Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989) articulates every child’s right to have their voice heard in matters that affect them. Yet acceptance of this right is sometimes slow and there are barriers to effective implementation. This vitally important book aims to accelerate acceptance of this right by bridging the gap between theory and practice, empowering adults to act as advocates and facilitators of children using their voices within our homes, schools, and wider communities. Divided into thirteen chapters, Listen invites readers to connect the concept of ‘child and student voice’ meaningfully with the development of all children’s physical voices and modes of communication. Topics explored include, but are not limited to: Current research on student voice, including an examination of public speaking within primary schools Advocating for a school-wide focus on supporting student voice Best practice and pedagogical approaches to facilitating public speaking in the classroom The benefits and drawbacks of debate, including how to use it appropriately and assessing when to employ other techniques Creating a supportive learning environment where students may overcome their anxieties about public speaking. An essential read for parents, teachers, teaching assistants and senior leaders, Listen proposes a pedagogical approach to supporting student voice that is backed by current research yet firmly rooted in practical application.

Meaningful school reform starts with your most powerful partner—your students! When you take time to listen, you’ll find that students’ aspirations can drive your school toward exciting new goals—and when students know they’re being heard, they engage meaningfully in their own academic success. Using examples drawn from student surveys, focus groups, observations, and interviews, this groundbreaking book presents a blueprint for a successful partnership between educators and students. You’ll discover how to: Ask the right questions—and understand how to build from the answers Engage students in decision-making and improvement-related processes Implement the Aspirations Framework to guide students toward their full potential

Based on over 1000 nationwide student surveys, these 10 deep engagement strategies help you implement achievement-based cooperative learning. Includes video and a survey sample.

This book aims to accelerate acceptance of every child's right to have their voice heard, by bridging the gap between theory and practice, empowering adults to act as advocates and facilitators of children using their voices within our homes, schools, and wider communities.

Half the students in U.S. schools are experiencing or have experienced trauma, violence, or chronic stress. Much has been written about these students from a therapeutic perspective, especially regarding how to provide them with adequate counseling supports and services. Conversely, little has been written about teaching this population and doing so from a strengths-based perspective. Using real-world examples as well as research-based principles, this book shows how to * Identify inherent assets that students bring to the classroom. * Connect to students’ experiences through instructional planning and delivery. * Foster students’ strengths through the use of predictable routines and structured paired and small-group learning experiences. * Develop family and community partnerships. Experts Debbie Zacarian, Lourdes Alvarez-Ortiz, and Judie Haynes outline a comprehensive, collaborative approach to teaching that focuses on students’ strengths and resiliency. Teaching to Strengths encourages educators to embrace teaching and schoolwide practices that support and enhance the academic and socio-emotional development of students living with trauma, violence, and chronic stress.

We say, "Student voice matters," but are we really listening? This book will inspire you to find out what your students really think, feel, and need. You'll learn how to listen to and use student feedback to improve your school's culture. All you have to do is ask-and then Let Them Speak.

This open access book is the first of a two-volume series focusing on how people are being enabled or constrained to live well in today’s world, and how to bring into reality a world worth living in for all. The chapters offer unique narratives drawing on the perspectives of diverse groups such as: asylum-seeking and refugee youth in Australia, Finland, Norway and Scotland; young climate activists in Finland; Australian Aboriginal students, parents and community members; families of children who tube feed in Australia; and international research students in Sweden. The chapters reveal not just that different groups have different ideas about a world worth living in, but also show that, through their collaborative research initiative, the authors and their research participants were bringing worlds like these into being. The volume extends an invitation to readers and researchers in education and the social sciences to consider ways to foster education that realises transformed selves and transformed worlds: the good for each person, the good for humankind, and the good for the community of life on the planet. The book also includes theoretical chapters providing the background and rationale behind the notion of education as initiating people into ‘living well in a world worth living in'. An introductory chapter discusses the origins of the concept and the phrase.