Voice and Grow: Why End-of-Year Surveys Are a Must for Our Classes

As the school year wraps up, there’s no better time to reflect—not just on what we think worked, but on how students experienced our class. In episode 126 of Growing With Proficiency: The Podcast, I’m sharing how I use end-of-year surveys to gather meaningful feedback that helps me adjust my teaching and better meet my students’ needs.

I also walk you through key survey questions that cover classroom culture, comprehension, learning strategies, and personal progress. Additionally, I reflect on the responses of my own students and how those responses are helping me to adjust some of my lessons, routines, and strategies—all while keeping things simple and actionable. In this post, I’ll highlight my discussion, but to get all of the details on these end-of-year surveys, listen above or here. 

Why Student Surveys Are Important

There are three main reasons on why I think these surveys are important. The first one is it gives students voice and ownership. It makes them active participants in shaping their learning experience. When students know their input matters, it fosters a stronger classroom community.

The second reason is that it’s a reflection tool for me. These responses help me reflect on what is working and what I may need to adjust. These surveys allow me to gather honest feedback and make informed decisions for the next year.

The third reason that surveys are so important is that surveys provide real data—not assumptions—on student engagement, learning preferences, and classroom dynamics. 

What to Ask 

I divide my questions in classroom culture, comprehension, content and learning activities, and then progress and feedback in general. Some questions I ask are, “Do you feel we have a positive classroom culture?” and  “What has helped us build that positive classroom culture and what has prevented us from building that classroom culture?”

From the classroom expectations that we set up at the beginning of the year, I ask them, “From these five classroom expectations, which one has been the easiest for you to follow and why?”, and “Which one has been the most challenging for you to follow, and why?” I talk more about this area of the survey in the podcast. Listen above. 

Comprehension

Next, I focus on comprehension. Why? Because it is essential for my class to be comprehensible. And, it’s the hardest part because I have students at every level of proficiency. I have heritage and native speakers in my classes. I also have students who are still at novice, mid novice, and high in my Spanish three class. So, I have every single level in my class, and it needs to be really comprehensible. I discuss in episode 126 the challenges of maintaining a balance between comprehensibility and challenging for students at different proficiency levels.

Content and Activities

Then, I ask about content and learning activities that we do in the class. I ask, “Tell me the three activities or strategies that help you be successful in the class.” It’s important to understand what students find effective and what needs improvement in the classroom. One thing I want to point out is that we need to have regular comprehension checks to ensure students are following along and understanding the material, not just at the end of the year.

Strategies My Students Love

Most recently, I learned that my students love TPR, total physical response. My students also love Silent Sustained Reading. I did a whole episode on this. Listen here to Episode 124. Brain Breaks were also a favorite among my students. 

Feedback and Student Improvement 

For this area, I ask my students to rate their improvement in Spanish and identify areas for further growth. I try to make a point of providing feedback that is timely and supportive to help students improve, and I’m always interested in what they have to say in this area of the survey. From my students’ feedback, I plan to incorporate more listening practice and silent sustained reading into her curriculum. There is always a need for more intentional writing activities and there are so many benefits of using collaborative writing techniques for students.

What To Do Next Semester?

First, I need to increase listening practice. My students asked me for more listening. They feel like when I talk to them, they can understand. However, I’ve been recording a lot of motes, and that is a tool that I love. That was the tool of the week last week, in episode 125. This is a Chrome extension that allows you to record up to five minutes of audio. And, I’ve been using that a lot for my classes, and they’ve noticed that when I am talking to them, they seem to understand everything. But, when I play this mote, they’re like, “oh my gosh, I’m not understanding at all”. So, I need to address that. I’m also going to keep storytelling and cultural activities central in my curriculum. 

Survey Tips

I encourage you to consider using surveys to gather student feedback and improve their teaching practices. Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Start Small: Even a short survey can give you valuable insights.
• Be Open: Use the feedback to adjust without feeling judged.
• Celebrate Successes: Recognize what’s working well in your class.