Honoring the Voice of Students: Simple Strategies to try TOMORROW!
Have students record the voicemail greeting for the school. When you call DGS after hours the voicemail greeting activates. Instead of an adult greeting the caller, you will hear a student. “Thank you for calling Dunlap Grade, a school that LOVES their students. Sorry we missed your call! Please leave a message and we will call you as soon as we can! Go Be a Royal!” It is a simple strategy that tells your caller that you are a student centered and student focused school that literally wants their students’ voices heard! 
Encourage students to greet others at morning drop-off. This is one of my favorites. It’s an easy way to start the day on a positive note, encourage leadership, and develop relationships between students and with parents. You can choose to do this every day, certain days of the week, or for special events or occasions. Students can hold the doors, pass out positive notes, or assist younger students into the building.
Provide purpose and value to students with special jobs or incentives. One job could be to deliver the mail to staff. With a re-purposed library cart and baskets, we made the student job of mail carrier. Each day before dismissal, a student delivers mail to boxes outside classrooms. This ensures any last minute fliers, handouts or information is sent home in student backpacks.
Send a picture of your school mascot home and have students share pictures with it at the school hashtag. Our school mascot, Crownie, has been to Space Camp, on a Disney Cruise, skiing in Colorado, the Lego Store in California, professional football games, on an ATV, climbing trees, out to dinner, and so much more. It’s as simple as students taking the picture of the mascot with them on their travels and adventures and posting them (or having their parents post them) to school social media accounts. If they prefer, parents are also welcome to email them to the school or send hard copies that we display in the hallway. It’s a simple way to connect students to learning, the school, and each other!
Invite Students to Eat Lunch with You in Your Office. I’m always surprised at what I learn about students by spending twenty minutes with them over their lunch period in small groups. I’ve gained insights into their academic needs, social needs, and home life. It builds relationships, but also gives you a pulse onto how things are going and what you can do to change or do better.
Have students lead morning announcements. We complete morning announcements as a whole school in the gym, but this would work rather you do them over an intercom or record them to share via video. What better way to promote communication and public speaking skills than to build the capacity of student leaders through delivering the announcements. Students rotate through weekly assignments to deliver the lunch menu, celebrate birthdays, announce any classrooms or students that have met goals, and to lead the Pledge.
Call Home. The authors of “Kids Deserve It,” Adam Welcome and Todd Neosley, use this strategies to build relationships with kids and celebrate their accomplishments. One of my favorite strategies is to call home with the child next to me to celebrate their success or place the child on the phone to tell them about their celebration in the middle of the day. When a kid is in my office sharing their news with their parents with the biggest grin on their face, it brings joy to us all. This can be accomplished informally when a teacher sends a kid to the office for a positive office referral or when I am walking into classrooms and see positive things going on. A positive note or call from a principal or teacher goes a long way!
Remind them with visuals that they are important, valued, and cared for. With donated mirrors painted our school colors, we created a gallery wall to remind students that they are ROYALS! As students glimpse into the mirrors as they pass them in the hallway, they are reminded about the tenants of our school: To Respect Others, Yourself and Learning!
Other Ideas (for a longer blog post or follow up):
- Student Led Conferences
- Student Led IEPS
- Student presenters at Board Meetings
- Class Meetings
- Data Binders
- School Super Improver Wall
