An Invitation to Keep Students at the Center of Professional Conversations

A Backstory

Many years ago, our school leadership team made a simple decision that transformed the way we approached our weekly grade-level meetings: we would begin by looking at student work.

Instead of jumping straight into logistics or planning, we grounded our conversations in evidence of student learning. If we were preparing for an upcoming writing unit, we might study on-demand writing pieces. If we were discussing the transfer of phonics skills into authentic writing, we might examine students’ writing folders through a phonics lens. Our grade-level meeting agendas were even revised to include a space for teams to identify the student work they planned to bring.

Has every meeting started this way? No. But most have. And over the years, that simple routine has helped keep our conversations focused on the people who matter most, our students.

Why It Matters

Diane Sweeney, a leader in student-centered coaching, describes an approach that “emphasizes using student evidence to drive instructional decision making” in order to “ensure that coaching efforts translate into tangible improvements in student achievement” (Diane Sweeney’s, The Value of Student-Centered Coaching as an Instructional Coaching Framework).

Although Sweeney writes specifically about instructional coaching, the principle extends far beyond coaching cycles. Whether we’re meeting as a grade-level team, a curriculum committee, a leadership team, or a professional learning community, student evidence helps shift conversations away from opinions and assumptions and toward curiosity, reflection, and responsive instruction.

When students are at the center of our conversations, our decisions become more intentional because they’re grounded in what learners actually know, understand, and are able to do.

The Details

This past summer, I had the privilege of attending Mossflower’s New Frontiers Institute. During a session on expanding a coaching toolkit, Katy Wischow challenged us to bring student voices into every space that doesn’t always have children.

That idea has stayed with me.

If we want students to remain at the center of our work, then they should have a presence in the rooms where adults make decisions about teaching and learning. Here are three simple ways Katy introduced to make that happen.

1. Bring Student Work

Student work is often the easiest and most powerful way to keep students in the conversation. Whether it’s a writing sample, math problem-solving, reading responses, or science notebooks, authentic work gives teams something concrete to study together.

Rather than asking, What should we teach next? we begin asking, What is this student showing us? and What does this learner need now?

Student work invites inquiry instead of judgment and keeps instructional conversations anchored in evidence.

2. Bring Video

A short classroom video can reveal things that student work alone cannot. Watching students collaborate, engage in discussion, or participate in a lesson helps teams notice language, engagement, misconceptions, and strengths that might otherwise go unseen.

Even a two-minute clip can spark rich professional conversations and help educators better understand the experiences students are having in classrooms.

3. Invite Students

Sometimes the most valuable perspective comes directly from students themselves.

Invite students to share how they approached a task, what strategies helped them, where they became confused, or what made them feel successful. Student panels, classroom visits, or brief interviews can provide insights that no assessment or observation protocol can capture.

Students are experts on their own learning. Giving them opportunities to share their thinking reminds us that improving instruction is something we do with students, not simply for them.

A Final Thought

The best educational conversations begin with students and end with students.

Whether you’re looking at a writing sample, watching a classroom video, or listening to a student explain their thinking, bringing students’ voices into the room changes the conversation. It shifts our focus from programs and plans to learners and learning.