Listening to Students

A new angle I am actively pursuing this year in my teaching is encouraging students to drive their own learning. One of my first steps is a commitment to taking feedback from my students. Having recently been involved in a number of research projects in which I had to gather data on student views and experiences, I’ve been really awoken to the importance of listening to students and trying to see things from their perspective. 

The days are long-gone in which students were passive recipients of our wisdom and experience (ha!) and now the understanding is that learning takes place best in an open forum which emphasises partnerships, sharing and debate among students and teachers. Even in the best planned and executed lessons there is always the potential for a gap between what the teacher thinks is happening and what is actually taking place in the minds of the students. I believe that listening to my students more will help me to plan my next steps more carefully, particularly with differentiation in mind. But perhaps more importantly, I feel that it models humility and the reflective habits we wish for in students. 

So I've set myself a few guidelines which may help me in using feedback effectively:

- Write questions carefully - think about the information I really want from students. 

- Share the feedback with students and discuss ways I or we can act upon it.

- Take feedback regularly throughout the course so that there is time to make changes.

- Use varied formats so the students don't find it tedious.

- Take negative feedback positively!

This neat quote from author and spiritual teacher, Ram Dass, is a good place to begin: "The quieter you become, the more you can hear".