Every year, students take the Wellington survey. This allows students to anonymously rate their classes based on challenge and how much they like the subject, but this year, Mount Pisgah added a Google Form so that students can give specific feedback for the teachers. 

“A dot on a quadrant is great, but teachers wanted to hear why students were plotting their dot where they were,” said Shannon Heotaky, Senior Director of Academics. “The Google Form provided an opportunity for students to expand on their response and give teachers some specific feedback of things that they enjoy in each class in order to help them learn about things that could help them even more.”

The specification of the feedback gives teachers honest feedback in order to improve their classes and the way they might teach. 

“If their scores are lower than they want (high grind or bored), they want to know what, specifically, about their instruction needs to be adjusted. Similarly, when they receive high scores (very engaged, very challenged), they want to know what specific activities they are doing so they can do more of them,” said Upper School Principal Marie Woods.

Teachers are able to take the feedback they receive and change their approach to how they teach a class. 

“When students offer reasonable suggestions to make classes more engaging or provide specifics on how teachers could be more helpful in the learning process, teachers appreciate it, too,” said Woods.

From helping to revise an essay to giving back a grade, a teacher’s job is to help students excel in everything they do, and give feedback on assessments. So why shouldn’t students give their teachers helpful feedback as well? Some students might randomly place a dot, not realizing how that can affect a teacher.

Remember the next time the Wellington is administered, take it seriously and give your teacher honest feedback.