Arguably, the most difficult and the most unpredictable year. And yet, there will always be insights. Always. Ask those that know. Ask your students.
Every year, for the past… lots of years, I have asked the students I teach, or the teachers I work with, for their views and feedback. This year, I had more students to ask than I usually do, so took advantage of that. It is always optional and anonymous. It is therefore biased, biased to students that want to respond or have something to say. 21/52 at the time of writing this post. This is not a post to share the results but the rationale.
Survey
Your views matter to me. Your contributions throughout the year have change the way I have taught you, and the way I will teach other students ‘just like you’ in the future. Just three questions and your chance to feedback.
Three required questions. Two short answer questions, one matrix question, two optional questions on RememberMore, one final open opportunity.
- What did you like MOST about English with Mr Still?
- What did you like LEAST about English with Mr Still?
- Your opinion matters – three decisions! (Strongly agree to Strongly disagree)
I am a smarter learner now, than I was at the start of the year.
I am a more confident ENGLISH learner now, than I was at the start of the year.
I am MORE like to read a book now, than I was at the start of the year?
4. OPTIONAL – Feedback on the Classroom.remembermore.app
5. OPTIONAL – Feedback on the Remembermore
6. Any comment or feedback you wish to add
As each year I have issued the survey, I learn something new about my teaching, something about the students that surprised me, and one or two things I need to accept.
Here is this years lesson.
This year my love for english has increased so much. ive learnt so much this year and ive learnt how to learn if that makes sense. your way of teaching has helped me so much, the way youve explained your way of teaching has helped me to understand so much. your probably the best teacher ive had and the best teacher i ever will have. i know im always going to remember you in english lessons all because of your amazingly memorable lessons. i really love how you know your students and it helps me so much, im so thankful for your understanding that i am shy and do not enjoy reading infront of the class, your understanding of this has helped me to be able to focus in class and not worry about having to read infront of everyone. thankyou so much for all your help this year.
Student A
Set aside the obvious opportunity to challenge the quality of my teaching of capital letters and apostrophes. Set aside the affirmations. Two learning points stand out for me.
“ive learnt how to learn if that makes sense.”
Student A
If there was something that I didn’t enjoy I always understood the purpose of what we were doing. Student B
Student B
Yes – it does. With twenty plus laps around the teaching block, never have I worked hard to explicitly explain ‘why‘ it is we do, what we do. It was reiterated in a few replies. That is partly because I was learning how to use classroom.remembermore.app and working with the students on how to best to utilise the platform. In reflection, I have Dr Rawson to thank for that adaptation.
The point that left the deepest mark.
“…im so thankful for your understanding that i am shy and do not enjoy reading infront of the class, your understanding of this has helped me to be able to focus in class and not worry about having to read infront of everyone.”
So you live and learn. I had not reflected or understood the consequence of that decision. Nor has I balanced the benefits of not worrying.
Was teaching with RememberMore well received?
More than 60% of students choose to respond. Just a few of my favourite examples as not to over egg the pudding.
- Best app I’ve come across for learning
- Amazing and it’s even better because I know how to make the most from it because of his explanations of how to learn.
- I wish we could use the app next year too
- Very useful for revision purposes
- It helps me be prepared for our lessons coming up
- Even better you learn what you don’t know so when your in class you’re a lot more confident
- I like that it shows your stats and how much it showed that you remembered.
- I recommend this for better understanding of books, I wish we could use it next year too.