Amplifying Student Voice
“In education, student voice refers to the values, opinions, beliefs, perspectives, and cultural backgrounds of individual students and groups of students in a school, and to instructional approaches and techniques that are based on student choices, interests, passions, and ambitions. Generally speaking, student voice can be seen as an alternative to more traditional forms of governance or instruction in which school administrators and teachers may make unilateral decisions with little or no input from students.”
—Glossary of Education Reform, www.edglossary.org
Purpose
Amplifying Student Voice focuses students on exploring, understanding and collaboratively sharing the purpose and methods of equity consciousness with peers as learners across all content areas. Amplifying Student Voice will use the critical thinking tools (HOPs) being implemented with the teachers to support student engagement. The students will use the HOPs tools and skills to explore the guiding questions: How do we learn? Who are we? Who are we is relevant culture centered content that is reflective of the student’s respective diverse backgrounds. This provides teachers, staff and leadership a greater insight to the students as learners and who they are in creating and sustaining a successful learning experience.
On This Page
- The Process
- Example 1: Installations on student interests in NPS high schools
- Example 2: Creating PSA’s of things that matter to the students in NPS high schools
- Example 3: Developing surveys on things that matter to the students
- More Examples to Scaffold From
Process
The students will use critical thinking methods (High Operational Practices) to determine how the purpose and methods of equity consciousness reflectively supports their learning. They will use critical thinking methods to develop how they will use video to document the how do we learn and who are we in their classrooms and schools. Examples of critical thinking methods to be used include:
- Collaborative Communities are three supporting methods for a systemic structure for collective and individual success. These include: community building community exercises, collaborative learning methods and peer-to-peer coaching.
- Questions for Inquiry is the use of questioning methods to engage students in education and communities with dialogue. This includes effective methods for developing questioning skills leading to inquiry based discourse.
- Visual Mapping is for organizing and seeing thinking individually and collaboratively to understand patterns of thinking with different cognitive processes along with the frame of reference to understand different perspectives.
- Thinking Environments is an awareness, understanding and a process focused upon the design, interface and impact with the environment of the physical learning space including a person’s use of space, materials, objects and beliefs.
Download the Newark Public Schools Guidebook
Examples of Student Voice Collaborations in NPS
Watch the video clips below with students seeing their process and outcomes.
- Example 1 in Multiple Newark High Schools: NUA Process Leading to Installations
- Example 2: Mini Video Productions (Similar to Public Service Announcements) on topics developed and created by students on issues that matter to them.
- Example 3: Students Create Video’s Speaking to Their Voice(s)
Example 1 in Multiple Newark High Schools: NUA Process Leading to Installations
With a focus on social justice, the students used NUA high operational practices (HOPs) leading to installations of issues on equity consciousness that matter to them.
With a focus on social justice, the students used NUA high operational practices (HOPs) leading to installations of issues on equity consciousness that matter to them.
With a focus on social justice, the students used NUA high operational practices (HOPs) leading to installations of issues on equity consciousness that matter to them.
With a focus on social justice, the students used NUA high operational practices (HOPs) leading to installations of issues on equity consciousness that matter to them.
With a focus on social justice, the students used NUA high operational practices (HOPs) leading to installations of issues on equity consciousness that matter to them.
With a focus on social justice, the students used NUA high operational practices (HOPs) leading to installations of issues on equity consciousness that matter to them.
Example 2: Mini Video Productions (Similar to Public Service Announcements) on topics developed and created by students on issues that matter to them.
With a focus on social justice, the students used NUA high operational practices (HOPs) leading to mini videos on equity consciousness that matters to them.
With a focus on social justice, the students used NUA high operational practices (HOPs) leading to mini videos on equity consciousness that matters to them.
Example 3: Students Create Video’s Speaking to Their Voice(s)
PowerPoint presentation used for an interactive 90 minute sessions with Bard High School student groups. There were two sessions using NUA HOPs with critical thinking tools to explore their ‘voice’ leading to the importance (and doing) the creation of surveys learning that development guides the perspective.
- grade 9-10 (130 students and seven observing educators)
- grade 11-12 (70 students and seven observing educators)
Download the PowerPoint (same as the movie version above).