Middle School has had two productive days of Student-Led Conferences. Around the school, students presented on their learning progress through the year, describing their celebrations and challenges in each class, along with other areas like extra-curricular activities, outdoor education, and their Habits and Attitudes for Learning. We have received wonderful feedback from parents and teachers alike, sharing how meaningful it is to see students own their learning, reflect on their successes and challenges, and set goals for improvement moving forward.
Here are some quotes we have received in the past couple of days:
“I love SLC presentations. I learn so much more about my students.” – MS Advisor
“We were very happy to hear about —-‘s achievements, as well as her ability to know the areas needed for improvement. —- is eager to learn new things. And we’re very happy that she has a plan to work on to achieve more step by step. Great job —-!” – MS Parent
“I love that it pushes students to analyze and reflect upon their learning, strengths, and areas for improvement. Developing that thought process will go a long way toward their learning in school and becoming happy and productive members of society in general.” – MS Parent
“I love this format. It’s really great to see my child be able to reflect and share his learning. He did such a great job verbally presenting. Great job —!” – MS Parent
We also received feedback about ways to improve our students’ presentations and make adjustments to the process. We appreciate this feedback and will consider it as we move into the new school year.
Individual Teacher Feedback
Parents also asked about getting direct individual feedback from teachers about how their child is doing. For this, we remind parents that individual narrative comments for each student, by each teacher, were written and shared on PowerSchool a few weeks ago. Teachers also worked with students in their classes, as they prepared the slides, offering input, suggestions, and feedback, to ensure their own thinking aligned with what the student was sharing.
Thank you to all the parents who came into school to attend their child’s Student-Led Conference. There is real power in both the reflection process and the act of presenting to an important audience. Our experience shows us that doing this in the school environment furthers the student’s ownership of their learning. In the classroom environment, the student is the “host”, which feels different when students are at home where parents are “in charge.” All of these factors contribute to a rich learning exercise for students and a great chance to share that with parents.