The Actionable Participatory Model Every Teacher Needs to Learn About

What happens when the students whom everyone overlooks become the ones who change everything?

In Part 2 of this must-hear S5E38 @schoolutionspodcast conversation, Rachael Thrash shares the inspiring story about Angolan students in Portland, Maine, who turned their isolation into a school-wide soccer tournament, walks through her Actionable Participatory Model step by step, and gives you the one move you can make this Monday to start co-creation in your classroom today.

Rachael unpacks why shy students, multilingual learners, and kids who learn differently are the most silenced voices in schools, and exactly how strategic facilitation and inclusive teaching can change that. This is equity in education and school culture work at its most practical and most human.

💫Make sure to watch Part 1 & check out some of the resources mentioned:

• Rachael Thrash's website
• Let the Learners Lead: Empowering Student Voice to Co-Create School Culture by Rachael Thrash
• Baxter Academy for Science and Technology, Portland, Maine
• International School of Helsinki

Next Week: Tan Huynh and Beth Skelton are on a mission to reach the students everyone assumes are fine — experienced multilinguals who can chat in the hallway but still can't write a formal essay with ease. Tune in to learn about their new book, Integrated Literacy for Experienced Multilinguals, and for the personal stories, the framework, and the moves that offer these students the instruction they've always deserved. 

Chapters:
0:00 — Hook: Angolan Students Who Changed Their Whole School
1:00 — Welcome Back & Part 2 Overview
1:30 — Case Study: Baxter Academy for Science and Technology, Portland, Maine
3:00 — How Isolation Became the Catalyst for Change
4:00 — From Problem to Proposal: The Soccer League Story
5:30 — The Confidence Ripple Effect — What the Biology Teacher Noticed
6:30 — Whose Voices Get Overlooked Most Often
7:30 — The Story of Risa: From Silent to Leading
9:00 — How a Student Leadership Retreat Changed Everything
10:00 — Introducing the Actionable Participatory Model
10:30 — Step 1: Relationship Building and Connection
11:30 — Step 2: Exploring What's Working and What Isn't
12:30 — Step 3: Imagining a Better School
13:00 — Step 4: Breaking Ideas Into Actionable Projects
14:00 — Step 5: Real Audience, Real Stakes
14:45 — Step 6: Reflection and Redefining Together
16:00 — Why This Book Is a Mentor Text for Teachers
16:30 — What the World Is Demanding of Kids Right Now
17:30 — Why Co-Creation Defies AI
19:00 — Regenerative Education and Hattie's Research
20:30 — Page 143: The Co-Create Framework Quote
22:00 — The One Move to Start This Work on Monday
24:00 — Key Takeaways and Call to Action
25:00 — Next Week Preview: Tan Huynh and Beth Skelton
26:00 — Outro and How to Work With Olivia Wahl

📧 🎧 New episodes every Monday & Friday with bite-sized Wednesday reel bonus content.
📧 Book a coaching session with me here if you’d like a thought partner to help you cultivate curious learners who advocate for what they believe in.
🎵 Music: Benjamin Wahl

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Next week's conversation: Tan Huynh and Beth Skelton are on a mission to reach the students everyone assumes are fine — experienced multilinguals who can chat in the hallway but still can't write a formal essay with ease. Tune in to learn about their new book, Integrated Literacy for Experienced Multilinguals, and for the personal stories, the framework, and the moves that offer these students the instruction they've always deserved.

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When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.

Transcript

Olivia: [00:00:00] Welcome back listeners for part two of my conversation with Rachael Thrash. If you haven't listened to part one, pause right now, go back, and then come meet us here. In part two, Rachael uplifts case studies from her book. She shares about a group of Angolan students in Portland, Maine, who turned their isolation into a school-wide soccer tournament, and offers a framework for co-creation you can start using tomorrow.

This is Schoolutions, the podcast that extends education beyond the classroom. A show that isn't just theory, but practical try-it-tomorrow approaches for educators and caregivers to ensure every student finds their spark and receives the support they need to thrive. Welcome back, listeners. I am so happy to have part two of my conversation released and out in the world with Rachael Thrash. Here we go. [00:01:00] We're going to be talking more about her book. I have it right here. It's fresh. It's new. Let the Learners Lead: Empowering Student Voice to Co-Create School Culture. 

