Making Learning Joyfully Rigorous for Students

Inspired Teaching Approach - Student as Expert

Through student-facilitated conversations, Speak Truth participants learn to productively and respectfully discuss current, controversial topics. These thought-provoking conversations teach students to defend their stances on a myriad of issues and help them develop and recognize the power of their voices.

Student as Expert means adults trust that students have the ability, and the inclination, to solve academic and social problems, instead of assuming students need adults to solve problems for them. This means student voice and ideas are abundant in every lesson, in every interaction. 

The Student as Expert approach is at the heart of our Speak Truth program, though it takes time for high school students to trust their emerging expertise. For a variety of reasons including safety and content expertise, high schools tend to center teachers as information providers, so that is what students are used to.

When we prepare students to lead Speak Truth discussions there is foundational information about structure and strategy that we do provide. But we also use inquiry to spark students’ own ideas about:

• what kinds of questions will resonate with their peers,
• what angles on a topic will spur the most discussion,
• and what opening activities will garner the best engagement.

Students soon learn to take the foundational information we start with and build on it through their observations, instincts, and expertise.

3 Ways to Cultivate Student Expertise

1. Build a Knowledge Inventory. Many video games include a feature where players gather resources into an “inventory” that they can pull from as they encounter various challenges. Encourage students to gather their emerging expertise in the same way. Have them create a list of all the things they know how to do, then revisit that list periodically so they can add to it and reflect on which items they’ve recently used.
   
   
2. Let the Students be the Teachers. As we near the final months of the school year, look for opportunities for students to lead class. This can involve taking over the role you typically play in familiar routines, including leading morning meetings, giving feedback on each others’ writing, guiding review for tests, or leading a read-aloud. It can also involve sharing new content that they study and build into a lesson they teach their peers.
   
   
3. Reflect on the Process. Reflection is a valuable way for students to both recognize and build their expertise. Include reflection as part of large projects or assessments where students are asked to think about how they prepared, how well they did, and what they’d do differently the next time. Seek students’ feedback on your own teaching by asking them what helped or hindered their learning, and what recommendations they have moving forward. (Check out these5 activities to give you feedback.)

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