Action Research - Stop, Start,

Continue
This is an idea I got from a workshop that I went to many years ago. I have
used it many times since and found it to be a really useful way of getting
feedback from my students on my lessons and my teaching.

Author: 
Nik Peachey

I get students to brainstorm all the kind of things I as a teacher do and things which we
do in class. Some examples might be:

 speaking in pairs
 playing games
 explaining grammar
 setting homework

Once I have a list of the main areas, I give out a sheet of paper to each student and get
them to draw three columns on the page. I then get them to write the words stop,
start,and continue, one word at the top of each column.

I then ask them to think about the things we do in class and write a comment about
them in one of the columns. It helps to give an example to get them started: 'We have
too much homework please give us less' could go in the 'stop' column. 'I like playing
revision games.' could go in the 'continue' column as that would be something we
already do which they like. 'Let's watch some videos.' could go in the 'start' column as
that's something we don't really do which they might like to do.

It may well help to leave your students alone to discuss this together as this often
makes them less inhibited. Also make sure that you tell them NOT to put their names
on the paper. You are much more likely to get honest responses from your students if
they are anonymous.

Let the students leave the papers in a pile and then you can collect them up at the end
of the lesson.

Once you've read them, it is important of course to act on what you've read. It might be
that some of the things the students want aren't possible in which case this is a good
chance to explain why, it is also often true that things they don't want to do, like
homework, are actually a necessary part of learning and this is a good time to reinforce
this to them. Of course there are also things that even you as the teacher have to get
them to do, even though you may not like it, and again this is a good chance to explain
this. Most importantly though it may be good to acknowledge which of their comments
you have found useful and what you will try to do as a result.

I have often done this exercise particularly with classes I was having a problem with
and it has always been really useful in helping me to improve class rapport and
ultimately the way I teach.

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