Uh, Rachael, this part two, I asked you to really break down what does it look like and feel like in schools? I also asked you to share some success stories and let us know, you know, with schools that have done this work, what challenges they faced. Um, so let's begin. One of my favorite aspects of the book is that you include such diverse case studies. With that said, I was hoping you could take, choose one case study. It will be hard, but choose one. Start with how they began, what challenges did they face, how did they overcome them, and what were some of the results they saw? 

Rachael: So one of my favorite case studies was a group of kids who were at a charter school in Portland, Maine, Baxter Academy for, um, Science and Technology, and [00:02:00] this was a very group-oriented kind of a school where kids were doing a lot of projects. Um, and a teacher reached out to me to do some work with her, and the reason she reached out is because she was specifically working with a group, the only group of kids who English wasn't their primary language at home. And so they were English Language Learners. They happened to all be from Angola.

And this group of kids wa- they were mainstreamed into all of the other classes except for English, so she had them for English and for advisory, and she was noticing that they were really, um, isolated. They only hung out with each other. They frequently spoke Portuguese. They-- She would visit them in their other classes, and she found them really, um, outside of the group, not participating, never raising their hands in class, and she was worried about them for good reason.

She got to know them in the advisory, and this is a brilliant teacher who was doing a lot of getting to [00:03:00] know them work and writing work with them. And they were open and, and participating in her class, but nowhere else. So she reached out to me and asked if I would do some work with them and start to think about how they could be leaders in the community. Um, so I started working with these kids, and we began by saying: What are barriers to people feeling like they can belong and participate in, in this school? And they contributed all kinds of answers that primarily were about it's really hard to do group work when you feel like you are actually gonna bring down the average of the group.

And once they recognized that the other students, even though they were close, they spent a lot of time together, they had never explained that they felt that way, that was like a inroad into them talking about, "You know what? It's not just the group work. I also feel like there isn't a, a soccer [00:04:00] team, and I also feel like there's no way to get to know other kids."

And by the time we were done with this group, they had started to problem solve around, "Maybe it's not just us who feels isolated. Maybe a lot of kids actually feel isolated." And they went to the administration, and they proposed that they create a-- because there were no sports at this small school, 'cause it was a charter school, that they create a soccer league. And they then worked with an adult soccer league in the community to figure out when the, the field time was, and they even negotiated with the administration to have a half day one day where they could all have a tournament. And these kids became heroes, right? 'Cause the other kids are like, "What?

You gave us soccer during school?" And what the teacher who worked with them reported, it, it would be easy to be like, all right, well, fine, they made a soccer tournament. They actually also made an interesting, um, checkers tournament. But their [00:05:00] confidence, their capacity to lean in and raise their hand and ask for help in other classes, uh, one of their biology teachers reported, "I never knew this, this child, Edna, cared so much about biology, and now she's participating every day."

Um, so what this unlocks when I think we tend to, particularly around adolescence, assume that the problems we're facing are unique to us and nobody else. Everybody has it so easy. When in reality, we're all sharing some common human problems, and when we get a chance to air them and to hear other people have some of the same issues, we get braver about standing up and doing something about them. 'Cause now we're not just doing it, we're not putting ourselves out there to solve for our own problem that's embarrassing to have. We're solving for an issue that lots of people are facing, and we feel much more empowered.

Olivia: And we won't know about those problems from student [00:06:00] perspectives if we don't ask and if we don't elevate the student voice, and that is what your work embodies. It's that co-creation and valuing what everyone has to say. Um, that was such a stellar example. And Rachael, I've been doing so much research and writing around confidence and the impact that confidence has on the-- whether a student will take a challenge or will not take a challenge. So this has ripple effects, tremendous ripple effects for kids' lives as they grow older as adults. Let's then talk a little bit more about the voices that go overlooked, because I also think that the system unintentionally sets barriers up. So then whose voices do get overlooked the most often? 

Rachael: Shy students, quiet students, students that, who do not feel recognized by their peers. Um, when [00:07:00] we look at adolescent development, adolescents are hardwired to want to receive respect from their peers in the community. So if they think that what they say is going to be laughed at, isn't going to be acknowledged, they're, they're not gonna try. And so they're going to be silenced. So who puts themselves out there to be a leader or share an opinion if they think that there's no space for it, if there's no platform, if no one's asking?

Um, there's a young woman I also talk about in the book. Her name is Risa, and Risa was a student who I met when she was in ninth grade, and she had come to the International School of Helsinki from Japan, and her English wasn't great. She was still learning it. Really bright kid, but there was not another Japanese speaker in her class, so she just remained very silent. And when I first knew her, she didn't have any friends. And it was heartbreaking 'cause this-- through her [00:08:00] writing and through her work, I knew she had a lot of capacity, but we invited her to a student leadership retreat, but we very intentionally made that student re- leadership retreat come and share what could be better in our student leadership.

