Jan. 25, 2016

STUDENT LED CONFERENCES

As we are approaching the two half days in February, I know many of you have started brainstorming how your conferences will "look". Since we are all at different levels of implementation of this process, I thought it would be important to review the "why" behind this process and provide some helpful resources.

As we work towards our students becoming “self-regulated leaners”, it is important that we help students have a VOICE as they reflect on their progress through self evaluation. (I realize this process is led by you in the classroom prior to the conferences.) I truly believe this process leads to more student responsibility to help drive their academic progress. The purpose of these conferences is to allow students to highlight their progress and discuss with their parent a plan to reach their next goal.

I have placed a folder called Student-Led-Conference Resources in your grade level PLC folder. You will find two resources that have some great ideas and examples regardless of your grade level. I would like to highlight three things you might find beneficial:

1) parent communication examples to explain the purpose of the conferences

2) a form that allows a parent to write questions or concerns that they have PRIOR to the conference

3) student self evaluations of “Work Habits” and “Social Skills”

To see the resources shared by Tona in last week's staff newsletter, click here. Also, Irene also shared this article with me from a teacher named Melissa Kozerski about her journey of implementing student-led-conferences. Thank you, Irene!!

Please do not get caught up in the details of specific numbers of “student led conferences” required. Focus on the value and impact these conferences will have on your classroom. I would love to brainstorm with you!