Hi Adam,
School wide, some schools do not have a traditional student council but have a Student Advisory Group. Anyone can join that has an interest and some sort of organization schema is used to encourage representation of all students thus eliminating the popularity contest election thing. The adult adviser (usually an administrator) coaches the group on effective ways to interact, make ones points, collect data, set parameters and roles, etc. As issues come up (either from students, parents or staff), the challenges are discussed by this group and actions taken.

This kind of advisory group give students voice to issues, helps take action on issues of interest to many, not just a few, and validates changes to school programs such as designing appropriate student activities for young adolescents.

Hope this helps,
Bob

QT - Adam Blaisdell wrote:
>
>

--
Robert C. Spear, Ed.D.
NELMS
Executive Director
460 Boston Street #4
Topsfield, MA 01983
(P) 978-887-6263
(F) 978-887-6504
www.nelms.org
< replied-to message removed by QT >

Edited by author 09-26-2007 10:47 PM
Hi Adam, Bob, and Bill!

I'm a retired middle school principal from Maine. I'm currently an independent consultant working around the US and Canada around middle level leadership and integration of technology. I also teach a few middle level courses at the Univerity of Maine and Antioch in NH.

But on to Adam's question! Maine has an interesting technology project going on called the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI). It's a 1:1 computing project where all 7th ad 8th graders and their teachers in the state have apple ibooks. One aspect of this program is known as "iTeams". These are teams of students who are trained to assist the teachers and the technology leaders in supporting the MLTI in each school. Not all schools have iTeams, but those that do are finding that it not only helps the program, it empowers students to be more engaged and responsible for the smooth functioning and care of the hardware and networks. You can find out some history about "iTeams" by visiting the following links:

http://www.capeelizabeth.com/news/laptop3.html

http://moore.portlandschools.org/ibook/iTeamConfer.html

When I was principal had represntatives of the student leadership team sit in periodically on my leadership team meetings. They would bring ideas to the team leaders (which also included parent representatives) And they would take ideas from the staff back to their grade level teams.

The idea was to extend the organizational pattern of the school to include the students. IT worked pretty well except that, as is ofte the case, the busiest students were also the ones most interested in being involved in after school meetings with the leadership team!

Hope that addressed some part of your question Adam!

Hi, Adam!

Our student government, MOCA (Middle school Office Caring for All), actually involves all our students. (Granted, our middle school program is pretty small - 11 students in 7th grade, and 11 in 8th grade.) MOCA meets twice a week for 25 minutes each. In general, students generate ideas for events they would like to make happen, form committees to work on those projects, and bring them to fruition. They are particularly responsible for certain traditions such as Founders' Day/Field Day, held each May. Occasionally, we ask their opinions on certain issues facing the school, and work through to solutions together.

I try to encourage students to talk to me about whatever may be on their minds. I do this both through how I react to what they have to say, and in how I present it to other students. For example, an 8th grader spoke to me the other day about a concern that, with our new system of reserving specific lunch tables for the middle schoolers, they wouldn't ever be able to have lunch again with the upper schoolers. So I mentioned to MOCA the following day that an 8th grader had come to me with this concern, and asked for their opinions on the issue. They worked through the problem in a really mature fashion, and decided to keep the reserved tables for another week to help them continue to get to know each other and mix together, then to keep one middle school table set aside for the remainder of the year for students who wanted a guaranteed space to eat lunch with other people their age.

We are still a pretty small group here on this Forum, but each new member will bring new expertise. Speaking of which, I'd also love to know what ideas you have, Adam.

Take care,
Bill Ivey
Stoneleigh-Burnham School

I am very interested to see how schools involve students in decision making/advisory. Are there schools that have a Student Advisory Committee (group that meets with Principals or teachers to express concerns/give ideas)? How are they structured? What challenges are the students charged with? I would like to increase the student involvement in our school and I would like to know what is occuring in other middle schools.

Welcome to this group on student voice. I believe that the best classrooms and the best schools find ways to embed student voice in the life of the school in significant ways. I look forward to your ideas.
Bob Spear
Executive Director

Hi!

My name is Bill Ivey, and I am the Middle School Dean at Stoneleigh-Burnham School in Greenfield, MA. Among other things I do at SBS, I work with an advisory group, I teach a Humanities 7 course based on a democratic classroom model, I co-advise our student government group "MOCA," and I coordinate and volunteer in our Commnunity Service Program.

I believe very strongly that all communities work best when all voices are heard and when all members believe and trust in their own power, individually and collectively. I believe that it is doubly important to include student voices in middle schools, both for the immediate benefit to the school and for the longer-term benefit to society. I look forward to sharing ideas, strategies, questions, frustrations, successes and more as we here form a community and work to incorporate our students' voices into our schools.

Take care,
Bill Ivey
Stoneleigh-Burnham School