the session at a glance
part 1 · codestorming
About 20 minutes. Students warm up by describing images and a real student quote in as many words as possible, then notice the kinds of words and ideas they used. Themes are conclusions we draw from groups of images, texts, and stories.
part 2 · code theming
About 30 minutes. Groups take on roles, sort image cards into themes, remix them into different themes, and break big themes into subthemes. A short discussion covers quantitative versus qualitative research.
part 3 · your school analysis
An hour or more. Groups sort real quote cards from their school, merge their categories with other groups, build a class theme wall, label subthemes, and turn what they found into recommendations.
what you'll need
- The Student Empathy Interview Analysis slidedeck, which carries the whole session. It's still in progress, so run the session from this guide for now. Until it's ready, project the prompts below or write them on the board.
- Image cards for part 2: print the image sort cards (36 pictures of cats, three sheets) and cut them apart, one deck per group. Cats are the point. Nobody has a stake in how they get sorted, so groups argue about the method instead of the subject.
- Quote cards for part 3: printed cards with one student quote each, or a Polaris Sensemaking board seeded from your report.
- Tear sheets for recording themes, markers, sticky notes, and blank theme posters for the wall.
- About 2 to 2.5 hours. It doesn't have to be one sitting: a Sensemaking board can pause and resume, so part 3 can land on a second meeting.
before the session
choose your data
- Pick quotes from your own school's listening sessions. Students analyzing their peers' words is the whole exercise.
- Aim for 25 to 40 quotes per team: enough to find patterns, not so many that reading takes the whole block.
- Mix positive and challenging quotes. A set that's all complaints (or all sunshine) produces themes nobody trusts.
- Names are already removed in Polaris transcripts and reports, so anything you pull from them is safe to hand to students.
add student facilitators in polaris
- From the teacher dashboard, open Your Organization, which takes you to the Roster.
- Flip the Facilitator switch on a student's row. Select several rows to grant it in bulk.
- A student has to have signed in to Polaris at least once before the switch is available.
- Facilitator students get a Facilitator tools button on their dashboard, which is where they host Sensemaking boards.
plan facilitator access ahead of time
- Everyone joining a Sensemaking board needs facilitator access, not just the student hosting it. The board deals cards from your report, so Polaris checks every person at the door. Flip the switch for the whole group on the Roster before the session starts.
- Facilitator access also lets a student open your school's full published report, including quote audio. For a co-analysis session that's usually the point, but grant it thoughtfully, and remove it after if it was only for the day.
run the session
part 1 · codestorming
- Describe image A. Show an image and ask: what words, phrases, or themes would you use to describe this? Write as many as possible.
- Debrief. What are the different ways we described it? What types of words and ideas did we use?
- Repeat with image B, then with a real student quote. Describing a quote feels different from describing a picture, and that difference is the point.
- Land the idea. Themes are conclusions we draw from groups of images, texts, and stories. The same image can produce different themes from different groups, and neither is wrong.
part 2 · code theming
Assign the group roles first: organizer (keeps resources organized), liaison (talks with educators and other groups), accountability partner (keeps everyone on task), skeptic (asks "should we do it that way?"), and recorder (time and the tear sheet). Then:
- Sort. Open the package of image cards, lay them all out, and sort them into three categories (themes).
- Remix. Re-sort the same cards into three completely different themes.
- Debrief the hard ones. The deck hides a dog in a cat costume, a ferret, a cat drawn in latte foam, a wooden cat statue, and several big cats. Ask where those went and whether the group argued. Deciding the foam cat isn't a cat is exactly what defining a code is, and another group deciding the opposite is not wrong. Have them write down the rule they used.
- Subthemes. Find categories within each theme. Each subtheme should hold at least two or three images.
- Record. Write themes and subthemes on the tear sheet.
- Zoom out. Quantitative research counts (rate this song out of 5); qualitative research describes (what words describe this song?). Talk through when each is useful. Using both is mixed methods.
part 3 · your school analysis
- Sort the quote cards. These are actual quotes from classmates. Lay them out and sort into as many categories as the group wants, with multiple quotes in each.
- Remind them what the interviews asked: how would you describe school, what are empowering and disempowering learning experiences you've had, and what's one thing you'd change.
- Pair with another group. Combine similar categories. Adjust or remove ones where nothing goes together.
- Tune. A small theme gets walked to another group that can absorb it. A massive theme gets split, or the group redoes its themes.
- Build the theme wall. Groups stack their themes into piles and bring them to theme stations around the room, writing new theme posters where needed. Send people toward stations without a crowd.
- Consider the wall. Too big? Break it down. Too small? Combine. Missing something? Add it.
- Label subthemes on the wall with markers.
- Reflect. Walk the room. What recommendations would you make to the school based on the findings? Add extra ideas on sticky notes.
run it in polaris
If your school uses Polaris, the Sensemaking activity replaces printed quote cards with a live shared board, dealt from the student voices in your report.
- 1 Host the board. A facilitator student opens Facilitator tools → Sensemaking → Start new room, picks the report, and shares the room code. Teachers can host from the Impact area instead.
- 2 Everyone joins at polariseducation.ai/join with the code. Remember: each joiner needs facilitator access granted on the Roster first.
- 3 Work the board. Draw quote cards from the shared deck into your hand, play them onto the table, then drag and stack them into groupings. Label the groups with sticky notes and sections, and mark the board up together.
- 4 Pause and resume. There's no timer. The host can pause the board at the end of a class period and pick it back up at the next meeting with a fresh code.
After the analysis, educators can run Where Should We Start? from the same Impact area: build action steps from the themes students found, attach supporting quotes, and dot-vote on where to begin.
turn themes into next steps
the commitment template
End the session by having the adults in the room fill this in for at least one theme, out loud:
"We heard [theme]. We will [specific action] by [date]. [Name] owns it. We'll know it worked when [evidence students would notice]."
prompts for the adults in the room
"Which theme matches what you already suspected? Which one surprised you?" "What's one thing here we could change this semester without asking anyone's permission?" "What would we need to hear more about before acting?" "How will we tell students what we did with their words?"