3 x 5 cards

It's so key to have feedback from students...to know what's working and what's not working.

I had been told that the approach in education here is primarily lecture and no classroom dialog. To try and get what I thought would be missing feedback, I devised a SEMDR feedback loop on paper. (all of my American students reading this will know what this is since I teach it in every class!)

I hauled a stack of 3 x 5 cards and hand them out at the close of class. They get points for the activity. They must write their names (how I take attendance) and write either one thing they learned or a question they have to ask me.

It's a facinating way to learn how they are learning...or not.

For starters, it was my understanding this would be their only class. So, I structured this class assuming 100% of their attention. They have two other classes...so learning from several students that the work load was too much gave me the ability to quickly adjust it.

I also have benefit of learning if I have been successful in communicating a concept. On several occasions now--although we've only met 4 times thus far--I know when to go back and explain a concept differently and what words I needed to explain better.

One surprising, yet very exciting, outcome of this daily activity is some of the personal information students ask and share with me. I can see their personalities emerge and this is very, very fun.