Student Voice and Student Choice at the center of Learning

Terry White outlines the importance and success of the Association for Learning Environment’s mission to bring the voice of students into the planning and design of learning environments and talks to those who have developed, experienced and have been inspired by the programme.

The Association for Learning Environments’ SchoolsNEXT programme has grown up in many ways. In its initial years, 2006-2013, SchoolsNEXT was known as the School of the Future Competition, engaging middle school students across the globe. With the intent to bring the student voice into the planning and design of innovative and resilient 21^st century learning environments, the SchoolsNEXT programme began with a holistic approach to learning through the arts – integrating all areas of study, engaging all learners and offering an opportunity for students to demonstrate critical thinking and creativity in achieving solutions to real-world problems. To create and facilitate the structures and opportunities for these powerful connections is a significant part of working thoughtfully with student-centred educational and social systems in which they are genuinely affirmed and encouraged to build self-confidence. Working as a collaborative team, the programme encourages them to use their “visual arts” voice to design and effect change in the world.

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      string(5844) "create and share maps of their learning work. Teachers discussed, studied, and implemented the concept of instructional tolerance as a path to encourage children to choose to sit, stand, or flop on floors and even rearrange their learning spaces to meet their needs, not those of the adult at the front of a classroom. Most of all, children and adults learned the power of choice and comfort as a design imperative and learning pathway to realise opportunities for open learning that never existed in closed, controlled environments. Through our Design 2015 Projects, we moved from teaching places to learning spaces in a short period of time – leveraging resources donated to classrooms as well as those provided by the district. Our efforts to reimagine and redesign practices and spaces went viral, not just in our district but over social media and into mainstream state and national conferences, publications, and across a network of educational organisations from Edutopia to Digital Promise to the Alliance for Excellent Education. 2. Teachers Engaged in Tabletop Design Thinking What began as a few changed libraries is now a movement visible in every school, in every grade. What began with a few educators is now a flood of teachers who routinely share their joy in their students’ freedom with each other on Twitter and Instagram.Today, in Albemarle County Public Schools, our libraries and librarians are recognised as state and national leaders in creating media spaces where kids actively develop student voice, agency, and influence in their learning. Circulation is up, individual student visits to libraries is off the charts, and class demand exceeds available time on many days of the year. Most importantly, as traditional place-bound learning has changed to contemporary learning, both learning space and pedagogy have shifted so that students no longer have to check their voices, creativity, interests, and passions at the library door.  3. Monticello High School Learning Commons 4. Agnor-Hurt Elementary Multiage SpaceWe are building out new multi-age learning spaces and taking down walls between traditional classrooms to facilitate active, collaborative, connected P-based learning driven by passion, problems, and projects that benefit our community. Today, young people, ages 5 to 18, are learning inside and outside our schools in built and natural environments. They scaffold skills and knowledge through age-diverse peers and choose from a multitude of available technologies to accomplish and share their learning. In such spaces, there are no desks in rows and no dominant teaching walls. Instead, such spaces have at least 4-5 different kinds of seating and even standing and low height tables for sitting on the floor to work. The teacher is often not even immediately evident when visitors enter our learning spaces. 5. Western Albemarle High Environmental Studies CenterNot just libraries and classrooms have been modernised as contemporary learning spaces. We’ve also redesigned cafeterias, gyms, art spaces, mechatronics labs, and hallways so that children and teachers can choose to use spaces in different ways to offer a multitude of learning opportunities and experiences often limited or even prohibited by traditional school environments. 6. Walton Middle School Cafeteria Rolling Treehouse We’ve pulled lockers out of high school hallways and created collaborative spaces as well as charging bars where individual students can work quietly. We’ve taken down walls and added large expanses of glass that create transparency between the world outside and in. Cafeterias have been redesigned to move from an institutional setting to family-style dining and for use not just at lunch but all day long. Our children are co-creators in helping us design spaces for their learning as demonstrated in this cafeteria treehouse designed and built by students. 7. Henley Fitness Center Rather than build a new middle school gym, when physical education teachers suggested a fitness center, we added a small workout area with indoor turf, a fitness area, an exercise area. The teachers today love that storefront glass doors connect the fitness area with an outdoor exercise and track space. 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ECO Friendly Design

