This term I used Anne Schwartz‘s format for getting feedback from my students. I asked them to write me a letter. I’ve been teaching these students for ten weeks and I wanted to see what their impressions were.
Dear Mrs A,
1. The best thing you did was….
2. The worst thing you did was….
3. I am awesome because….
4. This summer I’m….
From, [name], your favourite student.
Here are some responses from top set year 7 students.
The best thing you did was let us play games.
The worst thing you did was giving us 3 exercises for HW.
I’m awesome because I did well on the fractions poster.
This summer I’m going to Taiwan, Beijing and San Francisco.I’m awesome because I did well on the olympic stadium project and I learnt a lot about making sums simpler.
The best thing was you letting us choose our seats.
The worst thing you did was giving us a lot of homework.The best thing you did was help me understand about shapes.
The best thing you did was let us work in pairs and groups.
The worst you did was give us quite a lot of homework.
I’m awesome because I improved my understanding in fractions, algebra and measurements.The worst thing you did was give us lots of HW that was easy but long.
I’m awesome because I know year 13 stuff and beggining pre calculus and complex number and quadratic formulas.
This summer I’m doing an extra maths course and swimming class.The best thing you did was giving us lots of practical tasks.
The worst thing you did was making us move the tables and chairs around.
I’m awesome because I went to every math competition, even purple comet and HKMO.This summer I’m going to read a book of maths given to me as a present.
The best thing you did was to help me understand things when I am confused and made our lessons more interesting.
The worst thing you did was make us play a token game which was quite boring in my point of view.The worst thing you did is… I really don’t know. You make your own mistakes, like every human.
I’m awesome because… I don’t think I am. I’m just a learner.
This summer I’m going to practise a bit of algebra.The worst thing you did was give us far too easy work.
The best thing you did was talking for a minute about how people write.
The worst thing you did was not checking our homework.
The students quite rightly pointed out how much homework I gave and that after a while I stopped checking it. Marking is always my downfall. Sigh. I live in hope that one year I will get better at it.