If you were a student in this school and had a magic wand that would allow you to change anything you wanted, what would you want to change to make the learning experience better?
Next year’s Student Council candidates have already been chosen and the elections will happen in the middle of May. I’ve been meeting with the candidates and asking them questions like the one above. I believe it’s important that our students begin thinking about how school can be a better place for them to learn, they should be advocating for themselves in this regard.
What I want to ask you to think about today is what you would do to change the learning experience if you were a student in this school. So, take off your teacher hat for a minute and put on your student hat. What is something that students at this school would want to change if they had a magic wand?
I’m sure you’ve thought of some obvious answers that, as teachers, we think are pretty crazy. “No homework!” or “No grades!” (Note: What would school look like if we got rid of both of these things??)
Put your student hat back on, and think about more things you’d (as the student) like to change about the learning experience, go beyond the knee-jerk reactions and think about this for a few minutes. From the students’ perspective, what could we be doing better to improve their learning experience? If you were sitting in your class, or your colleague’s class, what would you be thinking? Would you be fully engaged in learning? Would you be excited and eager to come to class?
If you were a student, what would you change?
Pushing Forward 