Today's prompt comes from Madelaine Willcocks' blog post from Gifted Awareness Week 2018 (for more inspirational blogs, please visit NZCGE (New Zealand Centre for Gifted Education).
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| Image source: Remind |
I've read comments recently during a discussion on gifted education and gifted learners and it was interesting to read some from teachers who believe that there's no such thing as giftedness, that their students are fine and achieving 'where they should be' and are 'happy in the classroom' etc. That's fantastic. If they are doing all these things, if their teachers are meeting their needs and challenging them at the level they need to be challenged.
But how do they know? What is their evidence?
A test score? Observation - which is always subjective as is our nature as people. The questions that kept circling in my mind were -
Have you asked the students? Where is the student voice in this discussion? Where is the focus on the learning as well as the teaching?
Many of the comments focused on the teaching but not a lot on the learning.
Is it time for some very honest reflection and to increase the use of student voice?
Back in 2007 I read Michael Absolum's book Clarity in the Classroom. It changed a lot of my practice. I had always listened to my students - but had I really HEARD them? I reflected a great deal on this and have ever since. There is a questionnaire on page 41 (in the image below) which can be confronting but once you're in the habit of deep reflection it can become a starting point for change and one of the most powerful tools you can use.
Over the past few weeks, I've been reading through the student voice responses to another survey on giftedness. The results were, in the main, heartbreaking in relation to how these students perceive themselves, how they feel about school and how they feel their teachers perceive them. The survey will be collated and I'm hoping shared widely.
There are so many ways to give students a voice in learning and teaching and I've blogged about some of these before here. The list is endless but there's always a way to include student voice - the trick is that it must then be used - reflected on, let it challenge our thinking, confront us in some cases. We just need to be open to and expect it as part of the learning and teaching process.
Some of the ways I've used it in the past include:
- Padlet (formerly Wallwisher)
- Blogs
- Journals
- Post-it notes
- Postbox in the classroom
- Google Forms
- Google Docs
It's important to find ways that ALL voices can be heard - particularly those of the students who may need ways to share that are private to them and their teacher.
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| Establishing a Culture of Student Voice |
Teachers want their students to achieve and be successful and they want them to be reflective learners. We need to make sure that we are also being reflective - even if that means we confront some of our own beliefs.
ReferenceAbsolum, M., (2006). Clarity in the Classroom. Hodder Education: Auckland, New Zealand
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