by Dennis Harter, MS Principal
dennish@isb.ac.th
Last week we shared our excitement about hosting Student-led Conferences (SLC) on March 11 & 12. Following the February break, we will send out communication about signing up for your 30-minute session with your child, hosted by your child’s advisor.
We will be hosting a parent webinar through Zoom to share some examples and talk through our reasoning for this change. The webinar will be at 8:30 AM on February 18th. Please register at this link.
In the meantime, here are some answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Student-led Conferences.
Why would you have the student lead the conferences with parents about their learning?
At ISB, we identify becoming a passionate, reflective learner as fundamental to our Mission. Learners who reflect and articulate about their growth, their struggles, their successes, and their goals are empowered and more likely to be successful. They know themselves as learners and connect better with the learning itself.
How will we know how our child is doing if we don’t speak with the teacher?
Teachers are heavily involved with the reflection process, providing students with input and feedback throughout. In addition to the feedback that students normally receive on a piece of work, teachers are working with students during class time to ensure their reflections accurately capture their progress. When the student takes parents through their learning portfolio at the SLC, parents see how their child has internalized the feedback from teachers.
My child can talk with me at home, why do we come to school for a Student-led Conference?
Of course, children and parents can talk about their learning at home and many do. We have found that the school environment provides just the right combination of formality and connection to learning to focus the conversation and bring out the best in students. Students are the leaders of their learning story and at school, the environment supports that feeling. Last year, with Virtual School, we had students do their SLC at home and while we received a lot of positive feedback about them, we know that they would benefit from a school setting. Also, the Advisor who serves as a host can support your child and help them as needed.
What if we can’t attend as parents, does my child still do the SLC?
Yes. SLCs are more than a chance to report out on learning, they are a learning process in and of themselves. All students engage in the reflection process, prepare their portfolio of work, and consider themselves as learners. If it cannot be done with a parent, we will make arrangements for a student to present to a counselor or administrator after school one day.
What about grades?
PowerSchool will still be kept up to date as we near conference dates. Parents will be able to see assignment grades and HAL at the midpoint of the semester. Narrative feedback through comments will still be provided in late April. The powerful thing about SLCs is that students are able to talk to you about why they earned particular grades.
Hopefully these answers to frequently asked questions are helpful in understanding this important shift. Please join the webinar if you want to learn more.