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Use Student-Led Conferencing to Instill Ownership

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Social-Emotional Learning ^21st Century Skills All Ages Strategy

Use Student-Led Conferencing to Instill Ownership

If you want your student to take a more active role and responsibility in their school work

Teach It!

  1. Objective: Students will take responsibility for their work when they have the opportunity to speak first and set the agenda when conferring with teachers.
  2. Teacher Takeaways: Give students advance notice of when you will meet to discuss their work. Set expectations that they should come prepared to update you on progress, ask questions and share ideas or concerns. When you sit down, let the student start. If he is reluctant, allow for an extended pause. Students might be hesitant but will often jump in after a pause. If the student remains reluctant, lead with very open-ended questions, such as, "How is the project coming along?" or, "Where do you need my help?" At the end of the discussion, reflect on the conversation. If it didn't go as well as you would have liked, remind them of their role leading future discussions. If it did go well, reinforce what they did to take initiative.
  3. Considerations: When you begin this approach, you might want to come prepared to ask key questions that the student might not raise. Over time, you might decide only to address those issues the student raises.

Why It Works (the Science Of Learning)!

When adults tell students what to do or what they believe the student is thinking, they implicitly remove the responsibility from the student. As a result, many students learn to wait for an adult to tell them what to think or how to react rather than having their own point of view. As adults provide students greater responsibility, most students will appreciate the opportunity and their engagement and intrinsic motivation also should increase.