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Having a consistent routine of expectations- like a check-in and optimistic closure.

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I don't have kids of my own, and I love education (and FLEX) because I get to nurture these kids during the school day.

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Student's voices are heard, and then they feel as though they have more of a role in the outcome of FLEX.

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Having a space to process the week that is and was is a good time to unpack.

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I would like to know and understand some more examples (like passing the rock) that would help me create a predictable structure for students in my Advisory. It will be a bit tricky to change this (coming from 11th grade when we didn't have many structures in place), but I think in the long run it will create more of a supportive, community feeling with my students.

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I want to create a space with my students in which they are the ones that come up with ideas/activities/procedures in Advisory in order to complete tasks and make the most of our time together.

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What would a teacher role look like compared to a counsellor role?  What are the boundaries, if any, to what is being discussed?

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What would a teacher role look like compared to a counsellor role?  What are the boundaries, if any, to what is being discussed?

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Phones and laptops would need to be in locker for these kinds of activities to be successful. No distractions during circle time.  Eye contact, listening skills etc

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Phones and laptops would need to be in locker for these kinds of activities to be successful. No distractions during circle time.  Eye contact, listening skills etc

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We have a grade level leader who is responsible for planning the advisory program. However, we are all involved in the process.

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I notice that the Crew class in the video meets every day. That frequency of regular meeting certainly helps to bring the teacher and the students closer. I wonder how long their daily meetings last, and what else they do during those meetings.

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I have always connected better with students through one-on-one conversations, and that I am less comfortable in facilitating conversations involving larger groups. I have not been an advisor in a long time so I was a bit anxious about stepping back into this role. Seeing from the video that there are structured activities that I can find and use makes me feel less uncertain.

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We need to acknowledge the differences in cultural background, personalities etc of individual students. I hope that these activities can also tend to the needs of students who are more introverted in nature.

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This is a test to see how this will function when it goes live!

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I can appreciate the distinction with being a passenger and being part of the crew, but it's the structure of expectations on how they interact is where the honey is. Listening to students explain how they pass the rock gives everyone the respect to be heard.

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I think that all of us as a teacher can identify with being a catalyst to help develop students. I certainly do and can see/hear with the kind of language that the teachers in the video demonstrate.

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It's really so nice to hear the students talk about their "crew" experience and support that the feel from it. I would love to hear our students speak like this. I've always tried to create a warm, caring and safe environment in any classroom I'm in, but this is much deeper. I suppose it also is reflective of this class being grade 10.

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I can see the importance of establishing routines, especially those of listening and shared respect, in forging a successful advisory atmosphere.

In our school, we meet only 1-2 times per week, and often have other things to go over/accomplish during advisory lessons. I expect this irregularity in our meeting frequency to make it more challenging to establish a routine with students.

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This group clearly had built a culture of trust and respect. This would seem essential to have genuine sharing taking place in an advisory.

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Collecting everyone in a circle forces everyone to listen and participate - using the rock helps solidify the listening respect

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Collecting everyone in a circle forces everyone to listen and participate - using the rock helps solidify the listening respect

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If the teacher and the students are the crew, then who is the captain ie. who is determining what is discussed each day?

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Meeting 25 minutes a day is more time than we devote to advisory in the DP per week, and about the same time that we devote to advisory/homeroom in the MYP My previous school had advisory every morning: does the research suggest that those daily checks are more effective for building relationships than our current model?

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This crew had 13 members, but our middle school homerooms are much bigger than that. What does research suggest is an optimal size for an advisory?

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I understand the principle of a talking rock or 'conch' and understand the positives of using it in terms of turn-taking, equality and establishing a routine.  However, not all students will want to speak on every topic and so an option not to speak should be included.  Additionally, passing it in a circle would not allow a conversation to naturally flow.

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Presumably the teacher determines the point of discussion every day

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Sitting in a circle establishes more intimacy through the maintenance of eye contact and therefore trust. The fact that the teacher sits with the students as a crew member furthers that goal. It is similar to the meeting set-up of self-help groups.

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I like the emphasis on how meeting every day strengthens their connections with each other.

I've worked at a school where I got to stay with a group for 2 years running and we met every day - it had some challenges (we needed a more structured homeroom program overall) but it was also really nice to stick with a group (would have been longer if I'd stayed at the school).

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acknowledging "this has been a difficult week" - the role to acknowledge what is going on in a bigger picture and supporting students.

This doesn't always happen in HR here because we do stick to a curriculum that doesn't necessarily make time to just chat and touch base - we have to "get through" something.

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The student role is to "row together" and to advocate/support. This foregrounds social-emotional development as opposed to academic support, which it seems like a lot of our students need more and more of these days.

