Student-Led Conferences

Student-led-conferences (SLC) are at the heart of our shift to standards based teaching and learning. They provide students with more ownership of their learning experiences at Mohawk Trail Regional School.

Rather than reviewing letters/ numbers on a report or progress card, SLCs provide students with an opportunity to lead a 20 minute conversation about their progress towards proficiency in habits of learning and content-based skills.

Students will be using the assessment criterion that we shared earlier in the year.

They also enable students to reflect on their learning experiences to date and to set goals for the rest of the school year.

SLC are based in an advisory class, which is scheduled for each student every day. Advisory is a graduation requirement and student participation in SLC is expected and contributes to the pass/fail (credit/no-credit) for the course at the end of the year.

• SLCs are scheduled 2 x a year for grades 7-12.
• Students must participate in SLCs in order to pass the advisory class, in addition to attendance and participation.
• If a student is absent or unwell when their SLC is scheduled, they will make this up when they return.

Students will lead their own conference as it is their opportunity to talk about their experiences at Mohawk Trail Regional School as well as their goals for the rest of the year and beyond high school. We would like to invite care providers and families to be an integral part of every student’s journey and to try to be present at the SLC – in-person or virtually.

Your student’s advisory teacher will be present. As advisory groups meet every day for a year, advisory teachers have the best overall insight into habits of learning and academic progress of each of their students. They can help support students as they lead their conference.

• SLC #1: November 6 and 7
• SLC #2: March 19 and 20

If you are in-person, please arrive at school 10 minutes before your scheduled time and someone will bring you to the advisor’s room.

If you are meeting virtually, please log in to the Google Meet five minutes before your scheduled time.

SLC#1: A chance for the student to reflect on their strengths, growths and challenges in the first Trimester, to reflect on their discoveries as a learner during the year so far and to set some habits and academic goals for the second and third Trimesters. It is also an opportunity for students to talk through current post-high school plans.

SLC #2: A chance for the student to reflect on challenges and successes of the year, to set goals for the year ahead and to revisit and possibly change post-high school plans.

Students will be dismissed from school at 11:30 a.m. after lunch. They will take their bus home and then either come back in to school with a caregiver to complete their SLC in person or take part in their SLC virtually with their caregiver.

Students who return to the building with a caregiver for an SLC are expected to leave campus with their caregiver after their SLC has taken place.

Only students with SLC scheduled between noon and 12:30 p.m. will be permitted to wait in the lobby if their caregiver is coming into school. They will be expected to leave campus with them after their SLC has concluded.

From October 14, advisory teachers will start to reach out to caregivers and families by email to schedule conferences of 20 minutes per student (in-person or virtual) on the above days.

We will start to schedule appointments so care providers will be able to arrange times convenient for them during the SLC window.

Advisors can help care providers/families set up a subsequent appointment to meet with themselves or specific content teachers at a later date.

We understand that not everyone can be available in-person or virtually during the school day. If you are unable to attend, your student will still conference with their advisory teacher.

As we continue to develop our student-led conference process, we will look at ways to have early afternoon/early evening conferences as a way for all families and care providers to have the opportunity to be a part of the process.

Please reach out to your students’ advisor in the first instance. Your grade-level guidance counselor will also be able to help:

• Grades 7–8: truggeri@mtrsd.org
• Grades 9–12: ldessaro@mtrsd.org