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The one word that really stood out to me from the TED Talk (huge Ken Robinson fan btw!) is "curiosity". Allowing students to be curious, and follow their curiosity down the path, creates engagement in the classroom. Combine curiosity with student voice and I think you have a very powerful combination. Giving students voice and choice is very empowering!

I am not a regular classroom teacher - but I think that this applies equally to work environments, too. If you are simply told at work by your boss what to do and how to do it, the task is not very interesting, and you don't have any sense of ownership in the deliverable. However, if you are asked your opinion on what to do about an issue, or invited to a meeting to discuss options and approaches, and then assigned the work - or perhaps you volunteered for it - you suddenly feel ownership and commitment over the work. Making work and education meaningful and engaging has huge benefits, to students and employees alike!

~Allison

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This is a really interesting question. For the past four years I have been the primary developer and Program Manager for the adult education portion of a non-profit multi-generational literacy program based in Dallas, TX. As you can probably guess, the bulk of our students come from Central and South America, where the education systems are very different. Many of our students have not completed a middle-school level in their home country due to a variety of socio-economic and cultural factors too deeply routed to discuss here. Those in our High School Equivalency program may have grown up in the U.S. but generally struggled in poorly funded and poorly run public schools which rely heavily on reductionist and behaviorist instructional methodology and standardized common-core curriculum. As such, our students have little exposure to student-led, active, inquiry based learning in the  constructivist model and often lack the skills or confidence to learn in this mode. As a result, despite some effort on my part to engender our student body with a "student voice" and train our volunteer instructors in constructivist and communicative methodology whenever possible, classrooms tend to slide back into the teacher-led mode that both the students and inexperienced volunteer instructors are used to.

To combat that, this spring we are rolling out an experimental "Adult Spring Learning Camp" where students will participate in thematic learning which features weekly projects based on student interest. Students were asked to contribute ideas for the learning camp and all projects will be entirely student dictated, with a hand picked set of instructors acting as facilitators for the learning. Our hppe is to flip the classroom and invert the embedded instructional model to enhance school culture and invite a more participatory style of learning. I am excited about the possibilities but also realize that it will take some time and effort from myself and instructors, particularly at the lower levels of English, to empower students to guide their own learning.
- Brendan Alexander

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A good friend of mine opened a private school in Ottawa last year, called Revel Academy. Their curriculum is project-based, where the students complete quests based on authentic, real-world problems. The themes are set - so students don't get to choose these - but there is alot of opportunity for self-direction in the work that they do during a quest. Last semester, I shadowed their architecture quest for a class project I did - with Lexi! It was a great opportunity to see this model in action. The guide (their title for 'teacher') needed to be flexible and highly skilled at facilitating and probing, without turning into the director and providing answers! It was great to watch inquisitive students at work!

~Allison

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In my cafe a couple of weeks back I explored Renzulli's Schoowide Enrichment Model (SEM) and we took a deeper dive into the use of enrichment clusters as a tool that would allow students to explore a topic that they are interested in with others who share that interest. These clusters are typically hosted outside of the classroom, bringing together students from different grades. Students work together on a project for several weeks, allowing them an opportunity to learn about the subject in a more in-depth manner. I feel this is similar to Genius Hour, expect that it is outside of the classroom and across grades. I think it would be interesting to see enrichment clusters in action!

~Allison

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21st century pedagogy is moving away from 'sage-on-stage' towards 'guide-on-side', complementing perception of knowledge as construction. Since learning involves making personal connections, while knowledge can be introduced, it cannot be transmitted passively. Designing activities that empower student voice, create opportunities to verbalize interests and curiosities amidst prescribed outcomes to share in classroom decisions. While not always catering to every student whim, such interactions are leveraged where both teacher and student co-construct knowledge, building up school culture focused on learning more than just management.

Andrew

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I believe that there is a fine line between allowing students too much control, versus having the class being directed and on track. If we allow students the chance to direct the lesson by formulating lesson plans, as discussed in Laux (2018), the teacher risks the chance of the class going off track, and progress being slowed down. I don't believe it should be a student responsibility to plan their own lessons as well, as they should focus on their learning.

With that being said, I do believe that students are more motivated, if given the chance to do so in a controlled environment where the teacher is ready to take over if things fall off track.

Katie Laux (2018) A theoretical understanding of the literature on student voice in the science classroom, Research in Science & Technological Education, 36:1, 111-129, DOI: 10.1080/02635143.2017.1353963

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I think that including periodic surveys in the class to solicit student feedback at various points in the school year could be an excellent way of gauging student interest and allowing them to have a voice in how they feel about the classroom environment, and how the class is progressing.

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There is no denying that empowering students to be active, vocal, and self-guided learners will have a positive correlation to school culture. Among others, this has been expressed by Laux (2018) and demonstrated by Fiddyment (2014) in her tangential study of student-led enrichment clusters. The question, then, isn't "Does increasing student voice in the classroom benefit school/classroom culture as a whole?" but "How does school/class culture contribute to the empowerment of student voice?" To me this is a much more important discussion because it gets to the root of the problem, which is not individual in nature but institutional. Andrew correctly points out that there is a shift in education from reductionist teaching to constructivist methods. While my experiences in educational study prove this to be true, the reality is many institutions have yet to fully embrace this transition. For public education the stated need for instructor control for purposes of class management and  the standardization of curriculum and outcomes measurement remains strong. Until mainstream education (pardon the hyperbole) breaks free of the shackles of strategic control and competitive assessment standards, we will have to rely on forward-thinking schools and a small contingent of "lone ranger" educational leaders to affect an industry-wide culture change that will lead to increased student voice in learning.

- Brendan Alexander

Fiddyment, G. E. (2014). Implementing enrichment clusters in elementary schools: Lessons learned. Gifted Child Quarterly, 58(4), 287-296.

Laux, K. (20
18). A theoretical understanding of the literature on student voice in the science classroom. Research in Science & Technological Education, 36(1), 111-129.