From teaching places to learning spaces

14 Mar 2017

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      string(5860) "partnershipsDeterminationSelf-relianceResponsible actionsResilienceSkills for digital learningPortland Design ProcessAgree a collective vision for changeDevelop the evidence base for the new modelPlan and engage for ‘Cultural Shift’Create a test bed for changeEstablish the learning- lad design brief for the new modelPlan for effective transition to new learning modelDevelop every space as a learning spaceOptimise the physical environmental conditions for exceptional learning.Align the design with organisation, curriculum delivery and assessment.Detail design of learning spaces in each learning zoneThis study ensured the ultimate selection of the most appropriate items of furniture some of which, such as the tiered seating, was specifically designed and manufactured for the school as it was felt that commercially available alternatives did not fulfil everything the school wanted of them. 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As the Academy’s initial lead sponsor, and then patron, Professor Stephen Heppell comments “If learning was the Olympics, all schools would look and function a lot more like this one; it can work so very well.”Pedagogy & curriculum The evolving curriculum at Portland has a focus on the knowledge and the core functional skills that all students will need to develop to support their growing achievement, abilities and aspirations. Emphasis is placed on ensuring that students are better known as individuals and that the importance of their physical and emotional development, including their health and well-being, is addressed as part of their daily learning experience. Students are required to take personal accountability for their learning and to analyse how they can improve and develop their approach, and transfer knowledge and skills across all of their areas of study. The approach to learning and teaching, too, is highly personalised, with students studying at their own pace and striving for the best possible individual goals on a ‘stage not age’ basis. Whilst focusing on student achievement, learning would also be creative, relevant, celebratory and would contribute to an atmosphere where students enjoy learning together. The importance of collaborative learning, student voice, enquiry and project based approaches all supported by ICT are felt to be central to raising learner aspirations. Where is the school now? The learning for students in Years 5/6 on Portland is showing real improvement with personal progress in all areas of their life, work and achievement within their new environments for learning. 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Early Years

Making Connections

17 Nov 2017

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      string(5704) "steps…Do you really have the passion?Or do you sort of go?Is there something out there that is a plan with action?What works for you?What works with you?Not even words make things add up.What would they look likeon a single side of A4when arriving – a conversation that needs to be with words?Aaliyah RahmanWho’s driving?These are fast changing timesWho’s driving?We are in a global worldWho’s driving?Computation, new media, symbols, signs…These are fast changing timesWho’s driving?Think differently!What does that mean?Improve our practice through innovationOrientation – take the development angleImprove our practiceBecoming wiseEvidence informed – opening doorsTriangle!The importance of emotion, at the centre of learning, an organic ecosystemAsk young people how much challenge there is in their learningHow does that affect us?Anxious?Frustration?I play the piano badly!Practice…practice…practiceInquiry is about learningI don’t mean to preach, but this could mean changeBringing those connectionsNot rushing…Powerful learning.Our learning doesn’t just take place in our classrooms, in schoolsConnect with outsiders beyond the schoolNorwaySingaporeAsk questions you don’t know the answer ofToby!Toby talks about challengeThinking together is importantWhat are the implications for everything else?Throw it outSlow it downI’m thinking my way through thisChange the mindset, things can flyI don’t mean this negatively…These are fast changing timesWho’s driving?James Rickwood (Teacher)Given the enthusiasm with which the students undertook the task, I thought I should try to write a ‘found’ poem too, which I did from listening to the plenary sessions:Throwing It OpenIt’s an uncertain time, it’s why I’m here.It’s very complicated. I’m at the very beginningOf thinking about this, hoping to observeSomething magical. It’s an uncertain time,I was really struggling, I was extremely nervousActually listening. Actually listening it’s a slowingDown, I’m going to go quite fast, we need to knowWhat to do, we just move on and move on.It’s very expensive. I’ve got a lot to say,It’s all about listening to how that person thinks –I asked him what actually moved him.Of course as human beings, who you are In the world, in the 22nd century, we areStruggling: how can you be patient when you’reWorried about not doing it properly,Being told to do things, simple quick answers?I’m going to go quite fast. It’s an uncertain time,A national obsession, that little hamster wheel – They don’t let the students breathe really,Sharpen their pencils. You have to be willingTo stop. It opened my eyes, I found myselfHolding back. It was like a two minutes’ silence,The gift of listening, the time and the trust,A beautiful thing: lonely souls falling in love,Jazz music, laughter, the beginning of wisdom.It’s why I came.I could see how enthralled the conference participants were as each young woman spoke her piece; people also warmly appreciated that a teacher had engaged with the task. The effect of using only participants’ own words combined with the way each ‘poet’ had selected and arranged them turned out to be surprisingly moving as well as intriguing. The applause was loud and long!Reaching Parts Other Approaches Do NotAs can perhaps be inferred from these examples, ‘found’ poetry works as a form of qualitative data collection by capturing the personal tones of voice and individual turns of expression of the speakers, as well as identifying key terms in the ‘dominant discourse’.  By lifting single words or phrases out of their original context and juxtaposing them with other words and phrases, the poem will typically reveal something interesting and meaningful about the collective atmosphere, particularly the affective aspects. In the poems quoted above, one can fairly readily pick out some key themes, such as: professional identity and its accompanying anxiety; a strong feeling of time and performance pressures; the importance of holding on to the ethical purpose of teaching; the challenges of learning and teaching in a globalised digital world; a sense of human agency which is circumscribed by context yet nonetheless real and realisable. Additionally, because of the very particular choices and arrangements of words made by each ‘poet’, the poems were imbued with her or his own individuality. And how much more vivid the poems are than the bullet list of themes!I hope this article has given some indication of how composing ‘found’ poems can be an economical, creative and engaging way to contribute, alongside other forms of data collection, to making a multiple record of a complex event or situation. It follows that in principle a similar approach could be adapted for use in ongoing inquiry projects within a school, in ways which would bring teachers and students together in a powerful collaborative learning process. We would love to hear from colleagues out there about any such initiatives.With grateful thanks to, and the kind permission of, Professor Louise Stoll, Karen Spence-Thomas, Year 11 students and their teachers Jane Dicker and James Rickwood from Phoenix High School (now Phoenix Academy), and conference participants at the UCLIoE Research and Development Network Conference, 28 June 2016.Lesley Saunders is an education consultant and an award-winning poet; she holds  visiting professorships at UCL Institute of Education,  London, and Newman University, Birmingham, and an honorary"
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Professional Development

