Ohio Youth Voices Students Give Advice to Future Teachers

In early May, Ohio Youth Voices students spoke before the Educator Standards Board and the State Board of Education about the advice they gave to future teachers at Ohio colleges.  For the last year students from across Ohio have been going to colleges to give advice about the Ohio Youth Agenda item, "We need flexible and innovative teachers who can connect to the background and culture of the students they teach."

Students spoke about the need to treat students with high expectations and not as a statistic. They also talked about mutual respect, loving your students, and avoiding stereotypes about the way students dress, their sexuality, their background or their language.  Many told personal examples of how teachers can have a major impact on their lives, if they take the time to get to know their students closely and then learn what they need individually to succeed.

Ohio Youth Voices will be working with policy makers in the near future, with the goal of getting all teaching preparation colleges to set up an advisory committee of high school students to give advice to professors and future teachers.

Click on the links below to read about the year long project and news coverage from Catalyst Ohio about their time at the State Board of Education.

What makes a good teacher? Ask the students: Ohio Youth Voices shares their views with state board

Ohio Youth Voices Students Announce Newly Revised 2010 Ohio Youth Agenda

Student -> Teacher Advice, including the revised 2010 Ohio Youth Agenda (921 KB, PDF Format)