Uncategorized

*Disclaimer: I have not yet edited this or fully read it!*

HMW Question: How might we create intentional coaching that helps student leaders understand how their character traits and their values influence their effectiveness and impact?

Vision

By April 2026, you will launch and begin a structured coaching process with Grade 7 students that combines:

• Character discovery through peer feedback and self-reflection
• Real scenario-based learning drawn from Grade 8 leader experiences
• Peer coaching circles where students practice applying their character awareness
• Structured workshops that build self-awareness and community impact understanding

Actionable Steps: December 2025 – April 2026

• Phase 1: Research & Design (December 2025 – January 2026)
  • Gather Grade 8 Leader Insights: Conduct interviews or surveys with current Grade 8 leaders asking: “What do you wish you’d known about how your character traits impact others?” and “What scenarios did you face where your character was tested?”
  • Synthesize Real Scenarios: Compile 5-8 anonymized, real scenarios from Grade 8 feedback that illustrate character-impact moments (e.g., decisiveness without listening, inclusivity vs. loyalty conflicts)
  • Design Character Discovery Tool: Create a peer feedback or self-reflection instrument that helps Grade 7s identify their key character traits without being prescriptive
  • Map Peer Coaching Structure: Outline how peer coaching circles will function—frequency, group size, facilitation approach, and how they connect to workshop learning
• Phase 2: Prototype & Test (February – March 2026)
  • Run a Pilot Workshop: Test your character discovery process and scenario-based learning with a small group of Grade 7s (8-12 students). Observe what resonates and what confuses them.
  • Facilitate Pilot Peer Coaching Circles: Run 2-3 peer coaching sessions with the pilot group. Notice: Do they apply character awareness? Do they support each other authentically? What questions emerge?
  • Gather Feedback: Debrief with pilot participants and Grade 8 mentors. What worked? What needs adjustment?
  • Refine Your Materials: Based on pilot feedback, revise scenarios, discovery tools, and coaching circle protocols
• Phase 3: Launch (April 2026)
  • Begin Full Program with Grade 7s: Launch the coaching process with your Grade 7 cohort heading into Grade 8
  • Facilitate Initial Workshops: Run the character discovery and scenario-based workshops with all participants
  • Establish Peer Coaching Circles: Begin regular peer coaching sessions
  • Monitor & Iterate: Collect ongoing feedback and be ready to adjust based on what you’re learning in real-time

Key Experiments to Test (Dec 2025 – March 2026)

• Experiment 1: Does peer-generated character feedback create more ownership than self-assessment alone?
• Experiment 2: Do real scenarios from Grade 8 leaders make character-impact connections more concrete than hypothetical examples
• Experiment 3: What peer coaching structure (size, frequency, facilitation style) generates the most authentic reflection and growth?

Quick Wins (Start Now – December 2025)

• Schedule interviews with 3-5 Grade 8 leaders this week to begin gathering their insights
• Sketch out what your ideal peer coaching circle looks like (who, when, how often, what happens)
• Identify 1-2 teachers or mentors who might co-facilitate or support this work

Remember

You have 5 months to design, prototype, and refine before launch. Your pilot in February-March will teach you more than any planning session. Stay curious about what Grade 7s actually need, and let their feedback shape your approach. By April, you’ll be ready to begin this transformative work with your students.

Last year, I took on the role of Student Leadership Coordinator. I came to Cohort 21 as a participant with the intention of developing an already existing student leadership program. I worked through the process and landed on the question: How might we leverage student engagement and passion by creating a progressive leadership pathway that strengthens students’ sense of purpose and belonging within their community?

This year, I’m returning to Cohort 21 as a coach. not because I answered my question, but to try out mentoring and continue to develop the leadership program at my school.

Updates on My Original Question

I created leadership roles for students in junior grades. This school year, there was so much interest in pursuing leadership roles! Initially, I viewed this as a problem. I worried that I would not be able to include all students who were interested.

However, this level of student interest is actually evidence of exactly what I was looking for: engagement and passion. The challenge isn’t managing their interest or limiting how many students can participate in something; it’s creating enough meaningful pathways to honour this passion and desire to contribute to a community.

While I have seen students in grades 5 & 6 take on opportunities, I will not actually be able to have an answer to my question this school year. My question requires longitudinal tracking so I wonder what systems I could develop in order to gather data on the program.

Recently, I brought students to Thrive Student Leaders Conference. While the grade 8 students were incredibly excited and many of them felt that they had taken away meaningful learning, I felt this way too. I am currently in the process of overhauling our leadership training for grade 8s.

