SLCs and Passage

Claim: GCCS students reflect upon their individual and classroom community's social and emotional growth using the school’s Character Traits in order to contribute to a community of ethical people.

Students grow across grade levels in their ability to reflect on their character in a variety of ways and share that insight with their families. All students, K-6, take part in one student led conference per year as well as one Passage Presentation in the spring of their sixth grade year. These experiences offer students an opportunity to individually reflect on their growth as ethical people in order to share that insight with their families. During SLCs, students choose a character trait to discuss and show evidence of growth. Students also reflect on these traits during weekly reflections, goal-setting times throughout the year, and on-demand assessments.

Sixth Grade Passage at GCCS is intended as a reflective and celebratory rite of passage for our students as they transition from elementary to middle school. The preparation for Passage will provide students ample opportunity to reflect on their growth academically, emotionally, and socially during their years at GCCS. Students prepare a presentation and share this body of work with a panel of invited guests, including present and past teachers, members of the GCCS Administration Team, GCCS Board of Trustee members, community leaders and experts, family members, and fellow students. Passage was given a "re-boot" in the last two years to be more in line with the school's mission and EL Education's three dimensions of student achievement.

The oral presentation consists of four parts:

• Metaphor: Students create a metaphor that reflects their years at GCCS. This metaphor should hold personal significance to the student and ideally is woven throughout their presentation script.

• Mission Ready: Students curate work from their portfolios and discuss how they have become reflective questioners, articulate communicators, critical thinkers, and skilled problem solvers during their time at GCCS.

• High Quality Work: Students select and celebrate a piece of work that represents personal best, high-quality student work. The work sample should demonstrate complexity, craftsmanship, and authenticity and students are expected to explain the process they went through to make this high quality work.

• Q&A: The presentation concludes with a series of questions asked of the student by panel members that illicit further reflection around character and academic growth.