Palmer Trinity School

BECOMING INDEPENDENT LEARNERS By Peter Tolmach, Head of Middle School FOR S T U DENTS, "Life in the Middle," as I like to call it, is a journey and not just a destination. On the path to becoming independent learners, students have heard me say that we want them to... TA K E OWNERS HIP OF THEIR LE A R NING WOR K AS ACTI V E PA RTICIPA NTS IN THEIR EDU CATION U NDERS TA ND TH AT FA ILU R E IS A N OPP ORT U NIT Y FOR GROW TH FOCUS ON THE PROCES S OF LE A R NING R ATHER TH A N J US T THE OU TCOME This past academic year, we provided a simple yet profound tool for students to take steps towards becoming the independent learners we envisioned by conducting Student-Led Conferences (SLCs). Many conversations happen at the school level among the adults. Parents, often dissatisfied by a student's performance, will schedule an appointment with the teacher. I sat in on many of those meetings and it finally dawned on me that in this particular case, all of the adults were figuring out what each of us were going to do but the one person with the most ability to make change was absent from the meeting. As more and more meetings took place, I more and more felt the need for change. The SLCs, conducted in lieu of mid- semester parent-teacher conferences, provided a venue for students to take pride in their work, highlight their achievements, and set an action plan for improvement for the remainder of the semester. Students met with their advisor and parent(s) to present a portfolio of goals and student artifacts that demonstrated their coursework. Far too often when students get a grade assignment, they look at their grade and then it goes into the pit of the backpack—never to be looked at again. By not looking at their work, they miss a tremendous opportunity in understanding what they did not know and they fail to make a plan about how to improve. With SLCs, they not only understand how they are performing in each of their classes, but part of the conversation is to discuss steps for improvement. From practicing this, students went from the non-participant or passive observer I had seen in many adult conversations to the leader of the conference. They had the opportunity to not only evaluate their performance but also reflect on their work on a regular basis. Structure for goal setting and attainment, as well as identifying what they did not understand about a subject, was given during Personal Learning Time throughout the semester. From the start of each semester, advisors instructed students about how to lead the conference, assisted them with collecting and preparing information to be shared with parents, and described how to explain any information to be shared. Students who become actively involved took ownership of their learning and became motivated to improve their academic performance. All over Middle School, we viewed the conference as one part of the process, rather than the destination or end point. I cannot stress enough that parents and students should focus more on the steps to improve, rather than the performance itself. We were definitely pleasantly surprised at how well the students took ownership and we will look to continue these growth experiences in the future. 01 01 02 02 03 04 03 04 palmertrinity.org 16 PERSPECTIVES

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