Voices & Choices for Students
As an education major at a university, I am constantly thinking about how I am going to develop my future classroom and assignments. It’s a big thing to think about and it invokes anxious feelings every time I think about it. What kinds of assignments will I give? How will I fairly grade all my students? How do I accommodate higher level and lower level thinkers? How do I keep all my students engaged and interested in the material? How do I effectively incorporate student voice into the curriculum?
Student choice is a big one for me. Everyone has some horror story from high school about the teacher who would give out terribly boring or totally irrelevant assignments. Those assignments that no one really cared about or put their full effort into. They just did it because they had to. For me, it was any and every math assignment my senior year. I was in an upper level Trigonometry class just because that was the path that was laid out for me. I did not enjoy math one bit but I understood it (mostly). This Trig class, though, was brutal. The content was not only very difficult, but I did not see the importance of it at all. I knew I was not going to pursue math after high school; I just needed four years of math to graduate.
A few weeks into that Trig class, I realized that I should have taken the other senior math offered. That class was more relevant to life after high school. They were learning basic skills that they would use and grow for the rest of their lives like balancing a check book. When would I ever use Trigonometry again? My answer: I wouldn’t. I did not see the relevance and the importance of it to my life.
I think that is the biggest challenge for teachers. How do we effectively show kids the importance of what they are learning? How do we answer beyond saying, “You’ll need to know this for your college classes” or “It’ll help you in the workforce”? How do we show content relevance to our students? I think one answer is giving our students a choice and a voice in their curriculum.
In English for example, giving students the options of different genres of literature. Do you want to read a love story or an adventure? Would you rather read this 500-year-old story or this contemporary story? Now, obviously, teachers are still required to stay in line with state and federal standards but there is always a little wiggle room. After reading a novel or short story together, giving students the choice of either writing a research paper or a narrative to follow the story could have a huge impact. They will have to eventually write both, but giving them the option of when they are writing and what the topic is can make the process much easier and much more enjoyable for the students.
Incorporating student voice into the classroom is another way to keep students engaged and interested about the curriculum. Student voice can be utilized in a variety of ways. Giving students options of assignments is a very simple way to give them a voice in the classroom. Asking student opinion on things like grading rubrics, assignment directions, or deadlines will help students to feel more in control of their academics. Asking students to help establish classroom rules and guidelines at the beginning of the year is a good way to show students right away that their opinions are valued in the class. Even giving students a say on how the classroom is set up physically can make a difference.
To take it up a notch, considering students’ opinions on school wide issues may have a huge impact on student involvement. If asked, students would be more than willing to give their opinions on concerning school topics such as dress code or detention policies. These little things will make students feel more valued in the school and classroom and hopefully increase their involvement and their learning.
Making students aware of the relevance of the content and how it can be applied to their lives is an important part of education. Are they learning a skill that they will more than likely need in the future? Are they learning something that will teach them a life lesson? Make it known to the students! Giving students a voice and showing them that their opinions are valued can go a long way. If students are not aware of the importance of what they are learning or they do not feel valued in the classroom, many students will just check-out and go through the motions without engaging and really learning the material. And no teacher wants that.
Student choice is a big one for me. Everyone has some horror story from high school about the teacher who would give out terribly boring or totally irrelevant assignments. Those assignments that no one really cared about or put their full effort into. They just did it because they had to. For me, it was any and every math assignment my senior year. I was in an upper level Trigonometry class just because that was the path that was laid out for me. I did not enjoy math one bit but I understood it (mostly). This Trig class, though, was brutal. The content was not only very difficult, but I did not see the importance of it at all. I knew I was not going to pursue math after high school; I just needed four years of math to graduate.
A few weeks into that Trig class, I realized that I should have taken the other senior math offered. That class was more relevant to life after high school. They were learning basic skills that they would use and grow for the rest of their lives like balancing a check book. When would I ever use Trigonometry again? My answer: I wouldn’t. I did not see the relevance and the importance of it to my life.
I think that is the biggest challenge for teachers. How do we effectively show kids the importance of what they are learning? How do we answer beyond saying, “You’ll need to know this for your college classes” or “It’ll help you in the workforce”? How do we show content relevance to our students? I think one answer is giving our students a choice and a voice in their curriculum.
In English for example, giving students the options of different genres of literature. Do you want to read a love story or an adventure? Would you rather read this 500-year-old story or this contemporary story? Now, obviously, teachers are still required to stay in line with state and federal standards but there is always a little wiggle room. After reading a novel or short story together, giving students the choice of either writing a research paper or a narrative to follow the story could have a huge impact. They will have to eventually write both, but giving them the option of when they are writing and what the topic is can make the process much easier and much more enjoyable for the students.
Incorporating student voice into the classroom is another way to keep students engaged and interested about the curriculum. Student voice can be utilized in a variety of ways. Giving students options of assignments is a very simple way to give them a voice in the classroom. Asking student opinion on things like grading rubrics, assignment directions, or deadlines will help students to feel more in control of their academics. Asking students to help establish classroom rules and guidelines at the beginning of the year is a good way to show students right away that their opinions are valued in the class. Even giving students a say on how the classroom is set up physically can make a difference.
To take it up a notch, considering students’ opinions on school wide issues may have a huge impact on student involvement. If asked, students would be more than willing to give their opinions on concerning school topics such as dress code or detention policies. These little things will make students feel more valued in the school and classroom and hopefully increase their involvement and their learning.
Making students aware of the relevance of the content and how it can be applied to their lives is an important part of education. Are they learning a skill that they will more than likely need in the future? Are they learning something that will teach them a life lesson? Make it known to the students! Giving students a voice and showing them that their opinions are valued can go a long way. If students are not aware of the importance of what they are learning or they do not feel valued in the classroom, many students will just check-out and go through the motions without engaging and really learning the material. And no teacher wants that.