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How to Share the Learner Profile with Students

Tags

Social-Emotional Learning All Ages Strategy

Skills

Self-regulation

How to Share the Learner Profile with Students

If your students will see all or part of their Mindprint Profile

What To Share

  1. How and to what extent you share the Learner Profile with your students will be dependent on age, maturity level, and other social-emotional considerations. Given how empowering yet sensitive this information can be, plan on individual conference time with each student.
  2. Ages 8 - 11, or older struggling learners: Provide a summary visual and discuss it. Consider writing down the student's two strongest skills and one or two areas for support. It is important to visually reinforce what you say and provide the student with a tangible document to reflect upon following the discussion.
  3. Ages 11 - 13, or older struggling learners: Share the Summary Graphic. Print out the summary green, blue, purple chart. You might decide not to include the footnotes with percentiles.
  4. Ages 13+: Share the entire report. Provide students time to read the report independently before meeting. Encourage them to jot down thoughts and questions as they read.

Discussion Points

  1. Encourage but don't require students to speak first. In general, do your best to let them talk while you listen. Let them explain why they think this report does or does not describe them. Maybe it was an off day. Or maybe it's an opportunity for you to help improve their self-awareness. Maybe you have less confident students who do not appreciate their strengths. Or maybe you have overconfident students and this can be a good way to talk about areas where there is room for improvement. Use the report as a starting point for discussion and self-awareness development, not as a report card.
  2. Always start with stronger skills. Think of concrete examples of when the skill has played a role in the student's success in class, in social situations, or on a team.
  3. Keep in mind that skills in the expected range are good skills. Although these might not be the student's "go-to" skills, these skills can provide a solid foundation for successful learning. Be sensitive that top-performing students might feel that all their skills should be strengths. This is never true. No one has all strengths.
  4. Never tell students they are bad at a skill. Rather, discuss how the skill can contribute to difficulties at times. Talk openly about where that skill becomes important in and out of school and what strategies students can use if they struggle with the skill.
  5. If a child is reluctant to discuss the results, don't push. Although an open and honest discussion is important, consider when it is appropriate to postpone part of the discussion for another day.
  6. Consider openly discussing your own strengths and needs. This will further emphasize to the student that everyone has areas of strength and room for improvement. Talk about how you use your strengths and times when you struggled. Consider sharing stories of how you overcame some of your challenges and accomplished a goal.
  7. Print out the overview strategies for your student's strongest skill(s) and skill(s) to support. Overview strategies can also be found in your student's Personalized Learning Plan. Choose one at a time and share the overview with your student so he/she can understand the skill, how it plays a role in learning, and begin to learn a few strategies that can have the most impact in either nurturing the strength or supporting the need. Skill overviews for teachers can be found here.