Blog Five: Amplifying Student Voice: Redwood City student voices speak to their current experiences in distance learning vs "real school"

 

 

2020-21 NUA RCSD Virtual Collaborative

NUA RCSD Liaison: Linda Montes

Project Director: Maria Sudduth

Senior Scholar: Robert Price

Senior Scholar: Stefanie Rome 

Lead NUA Coach: Whitney Eakin

Essential Question: How does belief in the learner to achieve and thrive in high intellectual performance manifest itself in our instructional practice and our district/school culture?

NOTE: THIS BLOG, INCLUDING THE LINKS HEREIN, CAN ONLY BE SHARED BY PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR (MARIA SUDDUTH) . IT IS MEANT TO BE INFORMATIVE, PROTECTED BY CONFIDENTIALITY.

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What is the "Why"? 

When my granddaughter was in kindergarten, she got in trouble for talking in class. She came home to her mom, perplexed, stating: "I don't see why I can't talk when I have something to say!". 

Students "having something to say" is at the foundation of one of the seven High Operational Practices that guide the work of NUA within the Pedagogy of Confidence. Amplifying Student Voice

    "Amplifying student voice is closely linked to situating learning in the lives of students and building relationships. Making student voice part of the culture of the school encourages students to invest in their learning and in the broader school community. The practice of including student voice pro forma within the classroom and in broader school forums is designed to bring students into authentic interactions with teachers to reshape curriculum, teaching, assessment, guidance, and other matters that influence high intellectual performance and youth development." (Jackson, 2011, p. 99)

In Redwood City, we have launched a series of student voice forums to learn from our students how their current experiences in distance learning, within their education frame of reference, is affecting them.  

We have met with student cohorts from five of the NUA lab schools, Cohort Two. Student age groups ranged across fourth through eighth grade. This wordle captures key themes that emerged from the student forum discussions. 

It is clear students have agency and are cognizant of current events; they shared perspectives around racism, prejudice and stereotypes. They shared the impact the COVID pandemic was having on their lives, especially around anxiety and stress. Students were engaged throughout, interested in providing their views both in the gallery and through chat. 

Students compared and contrasted their experiences between distance learning and "real school". Their comments were professional and enlightening. It is obvious that they value their learning. "We get life knowledge"; "we learn social and academic skills"; "you get educated"; learning new things. Students shared what they missed about being in school, especially missing social aspects of school and "rights of passage" yearly outdoor education trip. They also shared positive aspects of distance learning, no bullying, being able to work independently. They voice frustrations with distance learning: problems with wifi, communication, lost homework, too much homework. They also shared how difficult it was to be in an online learning environment throughout the day, one group focused on screen fatigue, worried about the effect on their eyesight. They shared solutions: more collaboration, hands-on activities, needing help with their work, the need for better communication. 

It is certainly apparent that students do indeed "have something to say" and that the student voice groups allow for those voices to be heard in authentic ways. One student, Fernando Mendez Cerda, took the initiative to write an essay in preparation for his participation in the student focus group. He then shared the document with Dr. Linda Montes and Robert Price. The fact that Fernando took this initiative and so articulately shared his perspective speaks to the importance of amplifying student voice through the student focus group platform. Fernando's voice exemplifies the attributes we identified early in our work of (this soon to be) RCSD Graduate. Reprinted here with Fernando's permission: 

 

How does this work inform next steps?

All student groups intend to develop a survey about their lived school experience. Robert Price will continue to meet with the students as a facilitator. We propose having a student symposium, bringing together the five cohorts of students on December 8th to collaborate and coalesce their themes for a larger student voice survey. Students identified the  RCSD school community as their audience, each group specifically identified district leadership.  The findings from the survey would be shared by the students at an agreed upon future date and platform. Here are some initial sample questions generated in the focus groups: 

How will the things we learn now help us in the future?

Do you agree that teachers should be forced to go back to school and the kids get a choice?

Do you think students should have an opinion on everything we do?

How is learning stuff from 3,000 years ago helpful to us?

Do the teachers actually want to hear what we have to say?

Will the activities that are being done at school be similar to the format of how jobs work in the future?

What (sic) will history help us in our lives?

Do the teachers value our voice?

Is there a certain way that the teachers have to communicate to the students?

What are some ways to improve the learning and understanding of students?