JOURNAL ENTRY #4

During my high school placement I learned about the ways in which I can begin to foster a community of learners, the ways I can provide meaningful opportunities for creative endeavors and experiences. I also learned about the ways I can continue to grow and change my teaching to further help students. Feedback and growth through feedback is one of the most important aspects of teaching and learning. At the end of my high school placement, I asked students to give me feedback on my teaching, I asked them what things I did well, and what I can do to improve in the future. This is one of the most valuable ways I can continue to foster professional growth. At the end of the day, student feedback is extremely valuable, I want their voices to be heard. For this reason, I created a google form that allowed for me to get some feedback from the students themselves. 

 

The student perspective is sometimes different than the perspective of colleagues or administrators, so using both types of feedback will allow for me to grow from multiple different perspectives. When asked what I did well as a teacher students responded: 

 

• She was very good with giving suggestions on what we should add and with helping if we weren't feeling as well one day and just understanding us in general.

• She always gave really good feedback and kept kids going in class. When kids have questions you help them think through there ideas almost give them conversation rather than an answer. 

• Gave good feedback, constructive criticism, and help. She was also very kind!

• Ms. Bosch made the class more engaging and was very helpful with her advice on our work. She also had very clear and concise guidelines and instructions on what we were doing in class on the days she taught.

• I think she did a really good job interacting with the students and keeping people engaged. She made sure to check in on people to see if we were doing ok, and she did a great job communicating with the students in general. 

 

When asked what I can improve upon in the future, students responded: 

 

• The suggestions were helpful but maybe giving more suggestions would help some people

• Don’t ask too many questions about the same thing 

• I thought that overall she was very good, the only thing that I would say would be to try to talk just a little bit louder because sometimes it was a little bit difficult to hear.

• Sometimes, in your explanations, it felt like you were going around and around, hitting the same point 4 or 5 times, which is necessary for some people, but rather annoying for others. 

 

This feedback allows for me to see my teaching from a student’s perspective. I can see what I should continue doing in the future, and aspects of my teaching that I can improve upon in the future. For example, from the student perspective I tend to over ask questions. This makes me realize that I may need to lessen the number of questions, and change them up more consistently throughout lessons. This will help to further engage students. The feedback about hitting the same point 4 or 5 times, makes me think that in the future, I should teach a concept, and then go around and help specific students or bring a group of students off to the side to continue practicing. This may help students that are struggling get more individualized help, and let students who are grasping the concepts move on to further learning. I can also continue doing the things that students appreciated about my teaching. For example, continuing to give specific feedback seems to be a commonality, and this is something that I think will help students to continue to grow and build their skills. It will also push them in their own creative experiences. 

 

Asking for and utilizing this feedback will allow for me to continue to grow professionally throughout my career. In future semesters, I think it would be helpful to ask students to give me feedback halfway through the semester, and then use that feedback to change my plans for the course. This would allow for me to not only help future students, but improve my teaching for that specific class. This combined with feedback from colleagues, administrators, etc. will be how I can develop my own teaching practice.