What
Student shadowing means spending a day looking at the world through the eyes of a student. This involves following a student through their school day to capture insights about how we can improve the educational experience for all of our students. Student shadowing is non-evaluative. The observations recorded and insights gathered are intended to personalize and improve a sense of belonging. The information will not be used to evaluate teachers. The focus should be squarely on our students.
Why
In IUSD we know that student wellness is a precursor to high achievement and that a sense of belonging is predictive of whether students thrive in our schools. Shadowing helps us understand our students' needs, empathize with the challenges they face, and improve learning experiences to create a sense of belonging for all kids. As one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse districts in the United States, we must work to find ways to understand, appreciate, and respond to our individual students’ needs. Recent years have taught us the critical importance of human connection. This sense of belonging is predictive of both social/emotional wellness and academic achievement; therefore, ensuring that our students feel safe, seen, connected and valued is essential to our success.
Objectives
- Immerse ourselves in a student's experience to better understand their perspective.
- Gain perspective about why students succeed or struggle in various learning environments.
- Identify the factors that help our students feel a sense of belonging in our schools.
- Examine the implementation of the guiding principles and practices of our Continuous Improvement Efforts to develop essential capacities.
- Collect data for Professional Learning Communities to further a school or department goal.