Listening to Voices

They want choice!

They want to connect!

They want to be acknowledged as experts too!

"What do you want the learning experiences at your school to be?" 

Learning spaces can impact school climate and student empowerment profoundly.

School climate was described as a tone or feel of the environment, while school culture is made up of norms, beliefs, and values.

Compliant, Engaged, and Empowered (CEE). Although I see the three as separate, with empowerment being the most crucial part of this process, they are not necessarily exclusive from one another.

Motivation is key to learning, and this table could be used easily in terms of leadership (I am planning to write about that in the near future), but in school, compliance should not be the standard that we are looking to achieve, and engagement is not enough.  A student that is empowered will know that they are valued and are more likely to be successful in so many areas.  That is the ultimate success.

Not college ready. Not career ready. COMMUNITY ready.

It’s clear that students are entering a very different world. Students are now digital citizens, and their digital footprint, which is updated on almost a daily basis, will most likely have a major impact on their future. But, who is informing these students about this? Who is teaching these students the proper ways to use social media?

Provide them with authentic projects to complete for authentic audiences in which they can make a positive impact on the world as they learn. Help them share their success stories through blogs, social media sites and other forms of communication. Recognize the importance of your students’ digital footprints and show them how to create a successful and positive online image.

If we have never done this practice ourselves, “digital portfolios” become nothing more than digitized paper portfolios.

Digital portfolios are less of an endpoint and more of a beginning of what we can create for learning, but time is needed for support and play.

If it is truly “their portfolio”, then shouldn’t students be able to have ownership over the majority of the content and who has the ability to see it?

Sure preparing students for the workforce is a major role but so is developing the social aspects of our students, developing in them a morale compass, an appreciation of culture and history, and how to develop constructive and meaningful relationships. Students engage in leadership programs, work and play in teams, and participate in many other activities and programs for the sole purpose of social and emotional development. There is also a third aspect to the purpose of schools, that is, to develop students as unique individuals.

When we talk about teacher quality we can only do so ethically in light of what they and their school community believe about the purpose of school, and the weighting of the three roles of school. If we don’t properly understand the purpose of a specific school we cannot possibly determine whether an individual teacher is “good or bad.”

As an example, every Heads of Department meeting I lead now has two student attendees who do the same pre-reading as the HoDs and contribute to the learning conversation as equals.

some ways we can still work effectively with others while accepting that you won’t always be completely understood?

1. Model by taking time to listen.

2. Listen for the stories behind the stories.

1.  Give them a blog.  

2.  Give them time.

3.  Give them post-its.

Technology is interesting. Some educators love to use it, and it seems to be an appendage that they can easily use throughout the day. Other educators are not as loving, and they hate the word "technology" and think social media is a waste of time. And then there are a group of educators somewhere in between. They have Smartphones, use their Smartboards from time to time, but they don't have a need to find the most current tools.  Those educators in the middle find the tools that work best for them and their students. They have a few "go-to" apps, and they find a balance between paper and computers.

I believe that we need to find a balance between using the tools we have always used that work (you decide what that is), and using new tools that involve social media and technology.

Teaching can be a very solitary profession. The adults walk into the classroom with students, they close the door, and spend their day going from lesson to lesson.

1. How do you learn best? What hinders your learning? How can this knowledge help you with future learning? 2. What are you proud of in your teaching or learning and what do you wish you could do better? How might you go about it? Who might support you? 3. What do you really care about? How might you make a difference? What steps could you take to start the process? 4. What are you fascinated by? How might you find out more about it? Who else is interested? Can you collaborate? 5. What do you dream of doing? How might you work towards that dream? Who might you share it with? What kind of support do you need? 6. What do you wish you could change? What small steps could you take towards making it happen? 7. What excites you? How might you make that part of your learning? Who might you collaborate with who shares your passion? 8. Who do you admire? What can you learn from them? 9. What are your strengths? How might you develop them further? How might you be able to support others in their teaching or learning? 10. Instead of asking someone to ‘set goals’, what would you ask them to think about that might take them beyond where they currently are?