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Literacy 4-6 > Strategies > Encourage Student Self-advocacy

Encourage Student Self-advocacy

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Overview

Overtly encouraging all students to seek support and ask questions creates a safe space for risk-taking and skill development. Fostering an environment for self-advocacy helps students to take ownership of their own learning needs.

Use It in the Classroom

Watch as this fourth grade teacher practices using the Question Formulation Technique with her class. Students use their Social Awareness & Relationship Skills as they gather together in a group to use the protocol to generate questions. Explicitly teaching strategies for generating questions helps create an environment where all students are expected to and feel confident asking questions.

  • When students practice advocating for themselves, they develop their Metacognition and Self-regulation skills. To support students in developing these skills, teachers can point out when peers ask questions to clear up misconceptions or for tools they need. By naming what the student specifically did, the teacher provides models for all of the students.

    • Design It into Your Product

    Videos are chosen as examples of strategies in action. These choices are not endorsements of the products or evidence of use of research to develop the feature.

    Learn how products like GoSoapBox use anonymity to help students feel comfortable asking questions or for help. Students experience fewer barriers to showing that they do not understand something when they can ask questions in a more private manner.

  • Providing a help option to access more information or instructions is a way of creating a virtual environment that invites help-seeking behaviors. In addition, providing ample opportunities for learners to digitally ask questions to their teachers also promotes continual question-asking behaviors.
    • View References

    Resources

    Below are additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.
    Examples

    Building Self-advocates

    Video on helping students become strong self-advocates

    Examples

    I'm Determined

    Free resources to empower students' self-determination

    Examples

    Importance of Self-advocacy

    Article from Understood.org on the benefits of self-advocacy and how to build it

    Examples

    Let Students get 'Stuck' and 'Unstuck'

    Article with prompts students can refer to when they need help from a peer or teacher

    Research

    Asking for Help Isn't Easy for Some

    Article about a study showing differences in help-seeking for students from working-class families

    Research

    Learning Communities

    Subtopic that includes research on communities of learners on Digital Promise's Research Map

    Research

    Teaching for Collaboration & Creativity

    Subtopic that includes research on instructional approaches to encourage collective problem-solving on Digital Promise's Research Map

    Factors Supported by this Strategy

    Student Background
    Adverse Experiences
    Hearing
    Physical Well-being
    Safety
    Socioeconomic Status
    Social and Emotional Learning
    Emotion
    Motivation
    Cognition
    Metacognition
    Literacy

    More Teacher Modeling & Support Strategies

    Feedback on Writing

    Providing constructive feedback supports students' writing development by letting them know how to improve their writing.

    Accessible Syntax

    Teachers can support language development by using and providing Syntax that is appropriately leveled (e.g., short, simple structure for young students).

    Accessible Vocabulary

    Teachers support language development by using and providing Vocabulary that is appropriately leveled (e.g., using word wall words).

    Model the Assignment or Skill

    By talking through their thinking at each step of a process, teachers can model what learning looks like.

    Model Positive Connections to Literacy

    By sharing their own reading and writing, teachers can create a literacy community that supports students in finding meaning in their own work.

    Read-alouds

    Reading aloud regularly exposes students to new and familiar Vocabulary and texts.

    Read-alouds: Deliberate Topics

    Reading aloud books about skills children are learning provides another model for their development.

    Brief Instruction Steps

    Content that is provided in clear, short chunks can support students' Working Memory.

    Discussing Emotions

    Teaching students how to label, identify, and manage emotions helps them learn Inhibition & Self-Regulation skills.

    Student Choice

    Providing students a voice in their learning is critical for making learning meaningful.

    Wait Time

    Wait time, or think time, of three or more seconds after posing a question increases how many students volunteer and the length and accuracy of their responses.

    Predictability: Environment & Structure

    Maintaining consistent classroom routines and schedules ensures that students are able to trust and predict what will happen next.

    Growth Mindset Feedback

    Providing feedback that focuses on the process of developing skills conveys the importance of effort and motivates students to persist when learning.

    Foster Growth Mindset

    Teachers can help students understand that learning involves effort, mistakes, and reflection by teaching them about their malleable brain and modeling their own learning process.

    Building Trusting Relationships

    Building positive and trusting relationships with learners allows them to feel safe; a sense of belonging; and that their academic, cognitive, and social and emotional needs are supported.

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