Student-Led Meetings: Empowering Student Voice Video Lecture | Understanding Social and Emotional Learning (SEL): Better Life - Personal Skills

>>Alec: When I get in arguments with my
peers, it's really hard for me to like,
say I'm wrong or apologize.
That's why I was like, wondering if you
guys have any tips, because like, it's--
>>Dan St. Louis: Because our students
participate in student-led meetings,
they have a sense of
agency in their own life.
They gain the skills
to make good decisions
in school and outside of school.
>>Alec: So I think I need
to improve in this area.
>>Lynnel Reed: So often, in anything
that you do in education, in life,
students always feel like, "Oh, adults
are always saying their opinion.
I don't have a voice.
I never have any say."
So part of what we do with
the student-led meetings is,
they get a chance to say what their
concerns are, how they see things.
>>Alec: Welcome, everyone.
>>Dan St. Louis: Alec led his
own meeting today and we bring
in all the teachers, me, parents, to
say, here are some strengths of mine
and here are some challenges
that I need help with.
>>Alec: I'm very happy that they decided
to have everybody in the same room,
because it allows all of us
to get all on the same page.
>>Like my schoolwork and tests and
stuff is pretty good, but when it comes
to homework, it's really bad.
>>Homework really hurt
my grades this quarter,
so that's something I
really need to improve.
>>The second I get home, I don't feel
like doing anything else
involving school.
>>Kaitlin Kelley: They're not
making up what's going to happen
in this meeting on the spot, right.
That's intimidating.
Instead, he's got this structured
document, with things he's proud of,
things he needs to work on, specific
steps that he's going to take.
>>Lynnel Reed: So they come up
with their steps and their goals,
and what they want to work on and
what they may need support with.
>>Alec: For me, it's actually being
able to sit down and get it done,
because once I sit down and get
it done, it's going to get done.
Getting started is the hardest
part for me, so I could stay after
and do my homework before I go home.
>>Kathy Murphy: For mom and dad, when
a student stays with me, I write a note
and I say, "Alec stayed
today until three thirty.
He did a great job working on his PAL."
So that way, there's good
communication back and forth.
>>Jennifer: I think it's about him
having to set goals for himself
and for us to give him the
best tools to work with so
that he can accomplish those goals.
>>Chad: And then you'd be able
to see yourself in a new light,
which only gives you
more of that confidence.
>>The fact that he has, you know, eight
or nine, ten adults for these meetings
to actually get on the same page and
say, "Look, we recognize you're here.
We see where you've come from and we
want you to tell us where you want
to go," and just having that
collaboration, it's wonderful.
>>Alec: I just wanted to thank Mr.
St. Louis real quick and all of you
for being such good teachers.
I think I improved more
just because I've got,
like a personal relationship
with all of you.
>>Dan St. Louis: As students get
a little older and especially
in their junior year, we have
these meetings called PEP meetings,
which is planning for
educational progress.
>>Kaitlin Kelley: So
Jocelyn's meeting is different.
She too will lead hers, but hers
is more focused on her future.
>>Jocelyn: I went to Holy Cross,
I've been around Clark a lot,
but those are the only two
colleges I've really seen, I guess.
>>Lynnel Reed: During
junior PEPs we like to find
out what their future college
ideas, goals, aspirations are.
>>Jocelyn: The medical field,
like is very fascinating for me
but I haven't really gone
more in depth with it.
>>This meeting was basically to evaluate
where I should be looking for colleges
and to see what are my strengths
and what I need to work on more.
>>Lynnel Reed: A lot of our students are
the first generation to go to college,
so they don't have any experience
in the process and sometimes
because they don't, they
think that it's out of reach.
It's really an opportunity for
them to get that support from us.
>>Dan St. Louis: I wrote my college
essay actually around this idea
that I had of perhaps
being a physical therapist.
I know, I know, you look at me now.
Then I got to college and I saw, oh,
it's like all science
classes all the time,
which I hadn't really realized that.
So do you find yourself interested
in the sciences like that,
like taking that amount on?
>>Jocelyn: I know that science is
not that of my highest strengths
but if I apply myself, I think I could.
>>Lynnel Reed: Student-led
meetings allow our students to feel
like they have a chance to talk to staff
on another level as humans with a life
and an experience that can be shared.
>>Jocelyn: My meeting helped me
understand that you don't really need
to know your passion right away,
but it's really good to have an idea
of what kind of college is right for me.
>>Dan St. Louis: At the center
of any meeting like this,
especially since the
students are leading them,
is just a baseline of real respect.
You're in the driver's
seat, it's your life.
Love yourself, respect
yourself, we're here to help.
>>Teacher: You know, be patient
with yourself and as you said
in the last line, take it
a day at a time, right?