What The Voice is Showing All Educators about 21st Century Learning

I never realized why I tried out for The Voice during the pandemic.

Besides loving the dynamics of frenemies Blake Shelton and Adam Levine, my bias was stuck on it being another cheesy singing reality show. Don’t get me wrong, American Idol paved the way for massive music careers, which led X-Factor and America’s Got Talent to do the same, but none of those seemed authentic (remember that word).

Each of those reality auditions featured the likes of Simon Cowell looking for just that, “the look” or “total package” of some teenager or twenty-something pouring their soul into 30 seconds in hopes of 15 minutes of fame.

So what about The Voice can we learn as educators?

The Chair Turn.

It seems like a gimmick, a way to differentiate from what was already done in similar settings. It worked.

It had nothing to do with watching celebrity chairs turning and everything to do with “the why” (another familiar term).

“The Voice” is a lesson in going “below the waterline” to truly know someone in the room — in this case, the authenticity of their ability to sing. Gwen, Blake, Adam, Kelly, Pharrel — they don’t care what you look like, they don’t care how you dress, how tall/short, or what color your hair is. They want to know what’s on the inside, they want to know if you’ve got soul.

They can’t see the contestant unless they “hear” their voice, I mean truly hear it.

This is what we, as educators, need to be modeling…

In the classroom

In the building

In the community

Being intentional in hearing our students, and if you’re an administrator, being intentional in hearing your leadership teams, makes the difference in creating a “lifestyle” (culture) and “mood” (climate) where all stakeholders “want” to be as opposed to “have to” be.

I never got passed the second round to see if Adam and Blake would fight over me. But I was heard, a chair turned for me, not my looks, not my style, for me. Someone heard me for me by intentionally taking the time …. to listen to my words.

I had a voice in the room.

Educators, listen up. Yesterday’s traditional learning needs to be appreciated, but not replicated word for word. Students don’t learn that way anymore.

They expect more

They need more

They deserve more

If the pandemic gave us anything to celebrate, it’s the collective efforts of BOTH our teachers AND our students. Yes, there was a loss of learning, but we cannot applaud teachers’ efforts while selling a narrative that students didn’t achieve.

The “anthem of adolescence” has been branded by becoming “allies to adversity.” They too embraced change, adapted to virtual learning, blended learning and full capacity learning (which really meant 25% of the building in-person in most cases).

Let’s stop with ‘loss of learning” and start with “gain of gratitude.”

Make your students feel relevant

Make your students feel celebrated

Make your students feel heard

1st Impressions are the last ones, so flip the script on “Day 1” and “Week 1” this year. Rip up the syllabus, put your rules and non-negotiables handout back on your desktop and spend time building personal relationships with your students.

Make September “The Voice” Auditions in your classroom by hearing and seeing your students. The results will create an equitable learning environment that is culturally responsive and fair to all.

The Voice Audition: Back to School Edition

• Day 1: Have Each Student (for day 1 homework) fill out a brag sheet about themselves (hobbies, likes/dislikes, talents, “favorite” anything, etc.).
• Day 2: Without any names on the brag sheets, give each student one to take home as their project (other than their own). Ask students to create a Social handle (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat) for the student. * Have them pick an anthem that describes the student’s brag sheet.
• Day 3: The teacher will make a playlist of all songs selected.
• Day 4: The teacher will play each song (a snippet) and ask the class to guess whose audition song they think it is. The student who chose the song can explain why those lyrics resonated with them based on the brag sheet. Ask students to compliment the positive qualities mentioned, make connections to anything they ay have in common and why this student will be a positive influence ad contributor to the class.
• Students should have their desks facing off on each side of the room, but their desks turned around. As they hear something they relate to, like, have in common, have them “turn their chairs.”

Having other students speak positively about each other, creates an intentional celebration where students feel relevant, heard, understood and appreciated.

Finally, the student can claim the brag sheet as their own. As the teacher, lead the applause and model how to create an environment where students want to be as opposed to have to.