Learning Environments that Honour Student Voice

Welcome Please sign in and take a mileage sheet At your table, complete the Minds on Activity Sort the strips into two columns identifying two different types of classroom environments Discussion around Minds on while waiting for others to come

Purpose for today Explore and understand the characteristics of a learning environment that supports student voice

In the beginning... Working with Grade 5/6 students with inferring Set up google docs portfolios Observations and conversations showed us performance vs learning qualitative data How do students feel about learning SWS research report 2013/14 http://program.yourschools.ca/

Student Voice When teachers see learning through the eyes of their students and students see themselves as their own teachers john hattie http://program.yourschools.ca So if we break that down (next slide)

Learning Environment that Supports Student voice Where teachers see learning through the eyes of their students Where students see themselves as their own teachers Students are telling us that we don’t always see learning through their eyes allows them to be their own teachers What would a learning environment look like that honours our definition of student voice? Our data from students tells us that what we believe is not what they are experiencing. So today we want to understand what the learning environment looks like that supports student voice.

Design of Learning Environments Chapter 6, How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School: National Research Council, 2000 Each group (max of 4) is assigned a section from the monograph. Read your group’s assigned section of the monograph Individually, jot down 3 important points from your reading on large sticky note Share your ideas in your group and synthesize into three main ideas From your three ideas, create one statement that answers the question : What would a learning environment look like that honours our definition of student voice? to share with everyone and  post on paper strip  along with all the group’s large sticky notes. Decide on a reporter for your group. Share your group’s statement and how you got it Sections: Learner-Centered; Knowledge-Centered; Assessment –Centered; Community-Centered

This Environment Allows Students To ask questions, explore and assess what they know To experience things and reflect on those experiences To construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world when they encounter something new, to reconcile it with previous ideas and experience, maybe changing what they believe, or maybe discarding the new information as irrelevant. To be active creators of our own knowledge. You have allowed them a place to construct their own learning and understanding because you have honored student voice Once you hsve created that environemnt this is how stuetns will then respond and learn.

Existing Knowledge is used to build new Knowledge What happens when a learner gets a new piece of information? The learner compares the information to the knowledge and understanding he/she already has, and one of three things can occur:

What are learners doing ..... The new information matches up with his previous knowledge pretty well (it's consonant with the previous knowledge), so the student adds it to his understanding. It may take some work, but it's just a matter of finding the right fit, as with a puzzle piece. The information doesn't match previous knowledge (it's dissonant). The student has to change her previous understanding to find a fit for the information. This can be harder work. The information doesn't match previous knowledge, and it is ignored. Rejected bits of information may just not be absorbed by the student. Or they may float around, waiting for the day when the student's understanding has developed and permits a fit. (proximal or inaccurate prior knowledge) This is where SWS lies. In knowing this , we can reflect on how learning happens for all of us. So one of the most important reasons for us to be aware of this, is that students

What constructivist teachers believe What the student currently believes, whether correct or incorrect, is important. Despite having the same learning experience, each individual will base their learning on the understanding and meaning personal to them. (that’s where creativity lives) Understanding or constructing a meaning is an active and continuous process. Learning involves some conceptual changes. When students construct a new meaning, they may not believe it but may give it provisional acceptance or even rejection. Learning is an active, not a passive, process and depends on the students taking responsibility to learn.

Classroom Environment Checklist Do I provide feedback to my students Opportunities for peer and self assessment Make revisions Opportunities for inquiry and questions Value mistakes Spend the time needed to get to know them Find out what the students know before teaching Document their learning through feedback Learning goals/ success criteria/feedback

continued Purpose of the task Input into creating the task How they will demonstrate their learning Communication with home that is reciprocal

Next Steps Look at the big ideas from each section of the article and develop a check list when creating an environment to support student voice Is your learning environment supporting Hattie’s definition of student voice? Compare to the checklist. Brainstorm at your tables what evidence/documentation would you be looking for in your classroom that match the checklist on the SWS blog.

SWS Blog Your posts will inform our board’s understanding of the relationship between learning environments and student voice. The blog is our communication device. In continuing our work from last year, we would like to monitor our progress towards honoring what the students are saying (Is what we are doing, addressing the concerns of students from last year’s report?) Darlene and Jenn are here today to help with blogging and video uploads

Purpose going forward Gather evidence/data based on your checklist to answer the question: Is your learning environment supporting Hattie’s definition of student voice? When teachers see learning through the eyes of their students and students see themselves as their own teachers Add evidence to the blog

Logistics when do we meet again to code the data/evidence you have gathered Exit slip