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Adam Fletcher
Joined: Sep 13, 2001
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[Poll] Listening to Students
Nov 11, 2003
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Hey! There is a growing movement out there to listen to students' ideas, concerns, experience and
knowledge in schools, in order to make schools better places. Following are some websites that are
doing just that! What do you think about them? (Unless otherwise stated, these are all in the
U.S.)
Rate My Teachers
http://www.ratemyteachers.com
Sound Out!
http://www.soundout.org
Our Education
http://www.our-education.org
What Kids Can Do
http://www.whatkidscando.org
Power to the Youth
http://www.youthpower.net
Project 540: Students Turn for a Change
http://www.project540.org
In the Mix: Student Power
http://www.pbs.org/inthemix/shows/show_school_reform_yia.html
WGBH 89.7 Student Voices 2002
http://www.eyeoneducation.tv/students/
You Rule School
http://www.youruleschool.com
Student Leadership and Service Team
http://www.k12.wa.us/integratedcurr/yes
Youth Speak Out on Education
http://www.listenup.org/education
New Horizons for Learning
http://www.newhorizons.org/voices/front_voices.html
National Research Network on Pupil Consultation (UK)
http://www.consultingpupils.co.uk
Student Engagement in Learning and School Life (Canada)
http://ed-lex.law.mcgill.ca/Pub-SE.htm
R.U.Mad!?! (Australia)
http://www.rumad.org.au
Should students have a "voice" in school change?
ALL THE TIME. There is no excuse for excluding students.
(9 votes for 69.23%)
SOMETIMES. There are some things students should not know about.
(3 votes for 23.08%)
MAYBE. It depends on the student, on their age, on their grades/marks/scores, and on their attitude.
(0 votes for 0%)
NEVER. Students are better seen and not heard.
(0 votes for 0%)
WHO CARES? I do not.
(1 votes for 7.69%)
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Larissa Cavalcante
Joined: Sep 23, 2003
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Re: Listening to Students
Nov 13, 2003
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wow, thanks for all the cool links! all of this is being very useful 
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Adam Fletcher
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More than listening: hearing, responding, acting upon and reflecting
Nov 16, 2003
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Schools can't just stop with listening to student voice. Schools have got to respond. That's the
challenge and that's the purpose. Otherwise educators are tokenizing student voice, at best. At
worse student voice is manipulated and manufactured, actually hurting students instead of
helping.
My own interest in this topic comes from a new website I've developed called "SoundOut!" The site
features examples, research, bibliographies, online discussion boards, and more tools to promote
students and adults working together to change schools. You can check it out at
http://www.soundout.org
We recently published a booklet called "Meaningful Student Involvement: Guide to Inclusive School
Change." It is designed to acquaint the reader with Meaningful Student Involvement, and includes
information on the strategy, assessment tools, and characteristics are explained, as well as what
school activities, organizational structures and participant roles look like when Meaningful Student
involvement is applied. Best practices from across the U.S. illustrate the actual application of the
strategy in diverse settings, and a comprehensive resource listing provides ample footing for
educators and students to advocate for and implement Meaningful Student Involvement in their
schools. You can view the booklet as a PDF at http://www.soundout.org/MSIGuide.pdf
So I'm pretty deeply invested in this, and I want to hear what you think. Please take a minute and
sound out, and let the folks here know that you want student voice to be heard throughout education.
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Simon Moss
Joined: May 7, 2002
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Re: Listening to Students
Nov 16, 2003
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Thx for all the great info Adam. I recommend the MSI guide, it's a great read and something that
your teachers would do well to use.
I was just at a Youth Participation conference (geek!), run by Plan Australia, and a lot of similar
stuff came up. If people are interested in hearing about it, check out Vibewire's online
discussions from the conference http://www.vibewire.net/forums/index.php?s=31b5fbdca5b92a58e44377a07eb2607c&showfor
um=5 (if that doesn't work, go to www.vibewire.net/forums)
Another good site worth looking at:
www.studentparliament.net/
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Adam Fletcher
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More student voice?
Nov 17, 2003
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At some point, this conversation could just saturate itself, simply because there are so many
websites that say they are "doing" student voice. Here's some more.
Magill School, a primary school in South Australia (under foci, go to "student voice" http://www.magillps.sa.edu.au/
Student Voices Project
http://student-voices.org/
"How Technology Can Change Learning - The Power of Student Voice"
http://www.iste.org/profdev/symposia/student/2003/topics-and-questions.cfm
Manitoba School Improvement Project (Canada)
http://www.sunvalley.ca/msip/10_studentvoice/10_voice.html
Pilot Program to Foster Student Engagement in School Life (Canada)
http://www.tgmag.ca/resbank/index_e.htm
The US Secretary of Education's High School Initiative on Student Engagement and Options
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/hsinit/options.html
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Joel Kang
Joined: Dec 5, 2003
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Re: Listening to Students
Dec 5, 2003
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Thanks for all the links!
I believe teachers, princials, superintendants etc. all percieve school as a place of
teaching(subconsiously or consiously). The truth is (the glorious truth) that school is a place of
learning. Not a place of teaching, even more not a place of studying. A place of learning. It's
about the students (however selfish that sounds) not the teachers.
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Cara
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Re: Listening to Students
Dec 27, 2003
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Don't take your education for granted.
There are less fortunate people who don't have access to education at all.
The school should be a place of teaching. The place of learning isn't limited to just schools, in
fact it is everywhere.
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