Thoughtful Social Studies: surveying your class

Showing posts with label surveying your class. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Pop Tart Habits

What were your bad habits during our long quarantine time?

I had a late-night impulse buy of Pop Tarts once in April or May that I could not take back. Once Pop-Tarts entered our house, they became part of the family and we loved them and adopted them.

I know they’re crap for nutrition. But tasty, tasty crap. Mmmmmm...

So, two days into Weird Pandemic Teaching already? It’s definitely getting better, but still messy, I think, huh?

Before you go any further into this school year, do yourself and your kids and families a favor.

Ask them how it’s going. NOW. Before you get into any bad habits. Or before the kids get into bad habits. Or before things just... happen... in an unintentional way...

I know it’s harder than ever before to gauge how things are going. Some kids are at home. Some of THOSE kids have cameras on and some don’t. Some of your kids are in your classroom. Those kids have masks on, making it harder to read their faces than usual.

Plus it doesn’t help that we are spending half our days troubleshooting our tech and not spending as much time really bonding with our students as usual.

So, do yourself and your kids and families a favor.

Ask them how it’s going.

And then, read their answers and adapt your class if and in ways that you can.

Now, quick -- before you pick up a ridiculous Pop-Tart habit (or worse, a weird new teaching/learning/management habit) that you don’t want to have to unlearn. (Poptarts, I dread quitting you!)

I made you some survey questions you can ask. You can put them in Canvas or in Teams or on the board or in a Word Doc. Have kids answer in Forms or in Canvas or on a notecard. I know there’s so much variation with how you’re doing all this.

But here’s one template you can use in Canvas. (you can also search in Canvas for “Newman” and “survey”). You can copy it into your course (it’s an assignment) and then you can see how this is going for your kids.

I get it. It’s hard to see how kids are through a computer, with some cameras on and some off while you’re teaching live with masks on to make face-reading harder, too. It’s a lot. So, instead of guessing or waiting for eight million questions -- ask the kids right up front. It might help!

Don’t wait for bad habits to form. Nip those bad habits in the bud and find out what’s happening now. Before your whole family (I mean class) is addicted to pop tarts) Full survey link https://lor.instructure.com/resources/59d61d3e45944bef8fa12296313f3cd1?shared

And as always, let me know how it’s going. I want to hear. The good, the bad, and the crazy. Let me know!

-Tracy

Thursday, May 14, 2020

A Harry Potter End of Term

First off YES, I KNOW IT'S THURSDAY. SORRY TO MESS WITH YOUR DAYS OF THE WEEK!

Ahem. Erm. Um. Sorry ‘bout that.

Anyway. Welcome to the weirdest end of the school year ever. From your couch!

No goodbye hugs from kids. No yearbook signings. No end of the year breakfasts or lunches. No in-person awards ceremonies. No review games. No exams.

A friend recently called it the “Harry Potter” year. It was okay... until Voldemort popped up for some mortal peril at the end of the semester.

Just finish the content ...until the last week of ... no new content? But no exams? But kids are supposed to sign in anyway? Eep! That sounds like a recipe for kids NOT signing in...

And then the craziest school year then ends with a whimper and not a bang...

So, how WILL you end your school year? With a purpose or with a “see you next year... maybe ... or never ... ?”

Kids need closure. You need closure. Kids need some wrap-up. We all need to think about our year and reflect on it, both the normal part and the Covid/Voldemort part. Give them each a personal comment via email or one-on-one chat(they can be repeated) to tell them how great you think they all are. They need to hear that and they need a reinforced personal connection with you

Then, I highly recommend the student survey. Seriously, give your kids a survey about your class.

I say this every year, so I hope you’re ok with another annual reminder.

Survey your kids. Make it anonymous (or not). Do it in Forms or Polly or Survey Monkey. Whatever you like.

The “what” you ask is a little trickier. Here are a couple of thoughts...

Ask a question, with a question mark. People are more honest with a question mark for some reason.
Ask them about pedagogy, environment, expectations, engagement, and support in your REGULAR CLASSROOM and in your DIGITAL CLASSROOM

How well they learned in your class
How kids behaved in the class
How much encouragement they received in class
How much the student participated
How does this teacher help you

Ask kids to rate how they felt about class activities, homework, projects, the subject of the course.
Leave a few open-ended questions, like

What was your favorite part of this class?
What did I do to help you learn this year?
What could I have done to help you learn more?
What could YOU have done to help you do better?

