The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast 260: Seven Teaching Practices that Nurture Student Voice
Sep 29, 2025
Shane Safir, an education consultant, joins classroom educator Sawsan Jaber, culturally responsive math expert Crystal M. Watson, and teacher leader Marlo Bagsik. They discuss empowering students through practices like identity mandalas and math autobiographies. The group emphasizes creating belonging in classrooms through methods like 'circling up' and promoting inquiry-based learning. They share tools like Monday intentions and Friday reflections to boost student efficacy and engagement, highlighting the urgent need for student voice and agency in education today.
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Four Domains Of Student Agency
- Pedagogies of Voice reframes agency into four domains: identity, belonging, inquiry, and efficacy.
- The book offers practical, classroom-ready practices mapped to each domain so teachers can act immediately.
Student Voice Counters Test-Driven Culture
- The book positions student voice as an antidote to test-driven, dehumanizing reforms.
- Amplifying student voice cultivates democratic capacities like listening, challenging, and collaboration.
Use Identity Mandalas
- Use identity mandalas to help students map roots, relationships, events, and hopes through art and words.
- Let students choose whether to share and model your own mandala first to build trust and vulnerability.
