😴 The Sleeper in the Back: A Wake-Up Story for Educators?

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As a teacher, I employ various strategies like jokes, stories, videos, games, music, the use of apps like Kahoot, many group activities, we take brakes and more to keep my students engaged; I go to great lengths to avoid losing their attention. However, recently I encountered a student who fell asleep in my classes not just once, but several times. The first time it happened, I chose not to comment on it, thinking it was my responsibility to keep the class engaging. So, I doubled my efforts. Despite this, the student continued to sleep through my classes until the end of the semester. Surprisingly, his exam results not outstanding, but not terrible either. Personally, though, this incident dented my pride. I've been teaching for only four years, and this was the first time something like this had happened. In the past, I've received great evaluations from my students and, like many teachers, I'm passionate about my job and I want to improve.

So at the end of the course, I always ask my students if they enjoyed the class. I've invested at least 10 hours in creating a questionnaire form to ensure they feel comfortable providing genuine feedback. This includes questions that reiterate what they've already told me, aiming to elicit honest responses.