It's Time to Wrap-Up the School Year!

Summer is quickly approaching, and let’s be honest—it’s debatable who is more excited for the last day of school. Although we teachers are tempted to drop everything and celebrate, this is the perfect opportunity to get feedback from your students, particularly middle and high schoolers. What were their favorite activities this year? What was the most memorable project? What lasting impressions do they have? Before the dismissal bell echoes through the halls one last time this school year, whip up a quick survey.

Three Benefits of Offering an End-of-Year Survey

When considering whether or not to use a survey, three favorable reasons immediately come to mind:

• First, this kind of feedback is invaluable, and it challenges you to slow down and reflect on the whirlwind of a school year. It can tell you what activities and lessons were carried out well, and which projects or units might need more revising. The best part is that you don’t have to read the feedback immediately. Take a few weeks off this summer, but be sure to give yourself some time to reflect before August rolls around!

• Second, creating a survey or end-of-the-year questionnaire offers students the opportunity to give meaningful, constructive feedback. The majority of us find it difficult to continually check-in with our pupils about our class and our teaching. Now is the perfect time to show your kids that you value what they have to say. Make sure that they understand that their feedback is going to be used to better your teaching, not to assess them in any way.

• Third, it’s essential for this age range in particular, to stop and reflect on their learning. What kinds of things stuck with them, and why? How have they grown?

How To Structure the Questionnaire

• Discourage kids from writing their names on the survey. Although I politely request that my class omits their names (so as to avoid any possible bias), you’ll always have some kids who take pride in their learning and are excited for you to know how much they valued your class. Also, writing their names on the top of the page is just part of the routine at this age, so they often do it out of habit! It sounds silly, but to discourage them, I cut the top one-inch strip of white paper off the surveys before I pass them out. Cutting the top of the page serves as a visual cue not to write their names. 

• Create a one- or two-page maximum. Kids are generally excited to give their teachers feedback. It’s almost as if they get to grade their teacher, and they love the opportunity to let you know what they are thinking. However, if the questionnaire is too long, they’ll lose interest, and the feedback will lose its value.

• Pose open-ended questions. We know that open-ended questions receive more valuable input, so be sure to include a variety of questions that require thorough answers.

• Use guidelines. Just like we require a certain number of sentences in a paragraph or a specific number of examples on a test, kids will give more valuable information when they have a better idea of what you want to know. For example, asking them to name three positive aspects of the class will encourage the less enthused to think deeper, and the overly excited to narrow their scope.

• Remember your audience. Even though it might be hard for them to determine, ask your pupils if they felt they were accurately prepared for standardized tests or formal assessments. Keep it simple. If you’re having trouble forming the questions in an age-appropriate way, choose a few learners and have a separate dialogue with them. This way, you can clarify questions, and they can more fully express their opinions.

• Consider adding questions to foster self-reflection. Really get your kids thinking about their year and their personal development by including a few questions specific to them. For example, you could ask, “How did you grow as a student this year? How can you grow further next year? What was a challenge that stumped you?”

Reflecting on the Results

I like to read the survey comments over the summer for multiple reasons. First, I’m usually burned out at the end of the year. As a developing teacher, I’m still finding my stride. Second, I don’t want any comments (positive or negative) to affect the way I view certain kids. I’m asking for honest feedback, and I know some negative comments will probably roll in. And finally, it provides me the opportunity to evaluate the feedback and revisit some of my units and lessons. If several pupils remark positively on a particular project or lesson, revisit your material and look for what made it so successful. Was it engaging? Did it give your students a purpose? Was the goal challenging yet appropriate? At the same time, when several people remark negatively, look back at those materials and aim to make them better.

Although teachers definitely earn their summers off, it also offers the perfect opportunity to polish their teaching materials to ensure a smoother, more effective school year.

Create Your Own Survey

A plethora of survey writing options await you on the Internet. To get you started, below you will find two of the most commonly used survey creators. 

Lime Survey

It’s free, easy to use, and it offers 20 types of questions.

SurveyMonkey

Probably the most well-known online survey tool, SurveyMonkey is free, offers templates, and provides different question types. Unfortunately, the free version only allows you to post 10 questions.