Before January ends, I must share more about my year-long
focus on student voice in the high school French classroom. If you’d like to
read my first entry on this topic, CLICK HERE.
Eric Sheninger (@NMHS_Principal), Principal at New Milford High School
in New Jersey, invited me to write my first guest post for his blog in October.
Thanks again, Eric!
In my guest post, I shared ways to help adolescent
learners understand how empowering it can be to use their voice in the
classroom. Last December, one of our Math teachers prepared an editable student
evaluation form and emailed it to all faculty in the high school. He instructed
us to make it our own and share it with our students during one of the last
days of class before midterm exams. A few days later, I sent it out during each
class after reminding students of the importance of one’s individual voice. They have been told time and again that their
voice matters and that we learn better if we learn together. When a student makes a suggestion, I reflect
on it for a little while before sharing my thoughts with the entire class, and
then I solicit feedback. This part of the process is essential, and I try to
prove how serious I am about their thoughts whenever I have an opportunity.
On the evaluation form, students were asked to agree or
disagree with a series of statements about the teacher, the course, and themselves
as learners. The good news is that the
lowest average score was a 3, or “neutral.” All of the neutral ratings were related to the
teacher’s performance and the course. For
example, I received a “neutral” score for my ability to return work with
feedback in a timely manner. I continuously struggle with this for one main reason:
most of the work I assess requires somewhat detailed feedback. There is very
little, if any, work that requires students to answer in the T/F, multiple-choice,
or matching format.
According to the data I gathered, students agreed with most
statements overall. I was most surprised
by the following example in which students agreed: “The teacher uses
technology effectively to advance my learning.”
In fact, the average score for that one was rather high as compared to
others in that range. My learners tend
to resist learning the standards, such as ISTE NET-S, but I march on while continuously
explaining why they need to become better prepared to succeed in this
increasingly digital world. At any rate,
I am happy to learn that they do actually see value in what we’re doing. This also tells me that they’re aware of both
the benefits of tech when learning a world language and the fact that the tech
skills that they acquire are applicable in so many aspects of their lives.
In the final section of the evaluation, students were asked to tell me how I could better help them learn. Of course, there were a couple students who
thought they would learn better if we had parties and ate sandwiches that I
prepared just for them. (I’m going to interpret those remarks as a desire to
sample more foods from France and Francophone nations, moving forward.)
Below is a list of learner recommendations upon which I have
been reflecting. If you have ideas,
please share them in the comments. I
would love to hear what other educators might do.
===========================
Student Comments:
-She could give more detailed notes... (I need to find out
what the student meant…)
-Be available for longer periods after school. Available for
retakes before school upon request. (OK, I’m under the impression that this
student stopped by on a day when I couldn’t stay after school because I’m typically
available for as long as needed. However, I will say that I’m unwilling to
change my extra help schedule to accommodate the early riser(s) because I
prepare for the day in the morning. The
fact is, I’m available any other time throughout the day (e.g. break, lunch,
and after school.)
-Listening [exercices] are sometimes too hard. More practice
with listening and reading. (I’m always working to find suitable authentic
audio and task ideas, but l am continously working to accommodate this
request.)
-Do more speaking and listening [tasks] before tests so that
we are better prepared. (I plan to allot more time to video/audio recording
opportunities for peer review. Also, I’m now sending audio links to students
and allowing them to listen as often as they like when doing formative
assessments. )
-Review more. (I’m going to engage each class in discussion
on this topic. Not sure what this person meant…)
-Be more clear with deadlines and post all assignments in
the same place. (Announcements, upcoming assessments, and other important news
is posted on the board and Twitter. I used to do a Google Calendar post on my
class website, and may bring that back.
That said, we are having ongoing discussions regarding responsibility and
ownership.)
-Work on communication. (I will be asking for clarification/discussion
in class, but this comment might be related to the fact that we speak French
for 90% + of the class period.)
-SLOW DOWN. Less projects. (I have learned that a task
versus a project is not always clear to the learner. As for slowing down, I will be more cognizant
of this request, moving forward.)
-If she could tell us what is important for every quiz and
test. Help us pronounce sentences and words every class period so we can speak….fluently.
(We do not use a textbook…..but even back in the day when we did, learners
struggled with organization of material. While chatting with a student today, I
came up with the idea to ask each class to make a separate folder in the
GoodNotes app for all verbs they learn. As for pronunciation, I made a Quizlet account
last summer, and just need to keep up with it.)
-Slow down, please, when taking notes because I don’t like
taking pictures. (Notes are now available in Dropbox. Students must just listen
and fill/add notes where needed. Learners who prefer to write their notes on
notebook paper may do so, but they have to refer to the notes in DropBox, and
continue writing them from there, if they can’t keep up. There is no longer a
need for photos.)
-Not so many…required apps that we don’t use very much or at
all. (I took inventory. There was one (free) app that we didn’t end up using
because the free version only allows users to record one interview. Some apps
are used more than others, but the only purchases my students made were for
Quick Voice ($2.99) and Popplet ($4.99.)
-…Weebly.com was a terrible website. (Students are still
using their Weebly sites, but we will go to the lab and use the desktop PCs anytime
they need to add content. Weebly has a lot of glitches on the iPad, and that
requires more patience than folks seem to have.)
=========================
My learners used their voices for
the purpose of positive change, and I am SO very proud of them for it. I will
continue to discuss these evaluations with students in the coming weeks, and look
forward to hearing from my PLN as well.
How would you respond to these
voices?
