The Best Type of Feedback - Students Reflecting on my lessons using Google Forms

I have recently been receiving and analysing feedback on my teaching provided by my last GCSE class. Using a GoogleForm I anonymously asked them several questions about my teaching. The questions focused around what they thought was good about my lessons and what I could do to improve them. This is a process I repeat at regular intervals and is something that I believe has real value. It provides me with some of the most useful and valuable feedback I have had as a teacher.

Why does this provide the best type of feedback?

•  The feedback is real. Most feedback we are given as a teacher is based around short lesson observations which, for various reasons, do not always reflect the normal classroom practices. I had taught my GCSE history class over 150 times. Their experience was real and their feedback is based around that period as a whole. This means that it is not only fair but also allows the students to comment on a whole series of activities and lessons which are far more wide ranging than several 30 minute observations.

•  The feedback is provided by experts. My GCSE class is a combination of Year 9, 10 and 11 students who have spent their whole lives in education. They know what works well and what needs to be improved because they live it everyday.

•  The feedback is personal. The students in my class spoke only about my lessons and provided me with the kind of detailed focus that would be difficult to achieve without the GoogleForm.

•  It profoundly alters the classroom dynamic. This is perhaps the most significant reason. I am a big believer in students co-constructing the lessons (see Co-Construction Blog) because it places greater responsibility on the students and allows them to 'own' the learning. When students see that they have the chance to influence what is taking place I believe they become much more engaged. When I explain to the students how the shape of the learning has been altered by the information they have given you can clearly see the impact of the process.

The class that filled in this GoogleForm are a group that I no longer teach. @Rossett we change the school timetable 4 weeks before the summer and begin teaching our new groups. I was keen to use the advice my former students provided to improve the learning for the new cohort.

What did I learn from this process?

•  The Impact of my YouTube Channel. Nearly all the students referred to the videos I have made explaining how to answer exam questions. The vast majority said how useful they had found them and how the pause/fast-forward/rewind had individualised feedback. This is obviously something I will continue to do.

•  The need to keep changing the seating plan. My students felt that they were stuck working with the same people too often. My new group have been constantly changing partners and groups. I have made use of the random pair generator and at least once a lesson the students are working with 'random' other students. In just the first 4 weeks I have seen the benefit of this. My class is mixed Year 9-11 and the constantly changing pairing's have really developed the class dynamic. I am grateful to the students who pointed this out. One of my students actually tweeted me to say he enjoyed an activity partly because it allowed him the chance to meet new people.

•  The need to improve the revision sessions. In the run up to the exams I held a series of revision sessions after school. One of my class pointed out that most of the work that was completed in these sessions could have been done, by them, at home. They had attended but had not got the most out of the sessions. This led me to consider the work that was going on. For some of my students this was exactly the aim of the sessions because they were completing work that they would not otherwise have done at home. However, for a significant group, the sessions were not working. I have decided to develop my revision session around the principle of Solo Stations. Setting several activities that allow the students to select where they begin their revision journey. I am confident that this will improve the quality of the revision sessions and am pleased that the plight of this student (and doubtless others like them) has been brought to my attention.

I hope that you have found this blog interesting. I hope I have shown why I believe student reflections using GoogleForms is the best type of feedback. I also hope I have shown the type of quality outcomes that this kind of interaction can produce.

Creating Opportunities to Fail - Resilience and the Rossett 'Independance Day'

On the 3rd July we had an 'Independence Day' (#IDRossett2012) @Rossett. The aim of the day was to embed and showcase the Rossett 3R's: Responsibility, Reflection and Resilience. Below is a video of what I believe the 3R's look like in my history lessons:

The main 'R' I was looking to incorporate into the students learning on Independence Day was Resilience and I was looking to create an activity that made the majority of students fail. 

The lesson was focused around the key question "What was it like to live in the British Empire?" but I believe the activity could easily be adapted to any question. The main activity centered on students producing a museum-style exhibit that aimed to answer the key question. They worked in groups to produce this. During this I repeatedly interrupted their work to offer them a chance to book an actor who could add another dimension to their exhibit by explaining 'their' view on what it was like to live in the Empire.

So often we talk about the importance of learning from mistakes but all too often our achievement driven outlook stops us from planning failure into our lessons.

Before the lesson - The Responsibility

In the lesson before the Independence Day I grouped the class into groups of 5 and gave them a worksheet each that looked at what it was like to live in the Empire from the point of view of a different country. I emphasized that this was only a starting point and that they could do extra work and bring in extra resources. I also gave them a flavour of the kind of competition they would be involved in. I explained that they all needed to pull together, to work hard individually at home, to make the group successful.  

