Roshonda Booker, Libby Elementary School, rlbooker@cps.edu

Patrick O’Connor, Libby Elementary School

Empowering Student Voice in the Classroom

“Stop talking!  Be quiet!”  Really? Do you want your students to sit down and be quiet, or do you want them to have the right conversations? 

Empowering student voice in the classroom setting is a must. Students today are interactive and engaged individuals that are a part of a social networking generation. If teachers want to engage students in the classroom teachers must upgrade their curriculum and their teaching strategies. The role of teacher has changed from sole instructor to facilitator and as a facilitator teachers have to empower the student voice to make learning relevant, fun, and engaging to today’s student.

This workshop will provide teachers with effective and engaging strategies and activities that can be used in all subjects. These strategies and activities will have your students talking!

In the past eight years at Libby, Roshonda Booker has been the catalyst for middle school reform, because she understands the importance of meeting the needs of adolescent children in inner-city neighborhoods.  She was the “key advocate” for change under past administrations and also served as one of the key writers for Libby’s Horizon STW application.  Now the seventh and eighth grade science teacher, Mrs. Booker has been a presenter at numerous conferences on the topics of science instruction, adolescent development and development responsiveness of effective schools. 

Patrick O’Connor, currently Libby’s seventh and eighth grade language arts teacher, has been a peer leader in many capacities, serving as middle school department chair, the middle school representative on Libby’s ILT and the lead writer on Libby’s Horizon Schools to Watch application.  As a sign of his dedication to adolescent development and commitment to the middle school philosophy, Mr. O’Connor was recognized by the C4MGP grant with the “You Make A Difference” award.