Creating a Cycle of Student Feedback

Teens are at a unique age where they are maturing into members of the community. To honor that development, I aim to include their voice in my instructional choices. Each quarter, I like to solicit student feedback by having a short conversation with my students about what did and did not work with the content. Did they like the lab component? What about lecture style? How did they connect with the article about kangaroos? This conversation isn’t a blame game, but a gauge to see whether the class is going in the right direction. Here is how I make this work. 

Setting up the cycle of review

It’s always challenging to take feedback, whether it be from a student or a colleague. Setting the tone of growth instead of hurtful critique is essential. 

Example discussion starter: “Now that we are wrapping up quarter one, I want to discuss what went well, what I can work on as a teacher planning the lessons, and what you can work on as a student. During this mini-conversation, please remember that content rigor has to stay high, so I’m not looking for suggestions along the lines of ‘watch more movies.’ This is to help guide my instruction to make the class enjoyable and beneficial. Please don’t use other teachers for non-examples, but you can use their names if another teacher has good practice. I just want to make sure the content delivery benefits everybody.”

Sample follow-up questions: You can ask your students questions like these to help figure out what is working for them:

• What style of lesson did you like? (Lecture, worksheet, labs, class discussion, artistic)
• What style lesson did you not enjoy? 
• What would you like to try in this class? (More reading relevant articles, hands-on activities, artistic choice) 

Responding to student feedback

When I hold these types of discussions, it is a little awkward for the first round. Students feel like they can’t be open because we are all just getting to know each other. As the year progresses, they become more open to sharing and being realistic about the types of changes that can occur. 

Processing the feedback: Write down the comments from your students. Often, we can skew what the students say when we think back to the moment. Writing it down as they say it, even on the whiteboard, will show them you’re listening and dedicated to the conversation. Then, set aside time when you can sit down by yourself and look at small changes you can make to the next unit or week.

Assume best intentions: It’s easy to perceive student comments about your teaching and lessons differently than they intend. If a student says, “I really didn’t like the article about the…,” this should not be seen as a personal attack on your ability to choose a relevant article. Assuming the best intentions assures that the conversation is helpful, not hurtful. This process is not a gotcha moment, but instead a meaningful way to grow in practice. 

There have been many times when a student gave feedback that I didn’t particularly like. For example, one student said they hated it when we did partner reads. I validated that point and then explained that sometimes, partner reads are the best option instructionally. The next time I was able to tweak the lesson, I gave students the option of partner or independent reading. A small instructional change that used no extra time or resources, it allowed the student to feel heard and meet their individual needs better.

Be open to changes: This is a hard one for me. My instructional style has changed over the years, evolving each year to meet the needs of my students and myself. For me as a teacher who has been in the profession for a while, it’s easy to think I know what is best and what practices are the most effective. However, teaching teenagers has been humbling.

In my experience, the changes that students communicate to me have been easy shifts. For example, they didn’t like the virtual labs. So I shifted the instruction, and instead of a virtual lab, I made it a hands-on lab.

Another student said they wanted to only do independent work with their headphones in. I took that feedback and incorporated a little more independent working time where students could listen to their music while they worked. This ended up being beneficial because the students who needed more help from me were able to get it more easily. Another simple change that happened based on this discussion was the use of closed captioning when we looked at video clips during the lesson. I hadn’t realized that the students liked using closed captioning! This shift was so easy to make, and it benefited the students who needed it.

Learn how to say no: The first time I had this conversation during this past school year, a student said they wanted to do dissections. I explained that while that would be very exciting, those happened in a different science class, and it wasn’t in my curriculum.

Finding the balance between growth and consistency can be difficult, but it is necessary to grow as a professional. I believe that embracing change each year has brought a new spark toward my passion for the profession. This cycle of review doesn’t need to be a scary task but instead should be seen as a way to grow as a professional and increase student buy-in. The conversation and subsequent changes will also create a new type of buy-in for your students. All in all, the benefits outweigh the potential rocky conversation.