Don't come 'cause you're already a student leader. Come because you wanna make something better. And she talks about-- I interviewed her now in college, and she-- and I said: What made you go to that event? And she said: Well, I thought if I can't at least say why I'm not loving school, then I'm never gonna be able to grow in this place. And so she showed up, and when she showed up at the retreat, one of our first discussions was imagine Somebody does a news story on the best student leadership in the world 20 years from now, and they're featuring our school. What would you want them to say? 

And so she heard other kids talking about what they would hope student leadership could be, and she was- got inspired that they felt the same [00:09:00] way. And then she thought of one student in the class who was being actively bullied, and she decided, "I need to step up for that kid." Mm. And she actually took me aside and she said, "You need to hear what's happening to this kid." And from that moment of courage, stepping up for someone else, this child became someone who ran a BIPOC listening session for other kids. She became very well-known and popular among other kids because of these initial steps. So that, that's the kind of person who we don't know is out there and is out there if we invite them into the discussion. 

Olivia: There's such strategic facilitation that you're naming, and that is a critical piece of this book that you offer so many tools and frameworks, just ideas of strategies that teachers can use. The framework that is getting rave reviews from the book is the actionable [00:10:00] participatory model. So I'd love for you to first define that and then offer a- an example. Again, your stories really help bring this work to life. 

Rachael: Absolutely. I mean, I think that it starts with like all, like all actions that people take, it starts with relationship. You- no one can do work, culture work by themselves. And so just like I described with any of the students in the book, with Risa or those, um, Angolan students that I described earlier, they need to feel safe before they're willing to share their opinion. So it begins with relationship building and connection.

I have a tool in the book that is just a connection-building game, but we have lots of icebreakers out there. Um, I think what happens in schools is when we stop with icebreakers, but we don't continue to get to know the kids, it's not good enough. The kids, the, the vulnerability needs to come from both [00:11:00] sides. So as a teacher, you need to begin with being a real person, not oversharing. Let's be clear about that. But telling kids, "You know, I'm nervous 'cause it's the first day too. But I remember a time I was nervous. What's a time you were nervous?" And then we, we bring down the, the hierarchy, and we start to feel like we're on the same team.

And so once we've kind of established our team and we feel safe together, then we can move into A little exploration, or rather a little exploration of what's going well in our community and what isn't. And so this is when kids get to do some survey work to say: How could we make more people feel a sense of welcoming at this school, a sense of belonging? This is purposefully shifting leadership from being about how do I differentiate myself as a leader to what does this community need and how can I provide it? So we start to get the kids to look at the community [00:12:00] and think about how it could be better for everyone, and then we help them imagine what does that look like?

Um, how could you design for a better school? Where-- imagine how this could be possible in the long run if we were to do, I mean, just like I said about that activity with imagine the best, the best student leadership ever. And so we help them get out of their way, um, not just think about what they've already seen, because kids often can go back to the most traditional spirit week and assembly at the end of the year. No. Let's imagine what could be possible if we could make school really work for everyone. Um, and then we move into the, okay, you've now come up with some really cool ideas. If everyone could feel included, if everyone could have a friend, if it could honor all backgrounds, if kids could have a voice in things like assessment.

So now how do we break those down into actionable projects and begin [00:13:00] to design them? And I think this is oftentimes where student initiatives, uh, fall flat. Kids are really imaginative and creative, and they know what they want if you give them a chance to vocalize it. But then it's hard, and I've had this happen with many, many students. I, in fact, had a group of students who came up with this great idea of let's create a welcome wall in the school instead of a hall of flags that can feel really nationalistic. Let's make a welcome wall in all the languages. But they never got around to it 'cause they're busy. So one of the tools in the book is how do you help kids look backwards from who is the audience I, I aim to reach, and what are all of the steps and all of the people in the school I need to talk to, get approval from, who on my team?

Um, it also involves breaking down how do you work well on a team? What are my strengths? What are your strengths? How can we talk about this openly? So that's part of the framework. And then getting it to a real [00:14:00] audience, because when kids have a real audience to share their work, it inspires them in a different level than simply being like there's an assembly where you're gonna read something out or you're being graded on this. This is an opportunity to gather, go to the school board and advocate for better bike paths on the way to school. So now you're really thinking about: How am I gonna do this and how, how do I reach out to my, you know, student council advisor, whomever it is, or my teacher, my English teacher to help me prepare this presentation so it's professional because you have a real audience.

