Written by On the day of our school’s Student Led Conferences I am left reflecting on reflecting – something I have been doing a lot with Cohort21. As my students lead their parents through 10 different stations, discussing their learning, the obstacles they’ve faced along the way and the successes they have achieved, I am feeling pretty proud of all the hard work we have done this year.
I am hearing the language that I carefully and constantly model in class being used when a 7 year-old boy is sharing the writers process he worked through months before. I am witnessing the boys deftly answer any questions being asked of them by their interested parents. I am hearing them ask for help when they are faced with something that they don’t know. They are thinking about their thinking and reflecting with their parents on their learning this year and their goals going forward. WOW.
As impressed as I am at this moment, I know that we have work to do still.
After sharing my goal and my action plan with members of Cohort 21 I was inspired to find time in our already packed schedule to start doing Community Circles. I would love to say I get to this every day of the week, but the reality is I am feeling like a huge success if we have 2 community circle meetings a week. Progress is progress, right?
By implementing community circles at the end of our day, we have been growing our comfort and vocabulary around reflecting. The boys excitedly share their thoughts, feelings and goals with their peers. We have worked hard to create a learning environment that supports those who are not there ‘yet’. We have spoken about mind-set, action and failure. The boys show they are comfortable with taking risks and we applaud those who try, stumble, succeed and feel defeated.
@cgordon It feels so good to move the ball forward just a few steps sometimes. I think the hardest part of getting something new off the ground is setting the bar for the “first” success a little to high. As you noted just getting to the community circles twice a week was a huge win and just as valuable as if you had done it every day. You could argue that by only doing it twice a week you give yourself some processing time to reflect on how it is all going and improve things each time. Well done! I look forward to hearing more next Friday.
@cgordon Oh and BTW could you submit your answers to this survey – https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScspYsVZKvxh5z4cFCGwBoIgyJ4imhx6BoxBqLWj5f_i52hmA/viewform by Monday. It should only take a few minutes.
much thanks!
J
Yes! What a great way to integrate your experience into practice. Having community time is a great way to gain insight into what the student needs are. In this way, you can effectively challenge and support them as needed. I’m looking forward to seeing you at Havergal next week!