Student Voice / Voz estudiantil

Student voice has been one of my most interesting challenges. I was not completely sure how to approach it when I was first introduced to it, yet it has become one of the best things I have incorporated in my classroom. A big challenge to overcome has been balancing the requirements of the state of Texas with student voice. My fear was that I would not get to cover all of the things that the students need to know if they were given too much say in their learning. I’m happy to say that I was very wrong!

I have talked about the Valor program in the past, and I recently shared with my students the importance of receiving feedback from peers in order to grow and achieve your goals. I asked the students for their feedback so that I could help them reach their learning goals. I created “menus” filled with activities that they could choose from, with menu sections categorized based on subject. I was nervous about this at first, and prepared myself for disaster, but as soon as I explained it to them, I could see their eyes brighten and the wheels turning. Picture

I still taught my lessons, but left the independent work up to them. I would be lying if I said that it was easy for me the whole time, but it got easier over time and yielded amazing results. At the end of the week, I had the students record themselves and share what they liked and disliked about this process, and something I could do to help with their learning. The things that they said have been so influential in how I plan and give my instruction. I am still tweaking the process, but I can not wait to continue growing alongside my students as we work to create a better learning environment!