There is nothing wrong with asking students their feedback on the lesson.

In fact, it can be quite beneficial to how it is that you teach.

We all remember having repetitive boring teachers as kids.

It was tough enough sitting through those classes as a student.

It is up to you to ensure that you do not duplicate this same uninterested style. Instead of asking students verbally for their feedback on the lesson or the whole unit that you just taught, it might be best to ask for their input in a different way.

The problem with asking them aloud in the classroom is you will only receive the feedback of the more talkative students.

There are always a couple students that seem to do the most talking and their views will influence the rest of the students. The best way to ask for feedback from the students is through a rubric that also contains specific questions where they must write out answers and complete thoughts.

These types of responses will allow you to figure out exactly what is working in your lesson plans and what is not.

There are teachers that do not appreciate constructive criticism, but it is a great way to learn what the students find valuable in your lessons. There are educators that use the same lesson plans year after year without any sort of deviation.

The same lessons, sometimes that originally were created two decades ago, is just recycled every school year around the exact same time. Part of being a veteran educator is using lesson plans from years previous that were interesting and exciting to the students.

If you find a winning combination that the kids can learn from, it is perfectly fine to use the same lessons.

However, if the educator is just using the same thing over and over because it saves them time in preparation, this can be detrimental to the students’ learning. I always like to compare teaching to stand-up comedy.

A teacher is putting on a performance for the students.

At least, that is what the good ones are doing.

They are creating enthusiasm for whatever it is the students are learning.

A stand-up comedian narrows down their best material and presents it on television.

They don’t use everything they have ever done because there is a lot of it that just isn’t good.

Teachers need to think the same way.

Too many educators just use repeatable “filler” lessons that are designed to keep the students busy.

There might also be a little bit of learning going on at this time, but it is not as good as it could be. It can be tough to create engrossing lesson plans, but the more experience you have, the easier it will be.

The first year of teaching, you are usually just trying to keep your head above water.

You are literally a day or two in front of the students on learning the material.

But after that learning period, you can start exploring other options for presenting lessons.

The key is to be able to keep the joy of teaching present in your soul, and not only think of it as a job you must do. Keep an Open Mind It is not an easy thing to handle when people tell you that you can improve on something.

However, if you can keep an open mind about it, you might just gain some valuable knowledge on how you can educate better.

And isn’t this what all of us want? Our goal should be wanting to become the best educators possible, and if we can attain this through asking students their feedback, then it should be completed after every major unit covered.