Inquiry with a creative edge!

20 Jun 2017

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      string(5652) "to host a journalist from The Guardian, Niamh McIntyre, to really bring the newsroom to life. She came in to talk to the children about the importance of reporting and fact checking and worked with them on their own writing. It was really valuable for the children to hear about the writing process from Niamh’s point of view. She explained how an article can be written and published within one day, but sometimes they take several weeks to take shape, while they investigate the story, conduct interviews. She also explained how lots of people are involved in the refining process, which means learning to write and work collaboratively is a really important part of her job. This was a fantastic insight from a working reporter and was something the children hadn’t thought about before.During training, we learnt that a Parliamentary Commission into Fake News and the Teaching of Critical Literacy Skills in Schools found that only 2% of children and young people in the UK have the critical literacy skills they need to identify fake news correctly and that children’s inability to identify it is driving a culture of fear and uncertainty in the younger generation which can have harmful effects om their wellbeing.1 Therefore, we felt it was our duty to get students actively engaged in the news and learning how to spot fake news so they could learn to approach information critically, and having a visit from a working journalist and engaging them in a newsroom environment really excited them.Impressing the value of reporting fairlyThere are a range of NewsWise lesson plans available online. One example is the topic of: balancing a story. In this lesson, in fact, gave us an opportunity to fulfil one of our class objectives of developing the children’s extended writing. We looked at a story of a school who had banned homework, a topic of conversation that is of course of great interest to the children, and we explored the pros and cons of the issue, looking at how we present a balanced argument and what language and tone works best.However, the topic that really stood out for my class was the lesson on holding power to account which explored the reporting of the Windrush scandal, where lots of people from the Caribbean who have been living in the UK for decades were threatened with deportation. The way the reporting of this issue challenged power and helped to bring about change was of particular interest for my class, as around a third of the class have Caribbean heritage. The lessons included: role plays, video interviews of the victims and different articles on the issue which painted a full picture of the scandal for the children to examine.This topic had a real impact on the class. They were justifiably shocked and then outraged by the unfairness of the treatment of individuals, such as Paulette Wilson. Hearing her story about how she was detained in an immigration removal centre and threatened with deportation despite having lived in Britain for 50 years, helped them to understand the scandal on a personal level. They particularly enjoyed the role play activities, where one child would portray someone in power (for example, the head of a large corporation, or the Prime Minister) and the other played someone who didn’t have a high level of power.This prompted a larger discussion on experiences the class may have had when they themselves had felt powerless, and how they could change that in the future. Through the timeline of events, from the story breaking to the resignation of the home secretary, the children really got to grips with how the news has the power to change perceptions and affect the world they live in. I loved being able to show the children how important it was for them to make their voices heard and look for the truth at the heart of the matter.I felt that it was really important to give pupils an opportunity to write for themselves, become the journalists and produce their own fair and balanced news stories and put their skills into action. Taking into account all the skills they’d learnt about fact checking and bias to develop their own authentic voice. The children’s article ideas ranged from an air crash that had recently happened in Indonesia, to local environmental concerns and even the lack of pancakes at school on Pancake Day! After a great deal of discussion and research, they voted for their top two choices: air pollution and age restrictions on video games. I was proud to see them choose big issues which mattered to them. They loved taking ownership of their stories and engaging with the writing process, from the interviews and research they conducted as homework, to the drafting, writing, editing and publishing they did in class.The thrill the children had from seeing their work published on the front page of the NewsWise website was a total delight to witness. Not only had their work been shared and celebrated within school, it was also a real-life news story. What could be more rewarding than that? To celebrate their new skills and their work, we championed the entire class during a special “Golden Achievement” assembly, in front of the school and presented them with NewsWise certificates.Traditionally, news has been taught in primary schools by introducing an imaginary scenario. However, NewsWise taught us that a great way to help children learn about news, and develop critical literacy skills is to get them to write articles fairly about real events and issues, that they can research, speak to other people about, and write up, which has changed the way we"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Creating A News Literate Generation

9 Apr 2020