During the lesson - The Resilience

When the students arrived at the lesson they sat in their groups and after a quick numbered-heads-together where they defined what makes a good exhibit they were off working on their exhibits. Apart from providing them with paper, glue and scissors I did not give them any direction about how they should produce their exhibit. It was completely up to them to decide what it should contain and how it should look. After about 5 minutes I stopped the students and explained that they had the chance to book an actor for their exhibit. I played the first section of the following video to the whole class (the video 'stars' the @Rossett history department and a guest from REP):

I paused it after 'Chief Cakobau' had finished speaking leaving the key points on the screen. I then asked one random person from each group to come up and speak for 20 seconds (speaking at the screen, as if the actor was in the room) explaining why the Chief should be a part of their exhibit. After they had all finished speaking I explained

that unfortunately the actor playing Chief Cakobau could only work at two exhibits, he was a busy man, this meant that 4 group would be unsuccessful.

I awarded the actor to the two successful groups (by giving them a small picture of him to display). I then explained that I had made the decision based on 5 success criteria which I would not be sharing with them. They had to spend the next minute thinking about why they had, or mostly, had not been successful. I encouraged them to talk about the successful groups and focus on what they thought made them successful. I then asked the students to carry on with their exhibits but repeated the process with the other parts of the video until every student in the group had the chance to explain why an actor should work in their group's display.

At the end of the lesson - The Reflection

At the end of the lesson I gave merits out to the most successful group. I also gave every group the chance of winning a merit by reflecting on proceedings and coming up with their own success criteria. The group with the closest answer was the winner. Obviously groups that had been resilient and reflective had the most chance to win in the end.

My Own Reflections

• The students were very engaged by this form of learning and produced some excellent work.
• Working in groups certain students took it upon themselves to be responsible for other members in their group by making sure they knew what to do.
• The groups that had been the most responsible and produced the best homework had the best chance of doing well.
• The group that won the activity (claiming three actors for their exhibit) did not win anything on the first run through but were resilient and worked best together to try and work out what was success looked like.
• Every group tried to reflect on what they were doing and the standard of the work increased throughout the lesson. It got much harder to pick my two winners later in the lesson.
• This lesson was part of @Rossett School's Independence Day which was designed to promote Responsibility, Resilience and Reflection. The day was brilliant and I really enjoyed teaching a lesson like this. I will definitely be doing this type of activity again.

I would like to thank Mrs McFarlane (@rowmc64) for her help refining my original idea and for helping with the lesson plan and the resources. I would also like to thank Mr Grainger (@MrG_Ranger) for producing some excellent SEN homework resources.    Part of the lesson plan is below

 

ROSSETT SCHOOL

LESSON PLAN

Teacher:		Subject:	Date/Period:
Teaching Group:		Unit/Module: (if applicable)
Learning Objectives  By the end of the lesson students will understand/know/do:
Learning Outcomes  By the end of the lesson students will be able to: recall, describe, demonstrate, explain, evaluate etc: All will be able to: show responsibility by bringing research to the lesson on what it was like to live in Empire Reflect on why they/or other groups have been successful. Show resilience by not giving up if they are not successful. Most will be able to: show responsibility by ensuring that all of their group is working toward producing a good exhibit. Reflect, and apply those reflections, to improve their exhibit. Apply what they have learnt from observing more successful groups and applying it to their own pitches (resilience) Some will be able to: Some will show responsibility by explaining to the group why and how an improvement could be made. Some will be able to draw and apply reflections from other members of the group. Some apply observations of good practice to develop/suggest alternative approaches.
Resources Minds and Machines pages 98-103
Starter(s): (5-8 mins)	Get the groups to all-write-round-robin things that they have learnt about what it was like to live in the Empire.
Main Activities: Check progress-refer to learning objectives & outcomes. (8-10 mins)                Mini-Plenary	Students work in groups of 5 to produce a a1/big sheet poster about the topic. They must show responsibility and work independently using the resources provided by the teacher. While this is happening at intervals the teacher puts on a mask and explains a bit about a character who can help visitors to the exhibition understand what it was like to live in the Empire. One person from each group must then come forward and explain for 20 seconds why their groups exhibit should have that actor in it. They should try and persuade the teacher. The teacher will then judge each group by the set of criteria (that the students have not seen) and say they will feature in two of the groups exhibits. This means that 3 groups will be unsuccessful. The groups will have to try and work out why the groups were successful and this shows resilience and reflection. The teacher could ask the students to discuss what they think made the successful groups successful. The teacher will repeat this process 4 or 5 times (using the 5 'ruled' sources from page 102-103 except Chief Crowfoot) during the lesson and each time a different student from the group must pitch. These need simplifying for lower sets. There will be merits for the group who produce the best exhibit. This will be a combination of their work and the actors they have managed to 'book' for their exhibit. There will also be merits available in the plenary for the group that can explain what the success criteria was. Success Criteria Show an understanding of the country the source comes from. Show an understanding of the theme that the source talks about. Make a quality exhibit for the actor to be part of. Be enthusiastic. Be creative.
Final Plenary: (5 Mins)	There will also be merits available in the plenary for the group that can explain what the success criteria was.