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I would like to have more resources available to plan engaging lessons, have more adults involved in the planning and have more time dedicated to planning for a meaningful advisory program.

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Plan, execute, reflect and improve the program as a team of teachers with flexibility to address specific group dynamics

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Engaged and active participants in the advisory program - they need to find a space to explore extra-curricular interests.

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Flexible, safe and welcoming

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I think in previous years of advisory, we have provided many opportunities throughout the year for students to have discussions about various topics, but we have done so without a consistent process by which for each person to express their thoughts, and to create the expectations within the environment for each person's responsibilities and roles. After having watched the video, I recognize the benefits to establishing a community in advisory to allow each person to express their thoughts and ideas by the formation of a circle where everyone equally sees each other in the room and everyone has the role of listening to one person whose has the turn to speak. If we incorporate such as structure, it will be important to establish consistent rules both within and among advisories.

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I definitely can see the teacher in this situation as the overall facilitator to help start and lead the discussion, and also as the person responsible for consistency in this process.

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For students, the discussions in a circle, with each student taking their turn to talk while all others are supposed to listen, encourages all students to express their thoughts and to find their voice. At the same time, it encourage each student to play their role in listening to each person speaking.

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This process appears to develop a culture where students can express themselves in a safe and welcoming environment, where each student's views are respected.

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What I noticed was that the program involved daily, short interactions which makes that it feels different for students than a class. Our current programme means that students meet (only) once every 4 schooldays for the same length as a lesson. This makes it feel more like a class. Other schools have daily check ins /outs as part of their mentoring programme which may provide more structure.

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I have the impression that many young people experience the world around them as competitive and hostile. I wonder how to break this at ISA. Will those students who never speak up, don't run for stuco positions, are shy and/ or feel overwhelmed, really feel comfortable to open up in a group of 13 and to go against the opinions expressed?

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One size does not fit all. I would expect that a successful program would not only involve group activities and discussions, but a larger variety of engagements.

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It's nice that it's a small group. Also sitting in a circle provides a different feeling that is important

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Nice that students feel and understand the agreements a teacher and a student or group has made. Also for the teacher to be able to advocate for their students to other teachers around, having that feeling of everyone on board with this philosophy

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Physical environment of a circle is really nice! Builds inclusion

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I think each group must have its own culture and group understanding to get the kids to buy in to the lessons. Students need a voice in how things are done and what material they cover. This needs to look different than the content classroom

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A struggle for us at my school would be finding a way to devote 25 minutes to 'Crew' EVERY DAY!

I liked the talking-rock ('conch'), but it would seem to disturb natural conversation flow.

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Taking the time to protect Advisory programs and give students the time, space, and support to explore and reflect.

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Powerful to stay with the same group of students for multiple years.

More frequency/less duration can be an effective approach.

Starting the day with advisory makes sense: housekeeping/arriving on time/etc. But how do we prevent it from turning into a daily announcement space.

Advisory students as students you do not see in a subject class (i.e. your relationship is separate).

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Challenging to find a balance between student-led and teacher-led curriculum (i.e. what do you want to do vs. what's good for you).

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Who has a homeroom and who does not? Is there not a way to have every faculty member in charge of leading advisory for smaller groups of students.

It seems as if the video showed an advisory teacher who had a clearly defined role. How might we at ISA more clearly define the role of advisory/homeroom teacher?

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Some classroom spaces are less conducive to gezelligheid.

How might we get outside of the classrooms more?

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I like the structure of the example -- circling up and the fact that they stay together for 4 years with the same teacher. As a Counselor, I am unsure if our Advisory groups circle up but I would like to check in with my teachers and verify. Also, in an international school it is much harder to be consistent with the same teacher and the same children for 4 years as there is so much transition! 

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I like the structure of the example -- circling up and the fact that they stay together for 4 years with the same teacher. As a Counselor, I am unsure if our Advisory groups circle up but I would like to check in with my teachers and verify. Also, in an international school it is much harder to be consistent with the same teacher and the same children for 4 years as there is so much transition! 

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Teacher as advocate for students is fabulous! In our Advisory program, teachers do one-to-ones every Thursday and they email the Counselor, parent, other teachers as needed to advocate for their students. 

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Teacher as advocate for students is fabulous! In our Advisory program, teachers do one-to-ones every Thursday and they email the Counselor, parent, other teachers as needed to advocate for their students. 

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Students are part of a crew which I really love because it empowers them to know they can give and get support. We have a different name for ours but I am going to suggest we rethink the name of our program.

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Students are part of a crew which I really love because it empowers them to know they can give and get support. We have a different name for ours but I am going to suggest we rethink the name of our program.

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When the Advisor mentioned "safe", that hit the nail on the head for me. It must feel safe in an Advisory program for it to be effective! 

