Student Voice

Prioritize Student Voice: Let the Children Talk! Student talk promotes learning and student success. Learning how to express one's thoughts and ideas is critically important for: adult-child relationships identity cognitive development formative assessment motivation (McCaslin & Good, 1996). How do students know that what they have to say is important, and that people are willing and interested to hear what they have to say, if the are not given regular and frequent opportunities to develop their voice? Teachers often express concern that there isn't enough time to fit in everything This is often translated into the belief that there isn't enough time to let students express themselves.

Culture of Silence A classroom emphasis on oral language development has been identified as one of the premier instructional strategies for ensuring the success of children, especially those from low socio- economic communities (Mason & Galloway, 2012). Vocabulary proficiency is a critical predictor of academic achievement beginning as early as the third grade (Storch & Whitehurst, 2002). I went to an event for Boys Town last week and Dominique Dawes (gymnast) was the speaker.  The event was the Booster event and it was the first time a woman was the chair of the Booster club and the first time they had a female speaker.  Dominique gave a very motivating, entertaining speech, but she began by telling a story about how her career as a speaker almost didn't happen due to an early elementary school experience.   She is an introvert and had a very squeaky voice as a child.  She grew up in an unstable home seeing things she shouldn't have seen and was very self-conscious.  She hardly ever spoke up at school, but one day the teacher asked the class a question and she knew the answer.  When no one else spoke, she anxiously raised her hand, and bravely answered the question correctly.  Her classmates laughed at her.  Right then she made the decision to not speak in a group and she didn't until she was 19. It took a whole 30 seconds of laughing to cause her to silence her voice for 11 years.   She was asked to give a speech after winning the gold.  She said no, but her coach made her do it.  She said it was the worst ten minutes of her life, but she did it and she spent the whole time thinking about her class laughing at her.  She's 40 and still tells that story... © FirstSchool 2014

Ensure rich literacy throughout the K-3rd grade years 6 ½ hour school day Each 1 % is equal to 4 minutes of the school day This is an average across our whole school 4% or 16 minutes children are being read to by an adult 7% or 28 minutes children are reading their text across all subject matter 6% or 24 minutes spent helping children comprehend their reading 12% or 48 minutes spent in developing abilities in phonics, and word identification 4% or 16 minutes spent learning new words or phrases-PREDICTOR OF 3RD GRADE SUCCESS 5% or 20 minutes spent in some aspect of the writing process 15% or 60 minutes spent in meaningful conversation with teachers.-PREDICTOR OF 3RD GRADE SUCCESS

Develop 21st Century Skills Each 1 % is equal to 4 minutes of the school day. This is an average across our whole school. 6% or 24 minutes is spent in children working with one another across all content areas-PREDICTOR OF 3RD GRADE SUCCESS 1% or 4 minutes is spent with children explaining or justifying their work and ideas-PREDICTOR OF 3RD GRADE SUCCESS

Strength-based Approaches African American and Latino students learn more and prefer learning experiences that allow them to interact with others. (Dill & Boykin, 2000). African American’s oral-narrative skills may be a unique area of strength that may promote later success in reading achievement (Gardner-Neblett, Pungello, & Iruka, 2012; Gardner- Neblett, N., & Iruka, I. U. (2015)). IF WE WISH TO ENSURE THAT KIDS OF COLOR DO WELL IN SCHOOL THEN WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT THEIR STRENGTHS ARE VIEWED AS ASSETS AND PRACTICES ARE ATTUNED TO OPTIMIZE SUCCESS. FirstSchool2016

Cultural Approaches How do each of these approaches promote or inhibit student voice? Individualism Collectivism FirstSchool2014

Gradual Release Instructional Model Fisher & Frey, 2007 A-BIRD for Curriculum Development Gradual Release Instructional Model Fisher & Frey, 2007 One of the rationales for why collaborative learning is included in the CC is because it is an important step in moving students from new learning to mastery. Talk through the steps in the model. In classrooms, we see plenty of focus lesson, guided instruction, and independent tasks. But little of the intermediary step of collaborative learning, which is essential to students being capable of working independently. FirstSchool2014 FirstSchool2014

Remember: The one doing the talking is the one doing the learning. Each 1 % is equal to 4 minutes of the school day, This is an average across our whole school. 23% or 92 minutes is spent with teachers responding to, supporting and expanding students social and academic interests and needs-PREDICTOR OF 3RD GRADE SUCCESS 36% or 156 minutes is spent in with teachers addressing children using direct instruction

Remember: The one doing the talking is the one doing the learning. Research makes it clear that children learn best through active questioning and information-gathering combined with hands-on experiences and direct social interactions. (Chouinard, 2007). Having the opportunity to express one’s thoughts and ideas is critically important for cognitive development, social development, formative assessment, and motivation (McCaslin & Good, 1996).

When teachers are talking, children are not. Teachers feel pressured to impart as much knowledge as possible in the limited time frames they are given. African-American and Latino/Hispanic children often have fewer scaffolded teaching interactions, thus minimizing opportunities for higher-order thinking (Early et al 2010). Unfortunately, while the amount of information imparted is greatest when teachers lean heavily on didactic teaching, retention is not. (Zull, 2002).

Students experience greater retention of knowledge when: they are asked open-ended questions teachers use follow up questions teachers use techniques that allow students to more readily connect new information to prior knowledge (Hedrick, San Souci, Haden, & Ornstein, 2009) FirstSchool2012