Teaching is a revered profession which demands honest and sincere efforts. When you teach groups of students, you in fact take responsibility of their career and character building. But when you fail to deliver as a teacher, you are putting your whole classroom at risk. There will be no results of your hard work if you receive negative assessments reports of your students.
All your efforts will go in vein even if a single student fails in your class. Such outcomes pose severe question on your candidacy as a competent teacher.
There are certain factors like communication gap with students and ignorance with your own teaching approach that cause poor academic performance of students. However, there are various feedback methods that can help you single out the real reasons for unproductive teaching.
Feedback is a common method to improve flaws in one’s personal or professional domain. It highlights deficiencies in one’s skills and helps him grow with time. As teachers, we need to understand our flaws in order to give our best inside the classroom. Thus, you must know the factors that are responsible for poor performance of your class and you can do it only with productive feedback.
1. Conduct a Survey: It is a little cheesy to ask feedback from each student in a classroom. You will not want to hear any nasty or tasteless comments from your students. A survey would rather be a better thing to initiate feedback from students. It will give discretion to students and allow them to give honest responses of your questionnaire without any fear. For example, you can prepare a feedback form of questions pertaining to a specific subject which goes like:
- What Is The Best Part Of Computer Classroom?
- What Is The Worst Part Of Computer Classroom?
- Do I Give You Enough Time In The Classroom?
- Do I Assign Unrealistic Deadlines to Academic Writing Tasks or assignments?
- How Do You Rate Lab Classroom Experience On A Scale Of 10?
2. Create Idea Maps: Mind maps or graphic maps are another effective way you can get feedback of your students. Today’s ultramodern apps will give students a more fun and engaging way to put their comments. For example, you can ask students to create maps for their likes and dislikes. Once they are done with mapping, you can match the points that are common among majority of students. Finally, you can create your own chart that shows an overview of student’s opinion about your subject or teaching methods.
3. Arrange An Open-ended Discussion: Open-ended discussions can be a more insightful way to get issue-specific feedback of students. It will allow the students to give their suggestions about better ways of teaching. For example, you can initiate a discussion about technology-driven classroom. Students will give their arguments about applications and implications of such practices in a classroom. Finally, you will make conclusions based on the strongest and most endorsed points presented by majority of students.
4. Feedback from Your Assistant: Your assistant is also the best resource to get productive feedback. Since she works in close proximity with you, she can judge you better than anyone else. Do not feel ashamed to turn to them for valuable suggestions whenever you need one. While assistants are passive learners, they can give you valuable suggestions on changing certain aspects of your teaching methods.
5. Feedback from Seniors: You can also consult with your seniors for feedback. Their rich experience and judgment can help you identify weaknesses in your teaching style and, so, help you rectify them promptly. You can also seek their advice on various feedback you have received so far. A senior teacher has gone through formative phase of teaching; so he will be in a better position to guide you to the right path.
