ELLEN
BERG
Diary #19
Honoring Our Students' Voices
In a recent MiddleWeb listserv discussion, participant Karen Onyx shared her delight at being able to attend a workshop given by Mosaic of Thought author Ellin Keene. During the workshop, Keene modeled some of her comprehension strategies with fourth and fifth grade students. Aside from being impressed by Keene's understanding and mastery of reading comprehension, Karen took away an even more impressive observation about Keene:
"She treated the intellect of those kids with such honor and respect and they all responded and surpassed her expectations. If we treat the children as scholars, and model our expectations, they will respond as scholars."Whoa. Honor. Respect. Intellect. Scholarship. Modeling. Expectations. All words we have heard before, even words we might have used in connection with kids ourselves, but assembled together they pack a powerful wallop. They also provide an absolute counterpoint to the feelings, actions, and language too many educators use when describing their students: Compliance. Obedience. Lazy. Disrespectful.
What a simple but profound concept. If we model the behaviors and attitudes we expect to see in our students, students will meet our expectations. There are a million arguments adults use against treating children as human beings worthy of respect and acknowledgment. "Kids should be seen and not heard. Children should do what they are told. Children should respect their elders. I know what is best for them."
Even I owned some of these beliefs early in my teaching career, but thankfully I have cast them off. Others continue clinging to these fallacies like toilet paper to the bottom of a shoe, then complain when children do not buy into their small-minded point of view.
What do they expect? My momma always said you get what you pay for. Proof that treating students with respect and honoring their ideas is effective practice has appeared in my classroom with our work on the Harambe Constitution. I am in awe of the results, and I cannot imagine not using this activity again and again at the beginning of each new school year. My students worked in groups to create lists of responsibilities for students, teachers, and schools and define what they want to get out of school. Each group presented their ideas to the class, then we put the project on the shelf for a few days to let them reflect for a while.This past week I distributed typed sheets that listed the class' ideas for each category, and we began the process of defining a common goal and choosing the five or six most important responsibilities in each category. Eventually, each class will submit its constitution to a committee made up of two students from each class, a teacher, and a parent.
I would invite the principal to participate on the committee, but I am afraid she will not honor the process and will, instead, overpower the students' beliefs and pollute the document. Instead, I will give her an outline sheet where she can list her beliefs for the students to consider and incorporate.
After the committee drafts a final document, students will read and either ratify the constitution or send it back to the committee with its recommendations for revision. Once the constitution is finally ratified by students, teachers, and the principal, we will all sign it and be expected to live by it. Everyone will receive copies, and we will put a poster of the constitution in each classroom. Pretty cool, huh? Back to this weekTry as I might, I could think of no way to avoid a whole-group discussion of their rough ideas. Lecture, small groups, individual work -- all these formations are fairly easy to manage. Whole group discussions, however, are a whole other animal.
What if they did not listen to each other? What if some students checked out of the process and held side conversations? What if discussions degenerated into, "You're stupid," and "Your momma?" In light of the challenges, I decided to chunk and structure our discussion heavily. I prefaced our discussion with the reminder that they were embarking on serious business, designing a document that held their beliefs and expectations. "These are your thoughts," I said, "not mine, and if you do not contribute now, you may not have the opportunity to have your ideas reflected in the document."
Students first discussed how to include everyone's ideas in the goal statement and were wildly successful. They wrote statements like, "We want to be educated and prepared to be successful at our goals after school," and, "To graduate, be educated, and be successful in further academic pursuits." Amazing.After the goal statement, we progressed to the list of student responsibilities. At their tables, they discussed and chose the five or six most important responsibilities students have to help them reach their goal. I encouraged them to reword, combine, or otherwise revise any statements they deemed necessary. Each table shared their results, and we highlighted and crossed out statements as they received votes or were ignored.
While narrowing down their ideas to five or six, students explained their reasoning to each other to try to sway the rest of the group. They compromised, combined related statements, and discarded more trivial ideas that, in the words of one of my students, were "more like laws, not part of a constitution." They were passionate, engaged, and thoughtful, everything a teacher hopes to see.
They are, however, still a little suspicious. "Are you really going to follow this?" several have inquired. "Of course," I reply, "Didn't I tell you I would?" "Yeah, but you're a teacher and a grownup. Grownups don't always follow the rules." "This grownup does," I tell them, and I am committed to my promise.There has been a growing discussion about what should happen if someone--student OR teacher--repeatedly disrespects the constitution. We have decided a counsel of some sort should be created so guilty parties' behaviors can be addressed. I am excited about the prospect, though I know I am going to have to train them to help offenders (teachers, especially) reflect upon the wrongdoing and support them as they develop appropriate behavior. In the end I think we all will learn a lot.
Isn't this a social studies objective?
How do I justify using my language arts class time on what seems to be a social studies project? To satisfy my belief that I am addressing my objectives, I made a list of some the concepts we have covered:*Text to
text connections (we read the Preamble and the Bill of Rights)
*Writing process, especially prewriting and revision
*Analyzing text
*Developing a controlling idea in writing
*Synthesis of ideas
*Grammar, spelling, etc.
*Presentation techniques
*Expository writing *Audience
*Point of view
I could list several other things, but I think deeper, more important lessons have been learned: You decide what you take from school. You have a responsibility to work toward your goal, and teachers have a responsibility to help you reach your goal. You have something worthwhile to say. You have a voice. You are important. We had a beautiful week together, and I cannot help but believe it is because I had high, clear expectations for my students and have honored their voice in this project. We are developing new relationships with each other, not only teacher to student, but student to student. They are teaching me. This week we will finish our sorting, add a piece about parental responsibilities, choose members for the committee, and send our rough draft for further crafting. I can hardly wait to see the final product, and I will be sure to share it will all of you fine folks.
