ONGOING LEARNING
One of the dispositions I’ve gained from Azrieli is seeing myself as a “reflective practitioner,” as someone who is committed to ongoing learning and reflection. This means making sure that my content is up-to date with current research, and it also means that I am collecting feedback about my courses and using that critique to update and improve them for the next year.
I value feedback from everyone, including my supervisors and colleagues, but the feedback I work especially hard to collect is that from my my most discerning clients - my students!
Below are two different surveys with two different goals.
1. AP BIOLOGY SURVEY
The first survey is one I gave to my students the first year I taught AP Biology.
The main purpose of this survey was to collect feedback about how prepared they felt for the exam, since that was a primary goal of the course, and also to find out which aspects of the course were most helpful and least helpful.
It was also a chance for the students to reflect for themselves how much they gave to the class, and how much they felt they got out of it. That was something I wanted my students to have a chance to consider, but it was also something I was interested in observing. I don't often ask my students how much they like the class, and this was a chance for me to get a glimpse into their perceived work ethic and affect.
This was the first survey I ever gave to a class, and it was a defining moment in shaping me as a teacher. I incorporated the feedback from this survey in all of my future AP courses (and other ones, too!) and I am happy to say that my classes are stronger because of it.
It’s not always easy asking for feedback. What if my students really didn’t like something? What if something I worked hard to do wasn’t that effective after all? However, after gaining so much valuable, useful feedback from this survey, I now try to offer similar surveys in all classes that I teach.
2. MATH STUDY LOG SURVEY
In this second survey, I had a slightly different purpose. My goal in this survey was to collect information about how long and using what method my students studied for their quiz. I also asked questions about how effective they felt their studying was.
This gave me information about my students’ study habits, which was something I could turn around and see if there was a correlation with their earned marks. I was also looking for data to measure my students’ sense of self-efficacy - how much they felt the result was a product of the work they put into something. Did the student who checked the box saying “I studied effectively” actually do well on the quiz? If she didn’t, why not? If a student did not check that box, how can I help her feel like she studied effectively next time?
This kind of feedback helped me and my students reflect on their study habits, and it also helped inform my teaching since I could guide the students to help them prepare better and feel more confident in their studying.