And then finally, the reflection piece. Yes. The reflection piece is so important because if we're doing things and we're never looking back honestly on what were the mistakes we made, what did we hope to accomplish, did we accomplish it, and even what can we share out with other teams so that they can take this further next year? Um, and that reflection [00:15:00] should really involve bo- all of those steps should really involve the educators and the students because the educators are learning along the way. What do kids need? What are resources in the community? Um, and they can help one another along the way. 

Olivia: I'm thinking the book, it, it really does serve as a mentor text as well. I was thinking this the whole time I was reading because if I'm a teacher and I really, y- you're inspiring me and I would want to do this work, I would feel so excited because you have so many examples that I could offer my students. And so they could say like, "Oh, here are different options. Here are different ways."

Uh, because sometimes if we're asking kids, you know, what they dream for, that's hard to start there sometimes. And so having the examples from your book as tools I think is incredible. I also want to say this book is written with students at the heart of it, and I think there are tremendous benefits of this [00:16:00] work for educators and for administrators. It's not just good pedagogy. It's really what the world is demanding of our children. What is the world demanding of kids today that this book serves so beautifully, Rachael? 

Rachael: The world is demanding human-centered skills and human-centered communities. I think that it's become more evident than ever before that the kind of replicable knowledge that unfortunately schools coming out of the Industrial Revolution have prioritized, things that can be tested easily and assessed, those don't, those are replicable. The AI is going to, to fill those in and our kids know it. Um, I think there are a lot of schools right now who are so worried that those skills aren't, mm, as prioritized that they're taking devices away from kids and they're making them go back to traditional assessments and I think we [00:17:00] should lean into the very opposite.

The skills that kids use when they look at a problem in their community and they collaboratively plan together and they work with an adult to come up with solutions, and they plan backwards for the audience that they're going to show these solutions to, sure, they should use AI then, right? They should say, "What have other schools done to create a safe bike path in a busy place?" And then, but that doesn't quite fit our community because we have these other things, and maybe I should go talk to the maintenance director because that woman has already dealt with, has probably come up with a solution. And now what are my timelines? You're thinking about problem sil- solving, collaboration, um, bridging different people in the community.

You're thinking about timelines, all of these really essential skills- Yeah ... that only humans can do. Um, and we're preparing our kids for the complexity of [00:18:00] what is coming, regardless of we don't know. We don't know what, what the future holds, but we do know that it better work for the different humans in the community, and you better be able to talk with them and plan for them. And so that's what I think is exciting about this work, and I also think it can really be applied in a classroom project or whole school student leadership, or I've even worked with groups where the head of school is working with the teachers to co-create ways to make, for instance, faculty meetings more useful for everyone. So that co-create framework is really applicable to however you want to bring people together and make sure that everyone feels like they have a voice and a purpose. 

Olivia: Yeah, I, the whole time I was reading, I kept thinking of the, the term or phrase parallel practice is overused, I feel these days. I, I went to, I shifted and I started thinking as I was reading about [00:19:00] symmetry and this beautiful back and forth momentum between the co-creation. The, it's, uh, uh, almost like a figure eight of infinity that even when you're reflecting, you've, you've said, "We're going back. We're saying, 'How could this be better or different? How is it going to regenerate itself?'" And that's something that I've been just so passionate about lately, regenerative education.

That's where the world is going. That community-based regenerative model I also think if we're talking Hattie's research, there are different levels of understanding with the surface, deep, and conceptual. This work is hitting that depth, that conceptual understanding for our students that is transformative, where if you do look at statistics, many questions asked in classrooms are surface level, closed questions. This work is going to defy [00:20:00] AI as far as I'm concerned. I'm glad you said that... Rachael. It is human based, and this is what we need our kids to practice while they are in school before- Yes ... they go out into the world. So that's why I just, as every page I turned, I was getting more and more, like, passionate and excited of what you're offering.

So thank you for capturing it in this beautiful book. I can't wait. I'm in, uh, middle schools this week, high schools the next two weeks after that. I cannot wait to bring your book with me because- Thanks ... a lot, I'm in New York State, and a lot of the work that the state is moving to is the idea of a Portrait of a Graduate and portfolio-based assessment. Mm. Beautiful. So offering kids-- It, it just fits so beautifully in, so I can't wait to have your book in hand. I, I want to end part two thinking about a call to action, and you gave me permission. I wanted to read, um, one of my favorite pages, if you can have a favorite page. Um, it is page 143 in your book, and there's [00:21:00] a paragraph, it's chapter eight, Reflect and Redefine: Growing Our Capacity for Collective Leadership, 'cause that's where I think it's at.

