Engaging Students in Our School Story: Walk and Talks
To understand how our school story focus has impacted students, the School Story Committee created a couple of key questions to use with students to generate conversations about learning.
Starting in Term 3, the principal and vice principal have engaged students in these conversations during unstructured time. This initiative will continue into the next school year, allowing us to gather comprehensive insights into student learning experiences.
Focus Questions for Walk and Talks
- What are you learning and why is that important?
- How might that learning connect to the Big Ideas?
Observations and Insights
So far, through these conversations, we have noticed the following:
- The Breadth of Reflections: Students provide a wide range of reflections on what they are learning and why it is important.
- Connection to Curriculum: Many students do not make a direct connection to the curriculum when asked about Big Ideas.
Next Steps
- Collecting Student Responses: The principal and vice principal are collecting student responses to share with staff. This will help us refine our approach and support students in making stronger connections between their learning and the Big Ideas.
- Tweaking the Questions: We are considering tweaking the wording of the questions to better guide students in connecting their learning to the curriculum.
Through these ongoing efforts, we aim to deepen our understanding of student learning and enhance the way we integrate the school story focus into everyday learning experiences. This continuous feedback loop will be essential in driving our school’s growth and ensuring that our students can articulate the importance and relevance of their learning.