An important aim of a Concordia education is to ensure students learn to take ownership of their learning.  Concordia students are learning the skills necessary to accomplish this as they are involved in their learning, can see their progress, and identify the ways they are preparing for their future learning. 

The first semester teacher and parent conferences discuss individual student’s learning.  During the second semester, the Student Led Conferences are a great opportunity for parents to see how much their child can explain their personal learning and performance in English and in their own language (mother tongue).  

The opportunity for students to present their learning encourages them to feel very proud of themselves.  

Following are what students shared about their Student Led Conference experience: 

“The Student Led Conference was fun and my parents could know about my work. I was worried to see the Christopher Columbus poster score, but seeing my score made me feel less worried because the score was not bad” Yamato (G2)  

“During Student Led Conferences, my voice was cracking because I was very anxious about talking in front of my parents. But when I start talking, I use my big voice and always make eye contact with them. I was kind of talking too quickly since I included a lot of details, but otherwise, I did a pretty good job of organizing my presentation.” Jun (G5)

“For my Student Led conference, I think that I did an excellent job. I explained the slides thoroughly and briefly explained the Sutori, (a collaborative tool for presentations), while including important information and not making the presentation too long. I could improve my eye contact and focus more on the audience next time, and I could also include more explanations in my Sutori to help add more information to the presentation. Overall, I think I did a fine job.” Don (G5)

“It was challenging but when I calmed down I presented myself very well and it was fun showing how much I have progressed this year. My parents were proud of me and I was of myself. Since I had good grades I knew it was going to be good. I had fun and liked that my parents came and looked around the entire school. At first, I was nervous because I had never talked with my father in English.” Christian (G5)

“So I feel like I have done a pretty good job. I'm so sorry that I was a bit quiet. I sometimes get shy when I present some things. I enjoyed this because showing my mom what I learned at school was very nice. But something that did go wrong was that I was shy. But I feel very lucky to be in your class, thank you for being a great teacher.” Bi (G2)

“For my Student Led conferences, I think I did well on it. I explained what I was doing in each subject and how I did it. I also showed my parents some of the projects I've been working on. Again I think I did excellently in my student-led conferences.” Tue (G5)

“I experienced presenting what I learned in class to my parents. I did well on preparing what I wanted to say on Sutori. If I can do it again, I would work on posting google docs on Sutoi instead of hyperlinks and improve on my voice level.” Yoonwoo G5

“I think it was easy to talk about what we did, but looking at the screen and translating right back to Korean was sometimes hard to do. I was proud after I finished because it was the first time to do Student Led Conferences.” Juwon (G5)

“Good! Because I explained the details of what we did specifically in class, and I showed the fairy tale I wrote,” said Binh An (G3).

“We went to my Modern Language class and showed my mom the book that I made, and then we went to my homeroom,” said Ellie (G3). 

“I think I did all the things that I prepared. I tried my best to share and describe the things that I did in reading, writing, social studies, science, and math throughout the year. I think it was successful. I shared my math test, and other projects and did a guide in the school in specials and modern languages. My mom took pictures and I liked the Student Led Conferences even though I was very nervous at first.” Onyu (G5) 

“I think my math went really well. I taught my parents a math game called Fly Swatter and I spoke really clearly and loudly so they could hear me. I think we had a really fun time.” Bibi (G3)

Concordia parents were very impressed with the way the teachers have provided opportunities for our students to learn, the ways they reflect on their learning, and can express their learning so well.  
Concordia parents can be exceptionally proud of their children's learning and presentations. 

Elementary School Principal, Ms. Kristin Kappelmann shared, “I love our Student Led Conferences because they are celebratory in nature. A great thing about the conferences is that it puts the ownership of learning in the student’s hands.  The experience encourages Concordia students to become lifelong learners as that is Concordia’s goal.” 

From the results of our Student Led Conferences, it is obvious that presentation skills and summarizing are embedded in the Concordia curriculum.  

To learn more about the Concordia Elementary School curriculum and education, please visit the Elementary School information page.