Hands Up? A child's right to choose when to speak!

I aspire to co-create a community of learners that think, feel, inquire and play together. For this to be a reality, children and adults need to see value in their own ideas, wonderings, connections and perspectives, and those of others. Relationships and interactions are key to develop trust, respect and feeling safe with uncertainty. Learning needs to be valued! Not the kind of learning that requires students to fill in the blanks on worksheets, or complete exercises that require little thought. More important is learning how to learn, the process of learning, learning about oneself and others, and learning about complex and intriguing concepts through play and inquiry.

The systems in place in a classroom can directly promote or deny opportunities to foster communities of thinkers and learners, in which children are listened to and their voices are heard, beyond when adults give permission for children to speak.

For a number of years, I have not asked asked children to raise their hands when wanting to participate in a discussion. This is the first year I have been very intentional and explicit in explaining the “why” to the Kindergarten class I teach. As you will see, the alternative I use to having no hands up is a democratic practice that has children choosing if and when to participate in discussions. This is a different practice from what is sometimes referred to as 'cold calling'. 

"Participation enriches children's capacity to act with agency, make decisions, and take opportunities to enact their own ways of learning, knowing, doing, and being." Helen Hedges in Children's Interests, Inquiries and Identities 

Why no hands up?

Rights - Children have the right to speak! The right to speak when they choose to, and about what they choose, mindful of the ideas and feelings of others. This links very strongly to our 'image of the child' and how we view children, and the extent to which we truly value and are curious about their ideas. 

Choice - When children have the agency to speak at the times they choose, they are able to make powerful connections, respond with genuine emotions and articulate what they are curious or puzzled about - at the times the children feel is the most appropriate, instead of needing the permission of an adult to engage in shared dialogue. Honouring children as agents of their own learning, they are the ones to take the initiative to start or respond to threads of dialogue. The children are responsible for thinking about if and when they have something to contribute. As is the case for all of us, there are times when we have the urge to share insights, offer explanations, recount personal experiences, challenge the ideas of others or ask a provocative question. There are other times, we might feel we have nothing to add to the conversation, even if someone was to say our name and invite us into the conversation. 

The real world - As children play with each other, chat with their friends and share their wonderings with their families, the 'real world' does not ask humans to raise their hands to speak. I want a classroom to be an authentic learning space where children can apply their listening and speaking to and from their own lives outside of school.  

Listening - Although "hands up" or not might be first thought of as a practice linked to speaking, it soon explores listening. Listening is often expected, but its complexities are often not unpacked with children. Understanding the concept of listening - the 'why' behind some of the skills needed to listen well - opens up dialogue to ideas such as respect, fairness, appreciation, community and perspective. It can also give opportunity to discuss ways to know when and how to join in a discussion, avoid domination and how to negotiate if two people speak at the same time. Instead of the teacher inviting one child at a time to speak, the children themselves engage in a shared inquiry into ways to participate equitably in learning conversations. 

Inquiry and play - These pedagogies are framed around children co-constructing meaning with and from others. They motivate learners to pursue ideas and materials that bring joy and that they are interested in, fascinated by and want to explore more. The level of engagement often results in children being in a 'state of flow' and/or an insatiable appetite to know more. Reflecting on play and inquiry is so personal and emotive, allowing children to respond to the ideas of others in a very organic way. It amplifies the skills children are using and developing already in their play. A system requiring a teacher to grant permission to speak by calling on children with their hands raised or by picking children's names from a set of popsicle sticks runs the risk of interrupting this very natural exchange of ideas. This sends very clear messages to children and their parents about who has the power and a dangerous idea that all exchanges need to be "passed back" to the teacher instead of encouraging dialogue, theory building, play and inquiry among the students. 

Here is an extract from a dialogue in response to a morning message about events that happen in May this year, including Amnesty International Day. Notice that the children are building on each other's ideas, and since these Kindergarten children were doing this so well, the voice of the teacher is not there. 

Community - The process of participating in discussions without putting hands up mirrors a democracy and explores the idea of citizenship. The focus is not on one individual, and always considers the impact on the whole group of learners. This allows for exploration of responsible and irresponsible choices as participants in listening and speaking. The idea of community also encourages children to talk to and respond to other children's ideas, connecting to them, building on them, challenging them - but doing so looking at other children with all the gestures and body language that comes with communication, instead of each comment being passed back to the teacher to decide how to respond. Peter Johnston uses the term 'social imagination' to explain the open-mindedness of students in a group, being able to understand "what others are felling, to read people's faces and expressions, to imagine different perspectives, to make sense of abstract ideas, and to reason through this."

Thinking - In a thinking classroom, children need quality space and time to consider ideas, without distracting hands waving in the air from children enthusiastic to be the first to respond. 

Thinking also highlights the importance of actively listening to friends' ideas to avoid repetition and encourages children to connect to and build on the thinking of others, rather than having the sole aim to say an idea first thought of, without considering the contributions of others. Again, the importance of listening to others is raised above simply listening for a time to speak. It also provides a lens for a teacher to be more aware and reflective about the types of questions asked at these times designed to promote rich dialogue and deep thinking. 

"Listening and questioning are the basis for positive classroom interactions that can in turn shape meaningful collaboration, which can then build a culture of thinking. At the heart of these two practices lies a respect for and interest in students' thinking." Ron Ritchart in Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools 

The rich thinking described in these dialogues happens at multiple times of the day in my Kindergarten class - in response to a morning message, a reflection session or a complex question or theory to explore that might come from a student or from the teacher. There are times, however, that I want to monitor the development of a specific skill or understanding and I use the child's name to invite them to respond. I keep track of who I have checked in with to ensure I systematically monitor the learning of all students. 

This blog post is focused on a strategy used in whole class or group discussions. There are, of course, a whole range of other strategies used to promote thinking, inquiry, play and talk. These include Visible Thinking Routines (Eg. See-Think-Wonder; Think-Pair-Share), Thinking Moves, conferencing, small group challenges, individual check-ins and extended periods of time for children to play. Other strategies used to monitor children's levels of understanding or proficiency in skills in efficient ways include exit cards, whiteboards for 'show me' and 'thumbs up'. 

What systems do you use to promote a community of learners who engage in deep thinking and meaning making?