5 Ways to Listen to Students to Improve Instruction
One of the most effective ways that educators can improve their instruction is by listening to their students. As educators, we know the power of listening: to build relationships with students, to increase motivation, to give and take feedback. But we rarely conceive of listening to students as a tool for our own growth.
We won’t drastically improve our instruction until we shift our orientation to teaching as something we do to kids and instead see education as a powerful activity we do with kids. We don’t teach to help kids or to fill an empty vessel with our wisdom. We teach to reveal the brilliance that already lies in each of our students, and make sure each of our students feels seen for who they really are as they grow. And so as teachers, we need to take the role of Learner in Chief in our classroom, modeling a process of constant growth, especially learning from our students. To shift this orientation takes humility, but it lays the path for culturally-responsive and life-giving education to take place.
While we’re used to attending a workshop or a class to grow, making space to really listen deeply to students is a great tool for teacher growth. This may mean listening to students in formal or informal settings, intentionally asking about what they’d like to see change or listening “between” their words and actions for advice, or even co-planning lessons or events with students.
But if we want to use this tool to radically shift how we teach, we can’t just check it off after we do it once. We have to be consistent and listen often. We also have to remember that good listening isn’t silently nodding, but engaging in dialogue and responding with action.
5 Practical Ways to Listen to Students to Improve Instruction
Here are 5 practical ways you can build in listening to students as a regular practice to improve your instruction:
Be chatty - As students enter class each day, take a few minutes to ask them questions about how they are, what interests them, and goals they have. This helps you know who students are so you plan lesson goals and activities that are engaging and meaningful for your students. As students work, as students leave class, or as you see them in the halls, chat with students about how class was today, what they liked and didn’t, suggestions they have for future lessons, and plans for their evening. This gives us in-the-moment feedback about how our lesson landed with kids and how we can improve for the next day. In his book We Got This., Cornelius Minor describes “class meetings” as short conversations that can happen as you walk with students to lunch, or ride on the bus to a field trip. Minor writes, “In each class meeting, I try to accomplish two things: I want to introduce an idea. I want to listen to their thoughts about the idea.” Kids feel like you are just talking, but in a matter of minutes, you can share something you are thinking about to improve your instruction and get feedback from people who matter most: your students.
Give a simple survey - At the end of each week or each unit, invite not only student reflection on their own growth, but on what worked and didn’t work form them in class. For younger students, you could also include a regular family survey with a few short questions. As a teacher, I would often give surveys and then just let them sit on my desk for two weeks, missing the key component of actually responding to students’ input! Make time to immediately read the surveys and share your reflections for improvement in class the following day so students see that you are listening. Students should know that the changes you are making are based on their feedback.
Run a cogen - Larry Furlazzo reflected that creating a student “leadership team” in each of his classes during the pandemic has been a powerful practice that he’ll continue using to improve his instruction. In a related strategy, Christopher Emdin describes the powerful practice of creating a cogenerative dialogue: “Cogens are simple conversations between the teacher and their students with a goal of co-creating/generating plans of action for improving the classroom.” (from For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood…) Start a cogen by inviting a handful of students who represent a diverse cross-section of your class to be your advisory team. Provide snacks and listen to music while you invite their input on how your class is going for them. Collaboratively agree on one change that you as the teacher will implement the next day, and then be sure to make that change! Listening and implementing student feedback is key to empowering student voices in your class.
Collaborative unit design - Before your next unit, sit down with a handful of students, share your upcoming standards and invite student input into what and how they’ll reach those standards. In their book Equity by Design, Mirko Chardin and Katie Novak share a set of questions that educators can ask students as they co-design unit plans: “What do you think you need to know or do to be able to meet this goal? How would you best like to learn it? What materials can I provide you that will help you to meet this goal? How will you share with me that you met it?” They go on to say, “When we, as educators, have high expectations for all students, we believe that their voices and perspectives matter. If we teach them to be reflective and self-aware and we are inspired by their ideas, we welcome them into the learning community by asking them these critical questions.”
Family input - In both informal and formal conversations with students’ families, seek to understand what parents are doing to support their child’s learning and what you can borrow to improve your own instruction. Let parents know that you acknowledge their expertise on knowing their child and the important role that their family history, culture, and language places in the learning environment.
While not formally trained as educators, our students are experts on what great teaching looks like because they live through it every day. As we orient ourselves as learners first, we can grow significantly in our teaching practice by building in on-going and authentic opportunities to listen to students.