LIFE CALIFORNIA: I think I just value the fact that we are able to have a conversation, and we are able to be in charge of how we are communicating, the way we are learning, and the way we need support, the way we wish to be validated through SLCs

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ALEC PATTON: This is High Tech High Unboxed. I’m Alec Patton, and this is the final episode of our miniseries on Student Led Conferences. In this episode, Brent Spirnak interviews a student, Life California, about student led conferences– what makes them valuable, what a good one feels like, and her advice for students, teachers, and parents. Here’s Life California.

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LIFE CALIFORNIA: My name is Life California. I am a senior at High Tech High Chula Vista, and I’ve been here since 2011– second grade. I remember my previous school was a public school. And I think that they do something similar there, where there’s parent teacher conferences. I think that I was still familiar with the concept and then, of course, there was that part introduced where we would be leading it or even the fact that we would be involved in the conversation at all. So I’m sure I was eager for something new and different and excited to do it, but it wasn’t until later that I realized how much of a drastic change that would be for education and for schools as a whole to transition into.

I think I value the most how they replace the idea of showing our worth and our value as students and as learners through grades, because I think that grades are probably the smallest measure of who a student is, how they learn, all of that because there’s so much that goes into each individual students learning process. I think I just value the fact that we are able to have a conversation, and we are able to be in charge of how we are communicating, the way we are learning, and the way we need support, the way we wish to be validated through SLCs.

The best way to plan, either an SLC or a project whatever the case, especially for your new teacher is to talk to the students directly. And I mean, that one no– whatever the age is, I think that even if you would have asked second grade me what my ideal SLC would look like, you would receive the most honest and true outcome during the actual SLC. So if that looked like me singing a song about my first semester of school or drawing pictures to describe my different strengths and weaknesses, whatever, I would have said then and would say now.

I think that it would be very individual to each student. And I’ve seen in middle school teachers– Mr. Macalaguim, he’s the principal here now but when he was a seventh grade teacher and I was in middle school, he did his Student Led Conferences, where the students decided what they wanted to display at us, and I watched my friends go outside and make music videos, and make giant books to show off, and just all these different creative outlets. And so I think the best way to design any kind of curriculum or pedagogy for the students is to ask them directly, what would be the best fit for you or being able to display that.

But I think a more targeted outline would be to figure out essential questions– what do you want to know from your students, especially as a new teacher. What are the questions that you want answered that can help guide you to being a member of your classes learning.

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I heard a phrase before, the High Tech is for every student maybe not for every parent because it’s a very, very different concept– the entire school, and specifically thinking about student led conferences. I think that it’s just super important to remind parents specifically that you’re always taking an active role in your students learning career, educational career. And if you are not actively participating in it and going to the SLCs and all that kind of stuff, that is doing something in and or itself and can have a negative effect on the students, and of course, granted everyone has their own different circumstances. To learn about what your student is doing for half of their life at school and contribute with questions and genuine questions.

I think the best thing is to be completely honest and as vulnerable as you can within SLC because I’ve seen and done myself SLCs or just conversations with my teachers where I knew what to say, and I knew what– I had something else to work on, I needed to rush through it more in a general sense. But then, I had more plenty of SLCs and conversations with my teachers where I was directly telling them that I was struggling, or that I needed support here, or that I didn’t do this assignment, and maybe I didn’t even have an explanation for it. And those were by far better than any of the other ones where I just smiled and talked about how much fun I’m having in class because that’s where you really get to the good stuff. That’s where you actually make change in either the teacher’s point of view, or you, or your parents. And so I think just being very, very open and honest–

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I think that we can think a lot bigger in terms of SLCs. For one, just giving the student the choice of how they wish to present their learning, because that’s essentially what it is, a presentation or conversation of learning. And so I think maybe to a student that looks like it being outside of school looks like it being at a place that they feel really safe, maybe it’s after a baseball game that they played something like that, I think making it more personal in that way, making it more of something to show the students so that they can be more vulnerable as well that they are truly there and ready to hear, and listen, and contribute to them.

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ALEC PATTON: High Tech High Unboxed is hosted by me Alec Patton. Our theme music is by Brother Hershel. Huge thanks to Brent Spirnak and Life California for this episode. You can find a link to the rest of this series as well as other resources in the show notes. Thanks for listening.