Honestly, throw in a few questions about Digital Learning/Crisis Learning. We may have to do this again. It would help to have some solid feedback from your kids about how it went.

Then, read their answers. I am a big fan of anonymity, if possible. Kids answer more honestly if they don’t put their names on it.

After you read their answers, jot down for yourself a few major takeaways. They can be trends, specific comments or answers unique to a specific class period or group.

Use their answers to reflect on your year and set some goals for next year. We have no idea what next year will look like, but I think “different than usual” may be the theme. Self-reflection may be huge to help us really know where to start.

One of the most reflective and honest and helpful things I did all year was to survey my students. Try to catch them before they disappear in the no-more-sign-in-fade-away...

Try using one of these for inspiration. Then, make your own.

This is a weird end of the school year. I hope you can provide some closure through student surveys, conversations, drive-by parades, notes, and other closure activities in the next two weeks.

How are you helping kids have solid closure in this weird time? I hope you use the survey as the big one! How else? As always, email me! newmantr@pcsb.org

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Thank U, Next

I realize that I am too old to listen to Ariana Grande but I do anyway. I refuse to be the kind of person who stopped listening to new music when grunge died.

If you are too old to listen to Ariana Grande, too, you might have missed the song, “Thank U, Next” where she sings to all of her exes and tells them what she learned from them and how ready she was/is to move on from them.

At this point in the school year, you may be ready to say “Thank U, Next” to this year’s group of kids. Some years, I remember feeling that way in February.

“Thanks, kids. Is it time for next year yet? Or at least, is it time for summer yet? When will these children be GONE?!?!?!”

What I really want to focus on, is the ability to learn from anyone who crosses your path -- including the students.

I know THEY are supposed to learn from YOU. But I think you can learn a lot from them, too.

The best way to do that is through an end-of-the-year survey.

Sure, your students have been annoying and ... REALLY annoying ... and some of them have been dishonest or unpleasant or bewildering or even outright nasty.

But you will be surprised at how many of them will be honest and helpful on a survey like this. Sometimes even the toughest kids might open up on this sort of thing.

You can survey them on paper. You can survey them digitally. You can survey them pre-printed (does anyone have any copies left?!) You can survey them on index cards, or with QR codes or on their phones or on plain old notebook paper or in OneDrive or Google Docs or on scantron.

It’s a great thing to do on one of those weird days when you see one group for three hours and the other for 15 minutes.

But just do it.

What should I ask on a survey?

It depends on what you want to know and where you want to grow....

Here is a huge pile of questions. DON’T ask them ALL! Choose the 5-10 you most want to know about and ask those. You can gear them more toward your management, your lesson planning, your learning activities or your emotional support.

Which unit was the most interesting to you this year?
Why was this unit the most interesting to you?
Which way did you learn the most? (then, give options like “reading”, “group work”, “projects”, “graphic organizers”, etc.)
Why do you think these ways were the best?
If you could go back and start the year/semester over again, would you do anything differently? Why or why not?
What was the best part of this class?
What was the worst part of this class?
What could I have done to teach you better?
What did I do that was the most helpful to you?
What was the most important thing you learned this year?
What could I have done to improve this class?
What will you remember most about this class?
What else do you want to tell me about this class?
Name something that made it hard for you to learn this year.
What should your teacher do differently next year?
Did you feel challenged this year? Why or why not?
How has your confidence in _________ (subject) improved this year?
What is one piece of advice that you would share with a student who is entering this class next year?
Did you feel as though I had high expectations of you?
Explain a time in class in which you were able to overcome a struggle.
Finish this sentence: “If Mr./Ms. ______ only knew __________________”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.

Kids are surprisingly insightful and honest on these things.

I know you are end-of-the-year exhausted, but this is totally worth the 5 minutes it will take to pick your favorite questions from above and put them in the format of your choice.

Your kids will surprise you.

In a good way.

Have any great survey questions I missed? Email me at newmantr@pcsb.org

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

New Year, New Eyes

New backpacks. New shoes. New, sharpened pencils. New bulletin boards. New schedules. New software.

New eyes.

Wait, new eyes? Where the heck am I going to get new eyes?

Before that one kid says something rude. Before that other kid stops showing up. Before a different kid refuses to put her name on her paper.

Let’s start fresh and new. Put on new eyes for tomorrow.