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When the Advisor mentioned "safe", that hit the nail on the head for me. It must feel safe in an Advisory program for it to be effective! 

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Keeping the team for year after year has been the most important for me and my team. We grow together. I think in schools with a lot of teacher turnover this becomes challenging though because the teachers change more frequently. I think programs like this start to fall apart when the teachers and counselors (who monitor and plan our teams) change frequently. Allowing students to bring up topics is important. Giving teachers opportunities to follow-up with administration or other teachers on what they hear and see in the team meetings also is important.

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To get to know the students well enough to understand if they need or want to discuss as a larger group, smaller group, individually, each day for longer periods or shorter periods. To really hear and get to know the students as people and follow up with the needs of the students. To advocate for their teams.

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I guess regularity provides strength. As students see each other every day in a more homogeneous setting, they grow in confidence.

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The teacher can lower his level of authority at the same time as the students move up a few steps in that sense making all more leveled.

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Students seem to know exactly what, how and when to act in order to make their relationship better.

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An environment where teens have confidence to interact and communicate is the best way to go for teens.

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I think the most evident part of the structure was the organization. They organized the crew and looked out for each other like family. There is engagement at a high level.

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The teacher role is to guide the students, but not lead them. They provide tools they need to be successful and fill in the gaps when they need to. They support them and advocate for them.

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The students' role is to particpate. This means that they must be engaged, keep the energy, speak as everyone else has, respect each other (I think dignity would work better here than respect. They should also debrief what they have done so that it has a lasting impact.

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The environment was positive and welcoming. The students wanted to be a part of the community of learners. They were like a family.

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I think that it's really important to establish a somewhat reliable schedule of routines and rituals that are engaged in on a consistent, weekly basis. For example, a chant or quick ritual at the start (for example, the "In La'kech ala K'in" poem or clapping), and a series of daily or weekly repeating activities (for example, the circle-up shown in the video could be done every day or on specific days of the week). These help create stability, make the environment more safe and reliable, and develop specific elements that feel unique to the advisory team. In order for this last part to be achieved, I think it's somewhat important that the advisor curates these specifically for their group.

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It's one thing for kids to sit together in a room for 25 mins. It's another for them to face each other and talk to each other. It's yet another for them to pay attention to one another, respect and listen to one another, and demonstrate their care and desire to support each other. That's the big goal (which seemed to have been achieved at SRS).

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I love this name and I love the mentality behind it. It's a great way of allowing the students to feel part of something and like they are all working towards a common goal.

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I love the idea of the talking piece wherein when you have it, you can share how you're feeling or provide an input or opinion about something. If you don't have it, your job is to listen to whoever is talking and provide respect. This creates an environment of respect and that feeling of safety within the group that everybody would be willing to listen first before they share their own thoughts about the topic.

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The teacher's role here is to provide that safe environment for the students to share how they're feeling to the group or to ask questions that they would usually not be brave enough to ask other people. Facilitating that environment but not becoming the center of it is how I find this very effective.

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The student's role is to listen to whoever is talking and providing their insights and opinions after. I think everyone would be able to learn something from everyone so creating that safe space for the students to be able to share comes hand in hand for the student's role to be succesful.

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Having a specific time of the day to debrief and share thoughts in a safe environment is very important especially for their age.

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My FLEX this year is in an icommons conference room instead of a classroom and it's actually been really great. The only way to fit in there is to come in and circle around the table. This happens naturally instead of trying to get students to do this as they come into a classroom, which didn't happen as often. If I were in a classroom, I would've tried to make this more of a routine because I notice it has a positive effect on the group.

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I've found that often within a certain topic, students can provide a lot of context about what is actually happening in their lives. They not only bring up what needs to be talked about, or the certain situations that need to be addressed, but they're often the same people that can bring the solution. I've loved it when a member of my team is able to say "yeah, that happened with me and this is how I dealt with it, or this is what I think about it." It's really important to have their perspective and we can sort of be the guide in the conversation.

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I just wrote about the students role as really knowing more about their own context. What we have to offer as teachers is that we've often seen students deal with similar challenges year after year. We've all ever been a 10th grader once, but I've been seeing the challenges that 10th graders face for something like 17 years, and that's a helpful perspective to add at times.

I still think our role is not to just teach the group, but more as a facilitator, to ask questions, to listen, and to let students speak first. We can step in selectively when needed to help guide the conversation.

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It's definitely been a challenge protecting time for FLEX teams to meet with groups this past semester. There were weeks where I really got to see and talk to my team just one time. It's important to have a structure, but to have more time that the content of the conversation can be dictated by the groups themselves. I felt like there were a lot of things going on in their lives that we didn't really get a chance to talk about last semester because we didn't really have the time.

