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Student Advocacy Representatives
Table of Contents
Introduction
Why are Student Advocacy Representatives important?
Benefits of Having Student Advocacy Representatives
How have Student Advocacy Representatives helped the democratic classroom environment?
Student Advocacy Representative and Peer Reflections
Conclusion
Introduction
Student Advocacy Representatives
When I started at Bridges Public Charter School in December of 2019, I was thrown headfirst into the classroom to make up for almost two months of instruction without a lead teacher. One of the ways that I thought to help quickly build classroom culture was to assign student jobs. I also wanted to create a job that would allow two students per class to have a leadership role in an effort to ensure that student voices were being heard and valued, especially with a new teacher coming in and taking over. Thus, I created the role of Student Advocacy Representative- a role that would encourage students to listen to and trust that person. The Representative would have the responsibility to listen to their classmates and advocate for anyone who may not feel comfortable bringing issues or injustices to the new teachers yet.
The Student Advocacy Representatives needed to be students that the rest of the class trusted to ensure that they would listen to their issues, especially if students were not comfortable bringing an issue to the new teacher or new teacher's assistant. The job of Student Advocacy Representative, like the other classroom jobs, had to be interviewed for to get. Students has to fill out an application and describe why they thought they would be a good fit for the position.
Student Advocacy Representatives are students in both of my fourth grade classrooms (the Celtics and the Wildcats) that work with their classmates and bring concerns forward to the adults in the classroom. The representatives are leaders in the class who are able to get along with their classmates, and who their classmates are comfortable being around. For each class, there is one boy representative and one girl representative, and they work together to empower their classmates, listen to their thoughts, and advocate for their classroom and school communities.
The Student Advocacy Representatives meet with teachers to discuss issues that arise in the classroom that teachers and other adults might not be aware of. Students have been taught that their voices and actions have value, and the Student Advocacy Representatives are leaders and models for advocacy in the classroom. There have been multiple instances where some students are not yet comfortable to bring an issue to an adult, but they were able to communicate with their representative and the representative brought it to a teacher. Especially with having a new lead teacher and a new teacher's assistant (myself and my TA), we found this to be especially useful for students who are still not fully comfortable around us yet.
Why are Student Advocacy Representatives Important?
Why is it important to teach students about advocacy?
Student Advocacy Representatives are important for a number of reasons, and since their creation in the fourth grade classrooms, disagreements between students and concerns about assignments or instruction have fallen. Bridges Public Charter School is an overstaffed general education school that fully accommodates students with disabilities or students with emotional disturbance. The representatives are fully aware of this based on their educational experience at the school, and have taken it upon themselves to connect with students that may need additional emotional support. This has been seen when a student is upset and does not want to speak to an adult, but can confide in their representative, who will relay the information back to an adult if needed.
Other ways in which representatives are able to work with their classmates include when students believe an injustice has occurred, whether it be teacher-directed or student-directed. Representatives get with groups of students to discuss choices about recess privileges, lunch norms, and dismissal procedures when they agree or disagree with a consequence or decision. In doing so, students are learning democratic classroom values and how to work with specific people to represent their issues. Students can approach their representative with a concern or comment, similarly to representatives at the state or federal level. Students are gaining important collaborative and communicative skills during this time, which will continue to be helpful throughout their lives.
Benefits of Having Student Advocacy Representatives
How are students benefitting from having Student Advocacy Representatives?
Student Advocacy Representatives, with this being the first semester they have existed in this classroom, have taken on multiple responsibilities. Student moral has improved and the representatives are looked to as leaders in the classroom.
In the Celtics classroom, the representatives are more likely to be engaged in discussion with students individually, or to be working with students who need additional emotional support after a classroom decision is made (especially an unpopular one). The representatives also engage with their peers when they are being too loud, encourage positive behaviors with reminders and statements, and encourage their peers to use appropriate language with each other.
In the Wildcats classroom, the representatives are more likely to be taking notes or writing down questions and comments that students have. On average, I spend less time with the Wildcats, so it is important for their ideas, thoughts, and concerns to be heard and addressed later if we were unable to discuss them within the time frame. The Wildcats' Student Advocacy Representatives also engage with their peers for emotional support and gentle reminders for behavior.
How have Student Advocacy Representatives helped the democratic classroom environment?
How is this helping students learn about advocacy?
The idea of using Student Advocacy Representatives to help students learn about democracy and advocacy has been a successful one. Students are learning about how representatives and representation in their interests can help make changes in their communities. Learning about Congress and how Washington, D.C. does not have a voting representative helped to solidify this in student's minds.
Overall, the classroom environment is more diplomatic, students are working better together in small groups and whole group, engaging in conversation in meaningful ways, and collaborating to master content. Student Advocacy Representatives have helped to facilitate these changes in classroom behavior, and their peers have welcomed their leadership due to the Student Advocacy Representatives sharing their similar interests. This is continuing to help teach students that representative matters, and hopefully students will one day recognize how beneficial the democratic learning environment was to their education.
Student Advocacy Representative and Peers Reflections
How do the Student Representatives and their peers feel?
Student Advocacy Representatives and their peers are generally happy with the system of advocacy that has been set up in the classroom. The Student Advocacy Representatives are happy with their jobs and have spent time reflecting on how they felt about helping students for those months in the classroom. Due to COVID-19, all classroom jobs were cut short.
Click the play button below to listen to one of the Student Advocacy Representatives discuss how she felt about her job in the classroom.
Conclusion
How will Student Advocacy Representatives continue to help students and their classroom?
It is my hope that the role of Student Advocacy Representative will be one that carries on my classroom for years to come. I have seen firsthand the incredible impact it has had on classroom morale and with students who are too shy to voice their concerns or opinions to teachers.
For my current Student Advocates, I hope that they have learned the incredible power of advocacy and how they can use their voice to advocate for their peers, friends, and community. My students know that their voices and actions have value, and it is my hope that they will continue developing these advocacy skills in their classrooms to come. I believe that the connections students developed throughout this time will continue on throughout the years, and that the Student Advocacy Representatives and all of my students will remember the importance of advocating for all, and continue to use their own voices to advocate for themselves and others.
Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, the Student Advocacy Representatives will not be returning with their classmates to my fourth grade classroom. I will continue to remind students of the importance of advocacy and communication throughout the rest of the school year through our distance learning platform.
