student voice - Teaching On Ice

I'm worried; my tutor group, my Head of Department and the Head's PA are vaguely secretly planning my 'send-off'. They are a concerning concoction of people ... my tutor group have many strange ideas (such as miming getting out of cardboard boxes for fun), my Head of Department is 'imaginative' to say the least and the Head's PA is exceptionally efficient meaning that the whole thing will actually happen. Two months in an icy wasteland might well be the best place after whatever they come up with!

With departure imminent I've been wondering about the final thought
to leave Oxted's students with. My dilema was that my final thought on the expedition might be their first thought about it! However, that would appear to not be the case.

Tonight was Oxted's Open Evening with 1500 people through the door and in the region of 80 student guides doing an excellent job as tour guides. What was really pleasing, and suprising, was that nearly every one that came into Geography introduced me as "Mr Avery, who is about to go to Antarctica." Many of them even went on to talk about what I would be upto, how I was getting there, the wildlife etc. etc. It didn't matter whether or not they had been in my class, seen my assembly, come across me on Duke of Edinburgh or
written an article for local papers, they all knew about it.

It just goes to show that great stories do stick; those students tonight make the effort of fundraising and the danger of going worthwhile.

Programmes on Student Voice will reach the wrong audience when aired on Teacher's TV this week; they need to be on Channel 4, preferably after some ridiculous reality TV travesty.

I'm ready to hear, listen and act on student opinion, but they're not ready to give it. One of my classes unwittingly became an experiment for this blog today.

1. I asked them how their confidence levels were and what would improve them. I was rewarded with some umms, aahhs and nods.
2. I asked them to give me their opinions on a current issue. Silence.
3. Leaving 'student voice' behind I went after simply their voice and offered the chance to play 'Just a Minute' followed by a sing song. Still nothing.

My conclusion is that student-centered lessons are the best form of classroom management going! My students, in the main, don't have the skills or confidence to take advantage of a focus on them. As teachers we need to head for the start line, rather than starting this race for student-centered learning near the finish post.

Whilst in Antarctica we will be working to bring students' ideas to the fore by building in interactivity. Students will be able to email us questions, suggestions and comments while we're on the ice. And, right now, we're looking for simple experiments they want us to perform down South, with the results being posted online (if our spit freezes before it hits the floor is already on the list!). Post your questions or experiments below.