Student Led Conferences (SLC): December 22 and 23

In preparation for SLC, Wednesday December 16th is the LAST DAY OF CLASSES for Trimester 1. On December 17, 18 and 21, students will attend advisory from 10 - 11 am. During those days, students will have meetings with their advisors to prepare for their SLC. Parents and guardians should be sure to have scheduled an SLC for December 22 or 23, which they will attend along with their child. There are NO scheduled classes or clubs from December 17 to 23.

If you are a parent or guardian and you have not yet scheduled your SLC, please reach out to your child’s advisor by email to set that up. Staff emails are all available on the Staff Directory page.

Pete’s letter about SLC:

Over the next 2 weeks your children will be preparing for Student Led Conferences which are going to take the place of the typical parent-teacher conferences that we conducted for the past many years. This round of conferences will build on the successes we experienced in the spring when conferences were conducted by each student’s advisor who served as the liaison between a child’s teacher and their family. This year, however, students will take the lead and talk through their academic experiences this fall in greater detail. This process has been designed to emphasize each student’s thinking; to raise the child’s voice as the one that matters most.

This week in advisory students are beginning to reflect on their schoolwork over the past 3 months, including SIP. They are writing about moments that made them feel proud, and those that might indicate the need for additional focus and effort. Students will discuss the important details from the fall with their advisors as part of their preparation for their conference. On each grade level, the advisors have modified a conference preparation organizer which you can preview by clicking on this link: SLC Prep Graphic Organizer. Our approach to this round of conferences is to balance highlighting student academic achievements with discussions of other things our students can feel proud of or wish to elevate.

You will soon receive an invitation from your child’s advisor to sign up for a time slot using Calendly. You do not need an account with Calendly to sign up. Conferences will last for approximately 15-20 minutes but we have woven some flexibility into the schedule if there are areas of focus that require attention.

On behalf of the staff of the Institute for Collaborative Education, I hope that you will enjoy learning more about your child’s experience in their classes and celebrate the many things they have to be proud of during this challenging and unprecedented semester of their lives in school.

Participate in 12G Literature Panels: Wednesday December 16

Next week, the Humanities department will be conducting the first of TWO 12G Literature Panels for our amazing seniors who have been working on their graduation requirement for literature. The seniors will be presenting and defending the critical and creative work they did in analyzing the novels, plays, etc. that they have been reading and writing about for over five months.

Sitting on panels is a great opportunity to see the kind of critical reading, writing, and creative work our seniors have been doing in literature. Your participation on the panels will also be a big help to the Humanities department. We feel it is important to involve the I.C.E. parents in the panels, giving ALL "I.C.E. family" members an opportunity to observe the seniors as they share their work.

Involving the I.C.E. community beyond just the staff and students is what makes these panels so special.

The dates of these panels are:

Wednesday, December 16th

Wednesday, January 13th

On EACH of these days, panels happen TWICE, from 1 to 2:15 AND 2:20 to 3:35. While of course it would be wonderful if you are able to volunteer for both panel days AND to sit in on both panel sessions each of those days, we understand this may be very difficult.  So we are hoping that you may be able to volunteer to sit in on panels for at least one of the scheduled days (or, even one panel on one of the scheduled days).

If you are interested and able to participate in this wonderfully enriching activity, please fill out THIS google form.

Once you fill in the form, we will fill you in on all the details for how the panel will work – and we will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you for your help,

JeffreyJuna-WillaKatie H.