Shadow a Student: Reinventing the School Experience
By Cameron Paterson
February 12, 2018
The Shadow a Student Challenge is a journey that starts with seeing school through a student's eyes in order to identify opportunities to improve the school experience. It's not too late to sign up for the 2018 challenge--learn more here! Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes is unnerving and humbling. Empathy is hard to achieve.
Educators, ethnographers, and researchers have long known the value of shadowing, especially to increase empathy for students. While walk-throughs, learning walks, and instructional rounds are now part of the professional development repertoire, shadowing a student provides a look at schooling through the lens of a single student. "
What one assistant principal learned from shadowing a student for a day
"Karen Ritter, an assistant principal at a high school just outside of Chicago, wanted to see her school through a student’s eyes. So she decided to follow 9th grader Alan Garcia, who came to her asking to be switched out of the many remedial classes in which he is enrolled, hoping to get a clear view of his experience in the classroom. Special correspondent John Tulenko of Education Week reports."