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Student Survey Summary and Analysis Sarah Schmidt University of Virginia

2 Demographics For this survey, I distributed 67 surveys to all of my classes. I received 18 from my English Skills 11 classes and 49 from both AP English Language and Composition courses. My skills courses are more diverse than my AP blocks. In my first block skills class only four of the sixteen students are female. I have four ELL students; two are from China, and from India, and one from El Salvador, all with varying comprehension of English. Seven of those students are African American and five are white. Seven students have IEPs, which range from ADHD to processing and comprehension issues. The class also contains a range of socioeconomic statuses. I have students who live in Southwood to ones who own farms in Keswick. My third block skills class contains mostly male students. Of the nine in the class, only two are female. There also appears to be a wide range in SES. While most come to class looking clean and well-dressed we have one student who comes in dirty and has told us that he once had to move to the Midwest because of his familys unemployment in Virginia. Four of those nine students are African American, four are white, and one is an ELL student from Vietnam. The number of students with IEPs also greatly outnumbers the students without them. Compared to first block, the learning disabilities in this class are more severe. We have one student who has memory loss, comprehension issues, and seizures due to perinatal asphyxia, another with autism, and seemingly severe comprehension and processing issues. Both of my AP blocks are fairly homogenous. Between the two sections only two students are African American and one is Middle Eastern, with the rest of the 51

3 students being white. A block is roughly split evenly between the genders: 12 females and 10 males. While B block is also divided fairly evenly between the genders, there is one more male student than female, a close 15 to 14 split. In my A block course, I have one student with autism, two students who used to have IEPs, and a student with a 504 plan who misses school often due to insomnia and gastrointestinal issues. B block contains no IEPs. Both sections appear to be from middle class families, although a few appear to be not quite as well dressed as the others, but compared to my skills classes, as a whole they have been exposed to more financial opportunities. Influencing Factors Several factors influenced the results of these student surveys. First, compared to most in the cohort, I started full-time teaching later in the semester, but was still highly involved in the AP classes and present in their learning. Since the first full week of school, I have been teaching the AP sections for at least half of the week. While new to teaching them full time, these groups of students were used to my instruction and had already established a relationship with me. While I reminded them to be honest, most seemed excited to give me good grades on my survey. For the skills classes, I think the scale on which I was to be graded presented a challenge to their comprehension. In my first block, I did not take the time to read the directions to them as carefully as I should have. For two of those surveys, I received straight 5s. While some might believe that these students dont actually like me as an authority figure, one of those surveys had She Rocks! Great Teacher!

4 Very Good Amazing Teacher [sic] written on the back. Several students who had originally circled a five had crossed it out and circled a one. These students automatically associated the largest number with the best score, thus skewing the results. Analysis Based on the survey most students believe that I am well versed in my knowledge of the subject matter. Only one student gave said that he was Not Sure as to whether I knew or understood the subject matter. Approximately 23% of the students agreed that I was knowledgeable and 74% of the surveys strongly agreed with the statement. I think that students see me as an authority figure who is more knowledgeable than them in both content area and skills. I have had no issue with students challenging what I say as wrong despite the attitude from a few of the skills students. If anything, my challenge is addressing the content in a way that doesnt confuse or alienate them. In terms of my pedagogical knowledge, most students would agree that I vary activities and materials, provide clear and helpful feedback, and relate lessons to real world scenarios. As a whole, only eight students answered anything below a 3 on the surveys. The threes commonly circled on the survey often related to pedagogical knowledge, telling me that they didnt understand what the questions were asking. For both skills and AP classes, I frequently reference, close read, or watch videos of real world topics, such as going green, Banksy graffiti, Oprah, social medias destruction of relationships, etc., yet students were still unsure as to whether I did this frequently or not. Students were also unsure as to whether I used

5 different materials and activities to help them learn. Despite the fact that I move between very different activities, students were still unsure as to whether this were true or not. As a whole, most students believe that I am well versed in pedagogical knowledge, but some students are unsure. Regarding my effectiveness as a teacher, one student strongly disagreed that I made things easy for him or her understand, two students disagreed that I made things easy to understand, and five were not sure. The one who strongly disagreed came from my skills class, and six of the other students came from my larger AP class which as a whole has more students, and more of whom are not doing well in that class. I also attribute these scores to those areas in which I need to improve. Most of these students either were not sure or disagreed that I gave clear instructions, provided helpful feedback, or stated the purpose of my lessons. While clarity of instruction, transparency of lessons, and feedback might not help me improve their understanding entirely, I think that it could make them feel more comfortable in the classroom as a whole. If they understand the directions or the purpose of the lesson, they may feel as if they have the opportunity to worry about learning as opposed to whether they are doing a task wrong. More timely feedback may help them feel as if they are progressing in the class. Future Steps As discussed in the analysis section, it seems that I struggle most with giving clear directions, returning feedback, and stating the purpose of the lessons at the beginning of each class. In order to improve the clarity of my direction I plan on creating Google Presentations that focus solely on providing students with a visual

6 of the directions I am giving them. This will help reinforce what I want from them, give them something to see if they have a hard time comprehending aurally, and prevent me from having to answer the same questions over and over again because people were talking over each other while I was teaching. I will also emphasize that students ask me questions if directions are unclear after I have finished relaying them. Too often students will wait until the activity has started to ask me what they are doing. This should cut down on wasted class time. To address the perceived lack of feedback, I will make an effort to verbally assess students when they are discussing topics during class. I think that this can be the quickest way to let students know they are being heard and that they are on the right track. Too often I have forgone feedback in order to foster a more authentic discussion. However, high school students want to know they are right before they say anything. I will also try to have writing conferences with students. At this point in the year, students mostly meet with my CI about their writing. As a result, they perceive him to be the only one who really grades them. I want to start handing back papers more often so that they know I pay attention to their work. In order to let students know the purpose of the lesson, I need to make an effort to verbalize either the theme for the day or the plan of events. This could be something as simple as telling them the goal, that we will be studying free will and connecting it to X, or that we are going to work on using quotes correctly in papers. I might even start putting objectives, or at least the order of activities on the board or in that weeks Google Doc so that students are aware of what is expected of them for the day and what they can expect from me.

7 Hopefully these steps will lead to smoother transitions between activities in class and fewer confused students. While I cant necessarily fix comprehension issues immediately, simplifying and outlining daily directions, providing informative and timely feedback, and informing students of the days goals should alleviate minor stresses in the classroom and provide at least minor improvements in students performances.