I had a conversation with an Iowa parent the other day. In middle school her son started making voice-narrated Pokemon game walkthrough videos and posting them on YouTube. That’s exactly the kind of thing that most adults would look at and consider ‘a complete waste of time.’ He’s now 18 and has 70,000+ subscribers to...
Category: student voice
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5 great slides about technology, learning, and change
Upcoming travel and events December 3-5 – International School of Amsterdam, The Netherlands February 3 – Virginia Is for Learners Innovation Network, TBD, VA February 25-26 – Missouri Educational Technology Leaders CTO Clinic, TBD, MO March 10-13 – Central & Eastern European Schools Association (CEESA) Annual Conference, Budapest, Hungary June 8-9 – Roanoke County Public...
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Students will lean into the wind if given a chance
We have become a nation of test-givers, assessing student performance and knowledge in a way that is largely exempt from any kind of real-life application. As important as standard assessments are, relevant and authentic assessments are even more vital. Educators must give assignments that engage students’ curiosity and imagination instead of those that hold little...
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Listening circles
“listening circles” Each such circle pulls in students from different social, racial, and interest groups from around the school to identify and solve problems related to campus climate. Adults sit outside the circle, in a “listen only” mode via http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/01/10/16environment.h32.html What could listening circles do for the climate in your school?What could listening circles do...
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Allowing youth to participate in public (online) life
danah boyd says: But why should youth not be allowed to participate in public life? Do paternalistic, age-specific technology barriers really protect or benefit teens? One of the most crucial aspects of coming of age is learning how to navigate public life. The teenage years are precisely when people transition from being a child to...
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Shareski and Stager on inauthentic student voice
Dean Shareski says: I think the words were important but when it comes from someone who didn’t write them and it’s positioned as if it is, it becomes disingenuous and very pretentious. . . . [L]et’s advocate for student voice but not fake ones. Our students do have a voice. Most of them are childlike,...
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Are we too scared to give students real voice?
Today the Iowa Department of Education (DE) tweeted the following: But if you go look at the application announcement, it turns out that the student participant on the State Board of Education is a non-voting member. So much for having a real voice… [sigh] I’m not trying to pick on DE; the non-voting status of the...
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Newell-Fonda students decide to ‘be the change’ [VIDEO]
Upcoming travel and events December 3-5 – International School of Amsterdam, The Netherlands February 3 – Virginia Is for Learners Innovation Network, TBD, VA February 25-26 – Missouri Educational Technology Leaders CTO Clinic, TBD, MO March 10-13 – Central & Eastern European Schools Association (CEESA) Annual Conference, Budapest, Hungary June 8-9 – Roanoke County Public...
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Replication or empowerment?
We’ve got to decide if our vision for educational technology is around replication or empowerment. And if it’s about empowerment, then guess what? We’ve got to give up the things that we do that feed replication. We can’t hang on to all of those and get to where we’re trying to go. What are we...
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Why would students feel valued at school?
Without having seen the exact survey questions, here are some quick reactions I have to these data… Why on earth would students say they feel valued at school? In most schools, students are told what to do nearly every minute of every school day, are generally treated as passive recipients of whatever adults foist on...