Meet a teacher who is taking #StudentVoice to the next level

Student feedback at the center of Chad Lehrmann’s classroom

The ‘Coffeehouse’ classroom is one I wish I had as a high school student. Chad Lehrmann, [Psychology, Sociology, Communication Applications & Debate] teacher at College Station High School has created a unique learning atmosphere where students can openly share their opinions in “Coffee Talk” sessions, lead debates and engage in important conversations all in a dimly lit, cozy classroom with comfortable seating.

I stumbled upon this blog post while doing a regular Twitter search for “feedback from students” and was so impressed by how Chad had embraced student voice in his classroom that I had to email him. Lucky for me, he was willing to share more about his experience this year trying out some new things and offered to share his blogs here in Insights. I’m happy to announce that he will be joining us as a contributing writer to share how showing his students their voices matter has transformed his classroom and teaching style.

First, I’d like to share with you some questions I asked him last week to give a bit more context to what he has been up to.

Tell me a bit about your motivation behind focusing on student voice so much this year.

I can start by saying the focus on student voice came by accident. I got a new room, but it was on the zero level and had no windows — it was a box. I decided to make a coffee house classroom in design — flexible seating, lamps for light instead of florescent lights, coffee scents. As I was planning, my aversion to bell work made me think that one reason people go to coffee houses is to talk about big ideas — or small ones. I wondered if I could make the normal bell work time in class a student led discussion where I simply monitored and recorded student engagement during the time. The students responded quickly, and it became the staple of the class. I had some administrators from our district office observe, and they shared the video “I’m 17” from the blog I shared with you, and that solidified my focus. It has also developed over the year as I have seen how much of a difference it makes not just in engagement with content, but engagement between students.

What have traditionally been your school’s strategies for getting feedback from students? (If any — from my experience it was usually an end-of-term evaluation, for example.) How would you compare how students and teachers view those as opposed to what you’ve been doing and do you think there may be some changes taking into account student voice?

It is pretty much the end-of-course evals, if anything. My first experience with evals other than the forms was after a particularly bad test, I asked the students in class what I could do better. That has become a common thing I do. We have been doing peer coaching between teachers where we video classes and / or sit in and then evaluate in a post conference. The problem with not evaluating until the end of the year is the lack of benefit for the current students. My students not only share what their thoughts are freely, they are more willing to take ownership of their own learning. Honestly, at this point, there is no conscious questioning from me about what I need to do better or what I do well, the students know that their feedback is expected.

What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned from your students this year?

The importance of lighting and environment on encouraging conversation. One student said they talk in my class because of the flexible seating and lighting — the lighting in particular provides some cover for students who get embarrassed when talking in front of others. I have actually spoken with an admin that is overseeing a new school being built and suggested that adjustable lighting would be a great investment. I also feel seating that is not in rows encourages conversation and collaboration because students can see their peers’ eyes — it makes conversation easier. Students have consistently talked about how the environment and voice components have made the class become a community, and that helps their learning.

What’s the biggest change you’ve made based on what you’ve heard from your students?

Adjusting the arrangement of the room and the lighting to make movement and flow better, along with taking into consideration how to control student contributions so a small number do not dominate the conversation. It seems small, but really the whole redesign and culture shift of voice sprung from seeing that students want to be heard. At this point, the changes are small because the initial shift answered many of their concerns.

While we are working on how to use surveys to bring students’ point of view into the equation at Edurio, we know that the biggest step anyone can make in incorporating student voice is a shift in mindset. And what Chad has achieved in his classroom this year serves as an excellent example.

So stay tuned for some more posts about #StudentVoice from Chad A. Lehrmann.

You can also follow him on Twitter @DidacticChad.