It would be nice if...

Throughout and after the application of materials, the evaluation or assessment of them must be carried out. Only then can teachers realize how successful these materials have been within the classroom.
One way to achieve such task is by writing down notes. This will be kind of tedious, but it will make teachers keep track of every detail that occur during instruction. Indeed, teachers can get surprised at seeing that what works with a group does not necessarily work with another one. The reason beyond this discrepancy is that every classroom or group of students is unique. Certain kind of learners will be delighted by a task in which they have to do a survey so that they have to stand up and interact with different classmates. On the other hand, this kind of activities represents an ordeal for students who are more interpersonal and whose learning style is everything but kinesthetic. I am not saying that we only have to develop materials that are according to our students' learning style or kind of intelligences; teachers have to develop in students the need of seeking for development of those features that are not predominate within them as learners. I just want to state that every time there is this task that you know that students will not feel at ease with, support and follow-up are essential to get students to realize that they will benefit from working with materials given.
Moreover, teachers end up convinced that their materials are perfect just because no student has had a complaint about it. Besides the syndrome of falling in love with your materials, we can deduce that students either do not feel comfortable with letting the teacher know their feedback on those materials or they have not been given the chance for assessing them with a formal instrument. A simple checklist or a questionnaire about how students’ perception of the materials in question is can provide the most valuable feedback on what to include and what to discard in your materials.
Retrospection by students and by professors on how the teaching praxis is affected by the use of certain materials must not be overlooked. The "It would be nice if..." phrase has to prevail when evaluating materials. As Francisco Vargas, Cambridge University Press representative for Costa Rica, once said, teachers do the magic no matter the teaching conditions. Classrooms may have a smart board, but students realize that their teacher does not know how to take advantage of it. The resources may be plain black and white copies, and students enjoy when their teachers bring these materials alive.