Student Led Conferences

Every year we host our student-led conferences in June of the school year. These conferences are designed to place the responsibility on the student to articulate, demonstrate and communicate their learning with her/his parents. Using the digital portfolio, students share their learning using work samples as evidence and as a focus for the conversation. Each work sample includes a reflection where the students thinks about their effort and any challenges that they encountered. The conversations that take place between the student and her/his parents are unique, and go far beyond the surface level response a parent generally gets when they ask their child, "so how was school today?" In preparation for the conference, students work in their advisory class to organize their work and role-play what they want to say to their parents. A critical component of the conference is the opportunity for the student to reflect on who they are as a learner and to think about their thinking - what work/thought was behind a particular assignment? Being able to communicate this, in a safe environment with their family, promotes self-confidence and allows the student to take themselves seriously as a learner.