By: Mark Connors @mconnors11
At our schools we are committed to giving our students voice in the classroom. We want to know what they are interested in, what they want to learn, what is on their minds and what they think are the best options to fix problems in their classroom. This voice gives the students more ownership over their learning and environment. We see this makes students want to participate in school more! Below are three examples of how we use student voice in the classroom and some student feedback on voice in their classroom.
Parking Lots- Our classrooms employ "parking lots" to elicit student feedback. These boards provide students an opportunity to give the teacher feedback on the classroom environment, a particular lesson or a change that just happened. The key to the parking lot is the teacher taking time each week to read the responses to the class and validate what the students are saying.
5th Grade Student- "We have made many changes to our classroom based on our parking lot. I have never had a teacher use it before."
Click to find out how to create your own classroom parking lot.
5th Grade Student- "We have made many changes to our classroom based on our parking lot. I have never had a teacher use it before."
Click to find out how to create your own classroom parking lot.
Sticky Notes: We go through a lot of sticky notes at our schools! We use them to give each student a voice in any of our decision making processes. We often use the Affinity Process to see what our students think. Students use this process to create their shared vision and code of cooperation. It is no longer the teacher who creates the rules. Instead, teachers facilitate the student creation of rules. In the example, the students used their sticky notes to describe what respectful looks like, sounds like, and feels like!
4th Grade Student- "We used our sticky notes to create our shared vision. We use our shared vision every day to help us make decisions about the class."
4th Grade Student- "We used our sticky notes to create our shared vision. We use our shared vision every day to help us make decisions about the class."
Technology: We use technology often as a tool to get student voice. Whether is is an Edmodo Poll, a Padlet wall or a simple survey (Google Survey,Survey Monkey) students and teachers have a variety of ways to communicate with each other to have a say in how their classroom is run. Students love using this technology and teachers love how quickly they receive student information.
3rd Grade Student- "I love when we get to fill out a poll online. It is so fun and easy."
3rd Grade Student- "I love when we get to fill out a poll online. It is so fun and easy."
Which of these strategies will you try in your classroom to elicit student voice? Do you have another way you encourage student voice? Tell us about it in the comments!
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