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Now that the school year is coming to an end, it is a great opportunity for teachers to reflect on their year. We often think about lessons that went really well, implementations that did not go so well and new things to focus on for the next school year. What better way to reflect on your teaching experiences than to hear from the students themselves. The blog entitled, "The End of the Year is Near: 4 Fun Ways to Leave" by Dr. Richard Curwin, offers clever activities for students to participate in at the end of the year that at the same time helped the teacher to "understand what students
learned and how they felt now that the year was close to ending" (Curwin, 2014). I really enjoyed Curwin's ideas because they were quick, easy and informative at the same time.
One of the ideas presented was an end of the year interview with the students. First, divide the class into small groups and have the students think of 3 questions they want to ask the teacher about the past year. They could be questions such as, why do we have to do homework, what is the best part about teaching, how do you fairly grade my paper? Let the students come up with their own ideas. Then you, as the teacher, will come up with questions you would like to ask the students within each group and have them answer fairly. For example, were my tests fair, what was your favorite activity or project of the year, what is one thing I could have done better? Conduct this as an end of the year interview and give students the right to pass if needed. this is one great way to find out your effectiveness of assessments, materials, activities and so forth.
Another idea I really liked and would be fun, yet informative for the end of the year was having the students role play as the teacher. The blog suggests having students divide into small groups, providing each group with a scenarios, and having the students act out each scenario using your behaviors and mannerisms. You should then do the same. Example scenarios might include, teacher giving a lesson, teacher getting students to line up, teacher getting class to quiet down or on the other end, students giving excuses as to why homework was not complete, students asking silly questions or students taking a test. This should be humorous, yet not offensive, and yet gives teachers a glimpse into how students see their behaviors through their eyes.
Read the blog below for other ideas.
Curwin, R. (2014, May 28). The End of the Year is Near: 4 Fun Ways to Leave. Edutopia. Retrieved June 5, 2014, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/fun-ways-to-end-year-richard-curwin
I like the idea of having activities that allows the teacher to evaluate what the students think about the year they just finished. The ability to have your students teach the classroom allows for additional learning while the teacher sees how they view the class.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of end of the year interviews that the students can ask questions of the teacher and vice versa. I think it would be a great learning experience for both parties. Students may be more apt to be honest in their answers because they know it can't affect their grade, and teachers may be more laid back with their students knowing they are graduating from their classroom. I think this also is a great way to spend some one on one time with each student rather than a small group. Students may appreciate that time later.
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