When I teach a lesson, I want to know if my students have caught what I have taught. I may say I have spent three weeks teaching a particular subject, but when test time comes, the results show that the students did not learn it. Were they lazy? Did I miss the mark?
Professors on college campuses are using a tool originally developed for businesses called Plus/Delta (sometimes called Plus/Change.) The tool is simple to use, and you may find it effective. Perhaps you can make midstream adjustments and avoid test shock. The first chart is for middle or high school classes.
Prepare a whiteboard or poster that looks like this:
PLUS + | CHANGE ∆ |
What is helping me to learn in this class? | What changes are needed in this course to improve learning? |
What am I doing to improve my learning in the course? | What do I need to do to improve my learning in this course? |
Ask students to write their responses on post-it notes and update them. If they initial the notes you can reflect on the expressed needs of individual students and you will know who has not responded, the one’s you need to seek out.
Some students zone out because our style of presentation doesn’t speak to them. A small change on our part can make a big difference.
Here’s one for elementary school teachers:
PLUS + | CHANGE ∆ |
Things I like in this lesson: | I get confused when: |
I learn when I: | I can improve by: |
One college professor gleaned this from a class:
PLUS + | CHANGE ∆ |
Good pacing Interesting topic Hands-on materials Everyone was participating Good discussions Lots of people shared ideas Different activities to choose from | Monitor noise level Limit sidebars Slow pace of lesson Model examples Check for understanding with new vocabulary words |
