The final question on the 8th grade final exam is actually an essay where students brainstorm the units or activities they liked and disliked. Afterward, they select one thing that should be changed or aborted next year. It is up to them to persuade me to change or modify the activity or unit. It can be so powerful to get feedback from students, but this is the second year in a row where I wish I hadn't even asked.
I'll think I'll post some of them here in a few days, but I'd say 85% of the reflections were simply whiny. It's too hard. It was boring. Everyone did a bad job on it. It was stupid. It's really too bad that some of my students couldn't be more articulate because my colleagues and I do take the feedback into consideration when we plan for next year. Instead, at this point, I have a poor opinion of my students' poor opinion of me and my class.
Next year, I definitely need to help my students develop their persuasive skills so they don't sound like lazy, bratty teenagers when somebody asked for their critical opinions.
2 comments:
And those attitudes don't get any better when they get to high school. Many of my students have this false sense of entitlement. In other words, "Look at me, look at me!" I just want to smack those smart asses.
In that case, Melissa, it looks like my middle schoolers are ready to move on to high school!
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