Statement+of+Purpose+and+Discussion+of+Importance

There has been a shift in educational thinking towards motivating and empowering students to self-direct their own learning. One way to help students do this is to guide them through the process of creating a reflective portfolio on their learning journey throughout the year, and to have them lead a conference with their parents with regards to their journey. The staff at Esterhazy High School has decided that they would like to slowly implement this process into their grade 6-12 school. This proposal will help guide them in their implementation process.

 Why do this?

1. Motivating and empowering students to guide their own learning: In our information-rich society today, students have access to knowledge at their fingertips, twenty-four hours a day. It is more important then ever for students to be self-initiated learners who set goals for their own learning. A student-led conference actively engages students in their own learning process. The teacher becomes a guide and facilitator, instead of a source of knowledge.



2. Metacognitive aspect of the curriculum: There has been strong research that backs up this importance of students becoming self-regulated learners. Saskatchewan has rapidly been implementing new curriculum for kindergarten through grade twelve, and the curriculum writers have recognized this importance, and included a metacognitive aspect to learning. Now we not only should include it, we must include it.

3. Encourage parental involvement: The role of the parent changes in the student-led conference model. The parent becomes actively involved in their child’s learning by helping their child identify strengths and learning goals, and working with their child and teachers to determine the next steps for learning. The parent can no longer be passive in the process. We have noticed a serious drop-off in attendance for our parent-teacher interviews at the high school level. This process will help students see that their parents are important to their learning.

“…this practice is the biggest breakthrough in communicating about student achievement in the last century. When students are well prepared over an extended period to tell the story of their own success (or lack thereof), they seem to experience a fundamental shift in their internal sense of responsibility for that success. The pride in accomplishment that students feel when they have positive story to tell and tell it well can be immensely motivational. The sense of personal responsibility that they feel when anticipating what it will be like to face the music of having to tell their story of poor achievement can also drive them to productive work.”

Assessment Specialist Rich Stiggins, 1999