by Julie Villers, ES Principal

At the CEESA conference we hosted this year, some of our AAS students were invited to deliver keynotes to the group of educators attending. The three students chose to give advice to teachers: "Make connections with students outside the classroom," "Create an environment that allows for failure," and "Make learning fun." 

The crowd of teachers really took in those words, and afterwards were all talking about the power of the students’ voices. I couldn’t help but think that, even as educators who work around children all the time, we sometimes forget that students have great insights into their own lives, as well as great ideas and a strong awareness of what they need, or even what the world needs.

I was recently invited to visit the Kindergartners, so they could share with me what they would do if they were the ES principal for a day. Most of their suggestions were about bringing fun and joy to the school with cake, costumes, tree houses and trampolines. One recommendation that I found especially touching though was to throw a party every time someone was sad. How caring! And then, in a Grade 5 classroom, a student reflected on the storyline of their book, saying that "If it is a kid problem, you should probably listen to the kids, because they might have ideas on how to solve it."

These moments were reminders that students have great wisdom and the best advice. And a reminder to us to keep listening.

At AAS, we strive to elevate students' voices, to empower students to be part of the decisions. It is done through our Student Councils, through the SALT team in High School, through surveys in which we ask students to describe their experience at school, and many other ways. We listen when students are part of our cafeteria food-tasting team, we listen when 6th graders talk about technology use at a parent coffee like this morning, we listen when students suggest their own consequences after making a poor decision, we listen when they tell us topics they want to learn more about. Having a voice not only increases student engagement in learning, it also builds trust. And it ensures that we build a school that responds to ALL voices. 

Making sure that decisions FOR students are made WITH students is key. We educators get more ideas, and the students get more chances to be successful. 

Everyone wants to feel heard. And we adults risk missing out on opportunities when we do not listen to the ideas of the children in our care.

Resources: 

• Why Listening to Students Carefully Matters in Education | NGLC
• ​​The Power of Listening: How amplifying student voice can boost engagement, attendance, & achievement
• Why Parents should Listen to Kids | Anyue Sun | TEDxYouth@Xujiahui