Student Learning

It is so important that we give student voice at our schools. 

Students demand high expectations of their school and they deserve to be challenged. Educators in Leadership Roles need to provide opportunities for students to articulate what they want or expect from their school. I would encourage teachers to develop a relationship with their students at the beginning of the year to find out as much as they can about their students and how they learn best. The first two weeks should be dedicated to this. I feel that teachers also need to skill themselves in finding the right tools for students to engage in this conversation. My blog on Design Thinking which is inspired by the work of Tom Barrett from NoTosh (http://notosh.com) might provide some innovative tools for teachers to explore these 10 expectations discussed in this YouTube video. 

Relationships: Putting a face to data. Each student has a story to tell about where they have been with their learning and where they want to go with their learning. Teachers need to know about the areas of strength, students interests, and allow opportunities for students to engage with peers, other teachers and even with  experts online.

Relevance: Opportunities for students to making links about their learning. It is important that teachers model what this could look like and then give students the opportunity to explore their methods of linking learning to real life.

Time: Students need time to learn at their own pace. As teachers we need to be conscious of tasks that are quick and fast paced, but also give tasks that require longer periods of time. This could be short bursts of 10 minute tasks to a whole term project.  

Timing: We all have different ways in which we process thoughts. Therefore this needs to filter through into our classrooms. Students need time to demonstrate this not only to teachers but also to their peers. So much can be learned when working collaboratively with organised learning. 

Play: How many times have we been given a new gadget and go straight to the 'playing' mode of exploring how it works. We don't go straight to the manual, we play! Sometimes when we introduce a new topic to students we automatically go into 'Manual' mode where we try to give every bit of content to students. Why not give students time to play with ideas. Explore these ideas to learn from their mistakes and give them time to critique each others ideas to master concepts or develop their own ideas. 

Practice: When students have mastered a skill how many times do we give them to put this into practice? Opportunities to put what we have learned into practice in more ways than one.

Choice: When will I learn? What will I learn? How will I learn? There are different ways students can present content. We need to trust students abilities to demonstrate what they have learnt in the way they learn best. Tapping into their metacognition.  

Authenticity: If students feel that they can make a difference in this world then they will be more engaged in their own learning. Students need to feel empowered to reach out to the community and to the rest of the world. Making Community and Global connections to learning.

Challenge: Students need to feel that their work has the chance of reaching a high standard. If not, what's the point? 

Application: Opportunity to apply theory into action. 

 If students are engaged with all 10 expectations then behaviour management is taken care of. Student's mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing is taken care of. As educators when we focus on students strengths, then students are more willing to develop their areas of need. In order for this to become a reality, it must be a focus at a whole school level. I believe this is true of teachers, expectations of themselves and of their own professional learning.