I'm about halfway through reading the writing from yesterday's class. I have a list of what I'm noticing about learners' knowledge and skills in the back of my mind. I will use the list to make a couple of mini-lesson videos.
In January, I taught four classes from quarantine (that's another story) and to plan for that I designed a series of activity "rotations." I call the activities "rotations" in quotes because learners don't move around the room. Covid. Instead, learners switch activities or self-pace through them: a mini-lesson, close reading practice, a small group discussion, and language study (often a gamified review on GimKit).
When I asked how the process was working for them, learners responded positively. They enjoy the rotations and asked that we continue them at least once a week, so I have.
When I asked for feedback, I use it. I feed it back to the kiddos the next class. I talk to them about how their feedback informs instructional planning. On this survey, I was glad to see that most of the kids were purple and green across each of the activities.--the colors represent the 4 and 5 of the likert scale I used. One a few ranked things at level 2 (disliked) and no one selected a 1 (hated it!). Good news for planning purposes.
Here is a more detailed view of their responses over time:
So, I have continued structuring our days with rotations. They are starting to shift though as learners need more time to practice and write prose analysis. Likely, it's time for me to ask the class, again, how the process is working for them.
In the mean time, I'm about half-way through yesterday's formative analysis. I've got samples saved and ideas for the mini-lessons writers need. I'll keep thinking about what learners need today. I'll take that thinking into my PLC meeting this afternoon. And likely this evening, I'll get a lesson recorded and uploaded to YouTube. We'll see how the day goes.
I need to switch up the survey or try something different. Novelty sometimes yields different results.
I'm curious, how do you gather and use feedback from your leaners?
everyday in March and on Tuesdays throughout the year.
Lee Ann,
ReplyDeleteSeeking feedback from your students speaks volumes about your instructional agility and your commitment to responsive practices. Thanks for including the graphs and charts to clarify how you both collected the data and used it to inform your practice. I think your closing thoughts about novelty yielding different results is profound. Let us know how you shake things up!
I love the way you constantly listen to students and adjust your practice to meet their needs. One thing I did in my AP Lit and Comm classes was to solicit responses to questions such as “What more do you need from me to be successful on this task?” “What do you still need more practice in to feel comfortable writing enthymemes? or something specific they had to do. I’d go through these in class and have mini lessons to address the gaps.
ReplyDeleteYou are such a fantastic teacher! I always learn so much from your posts about your teaching. I love that you found a way to do "rotations" this way, and I'd like to hear more about the logistics. (Is there a timer? Or they do an activity until they finish? Where do they access the choices? Do they try to do all the choices or just whatever they want?)
ReplyDeleteI love surveying my students too (Google Forms ftw! I think my students get tired of them, but they're so great!), and I always find their responses so important. I love that you show them the data & talk about how you use it! I've done that occasionally, but I probably need to do it more often!