I usually end the school year (students ended on Friday and I still have to go in to the building today, thanks to a crazy winter) by having my sixth grade students give me an assessment as a teacher. I provide some guiding questions, and their answers help inform my reflections as a teacher going forward.
It was heartening to see that many of them noticed their own progress as writers and readers this year, and that they were mostly engaged in nearly all of our various activities (even if some they liked more than others).
As a final step, I invited them to leave me comments or anything they wanted me to know or suggestions for me to improve as a teacher.
Two responses stood out for:
I want you to know that you made me feel welcome and made me feel that I could be myself and that you were there if needed. I think you make sure to help everyone and make sure they know you are here for them which shows that you really do care about all your students. Thank you for making ELA so much fun and being such an amazing teacher!!! I’ll miss you!!!!!
I want you to know that you taught me to be a better person. Not only you taught me how to be a better writer but you taught be life lessons and that it is ok to be different. You taught us many different things and I’m so thankful I got to have you as a teacher this year. You are you all-time favorite teacher and you have always been there for me and I know you always will be. I think you were the perfect teacher and don’t need to change anything about your teaching. So thank you for being such an amazing teacher.
It’s a nice way to bring the school year towards closure.
Peace (in Words),
Kevin
So hard to get the real feedback. Was the expectation of being a better writer discussed early in the year or the semester? Did you talk about what being a better writer means and how it is evidenced? Might also recommend that you do these feedback questions at least once or twice along the way. I think that they are better primed to answer this question at the end if you activate this schema along the way.
Having said this, I really appreciate the reflections you make and I hope you can stay in touch with some of these students along their learning paths in the future. That is something I should have done and failed to do in my career.
Good on ya, Kevin.
I prob didn’t activate the schema as much as I shoulda … 🙂