And you said I could read this, so thank you. Um, "The Co-Create framework seeks to activate student voice while expanding how students and schools understand leadership. Imagine the outcome if young people leave school believing they have a voice and a responsibility to use it, and expecting all leaders to contribute to a collaborative, co-created, supportive culture. To reach that vision, reflection and processing must take a central role in our leadership work." 

So when I read that, Rachael, I just keep thinking every minute of the day cannot be used for talking at kids for lecture. It is so important that our school days are designed with student voice being at the [00:22:00] center. Teacher as facilitator. You give so many moves. So if I want to start this work on Monday, what is the one or the beginning step you would recommend that I could do to get this work off the ground with my students? 

Rachael: I believe that there is such power in asking kids to reflect on is school working for them in a really healthy, constructive way. And I think that can happen with any lesson you're teaching. You can ask students: What about this lesson worked for your learning, and where was, where did you find barriers for your learning? And you're modeling as an educator right there that I didn't teach perfectly today, and I know I have opportunity to learn and to grow, and your perspective is really important.

But it's also sneakily asking them to [00:23:00] take some responsibility because they can't just say, "I was bored. I didn't do it." They're actually thinking about their participation in the lesson, where it didn't work for them, some metacognition about how it could be better, and then modeling that you took all that feedback. You know, I would, I would value having it written anonymously so they're not put on the spot, and coming back and saying, "I took your feedback and this is how I could see my lesson done a little differently." And then make a shift in that lesson, and then help them apply that to: What about in your own work?

What could you have done differently? And this is the beginning of a co-creation process so that they learn to trust you, that when you say to them, "What's not working at school?" you're actually interested in changing it for them. And then you can invite them into the student leadership. But wherever you are in the school year, it is always possible [00:24:00] to ask students to begin to analyze the systems that are in schools and to invite them into improving them.

Olivia: We will end part two right there. Rachael, thank you for this beautiful book. Thank you for your work and your-- I, I love in the intro that, that unshakable conviction that everyone has something meaningful to contribute, and that is what you believe, and you're just, you're a powerhouse. You're a force to be reckoned with on behalf of kids, so thank you.

Rachael: Thank you, Olivia. What a pleasure. 

Olivia: Yeah. Take care.

That is a wrap on part two of my conversation with Rachael Thrash. Here are three of my key takeaways. First, the students most overlooked in leadership, the shy, the new, the multilingual, the ones who learn differently, often have the most to offer when we simply create a genuine invitation. [00:25:00] Second, the actionable participatory model works because it moves students from imagining a better school to actually designing, building, and reflecting on it alongside trusted adults.

Third This work isn't just good pedagogy. It's preparation for a world that demands collaboration, community thinking, and the kind of problem-solving that AI cannot replicate. Again, grab Rachael's book, Let the Learners Lead, and start small this week. Ask your students what worked in today's lesson and what didn't. That one move done consistently is where co-creation begins. 

Coming up next week on Schoolutions, Tan Huynh and Beth Skelton are on a mission to reach the students everyone else assumes are fine. Experienced multilinguals who can chat in the hallway but still may not be able to write a formal essay with ease. Tune in for the personal stories, the framework, and the moves that offer these students the instruction they've [00:26:00] always deserved. 

Schoolutions podcast is created, produced, and edited by me, Olivia Wahl. Thank you always to my older son, Ben, who created the music playing in the background. You can follow and listen to Schoolutions wherever you get your podcasts or subscribe to never miss an episode and watch on YouTube. Thank you to my guest, Rachael Thrash, for reminding us that co-creation is not a strategy you layer on to school culture. It's the foundation that unlocks belonging, confidence, and the deeply human skills that no AI can replicate. Reach out to me at OliviaWahl.com to book a coaching session. I would love to be a thought partner to help you cultivate curious learners who advocate for what they believe in.

Tune in every Monday and Friday for part one and part two of my guest conversations with the best evidence-based, classroom-ready strategies that you can apply right away to better the lives of the children in your care. Your 60-second [00:27:00] bite-sized piece of learning from our conversation will be waiting for you on Wednesdays to share. Take care, and thank you for forever getting better with me. See you next week.