The Technique
In my social foundations of education courses, I look for ways to convey the diverse and often challenging realities experienced by elementary school students. One thing I have found to be effective is inviting students to share their own experiences – stories that are authentic, relatable, and typically very engaging. This approach can also be complicated.
It can be intimidating for some students to share their personal (and sometimes traumatizing) histories, especially “on the spot” in front of a large class or to a sea of Zoom faces. As an instructor, I would also prefer to avoid making assumptions about which stories students will want to share based on perceived identities. I’ve also found that students can feel pressure to speak for entire social groups and/or to topics they don’t necessarily know a lot about.
To account for these factors, I use a technique that engages students in pre-recorded, thematic, student-panel discussions. During Covid, I experimented with this technique over Zoom, largely as a way to promote deeper connections among students in an online, synchronous environment. I asked myself, “What if a small group of students were provided with a safe space to tell stories relating to the course themes on a pre-recorded panel?” In the resulting technique, I invited selected students to share their educational experiences, grouped the willing respondents into panels, and then organized a virtual conversation that I recorded for the whole class to view.
When small groups of students come together for a group panel, there is an opportunity to promote connections, solidarity, and more nuanced narratives within the thematic group – and then, by extension, to the whole class. Using this technique, I have found that many of my students have appreciated having a chance to share their experiences so that their peers who are future teachers will have a better understanding of the variety of students’ lived realities.
Even though we have moved back to in-person classes on campus, I expect to continue with this technique on campus because this technique puts control of the storytelling in the students’ hands
How I Use It
The student panel discussion videos are created, recorded, and then used for teaching and learning in three stages:
Creating the Panels
- I send all my students a pre-course questionnaire as a standard practice. In this, I ask them the following questions:
- Tell us about your elementary school experiences.
- What is like to immigrate to Canada, learn English as a second language, experience ethnic discrimination, etc., in school/education?
- How do you connect this with the theory and concepts you have learned?
- What would you suggest for future teachers of diverse student groups?
- And, most importantly, would you be willing/interested in sharing aspects of your identity that have shaped your life and/or the experiences you have shared here?
- Once I receive the survey results, I see if I can create groupings of students who have shared similar experiences (e.g., immigrating to Canada, accessibility in education, homophobia in schools, living below the poverty line, etc.).
- Once groups are made, I email (blind cc) student groups that have expressed interest to confirm that they want to be involved and to set a date for the recording
- Closer to the panel interviews, I send the groups a list of three to four discussion questions so that the students can think about what to say in advance and prepare to share only what they are comfortable with.
Recording the Panels
- I provide a bit of “front matter” at the start of each panel meeting to clarify my intent for the “lived experiences” panels. I walk through the process with the group (for delivering, recording, editing, reviewing) and also review the whole-class activity all students will engage in.
- Once I confirm their permission to continue, I press record and ask three or four inciting questions of each panelist, offering prompts only where needed to keep the panel discussion going.
- During the recorded session, I rotate through each panelist as they answer questions. *
- Once the panel and the recording are complete, I do a two-stage editing of the Zoom recording.
- Once the each video is complete I take each final panel discussion video, upload it to my Youtube channel [set to private].
My Editing Process: I try to preserve most of the recorded content while removing as much of “myself” as possible by replacing my voice with text slides. Where appropriate, I also try to take out dead spots and redundancies. Once my edits are complete, I share the video with the panelists so that they can provide feedback and make requests for additional moments to be removed (i.e., something too personal or embarrassing). As a faculty member, this technique does require me to balance open dialogue with potentially harmful language that may find its way into the conversation. If I make an editing choice to remove a student’s comment, I will be honest with the panel about what was removed and why.
Utilizing Panels for Whole Class Activity
I now have a series of student panel discussions that I can embed within my course D2L space alongside the course texts for that particular week, linked to the whole group activity!
When we meet next together as a whole class, I take a moment to thank the students who shared on the panel and invite other classmates to do so as well. The ensuing discussion can focus on greater themes of power, oppression, or social justice but with a reminder that we are speaking with our peer panelists in the room, not about them. Once each topic/week is finished, I take down the associated video.
I’ve used this technique to drive whole-group activity such as pre-class reflection, small-group analyses, and a think-pair-share activity. It would also work well for deep reflexive autobiographical writing by each individual student.
* By recording using Zoom, I can set the video to “pin” the person talking so that the student who is speaking is foregrounded in the video.
Feedback from Learners
“I just wanted to say thank you for letting me share my experiences with racism today. I think you did an excellent job of giving us a safe place to share our insights and experiences. I have never experienced such understanding and empathy from a professor or teacher in my entire academic journey.”
One of the most poignant aspects I have noticed about this technique is how students so effectively illustrate how discrimination can appear invisible, harmless, or neutral on the surface, despite its far-reaching impacts on lived experiences and when placed in the context of historical and structural systems of oppression. My students’ stories have also helped me shed light on the nuances of discrimination, illuminating the many different ways oppression can happen based on context, circumstance, and groups.
I have noticed that my students are extremely respectful and empathetic to the student panelists in our follow-up discussions. In many cases, it comes as a surprise to students how different the educational journey has been among the students in the class and the nature of and degree to which systemic barriers operate in society and education.
A Short Task to Challenge You!
Step 1 – What parts of your own stories are you ready to share?
Take a few moments, and jot down a few notes to answer the following questions:
- What stories are you ready to share with your peers and colleagues?
- What stories would you be reluctant to share?
Step 2 – Which lived experiences would you be interested in learning more about?
Take a few more moments to jot down a few notes about lived experiences you would be interested in learning more about.
Step 3 – Seek out stories that accomplish this!
Take some time during your holiday break to expand your stories to include the following interesting experiences:
- Ask your friends and family to suggest people you could connect with (regarding your interests) to create an authentic connection with them. Perhaps you can share your stories with them also.
- Read a novel about an experience that is not familiar to you. Or, perhaps choose one that is about a story similar to your own that you are reluctant to share.
One Final Task
Is this something you can use in your classroom? How might you utilize it? If you share your results somewhere on social media, share a link to this lesson for context.