I believe I have reached a new level of
exhaustion, which is really saying something, because I am accustomed
to a very high level of “tired.” These last few weeks with the
KPTP deadline and grading, teaching, etc. have been a challenge.
Luckily, I also had a birthday, which means I leveled up, right? I
wonder what new powers I gained?
One way I've been working on gaining
new powers is through reflecting on my teaching and adapting. After I
finished teaching my Romeo and Juliet unit, I gave my students
a feedback form to fill out about the unit and my teaching. I felt
like I had nothing to lose by asking for their input. The worst that
could happen is that I spent a little time and paper and didn't gain
much useful information. I found that the students were very honest
in their responses, which was exactly what I wanted. Admittedly, most
of it was predictable; requests for less work, shorter study guides,
and easier projects dominated. However, I gained some very
interesting insights, also. A few students asked for me to come down
harder in my discipline. One even stated, “It's OK to yell at us.
Sometimes we need it.” While I don't intend to ever become a
yeller, I will definitely take this feedback to heart and consider
when I need to react more definitively to distractions from students.
Even the requests for less work gave me something to think about.
While I don't think the amount of work required of the students was
excessive for the amount of material we covered, I do think it was a
lot crammed into a short time frame. Also, while the study guide was
just right in my opinion, it was a lot all at once. I think in the
future I will break it up into smaller chunks so the students don't
look at it and get overwhelmed.
I also really loved the personal
responses from students. Some of them thanked me for really letting
them think and express opinions. Some of them said they thought I was
funny and they looked forward to coming to class. Some even thanked
me for giving them a short answer/essay test! They appreciated the
chance to explain their thoughts rather than just having to fill in
letters on lines. Only one student expressed dismay at the test. I
had already spoken to him personally, so I knew his concerns, but I
was glad to have them outlined on paper so we can address them. His
concern was based on a learning disability, and I have no problem
making adaptations to accommodate his needs. It may be as simple as
letting him type his test answers rather than write them, or allowing
him to spread out the test-taking into a couple days instead of him
having to process it all at once. Getting to know my students better
as people and hearing their thoughts on their own learning and my
teaching has been a wonderful experience!
I'm including my feedback form here so
any of you who would like to gather this same kind of input from your
students can just use this instead of having to make your own. I was able to fit two of these on one sheet of paper and cut them into half sheets. I
recommend soliciting feedback like this. I will certainly do it again
in the future!
Feedback Form
Please fill out completely. This is to
help me evaluate my teaching and what I should modify in the future.
You do not have to put your name on the sheet. Thank you!
One thing you liked about the unit –
One thing you would change about the
unit –
One thing you learned –
What do you think I do well as a
teacher?
What do you think I need to work on as
a teacher?
I like your idea of a feedback form but sometimes, with the students maturity level in mine, I shudder to think what the students will write when they know no one will be able to tell it was their thought. How did you fair in this category? I do think it is vital for teachers to see what they need to improve upon and the students really love to see that the teachers care about what they think.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love your take on getting older, I will forever use 'Leveling Up' to refer to getting a year older.
I think all of us have been doing a lot of "Level ups" in ways beyond birthdays this semester. I also like to think of it as we are tired because of all the effort and growth we are accomplishing: if we weren't learning much, then we wouldn't feel so exhausted because we wouldn't have had put forth the effort it takes to expand and grow.
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea of the feedback form, although I do agree with Gage's comment. I think part of it will depend on knowing your students in your class. I think my senior classes could do a great job giving honest feedback- they already do! However, my freshmen I think would be too far stuck in that "less work" and more egocentric frame of mind. It'd still be interesting to see what they would put down though!
I appreciate your perspective on why we're so exhausted. At least that makes it feel more worthwhile! You're right, when my kids are really tired, I always say it must be because they're growing. I guess that applies to intellectual growth as well as physical.
DeleteI have freshmen, and they really did very well with giving constructive feedback. It helps to realize that there's not really any harm in trying it. If you get a bunch of forms that just say, "Be nice to me! Make it easy on me! Validate me!" I figure that means you're doing pretty well at challenging them. Don't we want them to think the work is hard sometimes?
ReplyDeleteI feel like students will usually give you what you expect, so if you expect that they will treat this seriously and communicate that to them honestly and sincerely, they'll do it. Yes, they are limited by their developmental level, but honesty and thoughtfulness is all I really ask.