What Students Can Tell Us

FOCUS

What students can tell us

By Nasue Nishida and Holli Hanson

Categories: Continuous improvement, Data, Facilitation, Learning designs

February 2020

Vol 41, No. 1

Suzanne is a midcareer elementary teacher at what she feels is the height of her career. Her students do well on assessments and make progress on their school work. She receives proficient and distinguished ratings on her annual evaluations. Colleagues turn to her with questions, seeking her sage advice, and she often leads professional learning in her building and across her district. But Suzanne’s world tilted when she surveyed her students on their perceptions of instruction and her classroom. Suzanne was surprised to discover that students perceived the classroom environment as somewhat chaotic because it was loud and full of distractions. While her students appreciated her one-on-one rounds with each individual student, they felt that the rest of the classroom wasn’t well-managed or on-task during

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Authors

Nasue Nishida and Holli Hanson

Nasue Nishida (nasue@cstp-wa.org) is executive director and Holli Hanson (holli@cstp-wa.org) is director of teacher engagement and initiatives at the Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession.

What educators say

Perception is reality, and my reality is now the perception of my students. … What can I do to make a difference in my classroom so that I see growth there for me and my students feel like their voice has been heard?”

— Christine Firth,
teacher at Saltar’s Point Elementary, Steilacoom (Washington) School District

We are asking people to be vulnerable. Vulnerability is a huge component of a growth mindset. You don’t have it yet, but maybe you will get it. And you will get it if you work hard. I can’t say enough about the positivity that I have seen in my teachers who have better job satisfaction because they feel they have better relationships with their students now.”

— Marilyn Boerke,
director of talent development, Camas (Washington) School District