Each kid today is checking his new backpack, putting on her new shoes, checking out an outfit in front of the mirror. Each kid is nervously thinking about the new school year. Each kid is taking a deep breath before tomorrow.

Each kid shows up hoping THIS will be a great year. Maybe even the best. Each kid’s parent or caregiver says a little prayer or thought that this year, hopefully their kid won’t struggle so much.

You have done a lot of preparation in the past week and a half. You have had meetings, trainings, room set-up. You have learned new software, new textbooks, new procedures, new content, new colleagues.

Now know that not much of that matters if you don’t believe that your kids can learn and grow. Those meetings, trainings, software, and set-up don’t matter if you don’t believe that each student can increase his or her capacity for learning and growth.

Go look at your class rolls. Look at each name. Think about how this year you can increase each kid’s brain power.

Your job isn’t to fill an empty bucket of a brain with content. Your job is to grow the bucket. By the end of the year, I hope most of the kids you teach have “bigger buckets” and a larger capacity for learning.

In case you’re wondering, one of the best ways to do that is to get to know your kids. Kids will grow their capacity for learning more when they feel safe and have a solid, dependable teacher-student relationship.

When you see them on the first day, have them fill out something to help you get to know them. Whether it’s their own paper, your handout, or digital forms, ask them for their name and interests. Ask them who they live with. Ask them what kind of music they like. Ask them their favorite book genre. Ask them what they like about school and what they don’t like. Ask them their favorite subjects or teachers from the past. Ask them what extracurriculars or hobbies they have.

Then, be diligent and purposeful in using that info to get to know them. Group them based on their favorite music, or similar hobbies. Group them based on neighborhood or favorite subject. Help them to get to know each other so you and they have better class dynamics and better behavior.

Use your new eyes. Every kid who walks through your door tomorrow is hoping for a great year. Every kid is hoping that this year, they will be academically and socially successful. Every kid is hoping that this year doesn’t suck.Every kid wants this year to be good.

Take a deep breath before you walk in tomorrow and do two things.

Expect the best of each kid (no matter what you heard) and
Get to know your kids so you can grow their capacity for learning.

Oh, and

3. Rock your first day!

Have a great one! I love to hear from you! Emai lme at newmantr@pcsb.org

-Tracy

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Survey Says?

It’s the week before exams. 12 School days left.

Right now your students have one thing on their minds.

Grades, Grades, Grades.

Those “greedy” kids. They’re all about their OWN grades.

At this time of year, the kids are taking tons of tests and exams and trying to cram 10 months of work into the next two weeks to “make up” work (or even beg for extra credit) so they can pass your class.

What about the TEACHER’S grade?

Don’t you want feedback on how YOU-THE-TEACHER did this year too?

Give yourself your own teacher-version of end-of-year feedback.

Give your kids a survey about your class.

I say this every year, so I hope you’re ok with another annual reminder.

Survey. Your. Kids.

Make it anonymous. I promise that 95% of their feedback is useful. (There are a few goofballs in any class/crowd, I admit it). The kids really can tell you what no one else can about your class. They can actually help you with useful information, no matter how many times you caught them with their phones out this month or how many bathroom passes they asked for.

Their feedback is still helpful to you.

You don't have to share it with your administrator if you don't want to.

Make it paper-and-pencil or make it digital. Print it out or have them answer on their own paper. Do it on an index card! Use the iPad lab or have the kids use their phones. The HOW is up to you.

The what you ask is a little trickier. Here are a couple of thoughts...

Ask a question, with a question mark. People are more honest with a question mark for some reason.
Ask them about pedagogy, environment, expectations, engagement, and support

HOW well they learned in your class
How kids behaved in the class
How much encouragement they received in class
How much the student participated
How does this teacher help you

Ask kids to rate how they felt about class activities, homework, projects, the subject of the course.
Leave a few open-ended questions, like

What was your favorite part of this class?
What did I do to help you learn this year?
What could I have done to help you learn more?
What could YOU have done to help you do better?

Then, read their answers. I am a big fan of anonymity. Kids answer more honestly if they don’t put their names on it.

After you read their answers, jot down for yourself a few major takeaways. They can be trends, specific comment or answers unique to a specific class period or group.

Use their answers to reflect on your year and set some goals for next year.

One of the most reflective and honest and helpful things I did all year was to survey my students. Try to catch them before they disappear in an exam schedule craziness.