Looking Back #MTBoSBlaugust

I've said it before, but I love student reflections. I like checking in with students to see how things are going and if there is anything I need to tweak.

I give a few "big" reflection surveys throughout the year. One of my favorites is the End-of-Year Reflection.

I typically blog about the End-of-Year Reflection at...well...the end of the year. But that didn't happen this year. So I've opened the Google Form up to read back through the responses and see if I can remember what I gleaned from them in May.

I was a little concerned about giving the reflection at the end of the spring distance learning. I was afraid students' views of the entire year would be marred by how it ended. That didn't seem to be the case.

When reading responses to reflections, I look for trends. Not every 8th Grader takes such questionnaires seriously. There's always that student or two who don't like anything. So I look for thoughts that seem to be common to a number of students.

Here are a few things that stood out to me from this past year's reflection.

Seating/Groups/Partners: Nailed it! I swap up seats a LOT. Sometimes daily. Some days students get to choose where they sit. They work with a partner or in a group more than not. For the majority of students, this was a highlight of being in my class.

That makes me sad for my upcoming students. Desks in rows, facing the front. Group work as usual - heads together, sharing thoughts and supplies - is not possible right now. I heard one health expert - I don't remember if it was a state or national one - recommend students have the same seating arrangement every day so it is easy to see if a student is not there.

I don't know exactly how I overcome these particular challenges and keep the positive social aspects of my classroom, but I have a few ideas to try.

Activities: Many students requested more competitive activities. I admit struggling with competitions in class. Managing teams and time, enforcing rules, ensuring fairness, controlling the occasional inappropriate outburst...I find days with competitive activities challenging. But I will continue to work on it. Online competition options will be a good option this coming year.

Testing Format: In my Algebra 1 classes last year, I primarily used 10-question assessments. I loved them. They didn't take students forever to complete, they were thorough enough to let me know what students did or did not understand, they were quicker to grade and return to students. Students were frequently given the opportunity to correct the assessments and earn back some points.

Some students hated them.

I never counted an assessment for more than 50 points - I think most of them were around 30 points - but a handful of students were stressed out by the fact that there were "only" 10 questions on a "test."

I liked the short assessments well enough to continue using them. But I'm thinking of using the term "quiz" for any assessment instead of "test." I hope that a "quiz" will be less anxiety-producing than "test." We shall see.

I continue to believe in the importance of getting student input. I'll need a lot of it this coming year as I try to meet student needs within the parameters of teaching in a pandemic.