My thoughts on teachers tend to differ drastically. Typically this could be because of the way they teach, or even different assignments given to me and the way they impact my grade. My grades are my fault though, because how would the teacher know if I’m struggling if I don’t communicate with them? Communication is key to a beneficial learning environment.
Like a seller and a consumer, the seller needs to know the consumer’s wants and needs to offer them the best product. If teachers were a seller, and students were consumers, the student must reach out to the teacher specifically with what they need.
The job of a teacher is to help students learn no matter the circumstance, they just need the proper communication to help them achieve the best lesson plan for the way the student learns.
Unfortunately, not many students take the time to reach out to teachers when they’re struggling. This can detrimentally affect the relationship between a teacher and a student. Furthermore, this could lead to decreasing scores on assignments and tests, worsened relationships, and difficulty within the classroom as a whole.
Students should be able to regularly provide feedback to their teachers about how they feel learning the curriculum, preferred learning styles, and what they feel needs to be elaborated on.
This could easily be done with an exit slip consisting of a few questions the teacher creates based on the students reactions in their classroom.
Coach Justin Drane, who teaches multiple science classes and coaches basketball and golf, explains why he would need feedback from his students.
“I think it’s good to get feedback because I could think, ‘wow that went really well from my end’ but then my students are super confused,” Drane said.
This proves the need for students to communicate. He added that it’s a lot different for a teacher to reach out to a student that’s struggling rather than a student to reach out to him. This is because it’s difficult for him to pinpoint exactly what the student isn’t understanding.
Some students with bad grades also tend to not complete assignments. Drane questioned if students need extra time and help to improve their work or do they need extra time because they don’t want to complete the work. Without communication, it can be hard for a teacher to decide what’s best.
In order to get communication out of students, Drane has done a few assignments such as an exit slip, but feels they could function poorly.
“I could see that [the exit slip] wouldn’t function as well as I would like it to if a student didn’t feel like they could be candid with me,” Drane said.
Honesty is what Drane is looking for when it comes to feedback. This would help him know what students are struggling with and how to prepare future lessons with different learning styles combined into it.
Mandatory feedback is the only solution to an inclusive learning environment, so with this being said, constructive criticism is the most beneficial assignment a teacher can implement into their weekly classroom activities.
Completing a few questions mid-unit would help the teacher better understand where every student is and would have time to reconstruct future lessons before the final exam.
This would lead to higher grades, better relationships, and an overall increase in classroom performance.
