Portico
Portico
A white female teacher listens to a white female high school student, both are smiling and engaged.

Conduct a Student Experience Story Guide With Your Students: Learn What Students Want from Their School Experience

Inflexion May 31, 2021
0 Comments

 

My favorite day of school was when it was my birthday because everybody said hello to me, and I wish that happened every day.

– Seattle Area Student

INTRO

The below activity provides a space for students to share their stories without interruption and preconceived notions of what teachers are “looking for.” There are no right or wrong answers.

  • What adults focus on when attempting to make a better school experience is often not the same as what students say they want and need.
  • This is NOT an assignment for kids. This is an assignment for adults to hear and listen to student stories.

OBJECTIVES

  • Learn what students are wanting from their school experience

  • Provide a platform for student voice

  • Create space for students to authentically share their stories

RESOURCE LINKS

This activity is intended to be driven by students with the assistance of an adult facilitator.

Gather a group of diverse students – including students who may not have great experiences in school (from the adult perspective), and those who do.

Begin asking the students this prompt: “Tell me about your best experience in school.”

Ask the students to take their best experiences and organize them around themes. In the example (attached in the resource section above) the words “happy” and “proud” consistently appeared.

Have the students create a framework prototype from the keywords that emerged in step 3. Refrain from guiding the students through this process. Part of the magic is allowing them to come up with a framework that is personal to them.

Younger children may want to use images, and bring art into the project. (A lot of words isn’t necessary.)

Older students may look for the “right answer,” so remind them there isn’t one.

Consider avoiding using the term “framework” if it doesn’t fit the students’ experience. The point of the project is for students to be the experts of their own experience.

Share the experience with your fellow educators with these questions in mind:

1. What does it mean to put students at the center?

2. What’s the connection between student experience and school outcomes?

3. What does student experience say about equity?

4. If we’re not asking students about their experiences and giving them a greater role in shaping their experiences, how will we know if the work we do is making a meaningful difference?

5. How often do we ask our students about their day – if they are happy and proud?

Categories: Student Activities
Tags:

Related Articles

Case Study: Merced Union High School District

Through its work with Inflexion, MUHSD is seeing strong results in student outcomes and in closing the opportunity gap for underserved students. California School Dashboard data show College/Career Indicator scores for African American, Hispanic, English Learners, students with disabilities, students who are homeless, and students who are socioeconomically disadvantaged are 16 to 29 points higher than the state average.

Inflexion June 9, 2020
0 Comments

Passion. Pride. Promise. Two Leaders Help Pave the Way for Their Students & Communities

Tucked away in the hills of rural western Oregon, the Vernonia and Gaston school districts defy many of the stereotypes most of us hold when we think of rural schools. Their communities face both common and unique challenges. Vernonia Elementary Principal, Michelle Eagleson, and Gaston Superintendent, Summer Catino, share how their small schools and communities achieve greatness.

Vanessa Brazil October 25, 2022
0 Comments

Student Cell Phone Policy: Best Practices for Student Success

As principal of Milwaukie High School, Carmen Gelman (now Director of Professional Development, Coalition of Oregon School Administrators, COSA) worked with the school community (including students) to ensure a firm but balanced approach to student cell phone use. We share their policy and rollout materials to inspire and guide you as you consider tackling this oft contentious topic.

Inflexion May 4, 2023
0 Comments
Black female teacher listening to a diverse group of high school students as they sit in a circle and share ideas.

Conduct Empathy Interviews: Elevating Student Voices, So You Can Understand and Support Them

Empathy Interviews provide an opportunity to really understand a student, or group of students, by diving deeper than the surface-level question, “How are you?” and receiving the typical response, “I’m fine.” These interviews inform intentional classroom and school-level action by elevating student voices and garnering a better understanding of student needs (SEL and well-being), and experiences (engagement). This resource provides step-by-step instructions on how to conduct an empathy interview.

Inflexion March 21, 2021
0 Comments
Diverse group of smiling high school students sitting in front of a row of computers.

Portico Student Experience Survey: Measuring Belonging, Connection, Engagement

Let’s move away from an environment where kids are sorted, packaged, and labeled based on the perceptions of adults that barely knew them. Readiness and success should be defined by students’ engagement, adaptability, and what they can do with their knowledge. However, students need to feel a sense of belonging, connection, and engagement as well as demonstrate self-awareness, self-management, and well-being to achieve true readiness and success. This survey process is an important step in that direction.

Inflexion February 21, 2023
0 Comments

Responses

Report

Harassment or bullying behavior
Contains mature or sensitive content
Contains misleading or false information
Contains abusive or derogatory content
Contains spam, fake content or potential malware

Block Member?

Please confirm you want to block this member.

You will no longer be able to:

  • See blocked member's posts
  • Mention this member in posts
  • Invite this member to groups
  • Message this member
  • Add this member as a connection

Please note: This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete.

Report

You have already reported this .