Tip Tuesday: Feedback at the End of the Year!

Teaching Tip Tuesday: Feedback at the End of the Year!

It is the end of the year, have you gotten feedback from your students? Feedback helps us know what is working for our students and what is not working for our students. It helps us plan out next school year, as well.

Several teachers do this:

*Mr. Kenjura has his students write an essay reflecting over what they learned this year in his class.

*Mrs. Ruiz makes a Google Form asking students what prepared them for the AP test.

*Mrs. Calvert (last year) used a Google Form to ask what prepared the students for the EOC test.

*Junior teachers have students include one page in their scrapbook about what they liked and didn't like about their class.

There are others who do this, as well. Some do paper and pencil forms, some do electronic forms (Survey Monkey or Google Forms), some have short answer questions, and some have essay reflection questions.

What is the benefit? It gives you an idea of how to change up the class next year or what to take more time teaching next year. 

It is hard to take feedback sometimes, but if it helps us become better teachers of our content, then it is worth investing into the feedback. A trick I learned was to have students put their name on the survey; it holds them accountable for what they write. Yes, you may have a few that want to be mean, but overall, you will hear constructive and enlightening feedback from your students.

Some of the best feedback I got this semester was that I encouraged students to speak in the classroom and explained each essay in depth. Then it was stated that the course could be more effective if the textbook could be used even more. I do appreciate the feedback, so I can re-design my syllabus for next semester. 

What questions should you ask in your survey?

This is up to you, but here are some suggestions:

*What helped you succeed the most in this class? 

*What helped you succeed the least in this class?

*What did you learn in this class?

*What can I change/do to make the class better?

*What was your favorite (tech tool, strategy, assignment, book, etc.) that I used in the classroom?

*What advice would you give students taking this class next year?