"Praxis Question"- How to develop Self-Advocates?

[Michael Wilkinson]

Many successful students have had somebody who advocated for them at some point throughout their life, whether it be their parents, grandparents, teachers, etc. What I am curious about is how to develop individuals to be self-advocates after they leave high school and enter college and 'the real world.' The thought occurred to me that we can use formative assessments that require students to seek out help from teachers and in turn develop those advocacy skills, but what else? I would like to think that in some small way I can equip students for life beyond my classroom.

[Thomas Daccord]

Along with self-advocacy we need to develop empathy and collaboration. In our fast-shrinking, globalized world the ability to understand and work with others around the world is critical to being an effective 21st century citizen. I'd suggest assignments that prompt students to work in team-oriented activities with students (and adults) in other districts, states, and countries.

[Brian Roth]

Michael, could you give me an example of how "formative assessment could require students to seek out help from teachers and in turn develop advocacy skills." I am wondering what this might look like in practice.

[David]

Michael, great question. I agree that self-advocacy is an important skill or maybe a virtue for kids to develop. There are certainly many teachable moments that come up when a student doesn't self-advocate. For example, when a teacher writes, "See Me" on a test and the student never comes in, or when a student waits too long to start a paper and doesn't talk to the teacher about the fact that he had three tests to study for on the day the paper was due for your class. I think it's important for us to find ways to get the message to students that they need to be self-advocates but also provide some scaffolding for them to do so at the same time. So, instead of writing "See Me" and then leaving it there, the teacher could approach the student at lunch and remind him that they need to schedule some time. Or to be clear at the beginning of the year that you invite students to come in and discuss any problems they might be having with completing an assignment on time, and explaining to the class what kinds of situations might warrant an extension. If we can reach out in an age-appropriate way, and students reap the rewards of advocating, then they might be more likely to repeat those behaviors in college and in life. They should know that teachers are generally looking to help them and be accommodating within reason. But it is also a big step for some students to take entirely on their own. Some prompting and prodding along the way might facilitate the process.

[Michael Wilkinson]

It is not something I have hammered down, thats for sure Brian. Additionally, I think a better word for what I am talking about might be self-efficacy. After googling "self-advocacy," I was directed to a wikipedia page that "refers to the civil rights movement for people with developmental disabilities." Whoops. Self-efficacy is defined there as " the belief that one is capable of performing in a certain manner to attain certain goals." I think this definition might suit me better. So, I think there might be a few ways we could implement this.

-On Exams: if students believe two answers are equally right, give them the option of explaining why both are right. In addition, you could hand them back the exam, and if they believe they unjustly got the answer wrong, or read something different in a text, they can "appeal" to you to improve their grade.

-I believe that writing assignments can be effectively structured to provide for a lot of feedback and many opportunities for students to come in and talk to the teacher outside of class time. I think that visiting a teacher after or before school creates a habit of reaching out and working to improve your grades. I think this takes a lot of pushing and prodding, and I dont necessarily believe thats a bad thing? Since I would be trying to get them in the habit of asking for help when they dont understand something, I first need them to come to me after school, and once they see how helpful it is, they may be convinced to do it in the future.

So, it was just a thought I had. I still was looking for suggestions.

And Thomas, I fully agree with you on the empathy and collaboration. I am thinking about how to include those in my classroom as well, and definitely keeping an eye on skills students may need in the 21st century.

[Rose M Ruback]

I agree that learning how to advocate for yourself is an incredibly important skill, especially as students enter college and, as you say, "The Real World." I wonder, however, if practically, having all of your students coming in to talk to you about feedback constantly might be a large burden on the teacher.

Self assessments would be a good place to start in order to encourage students to advocate for themselves, I think. If students had the time to really reflect on the work they did and the grade they deserve for doing it, they would then be able to, as you say, come in and advocate for their own grades more. In a really progressive setting, you could have the students evaluating their own work and then trying to convince the teacher to give them the grade they think they deserve. This could be done in an oral or written mode. If you were going to start something like this, I might begin by trying it on smaller assignments and see how it goes. The idea of teaching students how to advocate for themselves be tough, but completely worthwhile if you could do it!

[Nicholas Woo]

I think one fundamental step towards self-efficacy is confidence. Students need to be confident in themselves and believe that their values, thoughts, experiences, and skills are appreciated and valued by others. This can be done by making students into "experts" in the classroom. Freire is concerned about breaking down the hierarchy between students and teachers and while I have some concerns about how this can be done entirely, I have seen this happen in my class with Professor Duckworth. We are given a particular task/ problem and we try to figure out how to solve it without any direction/ suggestions from the professor. This allows students to explore the subject by themselves and in groups while feeling that there is no single "right answer." This methodology works towards valuing student-created knowledge and, as a result, increase student efficacy because they will feel that they have something to advocate for. Why would a student go to a teacher if all the teacher says is that she/he is wrong? This is also tied to our discussions about giving students opportunities to succeed.

[Susan Yao]

You know, the self-advocacy that Dave and Michael defined (e.g. coming to the teacher after a test) is something that I didn't learn/gain until college. I would never have asked for an extension under any circumstances, nor did I want to seek out the teacher outside of class. My change in attitude had largely to do with the privilege that came with attending Harvard: Of course things can go my way if I make a case for it, because I feel empowered to do so. Of course I could at least ask the professor to proofread an essay draft, even if that were not explicitly stated. (This can also become a sense of entitlement in the extreme.)

Pre-college, more privileged students may already be benefiting from "self-advocacy" in the classroom...The question is to expand this sense of empowerment (or entitlement) to all students. Why does privilege allow students to be more proactive, and how do you encourage that when it's not a "natural" attitude?

[William Johnston]

Susan, your post reminds me of a policy that some colleagues of mine used at a high school of having set "office hours" in which students were encouraged (and in some cases expected) to come by. These office hours could be strictly content based, or this could be opened up as an opportunity for students to get feedback or advice on anything school related while having the teacher's full attention. At times there would be rewards and/or points attached for this, but the goal was to get students in the habit of doing this and then eventually wean them off of the extrinsic motivators.

From a teacher's perspective these office hours were nice in that it put some definition when they were to be accessible to students, and students appreciated knowing that it was a 100% guarantee that the teacher would be available at that time.

[Nicole Simon]

I think a really powerful way of teaching students to be self-advocates is by putting them in positions where they have no choice but to develop those skills. I think internships/work experiences are great places for kids to learn how to speak up or fight for what is right - and to see others model that kind of self-advocacy. Providing good scaffolding for these experiences is important - I think kids need good mentors on site, and perhaps at school too. (This kind of experience also gets at Thomas Daccord's original response to your question.)

[Brian Roth]

One possible way to facilitate self advocacy would be to give students opportunities to improve their grades on assessments by retaking them after school. My mentor teacher, in addition to a number of other mentor teachers in TEP, encourages students to retake exams to improve their grades. My mentor teacher also makes himself available to students every day after school, which further lowers the barrier to self-advocacy. By allowing students to retake tests and by making oneself regularly available to students, teachers can help students develop habits of self advocacy.