Engagement and achievement rise when students have a voice in classroom decisions.
by Susan Black, American School Board Journal
Giving students a voice
Teachers in an Ohio middle school are listening to their students.
Worried about their students who “tended to disappear,” the teachers joined forces to help six youngsters with low test scores, little interest in learning, and an array of social, emotional, and behavior problems. They began by talking with the students -- and, better yet, listening to what the kids had to say.
With guidance from the University of Cincinnati’s Steve Kroeger, and with parent permission, the teachers held open-ended interviews with the kids and gave them cameras to record their home and school experiences through voice and pictures.
Kids talked on and on as they showed their photos to the group -- they especially wanted to discuss their pets, friends, and family and personal problems such as the possibility of moving away. Kiki showed a picture of her house and told the group, “I have lived in eight different houses. I have lots of memories ... the longest I have stayed in a house is four years.” Tim shared a photo of a math exercise and said, “Remember in math class today where I got that problem right? That was so good.”
The teachers soon realized that, in their classrooms, they have “loud voices,” but their students -- especially the struggling ones -- are seldom heard. Giving students a strong voice is often “perceived as subversive” in the school culture, they wrote.
By listening to their students, these teachers learned to look at them through a different lens that brought the kids into sharper focus. As a result, the teachers said they became less judgmental, more patient with their students, and more committed to helping them succeed.
The teachers also began to think more about their students as individuals, selecting strategies based on information they had gathered from the kids. In Kiki’s case, the teachers discovered that with each phone call home, her mother heaped on more household chores, leaving less time for Kiki to finish assignments. As one of Kiki’s teachers said, “Listening to student voices allowed us to take action that we would have missed otherwise.”
Another reflected, “We are so rigid and black and white.” She noted the importance of rules but went on to describe that she had learned there are times to bend and give a child “words of encouragement or a vote of confidence.” Still another said the experience of listening made him a better teacher. And, he noted, the kids became better students when he took an interest in their lives.
The teachers, you could say, changed the sound of their voices.
These teachers impart valuable advice to others. “When, as teachers, we reach that place where we no longer understand the struggling student ... we need to take a step back and listen.”
Ask the kids
In 2004 I was invited to give a presentation at Harvard University’s Civil Rights Project’s Midwest Conference on the Dropout Crisis. I spent weeks reviewing my own and others’ research, compiling notes and outlines, and preparing a PowerPoint overview.
But when I found my way to the presenters’ platform, I sat next to Johnnie Brooks, a student from Prologue, an alternative high school. Johnnie told his story -- a deeply personal story of what life had been like for him in and out of school, his decision to drop out, and finally finding his way with help from his Prologue teachers, who, he said, “listened, listened, listened.”
When it was my turn to address the 600-member audience, I didn’t feel as cool and competent as Johnnie. Suddenly my notes and PowerPoint looked dull and lifeless -- and so I set them aside and spoke from my heart and mind, recounting what I had come to know and understand about dropouts from stories the kids had told me.
During the question-answer wrap-up that followed, a high school principal asked me for one piece of advice. It came to me in an instant.
Years ago, when I was a graduate student in labor and industrial relations, I met with Al Shanker, then president of the American Federation of Teachers. I proudly showed him my dissertation plan to investigate collective bargaining issues pertaining to curriculum and instruction in a sample of Michigan school districts.
Shanker looked thoughtful as he studied my proposal, which included surveys and interviews of union officials, school board members, school administrators, and teacher leaders. He peered at me for some time and then spoke very slowly: “You forgot one thing. You forgot to ask the kids.”
That was my answer to the high school principal: Always remember to listen to your students’ voices. Always remember to ask the kids.
