What Are Students Saying About Your Classroom?

This year, I administered my first student survey. I wanted to see my classroom through my student's eyes. I used Google forms and created a two part survey. The first part gave students statements and asked for a range of responses. See the infographic here. The second part seen in this post gave more open ended questions relating to their experience in my class this year. The survey was done anonymously and before finals to ensure valid responses. I was humbled by the students honesty and very grateful for their insights. The following are a sampling of the answers from various students. (Each paragraph is a different student's response).


How students felt about the videos: 

I think it is cool because when Mr. Fox went to places that helped exhibit things we learned in the year to give us a really good example of that topic. It also was nice to know that Mr. Fox was thinking about while he was on vacation or a trip and shows he wants us to do as well as we can on our tests and quizzes. 

 I think this was very helpful. We could watch the videos at home, and then the next day in class we knew exactly what we were doing. Also, some of the videos of his trips and other things having to do with recent events in science had some interesting information that I wouldn't have gotten anywhere else.

I definitely liked the ideas of the videos and how they were easily available at any time and if you didn't understand something you could repeat the video instead of constantly asking the same question again and again.  

How students felt about the class:

I think he put a lot of effort into teaching us this year. His work outside of school was impressive. He also really seemed to care about how we were all doing and wanted us to succeed.

I think he was really good in telling us study habits and ways to practice for tests and prepare for the regents. Also, I liked how he gave us flexibility on due dates and allowed us to redo assignments and edit them to get a better grade.

I think Mr. Fox did a great job of creating labs that caught our attention and were hands on. Hands on projects helps me personally absorb information better.  

Reactions to the classroom environment:

Being active and caring, if Mr. fox noticed something was wrong he would tell you as soon as possible. And he would always circulate the classroom to see if help was needed and he did a great job.

He did a very good job of reaching out to us the students when we didn't understand something or if we thought we needed some more outside of school help? He was truly concerned about each one of his students and the kind of grades that they got in his class.

General comments:

I'm glad I had you as a teacher and this year has been a great experience with learning a new way to be educated. I can end this year hoping for more and more teachers to start what Mr.Fox did with learning through technology. 

I would also like to tell Mr. Fox that the take home quizzes was a great idea this year and that he should continue to use them with his future students.

You were a good teacher that taught us how to use technology to help you study, and I thank you for that  

Afterword:
This year was by far the best, most exciting, and the most rewarding year of my career so far. I was able to transition from a more fringe element (using technology in the classroom) to constructing my own proven, research based program. Admittedly, my studies are not absolutely scientific, and a lot of my conclusions are subjective in nature, but the above comments (and many others) prove that I'm on the right track. In addition to terrific test scores, the skills mentioned by students that they would be leaving my care with speak volumes about what we've accomplished in ten short months.