19 questions for better student feedback

Tal, Teacher

There’s a powerful tool in the teacher's toolkit, and it uses something you have access to every day. Student feedback.

Student feedback done the right way is focused, asked in the moment, and concerned with uncovering how you can better support your students. In fact, it likely encompasses a range of activities you’re probably already doing.

Here are three types of student feedback every teacher should be regularly using in their classroom.

1. Confirm understanding with exit tickets

Exit tickets let you quickly and easily check how much of your lesson content has stuck.

Asking a question at the end of each class gives you a pulse check on who “got it” and who needs a bit of extra support. What’s more, exit tickets’ informal nature makes them a low stress “test” for students.

Ziplet offers some suggested questions you can use to check in with your students:

  • How well did you understand today's lesson?
  • What is one thing you'd like me to explain more clearly?
  • What was the most important thing you learned in today's class?
  • Why is it important?
  • What is the most difficult question you have about what you learned today?
  • How could the knowledge you learned today be used in the real world?
  • What is one thing you would like to practice again?
  • Imagine your friend was away from class today and asked you to explain the lesson. What would you tell them?
  • What are you struggling to understand at the moment?

Ziplet makes it easy to ask a question in under 30 seconds, you can even schedule questions ahead of time.

2. Check in on student wellbeing

Successful teaching is dependent on more than lesson content. Student wellbeing can have a significant impact on learning outcomes.

Asking the right questions can help uncover issues as they arise and open the possibility of solving them before there is a detrimental impact on learning.

Some Ziplet suggested questions include:

  • What's one thing outside of school that you love doing?
  • Did you have enough sleep last night?
  • How do you feel about your workload right now?
  • What helps you to get in a good mood when you're feeling down?

3. Encourage student reflection

Asking students to reflect on the process of learning encourages them to think about the actions they should be taking to learn more effectively.

The following questions ask students about the process of learning and encourage them to consider what might help them learn more effectively.

  • What are two ways you contributed in class today?
  • What's one thing you did well in class today?
  • What is one thing you learned from our last assignment?
  • What did you learn about working with others today?
  • Explain how you helped another student with their learning today
  • Explain how another student helped you with your learning today

Conclusion

Whilst student feedback might initially sound a little daunting, once you have a clear idea of the types of feedback you should be seeking it quickly becomes an essential tool for keeping students on track.

Try out some of the questions in your Ziplet account yourself, or sign up today for free.

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