Sunday, September 18, 2011

Student Voice, Making Next Steps Visible.

Our team sat down last week to discuss the growth we had recently observed after collecting another round of student voice on video. We have been dialoguing and wondering ever since about how might we effectively provide individuals with feedback that would continue to 'Build their Learning Capacity' Chris suggested we have a go at videoing individuals watching themselves being questioned about what they do to be a successful learner. It was my task to to interview a few individuals to see what would happen. I was quite amazed at what then happened. I started with a 6 year old girl her sat and watched a 1 minute clip of herself describing what good learners do. She explained that they're determined and don't give up amongst other things, then she said they connect. I said what does it mean to connect? She paused and said I don't know. When she had finished watching herself on video I asked her what she thought she did well as a learner. She immediately said I didn't know what connect was and now I do! She proceeded to give me quite some explanation on what learners need to do to connect. She had been videoed probably 10 days prior, what struck me was she didn't need intervention to inform her last step, rather the opportunity to listen to herself and reflect on what might be her next learning. This has seriously got me thinking as to how we provide more opportunities for learners to get feedback from themselves by viewing where they were and where they have come from to inform what might be their next step.

1 comment:

Anna Kapnoullas said...

Hi Sarah,

That is really interesting! I've always thought about what would happen without intervention. For instance, in trying to encourage a student to read with more expression, could the best way be to simply video the child, play it back to them and then see what they improve upon next time after reflecting on that video? I think there would definitely be some improvement, as your post (I think) evidences.

My opinion is that in some instances it works, but in others the learner will need assistance, eg in maths where they hit a stumbling block and can't get over it without a boost from a teacher.

Thanks for the post,
Anna