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iLEAD Antelope Valley Culture: Learner-Led Conferences
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” — Plutarch
An important component of iLEAD Antelope Valley’s approach to project-based learning is empowering kids to take ownership of their work. One way we do that is through Learner-Led Conferences (LLCs).
Rather than a traditional “parent-teacher conference,” learner-led conferences allow students to take the lead and clearly demonstrate their learning and progress toward the goals they set during their Individualized Learning Plan (ILP) meetings at the beginning of the school year.
The LLC provides learners an opportunity to take an active role in reflecting on their academic progress. During the LLC, your learner will guide you on a journey through their growth during the school year, often using visual aids, giving insight into what they’ve been learning and working on.
Rather than a passive evaluation, the LLC is a presentation. All the information during an LLC about a learner’s work, progress, behavior, goals, and grades will come from the learner. During a Learner-Led Conference, parents/guardians also have the opportunity to schedule one-on-one meetings with the learner’s facilitator, if desired.
Beyond helping learners take more ownership of their studies and academic progress, Learner-Led Conferences also prepare kids for the future, equipping them for the workplace.
We believe parents play a crucial supportive role in this process. The focus of the LLC is on learning and growth. It is not simply a show-and-tell display of work. It is a time for families to “sit beside” their child, listen to and trust their child’s assessment of their own learning and ask good questions. Families may also work with the learner to set new goals based on the discussion during the LLC.
Exploring iLEAD Antelope Valley Culture: Habit 6 of the 7 Habits
Whether in the classroom, the workplace, relationships, or life in general, learning to compromise can be an important and helpful tool. However, what if there were a way to even further enrich and strengthen our communication and interactions?
That’s what’s behind Habit #6: Synergize.
Synergy brings into focus the old adage that “two heads are better than one.” Instead of merely striking a compromise, synergy allows us to creatively collaborate with others and find new solutions to problems. The essence of synergy is to value and respect our differences, build on strengths, and compensate for weaknesses.
In iLEAD Antelope Valley culture, when learners are incorporating this habit into their lives, they’re learning to work in groups and building and reinforcing a mind-set that says, “I get along well with others — even people who are different from me.” That lays the foundation to a long-lasting collaborative approach to life in a multicultural and interdependent world.
There are a couple of helpful steps to know if you’re in synergy:
- You have a change of heart.
- You feel new energy and excitement.
- You see things in a new way.
- You feel that the relationship has transformed.
- You end up with an idea or a result that’s better than what either of you started with.
One of the most important keys to synergizing is learning to trust, and that trust is built through communication.
Take, for example, these three levels of communication and the associated levels of trust:
- Defensive communication comes out of low-trust situations. It’s characterized by defensiveness, protectiveness, and legalistic language that prepares for the eventuality that things may go wrong, and that people may become resentful. Such communication isn’t effective and produces only win/lose or lose/lose outcomes.
- Respectful communication is characterized by honesty, authenticity, and respect that produces a low form of win/win, a compromise where one plus one equals one-and-a-half.
- Synergistic communication means that one plus one may equal 8, 16, or even 1,600. The situation produced is better than any originally proposed.
When we learn to see our individual differences as strengths instead of weaknesses, we are well on our way to learning to synergize.
Join us next week as we explore the seventh and final habit: Sharpen the Saw.
For more information on the 7 Habits and other leadership resources, click here to visit the FranklinCovey website.
Host an iLEAD Antelope Valley Zoom Fun Day!
Our next Among Us Game Day is March 19!
- K-3rd grade, 2:00-2:45 PM
- 4th-8th grade, 2:45-3:30 PM
Our next Craft Day is March 24 at 4 PM!
The links will be sent via ParentSquare.
Parents and caregivers, would you like to host a Zoom fun day?
If you’d like to join the fun of hosting, we are looking for volunteers to host cooking demonstrations, craft activities, dance parties, hangouts, trivia nights, movie nights, drawing tutorials, or talent shows.
For more information or to sign up, please email holly.vasconez@ileadav.org.
Connect with us!
Facebook at iLEAD Antelope Valley
For the latest information on events and activities, follow the iLEAD AV iSupport team at at @isupportileadav or email isupport@ileadavisupport.org.
iLEAD Antelope Valley Is Now Enrolling in Select Grades!
We have very limited enrollment available for immediate start. Complete our interest form today!
Do you know someone who would love iLEAD AV! Help us spread the word by sharing this article with a friend!
Women’s History Month Call to Action for iLEAD Antelope Valley 5th-6th Graders
By Michael Niehoff
Education Content Coordinator, iLEAD Schools
Today is International Women’s Day, a global celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It has also come to represent an international call to action to accelerate gender parity and women’s equality.
At iLEAD Antelope Valley, Dr. Shayna Markwongark’s 5th and 6th graders are heeding that call to action. According to Markwongark, learners are currently embarking on a women’s history project. They have to first identify a key woman in history, learn her story and then connect that story to their own lives and community. Their driving question is “How can we use the activism of women throughout history to influence or change our community today?”
“This is all about research and then activism,” Markwongark said. “Its purpose is to connect this information to their world and their futures.”
The project has two key components once teams of learners have identified their famous woman, done the research and learned the key aspects of her story. First, Markwongark said, students will work in teams to produce a three-to-five-minute podcast that tells both the women’s story and then showcases how it can connect to the learners’ school lives and communities.
The second major public product, according to Markwongark, will be a series of written proposals that the teams prepare for iLEAD Antelope Valley Director Dawn Roberson. This proposal will represent the students’ recommendations to iLEAD about continuing to empower women and raise awareness within the iLEAD community.
