Amplify Student Voices: Equitable Practices to Build Confidence in the Classroom is a new book from the minds of AnnMarie Baines, Diana Medina, and Caitlin Healy. It is incredibly written, tells evocative stories, highlights student voice, gives practical advice, and inspires vulnerability. I was fortunate enough to interview AnnMarie Baines from The Practice Space about the work that went into creating it. Read below for a look into our conversation about Amplify Student Voices.
Emily Asqueri (EA): Why did y’all decide to write this book?
AnnMarie Baines (AMB): I’ve been writing this book in my head for quite a while. This is my second book and when I was writing the first one, this is the one I wish I had written. Whenever we talk about public speaking, people want tips and techniques, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But there’s this underlying story that can get lost when there are just little bits of advice pieced together. We wrote this book because it deserves a story, and we got to include the stories and voices of youth.
EA: That’s incredible. From an author’s perspective, what can you tell me about the book? How did the writing process go?
AMB: It was fun to write with Diana and Caitlin because they really understand the deeper roots of both oppression and voice and why silencing is a problem. The journey along the way was really fun, but it was hard when we got attached to a particular section that we had to cut or trim down. And, you know, there was a lot of news around the time we were writing about the Asian American hate going on, that is still going on. Writing some of those chapters was both healing and hard.
EA: What do you want people to hold with them when they’re reading this book?
AMB: I hope people feel seen if their voices have been silenced. I want people to feel witnessed and see themselves in the process we describe. And, in particular, how voice is really, really emotional. I think that’s important. Those experiences are not usually told when we focus on the output of public speaking as opposed to the emotional experience and journey that it takes to voice the “I.”
I would also love for people to walk away with the reminder that oral literacy is a thing. It’s related to building skills of reading and writing to develop voice and literacy skills, but it’s definitely distinct. Teachers are our core audience so it’s important to help them figure out what this looks like and help them walk away with a role they can play in facilitating this skill and facilitating it with kindness. We also want them to take away there can be incredible variety in the types of public speaking experiences we have. We want to expand that definition and public speaking doesn’t have to be on a stage or podium. We’re doing public speaking right now, in this interview! It’s all about knowing what to say and building that self-awareness of who you are, which is a big theme in the book.
EA: What do you feel like you’ve learned about yourself during the process of writing this book? Either as a writer or as someone who engages in public speaking?
AMB: I guess the piece that was an important reminder, especially in writing the introduction, was how intersectional all of this work is. When we’re talking about diversity, equity, and inclusion, when we’re talking about race, when we’re talking about voice, the problems have similar roots and issues that are related to one another. It was also an interesting reminder to reflect on the question of, to what degree are we helping people with being able to take on and master the norms that are already out there, and how are we still helping people feel like they can reject these norms at different points?
Also, we had to think about to what degree do we endorse some things like, “This is how you should have your hands.” Part of it is unlearning some of those norms and focusing on “being yourself on purpose,” which is ultimately our goal. On a personal note, I had to learn to be a storyteller in my own work, which still feels unnatural. I’m still kind of evolving my own thinking about presentation. So it was interesting to see which chapters were easier for us to write than others and then reflect on why that thinking and writing was hard.
EA: What else was fun or surprising in writing this book?
AMB: This book had to have student voices. I think most books in education really should. One thing I loved doing and writing was interweaving unedited student voice and adding some reflection of what resonated within the themes of student voice. We have student voice in every single chapter. It was super fun and being able to interview the core student in chapter 8 was also incredible. Getting her story down on the pages and being able to have her look at all of it and celebrate with her was so great.
The most surprising part was that a method emerged, and we gave it “expression-driven teaching” as a name. So being able to figure out what it is, how to articulate it, and what it looks like in practice…that was hard and surprising. We didn’t set out to name our method and have that be in there, but it was like it was always there and just needed to be named.
EA: So, what do you think your next move is then?
AMB: To be part of the bigger conversations in education, which is hard as a young nonprofit. But we want to be able to do really impactful local work, but also nationally relevant work. The tagline of our strategic plan is local impact, national relevance. A lot of our direct service work is still done locally in the field in the SF Bay Area, and we have a lot of those relationships. But this book is a starting point to allow us to be part of more conversations where this work is happening and getting into those spaces. So, the first push is getting these ideas in people’s hands. Ultimately, we want to see a reframing of youth voice means and the role that the development of voice and oral literacy can play in making public speaking and expression more equitable so that we have a diversity of voices and ideas in the classroom and beyond.
Amplify Student Voices is available for purchase through most major book retailers.
Make sure to check out AnnMarie Baines’ recent TEDx talk: Speak for Yourself.
