Each Student Has a Voice and Should Have a Choice
Approaching this exploration, I had many ideas and hypotheses of my own to test in the classroom. Despite my desire to jump directly into the investigation, research discussing the importance of student voice in educational spaces caused me to pause and allow for student insight. This inquiry was built on my own curiosities; however, without the foundation that was the students involved, the implications on my practice would be futile. Brasof speaks about the importance of student input within classrooms: “Research in schools across the country indicates that student voice is a possible new source of information and diverse perspectives that can positively change the school’s operating norms and assumptions” (p. 21). Initially, I had a list of seating arrangements that I wanted to test with my students, but these would not be incorporated organically into my classroom without the consent of the students. This incorporation of student voice manifested largely through student surveys around their preferences and willingness to explore somewhat unknown seating arrangements in the math classroom. By initially surveying students for the types of arrangements they felt would function best for their learning, I made more informed decisions of which designs promoted a positive learning space.
Student voice played a large role in the buy-in of my students to participate in this experiment of unconventional seating. Another way I found my students felt truly heard over the course of my inquiry was through a reflection process. Lew and Schmidt discuss the importance of reflection by students as a “to enable students to critically review processes of their own learning and behaviours, and to understand their ability to transform their own learning strategies (Gleaves et al. 2008)” (p. 531). The self-evaluations of their performance during each unit would not only provide me with rich data to support, or disprove, the research of a particular classroom design, but it provided students with an opportunity to reflect on their participation when seated by a specific classmate or in a certain location. These reflections, accompanied by my personal data collection of participation and student interactions, helped me to evaluate the effectiveness of each chosen arrangement in our collaborative environment. Without the insight of my students, I could not have deeply understood the impact, or lack thereof, a seating arrangement had on each individual.
Student voice played a large role in the buy-in of my students to participate in this experiment of unconventional seating. Another way I found my students felt truly heard over the course of my inquiry was through a reflection process. Lew and Schmidt discuss the importance of reflection by students as a “to enable students to critically review processes of their own learning and behaviours, and to understand their ability to transform their own learning strategies (Gleaves et al. 2008)” (p. 531). The self-evaluations of their performance during each unit would not only provide me with rich data to support, or disprove, the research of a particular classroom design, but it provided students with an opportunity to reflect on their participation when seated by a specific classmate or in a certain location. These reflections, accompanied by my personal data collection of participation and student interactions, helped me to evaluate the effectiveness of each chosen arrangement in our collaborative environment. Without the insight of my students, I could not have deeply understood the impact, or lack thereof, a seating arrangement had on each individual.