Reflecting Midterm: Successes and Opportunities
Being open to student feedback is an important part of the reflective practice process as it can be very insightful. Student feedback can help us see what is working in our classrooms and explore possibilities of what we could do differently. The mid-way point of the course is an excellent time to pause, take a breath, and reflect.
Lisa’s Thoughts…
At semester midterm I asked the students for their written feedback to the following questions:
- Share one suggestion that I could implement (as your teacher) in the next seven weeks to make these classes even better;
- Share one suggestion that you could implement (as a student or classmate) in the next seven weeks to make these classes even better.
After reviewing the results, I responded to the students with the following email:
Dear Students,
Thank you for providing me with some suggestions to make our classes even BETTER in the next seven weeks. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for the many kind words that I have received. I am thrilled that many of you are enjoying my course(s) and my teaching methods. This means a lot to me!
I have carefully read all of the suggestions that you have made and would like to address some of them that appeared most often. Unfortunately, I am unable to reduce the workload of assignments as I must ensure that we are meeting the program standards and learning outcomes. These learning outcomes are required to ensure that you have the skills needed in future semesters and in your field placement (sorry!). I do appreciate that many of you feel supported and guided with the many resources available to allow you to succeed.
I am able to implement the following suggestions that you have made in the following (last) seven weeks:
- Providing my PowerPoint presentations on eCentennial would be helpful, especially to enlarge the font on some of the slides. I will attempt to do this for you starting in week 8. Remind me if I forget.
- Providing more group work in the classroom (without grades) by participating in group activities. I will try to increase group work activities moving forward. Some students requested that I assign groups (when grades are involved) in our next assignment, involving group work to allow an opportunity to work with other students. Although we do not have any more group assignments in the Healthy Development, I can assign groups in the Learning Environment.
- Some students expressed how nervous they are feeling for the Healthy Development Midterm test since it makes up a high percentage of the final grade. They asked if I could send out a small sample of similar questions before the test so they can get a feel for the type of questions on the test. I will send out six sample questions by email before the test to everyone.
- A few students asked about assignment extension. Please remember that I sent out a memo at the beginning of our course that discusses how to get an extension on assign