One of the joys of the teaching process is that you tend to get your feedback at a point when you can’t really do anything with it until the next time you run the class. You might argue that students get the same deal, but that’s another matter. So here’s a quick and easy way to do some mid-stream modifications, using an “A-B-C” exercise.
After a few sessions of your class, when things have bedded down a bit, take 10 minutes to do this. Give everyone in the class 3 post-it notes (other brands are acceptable). Ask them to put one idea (anonymously) on each note as follows:
- One note on something that they want to Abandon in the class;
- One note on something that they want to Begin;
- And one note on something they want to Continue.
Once they’ve written them, they can post them on the whiteboard/blackboard/wall. With all the notes, you can then do a quick review with them, grouping similar points together and giving your first impressions.
The next class, you need to come back with some constructive feedback, to show that it’s not just been an exercise in raiding the stationery cupboard. Think about what’s reasonable to change, both in terms of effort and benefit, and about the reasons for not changing something (rather than just dismissing it out of hand).
This all works surprisingly well, it’s timely and it shows students that you do listen to their constructive input. Even if it doesn’t result in big changes, it’s still a valuable group-building technique.
The only word of caution is if you have a class that is not working in some major way: because this is quite public and open as a process, it might cause more instability than it solves.
6 Replies to “A is for ‘awful’ or ‘awfully good’?”
Comments are closed.