At the start of every school year, I write a letter to introduce myself to my students. I let them know that I’m genuinely excited to be on this learning journey with them and that the most important work we’ll do together is becoming better thinkers and considering new thoughts and ideas which will help us grow. So with the school year ending, it’s important to me to create opportunities for feedback that will help my students and I reflect on our growth.  I’ll carry this forward into the summer and into planning for the next year. For my high school seniors, they’ll carry it into the next exciting chapter of their lives.

I like to think I have a good idea of what students are thinking about their experience in their classes. But, I remind myself that I can only really see the classroom from my perspective – and that opens up a lot of questions! I want to know what activities we’ve done that they find the most interesting and helpful. I want to know the book or the poem we’ve read that’s going to stick with them the most. I want to know if they felt like our classroom was a safe place for them to speak up and feel heard; and their ideas for what I could do better to help the students who will take the class next year! That’s why I ask my students to complete this survey at the end of our time together.

But for the survey to play a real role in our mutual learning, I need students’ honest and authentic input. Here are a few things I keep in mind to help us all make the most of this opportunity. 

Throughout the year, I try to show my students that I’m growth minded and encourage them to be growth minded as well. So by the end of the year, they know that I’m going to genuinely value their feedback and take what they share with me to heart. But I also know that they might worry about hurting my feelings or that their survey responses might shift my opinion of them in a negative way. So one of the key things I do is set all survey responses to anonymous and reassure students that I’m never going to see which name belongs to which survey.

Then, I let all my classes know that the survey is an opportunity to help the students who are coming behind them, just as feedback from students who have come before them helped shape their experience this year. I emphasize the positive impact their feedback will have, and that it will help me grow and even help me train other educators. Knowing that their feedback is a part of this process has really encouraged students to be honest and to trust that their responses are going to have a positive impact. For seniors, that can be such an important opportunity as they reflect on their time in high school as a whole and approach the threshold of a new stage in their lives. 

I’ve also learned to make space for follow-up conversations to check my understanding of students’ responses, experiences and priorities. I’m careful to keep our follow up discussions focused on common themes so that no student feels singled out. Here’s an example: One of the recurring themes in past surveys was around essay feedback. I have five sections of AP literature, and I try to turn writing around as quickly as possible. Students themselves usually feel like they need to get their essays back quickly because we’re already moving on to the next piece. From our follow up conversations, I learned that although students were craving more specific feedback, they didn’t want to sacrifice that quick turnaround time. So now, that’s led to me incorporating more writing conferences in the classroom to help meet students’ need for more time.

Although I’m encouraging students to think about how their responses will help those coming after them, I don’t want to wait until the very end of the year for their feedback. I ask them to do a mid-year survey too. In comparison, the mid-year survey is a bit shorter and more course specific while the end-of-year survey is more holistic and invites students to do a more expansive reflection while they’re in this important threshold moment. That means I can generally count on a few built in points for follow-up conversations with the same group of students, as well as carrying those conversations from year to year to hone in on changes that really work.

If you’re thinking about designing a survey to help get authentic student feedback – and to build your bank of resources and insights for the coming year – the first thing I would say is: Just jump in!. Even if you’re not sure exactly what you want to ask or exactly what role you want the surveys to play for you and your students, go ahead and get one started (you can feel free to use any of the questions I’ve created here too!). You can always change it and, personally, I update mine in some way every year, based on that incoming feedback.

When I sit down to plan the next year, I have the survey results right in front of me, and I let that drive what we do in the classroom. Since my surveys are in Google Forms, I can easily pull the data into whichever view makes the most sense for me.  Near the beginning of the year, it feels pretty easy to take that bird’s eye view. But in the middle of the year, it can be a real lifesaver. If I’m looking for inspiration or getting bogged down, or just a little unsure of where to steer a class next, then I’ll pull up past surveys. In those moments, having the wisdom of student voices can really help me out as a reminder of what worked before, what felt valuable, needed and impactful. The opportunity to lean on those past reflections – and to have them easily and quickly accessible – is such a boost in the middle of the year when I’m juggling so much in real time.

One last thing: I encourage every teacher to think of the survey as an opportunity for affirmation. You’ll probably get a few glowing responses from students who really love you and a few responses that might be more heavily critical. I learn what I can from these but recognize these are the far ends of the kind of feedback you’ll receive. In that big middle, you’re going to see a lot of genuine, thoughtful, self-reflections on how your students have grown. In the process of providing that honest and authentic feedback, your students will be gaining a new perspective on their own journey. In reading their responses, I always treasure how our time together as a class has been a part of their journey – and that’s always exactly what I need as I look ahead to next year.