George Lucas Educational Foundation
Edutopia

Student Voice

Discover how students' input and expertise can help shape their classroom, their school, and ultimately their own learning and growth.

  • A Way to Promote Student Voice—Literally

    A second-grade teacher who knew her students had something to say to the world gave them the tools they needed to create a podcast.
    Paula Díaz

  • Get Creative With Lab Report Alternatives

    Students need to learn to write a formal lab report, but there’s room in science classes for them to show their learning in other ways as well.
    Shawn Sutton

  • Civics Education and Student-Driven Civic Action

    When high school students identify problems in their communities, teachers can empower them to work for change.
    Karen Lee

  • Bringing Student Choice to Assessment in Science Classes

    What happens when students can opt to skip tests and instead give oral presentations or create art to show what they know?
    John Dorroh

  • 60-Second Strategy: Participation Cards

    A quick formative assessment tool also encourages all students—even shy ones—to participate in discussions.

  • Social Contracts Foster Community in the Classroom

    When students and teachers collaborate to create shared behavior expectations, the whole class is invested in the norms.

  • Developing Agency With Student-Led Conferences

    When students lead meetings with their parents and teachers, they gain a voice in their education and develop skills like goal-setting and metacognition.

  • Morning Meetings: Building Community in the Classroom

    Starting the day with this 15-minute activity helps students regulate their emotions and focus on the day’s learning.

  • 6 Opening and Closing Routines for New Teachers

    Check for understanding, manage your students, and build classroom community with these six opening and closing classroom routines.
    Rebecca Alber

  • Using Learning Stations to Kick Off the Year

    An engaging way for students to get to know each other, review the syllabus, and decide on classroom agreements.
    Angelina Murphy

  • Teaching Students to Give Peer Feedback

    Giving their classmates feedback on writing is a complex skill for students to master, but it can be taught with scaffolded modeling.
    Mark Gardner

  • Creating a Classroom Culture of Shared Ownership

    Getting buy-in from students at the outset encourages them to engage more deeply in their learning.
    Miriam Plotinsky

  • When Middle School Students Think Like Historians

    Students can learn about implicit bias by investigating the cultural assumptions underlying their history textbooks.
    Carl Cooper

  • Sparking Curiosity With Self-Directed Learning

    Teacher-designed stations linked to core skills prompt students to learn while exploring their interests.

  • Justice Committee: Using Restorative Practices to Resolve Conflicts

    Students at Pittsfield Middle High School are trained to mediate conflicts between their fellow students—and between students and teachers.