Student Voice Survey - English 9 / World - 1900

After a survey about how we could make our class better, students decided we should get up and move around more.....and that we did! It seems like such a simple request, but it really has made a difference. Since our classes are 80 minute sessions and we were giving them that time to work with their groups to complete their projects, they felt confined to their tables even though they have the freedom to move around and go to the restroom when needed.
We wanted to make sure they knew we heard their voices and we sat down to think about how we could incorporate movement into our innovative lessons. We did this by creating "When Death Do They Part" descriptive writing and classical historical figures PBL.

Here are the movement activities we incorporated:

1. We began with an activity where they had to follow directions and it forced them to move around the room and perform tasks.

2. We had them read obituaries using stations. They switched tables after 10 minutes of reading either obituaries from a newspaper, a print out of several celebrity obituaries, or the New York Times online obituary page.
3. Their final product was a tombstone that memorialized a person from classical history. They built these from cardboard boxes and they were able to take them outside for painting. (We love technology, but sometimes the kids really like to be creative - yes, sometimes it is a mess and a headache, but it is worth it to have students be proud of their work.)

4. They will participate in a gallery walk for their peers on Monday which will also give them the ability to move.

Here are some examples of another survey from the first week....

We have learned that student voice is such a vital part of what we do here at NM. Our students are happy and are learning at the same time. The most important thing to know about student voice is that just giving a survey will not make an impact; it's what teachers do with the data from the surveys that make the difference.