Johari Window

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What your learners can see

Your learners see things about your teaching that you cannot. This is a safe way to ask them, and a way to tell them something back.

In your class

Last five minutes of a practical. Hand out the half sheet and say: “I want to know what helps and what gets in the way. No names. Tonight I will read them.”
Read them that night. Look for what comes up more than twice, and pick one thing to change.
Open the next lesson with: “You said… so today I will…” Then do it, where they can see.

With nobody observing you, your learners are the way into the blind pane. Ask them something narrow.

Why this works in your room

For your learners: They are asked one small, safe question about the lesson, and they see something change because of what they said.

For you: You find out one thing nobody else would have told you.

The slip
Half sheet, last five minutes, no names.
What is one thing I do that helps you learn?
What is one thing I do that gets in the way?
What should I do more of?
The words
Say these as you hand them out.
“I want to know what helps and what gets in the way. No names. Tonight I will read them.”
That night, then next lesson
Read, pick one, tell them.
Look for what comes up more than twice.
“You said… so today I will…”
Listen back
On your own, with no learners in the room.
Record yourself explaining one step.
Listen once.
Count one habit.
Watch out for
Asking wide, or changing five things.
Any feedback? gets fine. Change one thing, and say so.
The next step
A month on.
Ask again.
Did the same thing come up?

Copilot can write the slip and sort what comes back. Change what is in brackets, and never paste learners' names.

A slip that gets honest answers
Write three short questions I can ask [level] [subject] learners to find out what I do in lessons that helps them and what gets in the way. No names collected. Plain words, one line each, and nothing a learner would feel awkward answering. Then set them out so I can paste them into Microsoft Forms.
Sort what came back
Here are anonymous answers from my learners about my teaching: [paste answers, no names]. Group them into themes, tell me how many answers fit each, and name the one change that would answer the most of them. Do not soften what they say.

Where it comes from
The window was drawn by two psychologists, Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham, in 1955, and named after them both. It is a picture of how much of what we do is known to us and to the people around us.
Luft and Ingham, 1955
Why ask learners
Nobody sees more of your teaching than your learners do. Short, specific questions get answers you can use. Wide ones get fine. Acting on one answer, and saying that you did, is what makes them answer honestly next time.
No source claimed
How sure is this?
Thinly. It is a picture from group training in the 1950s, not a tested method, and the slip run has not been tested with tutors. Nothing here is scored, and the unknown pane is not a fault: it holds what nobody has had reason to find out yet.
No source claimed