This post is credited to my lecturer Elaine McDonald who taught my year about the value of using post its in our teaching!
I have been using post its since my first teaching practice and they work! You can use post its in many ways. It is a really easy and simple but yet effective teaching tip! You can see immediately if there are any gaps in your students understanding of a certain topic. You read the students questions about a certain topic. Also you can see the best ways that your students learn. I really love it.. I have been using this top for 4 years and I plan on using it throughout my teaching career!
At the start of the year, I will write on the whiteboard, ‘What can Ms O Reilly do this year to help you learn this year?’. I will give each student a a post it and I will ask the students to write their answer on their post it and stick it on the whiteboard. Th allows you to see at the start of the year what the students expect/need from you.
On example is when I am nearing the end of the lesson so  I give every student a post it. I ask them to write down on the post it one question they have about today’s topic.
Or else I write 3 questions on the whiteboard and I ask the students to respond to each question on their post it.
Some examples of questions are:
- What did you like about today’s lesson.
- Write down one thing that you learnt in today’s lesson.
- What did you not like about today’s lesson.
- What did you find hard to understand about today’s lesson.
- What did we do in today’s lesson that you helped you to understand the topic?
It is best to tell the students not to write their names down on their post it as you will get the best answers if it is anonymous. Students love not writing their name down as they do not have to feel anxious about asking a ‘stupid question’ and it gives them more confidence to be brutally honest!
You can get the students to fold over the post it so it is sealed. You can take the posts its up and address the questions before the lesson ends or else you can collect the  post its at the very end of the lesson.
You can use this tip in ANY subject! I hope you find this tip helpful!
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