Let’s have our first look at constructed response, in closing this post. Students were asked on the last question: if you could ask your teachers to make one change to make classes more interesting, what would you say? Here is what the “A” students said (I have selected these answers randomly by just selecting the middle 20+):
Try something creative when teaching something new
To not talk the entire time and give us more hands on things to do /work on.
Provide more opportunities for the students to learn for themselves, without just providing them with everything.
Only talk as much as you need to and leave most of the investigative discussions to the class
Nothing
I would say to make sure everything is clear for the students
Get a better grading scale and do more variety of things because in biology we do the same thing every unit and then just have a test randomly
Have students teach for once to see if they know what they’re doing.
Don’t make tests or assignments just about memorization, because then no one will actually understand it.Well, some teachers are great and teach me very well. It’s the few teachers that really need to step it up. Also they have to realize that we can’t prioritize their work first if every teacher wants their work prioritized.
The teachers should slow down their teaching a little bit when asked to because by not slowing down, it’s not helping students learn to their best ability.To relate assignments more to the students and make them less busywork and more in terms of variety. They should provide variety in class every week to keep things interesting
Make projects more fun to do by giving us more options and more visuals in class because some people learn better that way.
To help those even if they have advanced thinking, and teachers should put more energy in paying attention to children, and fix the situation where those who are good kids get yelled at more often than those who fool around on a daily basis.
Make sure the students fully understand what’s being taught before moving on to something new. Try to get to know students and talk to them before class or something to make everyone feel comfortable around you. So you’re not the “mean” teacher.
Slow down and teach the subject more instead of assuming we know and understand the material.Just be more understanding and try to put themselves in the students shoes.