This correlation of history and activism is at the heart of this project, according to Markwongark. She said learning the history and even connecting it to the learners’ lives is important, but what’s more important is how this information is used going forward.
“This is about inspiration first, then action second,” Markwongark said. “It’s great to be inspired and full of hope, but what matters is how we individually contribute to improving the world.”
For Markwongark, the goal is to empower learners to learn the stories of others and then take action. “I’m going to continually ask them what they can do going forward — this year, this summer, next year and beyond,” she said.
School Director Dawn Roberson is excited about the facilitation and learning associated with a project aligned with global goals of empowering women to advocate for their rights as human beings. Roberson appreciates the depth of this project, which allows learners to see the complex world in which they live from a more empowered position.
“Even in a nation like ours, we see the need to continue to advocate for equal pay, equal rights and equal opportunities for women and for all,” Roberson said. “These 5th and 6th graders will have a better understanding of their role supporting all the women in their lives and advocacy on behalf of others.”
Although this project is just getting underway, Markwongark has high expectations for learner outcomes. In addition to the historical knowledge and content, there is a social-emotional component, along with some very important skills that Markwongark anticipates learners will experience. One of her goals is that after reflecting on the obstacles, challenges and successes of women in history, learners will have epiphanies about what they can do with their lives.
“My learners already have great qualities, but I am going to see a lot more empowered young men and women,” Markwongark said. “It doesn’t have to be global. It can be in their own communities and even their own families. It might be even just working with their brother or sister to be more sensitive, aware or inspired.”
High-quality project-based learning make way for learners to have a voice and agency, according to Markwongark.
“Hopefully, they become the disseminators of this information about what equality looks like,” she said. “Who knows? Maybe some of these learners will come up with ideas that iLEAD decides to implement. That’s the power of PBL.”
For more details and background on this project, see The Project Design Guide and the Project Information Flipbook.
Exploring iLEAD Antelope Valley Culture: Habit 5 of the 7 Habits
Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of articles on the pillars of iLEAD Antelope Valley’s educational philosophy and approach.
They say communication is key, but if we lack understanding in our relationships and interactions, how can we ever hope to truly, clearly communicate?
This week, we’re examining Habit #5: Seek First to Understand, Then Be Understood.
Many of us often seek first to be understood; we want to get our point across. But in doing so, it’s easy to ignore the other person completely, pretend that we’re listening, selectively hear certain parts of the conversation or attentively focus on only the words being said, but miss the meaning entirely. And so, what happens is that we filter everything through our life experiences and decide what someone means before they’ve even finished.
But is that the most effective communication?
Our listening tends to fall into four categories:
- Ignoring: We’re not listening at all.
- Pretending: We may say “uh-huh, right,” but we’re not really tuned in.
- Selective listening: We hear part of what the person says, but the rest of the time we’re distracted.
- Attentive listening: We’re actively listening, paying attention but not taking our listening to the ultimate level — empathetic listening.
Dr. Stephen Covey defined empathetic listening as listening with the intent to truly understand. To really understand, we need to get inside another person’s frame of reference, and see the world from their point of view. Our listening also needs to be driven by an authentic desire to understand the other person and to build trust with them.
As part of the iLEAD Antelope Valley educational model, we encourage learners to incorporate the following practices into their communication:
- I listen to other people’s ideas and feelings.
- I try to see things from their viewpoints.
- I listen to others without interrupting.
- I am confident in voicing my ideas.
- I look people in the eyes when talking.
When we listen with the intent to understand others, instead of simply with the intent to reply, we begin true communication and relationship-building. Seeking to understand takes kindness; seeking to be understood takes courage. Effectiveness in our communication thrives in a balance of the two.
Join us next week as we explore Habit #6: Synergize.
For more information on the 7 Habits and other leadership resources, click here to visit the FranklinCovey website.
Host an iLEAD Antelope Valley Zoom Fun Day!
Our next Zoom Fun Craft Day is coming March 24 at 4 PM! The link will be sent via ParentSquare.
Parents and caregivers, would you like to host a Zoom fun day?
If you’d like to join the fun of hosting, we are looking for volunteers to host cooking demonstrations, craft activities, dance parties, hangouts, trivia nights, movie nights, drawing tutorials, or talent shows.
For more information or to sign up, please email holly.vasconez@ileadav.org.
Connect with us!
Facebook at iLEAD Antelope Valley
For the latest information on events and activities, follow the iLEAD AV iSupport team at at @isupportileadav or email isupport@ileadavisupport.org.
iLEAD Antelope Valley Is Now Enrolling in Select Grades!
We have very limited enrollment available for immediate start. Complete our interest form today!
Do you know someone who would love iLEAD AV! Help us spread the word by sharing this article with a friend!
iLEAD Antelope Valley Zoom Fun Day Was a Blast!
A big thank-you to Ms. Shannon for hosting craft day last Wednesday and for the learners who participated. We had a blast celebrating Black History Month by making a rocket ship craft inspired by Mae Jemison, the first African American woman astronaut!
Parents and caregivers, would you like to host a Zoom fun day?
If you’d like to join the fun of hosting, we are looking for volunteers to host cooking demonstrations, craft activities, dance parties, hangouts, trivia nights, movie nights, drawing tutorials, or talent shows.
For more information or to sign up, please email holly.vasconez@ileadav.org.
Connect with us!
Facebook at iLEAD Antelope Valley
For the latest information on events and activities, follow the iLEAD AV iSupport team at at @isupportileadav or email isupport@ileadavisupport.org.