Participant to Coach

My transition from Cohort 21 participant to coach mirrors this shift in perspective. I chose coaching not because I felt ready to lead, but because I wanted to try out mentoring and develop my skills before considering leadership as a career pathway. Just as I’m working to create space for every student who wants a leadership role, I’m discovering what kinds of support I need to grow into my own leadership potential. I’m learning that leadership isn’t about having all the answers — it’s about holding space for the right questions and trusting that the pathways will emerge.

How might we leverage student engagement and passion by creating a progressive leadership pathway that strengthens students’ sense of purpose and belonging within their community?

My plan is not yet fully in action. Because grade 7 is an entry year at our school, my plan has two parts: sorting grade 8s into leadership roles and sorting 6-7s into leadership roles. However, I have introduced some new roles and rethought some roles as a result of my work and conversations through Cohort.

Students now have the opportunity to be part of the Athletics Team, rather than what we had called Intramural Captains. Athletics Team members are grade 8 students who are either Intramurals Leaders or Assistant Coaches. Assistant Coaches will support U12 and development teams and their teacher coaches. The students were really excited about this new role and we had many applicants!

I have also only selected one House Leader per house, whereas there had previously been two. The intention behind this is to select a grade 6 in the new school year, who acts as an “Assistant” House Leader (I have yet to think of the title that I want to go with: Assistant, House Leader In-Training…). Their role will be one of learning and shadowing as well as leadership to develop their own skills to be a House Leader or any other leadership role in the future.

Since beginning Cohort, we have also introduced the role of Lunch Supervisors which will carry over to next year. Lunch Supervisors are junior students who visit primary students at lunch to build relationships and support clean up and getting ready to go out for recess. The design of all of these roles has been to make leadership more accessible as well as provide more scaffolded opportunities to build skills. Each role now has some sort of mentorship opportunity or is an opportunity that connects to a future role with greater responsibility. The connections are not so structured as skills are transferable; however, there are potential connections that I have and will share with students to gather interest.

We have a cohort of 44 grade 7s. Of these students, 33 now hold leadership roles. Students who choose to become leaders go through leadership training once a week in May/June. Leadership training started yesterday and I felt a buzz of excitement through their questions and the thoughts they shared in discussions. Athletics Leaders were curious about what sports they could coach, Assembly Leaders were bouncing with excitement thinking about hosting Grade 8 Graduation, and the Community Engagement Team was looking forward to joining the current leaders on a trip to the food bank. I would not describe it as surprising, rather, it was an experience that supported my understanding that young people enjoy taking on responsibility, and they are motivated to do so in an environment that cultivates that.

I still have many questions for myself about implementing some of these new roles, in particular, Assistant Coaches because they are also athletes. The combination of playing your sport and coaching means potentially missing a lot of school. As well, I am sure that a few obstacles will present themselves when roles that have been created or moved to junior grades need to be implemented. However, so far, the planning is going as planned.

I left the first face-to-face session with a sense of purpose that guided the development of my question in our second face-to-face session. While Montcrest’s student leadership program is quite established after 12 years running in this format, one of my intentions is to boost engagement in leadership in the junior years so that we can improve our students’ sense of responsibility to a community and continue to develop their sense of self through leadership opportunities. After reflection and support from the Uplift Collective, I finalized my question: How might we leverage student engagement and passion by creating a progressive leadership pathway that strengthens students’ sense of purpose and belonging within their community? Since then, I have begun actioning my steps by researching elementary schools who have a leadership program or offer leadership opportunities in order to connect with people who have similar roles to mine or whose roles encompass coordinating these programs.

Through discussions I have had at in-person sessions, I am also thinking about how I can improve my oversight of our leadership program. Recently, I accompanied a few of our grade 8s who hold various leadership roles to the CIS Thrive Student Leadership Conference. After participating in workshops led by high school students, our grade 8s left the conference feeling invigorated and wanting to try make some changes at our school. As a result, I am hoping to leverage their interest and ideas to connect more with them and develop a smaller group of students who hold responsibility for bringing forward new ideas and keeping our student leaders more connected with each other so that we can develop deeper and more interesting leadership experiences and projects.

Welcome to Cohort 21 Cohort 21.

The mission of this professional development initiative is to build a community of passionate CIS Ontario educators who are interested in refining and redesigning their practice through the exploration of new pedagogies, ideas and learning tools.