Caroline Welch

April 1, 2018

Teaching for Transformation II: Elementary Content

Planning for Action

As a teacher in Oklahoma, right now is both an extremely interesting and concerning

time for the state. Tomorrow, schools will be shutting down. Although this strike is supposed to

last one day, my school is considering shutting down indefinitely until the demands are met. Due

to this uncertainty, it is my job as an educator to support my teachers in becoming their own

advocates.

Upon reflecting on my experience in conducting the meetings with my students I have

identified some needs of my students during this time. Due to the uncertainty of the walkout

length, a major need of my students is access to education and resources. My students voiced that

they want to continue learning as they want to make it to second grade. After the April 2nd

walkout, my action step is to identify times during the potential days out of school to meet with

students at the public library. This fills the need for learning as I will be able to support the

students who may not have access to support at home. The action step of setting up time is

dependent on the length of the walkout. However, I plan on having 3-4 hours during each day of

the walkout where I will reserve a space at the library for students to come in and work. Through

addressing the gaps and needs of my students as identified through the meetings, I am helping

my students become their own advocates.

The meetings with my student were very effective. I believe the way I provided my

students with the opportunity to lead was the first time in their lives that their voices have been

validated by an adult. Fox, Bedford and Connelly (2013) discuss the importance of validating
student voice. During the initial needs assessment plan, I was worried about the ability of first

graders to engage and effectively lead. My students proved I was wrong through actively

engaging, asking questions, and support each other through this confusing time.

This process will change my teaching practice going forward as I plan on using my

students more as partners and leaders within the classroom. I find that I often take the role of

doing everything in the classroom but this process showed me I can work as the facilitator and

students can lead the way. I can utilize my students to lead social change (Fletcher & Vavrus,

2006). Specifically, I can support my students through the Cycle of Youth Voice. This cycle, as

outline by Fletcher and Vavrus (2006) shows the way we can “plan, evaluate, or challenge any

activity that seeks to engage young people in social change” (p. 4). Prior to this assessment, I

almost doubted whether or not my students would be engaged or interested in advocating for

social change. However, during the meetings I saw the way my students were invested as they

understood the impact the strike would have on their future. Moving forward, I plan on utilizing

the Cycle of Youth voice more directly through listening, validating, authorizing, acting, and

reflecting (Fletcher & Vavrus, 2006, p. 4) my student’s thoughts on change. One major change I

plan on implementing is the reflecting piece. Although I think I am effective in the first four

steps of the cycle, I often overlook the reflecting piece. Through utilizing this piece more, I

believe it will encourage my students to continue to actively work for change as advocates. I also

plan on promoting student-led social responsibilities by giving students more choice and voice

within the classroom. Specifically, I plan on helping students identify their own goals and not

telling them the goals. Through leading teachers through the process of identifying goals and

making plans to reach them (Mazzoni, 2012), I will be promoting the idea of student-led social

responsibility.
 I will be the first to admit giving up control is difficult for me. This module, however, has

presented ideas and resources that have made me realize the importance of giving up some

control and providing students with the opportunities to become their own advocates. Although I

know I advocate for my students and tell them that frequently, I am realizing how important it is

to help my students advocate for themselves. My highlights of this experience is that my students

were extremely engaged and interested in advocating for themselves. The lowlight was that my

students are genuinely concerned about the walkout and I worry if they will be able to continue

to advocate for themselves if we are out of school for an extended period of time. My new

aspiration for student-led advocacy is to work on giving my students more roles in the classroom

and opportunities to talk about social change within the school. Although I might face challenges

in regards to engagement and interested, I am hopeful that my students will continue to be

engaged and interested in advocating for themselves. I also will continue to work on giving up

some control and providing my students opportunities to talk, act and reflect as they become

their own advocates.

 References

Fletcher, A. & Vavrus, J. (2006). The guide to social change led by and with young

people. CommonAction. Retrieved from https://adamfletcher.net/wp-

content/uploads/2015/06/SocialChangeGuide.pdf.

Fox, K., Bedford, M., & Connelly, B. (2013). Student voice and resilience in learning. ASCD

Express, 8 (25). Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol8/825-fox.aspx.

Mazzoni, M. (2012, August 4). Teaching kids to plan and take action toward their personal

goals. Retrieved from http://lifeafterieps.com/teaching-kids-to-plan-take-action-toward-

their-personal-goals/.