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Session 3. Collecting Evidence from Your Own Classroom
Objective. Plan a one-week evidence collection with two simple tools, record what you find as facts, and keep facts apart from interpretations.
Your impression of a lesson is valuable, but it is only one source and it is easily coloured by tiredness, by the loudest voices and by what you already believe about the class. A few well-chosen pieces of evidence, collected with paper in a normal lesson, can confirm your impression or gently correct it. This session shows how to ask pupils for honest feedback, how much evidence is enough and how to climb from a plain fact to a decision.
Key ideas
Why memory is not enough
- After a lesson we remember the loudest moment and the pupils who spoke most. The quiet middle is easy to miss.
- We also tend to notice evidence that fits what we already believe and miss the rest. This is called confirmation bias.
- One small piece of evidence can confirm your feeling or surprise you. Both are useful.
Four places to look
- Stephen Brookfield describes four lenses on teaching: your own view, your pupils' eyes, colleagues' eyes and the ideas in books and courses.
- This session focuses on the first two. Session 4 adds colleagues; the earlier courses already gave you the ideas.
- Two different sources that agree are stronger than one source, even a big one.
Paper-only tools
- Exit ticket (course 5.5): one question on a slip; sort the slips into got it, nearly, not yet.
- Participation tally (course 5.4): a seating sketch where you mark each answer, to see how many different pupils spoke.
- Time log (course 5.2) and an anonymous feedback slip: 'One thing that helped, one thing that confused me.'
Reading what you collected
- First write facts only: counts, times, words. Then, in another column, write what you think they mean.
- Look for a pattern across many pupils or lessons, not for one dramatic case.
- Protect pupils: keep slips anonymous, do not write names, and never use evidence to shame anyone.
From fact to decision
Asking pupils, and acting on what they say
Pupils see your teaching every day, and they often know exactly which part helps. The conditions matter: slips must be anonymous, the questions specific ('Which example helped you most?' rather than 'Did you like the lesson?'), and the teacher must be ready to hear an uncomfortable answer. Younger pupils can draw a face or a tick instead of writing.
The most important step is closing the loop. In the next lesson tell the class, 'You told me the examples on the board went too fast, so today I will write them on the board before the lesson.' When pupils see that their slips change something, the answers become more honest.
How much evidence is enough
A common mistake is to collect too much and read none of it. Choose one question and two tools, collect for a week and read it all within two days. You do not need every pupil every time: a pile of thirty slips can be read in five minutes, and a quick tally of every fourth question is still a tally.
Also check the evidence for gaps. If answers come only from the front rows, you know the participation of the back rows only by guess. Two different tools that point the same way give you more confidence than one tool used many times. If they disagree, that is not a failure; it is the interesting part of the puzzle.
Examples from the classroom
The slip that surprised
Scene. Malika teaches Grade 6 history in Samarkand and believes her long stories are the best part of her lessons. She asks for anonymous slips: 'One thing that helped, one thing that confused me.' Of 27 slips, 12 write that the stories helped, but 9 write that they lose track of the dates. She does not drop the stories; she writes the three key dates on the board before each one.
Insight. Evidence confirmed what worked and showed a gap she could not see from the front.
The front-row tally
Scene. Aziz teaches Grade 5 mathematics in Tashkent and feels the whole class participates. A colleague suggests a seating sketch. Over one lesson Aziz marks each answer: 14 answers, from 6 different pupils, 5 of whom sit in the first two rows. The next day he asks pairs to talk for 30 seconds before anyone answers, and marks again: 15 answers from 11 pupils.
Insight. A tally replaced a feeling with a number and showed whether a small change worked.
Two tools, two answers
Scene. Dilnoza teaches Grade 4 in Bukhara. Her exit tickets show 24 of 28 pupils solving the problem. But the time log shows only 4 minutes for independent work and the notebooks show half the class finished only one problem. She reads the two sources together and concludes the exit ticket was too easy compared with the task. She makes the next ticket harder.
Insight. Two sources that disagree point to a question that one source alone would have hidden.
Common pitfalls
- Collecting evidence on five things at once and reading none of it.
- Writing 'bored' or 'lazy' in the fact column.
- Asking for feedback and never telling pupils what changed.
- Using evidence to blame a pupil rather than to understand the lesson.
Read the Evidence, Then Plan Your Own
- Alone (10 min): study the sample evidence in the kit (Grade 4 Uzbek language, Samarkand: exit tickets, participation tally, feedback slips). Sort each of the 8 statements into FACT or INTERPRETATION.
- In pairs (10 min): write two possible reasons for the pattern you see, and the extra evidence that would tell them apart.
- Alone (15 min): fill the one-week evidence plan for your own class: one question, two tools, when, how to protect pupils, and what you will do with the result.
- As a group (10 min): each person reads their question and two tools; others suggest one risk (for example 'only the front rows will write'). Adjust your plan.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which statements about the sample were hard to sort? What words gave away an interpretation?
- How might your own belief about your class colour how you read the evidence?
- What is the smallest piece of evidence you could collect in tomorrow's lesson?
Reflect
- Which belief about your class would you most like to test with evidence?
- Which pupils do you hear from least, and how could you find out what they think?
- What would make you feel safe asking pupils for honest feedback?
Try it tomorrow
- Hand out an anonymous slip at the end of one lesson: 'One thing that helped, one thing that confused me', and read them all that evening.
- Sketch your seating plan and tally who answers for one lesson.
- Tell the class one thing you changed because of what they wrote.
Further reading and links
Collect one small piece of evidence, write the facts before the meaning, and look for a pattern.