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I was fortunate to work at a Big Picture School where Advisory is at the center of learning- project based curriculum was focused in advisory, as well as exhibitions/ student led conferences. The key to a successful advisory structure based on this experience is:
1. Consistency- time was never ever taken away from Advisory. At my school, we had advisory every Monday & Wednesday for 2.5 hours (1.5 mid day, and then an hour at the end), and then 1 hour on Fridays. These days were structured to the point that my students knew what we were doing and aware of expectations.
2. Advisory autonomy- School curriculum should allow for structure, but Advisors and students build their own unique culture within their own advisory, and the Advisor and students plan activities and how they wish to use Advisory time. (Some days we were serious and took care of Business, some days we needed a mental break and would go on mini-field trips like a walk to the park, etc.
3. 4- Year Advisory structure: While its hard to get international students to commit to a 4 year Advisory program, I have found that when you follow the same group of kids from 9th to 12th grade you have the ability to develop the best relationships with students and their families. This provides students with a trusted adult on Campus during this important part of their lives and leads to longer term success of students in college and in their careers. - PB

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Based on my experience as an Advisor for four years in California, I wore many hats as an advisor..I was their content teacher, but I was also their academic counselor, their project coordinator, disciplinarian, etc... but I think the most important role I served for my students, who have since graduated and are adulting on their own, was to serve as a mentor to my students and help them navigate their HS career by teaching them all the options they had before them, and to guide them to be successful in school and in life. I often called myself a "2nd or 3rd Parent" because I worked so closely with my students families, that by the time they were seniors, I was always included in discussions about their child's future, parents came to me to seek support (and vice-versa), and they often took my advice very seriously because I knew them and their kids so well. The nature of this job, though, provided very little boundaries for me... I had all my students and parents phone numbers, and they all had mine. What came out of that though, is a life-time relationship with my students. Whenever I go home, most of my students hit me up and want to hang out. They still keep in touch with me, and still ask for advice, or letters of rec for jobs or school. Parents are still in contact with me through social media....and its really like having an extended family. In many ways, I will always be their advisor even if they are no longer in my classroom.

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Students Role- Show Up, Be Present, and Try your Best

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Students Role- Show Up, Be Present, and Try your Best

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Students role is in advisory, again, from my experience in California, is to...

1. Show Up- not just literally exist in my room... but show up for yourself and your advisory... be present, and in the moment to engage yourself with your peers and advisor. Behave in a way that makes you proud and your advisory proud- because you are an extension of your advisory in other classes.
2. Try Your Best- This is all I ask of any student. Try your best not just academically, but try your best to be open minded, vulnerable, honest, reflective as a person who is also a student. This will lend itself to being more organized, learning better study habits, but also try your best to form positive relationships with other students in advisory and with your advisor. Have a positive attitude. Because, one day, our students will not be students anymore- they will be adults who have jobs who will work closely with other people. Learning to do that in Advisory is a great space for this.

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In my experience, to create the ultimate Advisory culture... you need time with your advisory. Time to bond, to get to know each other, to learn from each other, etc. Time that is only devoted to building the culture. By creating this culture, students will feel safe to be more vulnerable and open.

In my past advisory, we created an environment that allowed my students to take ownership of the classroom, how it was decorated, how it felt, etc. Students created a list of norms they wish to live by. They signed it and held each other accountable. We also had an advisory chant (I still use with my current FLEX), and made structured time for bonding activities:

1. Who Am I Presentations
2. Educational Journeys
3. Advisory Picnics/ Walks
4. Advisory Field Trips (we fundraised for this to lower the cost for students..and we only went as our advisory, not as a grade level)- bowling, movies, restaurants, etc.
5. Dance Parties
6. Advisory Spotify Playlist (for said Dance parties) :)
7. Holiday White Elephant.

The main thing is, time is crucial for this because you need time with advisory to plan this properly.

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I find that the faster I can develop a trusting, caring relationship with the students, the more effective FLEX can be. I would love to be able to "circle up" but sometimes the space doesn't allow for it.

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They meet everyday. This will make students feel more and more comfortable together. Family like structure.

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Teacher may have guiding questions but more of the talking comes from the students.

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They seem to have buy-in and are part of the process.

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I have been involved in advisories in the past that were as little as 2-30 minutes once a week -- it was very difficult to actually build prelationships or dig into issues during that time. Currently I have my advosiry students 35 minutes 4x week and while each class still feels short, it's enough to time to actually get to know eachother, and frequently enough to be responsive to issues.

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I'm fortuntate to have a well developed advisory framework to work from, with general topics to cover each week. But there's space and time to be respnsive to the needs and issues of the students

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I think making clear that they are not getting graded/avaluated during our time together is important.