That Student Voice in the Background

Below, I have pasted excerpts from Steve Hargadon's interview of three high school students participating in the Student 2.0 project that I wrote about in my last blog. I continue to be impressed by their insights into our work and their learning.


From Sean: "What's happened over the past few years, and in society, with technology and the web becoming a lot more important, I'd say that the stuff I'm doing at home [rather than at school] is right now a bit more relevant, in terms of the skills I will need later in life.... At the stage at which we are at school, I would say that we are not dumb, we've matured a bit, and I think we should have some form of say in what's happening... "


From Kevin: "It's an interesting model, the way school continues to operate, as opposed to the infinitely more learning that we can do outside of the classroom... I think that technology is a very important part of education today, and because of that the shift from the traditional student-teacher model is creating a whole bunch of new possibilities. The web is not the only method by which that will happen, but it is a very important one as well... At the core of everything else, all the technology usage, it's all about creating learners, not just students who are able to interpret the facts that the teachers just preach to them in the classroom... There are 300 - 400 teachers in my school district, maybe only a a handful, I can probably count on one hand, who actually read blogs, let alone write them." -Kevin, 17 years old, Illinois, USA


(Lindsea had less to say because she had to leave the interview early to get to class. She was on a world-wide Skype interview from her computer at school, cool as a cucumber, with all of the noise of a school campus in the background.)

It makes me wonder what our students are thinking, but not saying, about their experiences in our schools. I am struggling to identify where we are intentionally including them in our conversations about Classroom 10 and the role of technology in supporting acquisition of our Outcomes and focus on thinking skills and Habits of Mind. Is this a voice we need to hear? If yes, why do we continue to not provide for this opportunity? It would seem that engaging them in these conversations would provide us with information to influence the quality of our curriculum and increase the likelihood that more students would find meaning in and embrace the learning opportunity.

I encourage you to mark this student web site and occasionally read what they are saying about their public school experiences. At the same time, let's identify the purpose for student voice in this work and then create the opportunity for the skillful discussions to take place. Who wants this opportunity?

Well, enough for now. Have a great day!