Student Voice

This year more than any at DSS, student voice has impacted on learning approaches and learning contexts. We know we want to encourage and embrace learner agency as it is proven to improve engagement in learning by allowing the students to take ownership of what they learn, how they learn and how they improve.

I thought I would list a number of contexts where student agency has happened / is happening this year, followed by some reflections based on Literacy learning.

• Choosing topics to write about.
• Choosing format for writing about a topic.
• Choosing/creating independent learning activities in reading.
• Access to learning progressions for maths so students can take charge of their own learning.
• Writing Rubrics and next steps for the same reasons as above.
• Opportunities to opt into workshops.
• Opportunities to opt into an area of art they are interested in (the gallery workshops).
• Passion Projects and i-Time projects. Projects relating to a passion of their own.
• Opportunity to opt into cultural groups for inquiry in term 2. The opportunity to then choose what aspect of that culture that interests them.
• The opportunity to co construct learning in concept time. In term 2 and 3, the students questions have led the direction of learning and veered from planned path.
• Opportunities to present work in multiple mediums/medias.

To expand on one of these area's I have focused on Literacy:

The students tell us constantly through conversations or through body language that they want to write about what they are interested in. When they are forced to write about something they do not connect with they lack motivation and interest and the outcomes are often below their own standards. When asked what they wanted:

1. To be able to write about what we want to write about. 
2. To know the purpose for doing what we are doing. So what? Why?
3. To know how to get better.
4. To have time to ourselves to do things.

None of the above are anything new to me, as these are very common things students want. But often getting the balance between what we as teachers know that they need to learn and what we know they want to do is the hard part. So what have I/we done about this.

1. Provide choice. Choice on the format of how to write about a context (letter, recount, explanation) and provide choice in what they write about (independent choice writing weeks).
2. We introduced RAFT which is helping the students understand the role and audience they are writing for. We have tried to allow/plan concepts contexts to create an authentic need/purpose for writing  (cultural inquiry, reporting to parents about what we have learned)(justifying our choices when designing our garden space).  We have also changed our practice from teacher a genre piece of writing to teacher skills in workshops that can then be put back into writing pieces. This has been a big shift for us.
3. We have introduced the writing rubrics to show where they students are and where to next for each feature of writing (although our focus has been narrower than all features).
4. Allowing time for the students have independent writing time where they get a choice in what they write about.

How has this impacted on their learning outcomes?

1. For a number of students this has resulted in an increase in motivation and the quantity of what they have written. It has not translated into improved writing skills. Feedback from the students is that they don't want to think about all of the things they need to do to get better at writing, they just want to write. For some students the freedom is actually a barrier. They find to much choice confusing and it creates indecision about what to write about. They prefer to have some suggestions that they can then choose from.
2. Knowing the purpose and audience has helped most students understand what they are writing for, although this does not always mean that they change the way they write to suit the audience and purpose. I think due to their current maturity levels, they tend to want to write for themselves, forgetting what the audience would want to hear. You see this in the students writing, where the writing matches or is suitable for the audience, these students tend to be the more mature ones of their cohort.
3. All students feedback that they like to know where they are or what level they are. They would like to move to the next level, but the rubrics don't help this, or are to much hard work to achieve. They also just want to write without thinking about how to write. This makes me think re-crafting is still one of the biggest and hardest skills to learn. They currently think first draft is final draft.
4. The students do enjoy having time to themselves to be able to write, however, when the topic is an independent chosen one, they seem to think they are unable to show the skills they have learned in this type of writing. Evidencing success criteria is new to the students so it is not a natural embedded habit yet. When there is consistency through the school and time, I think the habits and common language will rectify some of these beliefs. My view is that silent writing time is important for the students. They can not make this time themselves so it will be important for me to help provide the environment for them.