Use small shared-meal conversations among teachers, students, and a facilitator to surface student perspectives on assessment and strengthen relationships¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The project organized teams of four — a teacher, two high school students, and a non-educator facilitator — to share a meal and discuss how a test or assessment "might be redesigned so that everyone in the class will feel successful in it." Each participant then completed a 30-minute individual interview to share perspectives. The report suggests such informal conversations may be a model of strengthening relationships and mutual respect between teachers, students, and other adults.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Grant or district funding to pay for meals and for the project team's efforts to organize the conversations and surface key findings
• Arrangement of conversations by project team members and scheduling of follow-up individual interviews

Constraints¶

• Concrete change is difficult to enact because there is not a lot of room in the curricular pacing, as teacher-coaches perceived

Target Learners¶

• high school students
• middle school students

Target Learning Goals¶

• healthy risk-taking and exploration in the classroom
• student-teacher relationships and mutual respect around assessment

Related Strategies¶

• Provide teachers protected, substantial time away from their day, with meals, to commune with students
• Using Empathy Interviews for Family Engagement
• Perspective-taking and Empathy

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Iwatani, E., Simmons, C., & Bustillos, A. (2023). Adolescent Development Convening: Extended Learning Support Final Report Narrative (Teacher Learner Connect project). Digital Promise. https://digitalpromise.dspacedirect.org/items/b675c423-a956-4e86-a124-89962f8ef1d6