(revised from today's Class Update)
Student-Led
Conferences, May 9th & 16th
(Before launching into this, let me say that the details of the
conference and planner are subject to minor change or revision. Permit us some tweaking here and
there. As well, your questions
will reveal missing or fuzzy bits.)
Our spring student-parent-teacher conferences,
upcoming in several weeks, will be student-led. The aim here is to outline how the conferences in grade 5
are being organized. For most,
this will be a relatively new process.
Students will be asked to reflect on their growth and development over
the past year across the following nine areas:
The ISM Mission
The PYP and the Learner Profile
Language Arts
Math/Science
Project Work
Spanish
How Am I Smart?
How Am I Changing?
Goal Setting
Goal Setting
The meeting you will have with your child should be
viewed as formal, with our students presenting to you as if it were a business
meeting. Your child will be asked
to follow a particular format, welcoming you to the conference, explaining the
purpose of the meeting, outlining the agenda, and sharing in advance an
assessment rubric which you will be asked to complete immediately following the
conference.
This is not a 20-minute conference. Neither is it a one-sided presentation,
with children speaking and parents listening. It is better viewed as an extended dialogue, typically no
less than one-hour in length, with children presenting, and parents responding.
Because of the scope and depth of the meeting, part
will take place at home, and part will take place at school during your
scheduled conference time, with Mr. Jonas and I coordinating conferences for
our respective homerooms. In the
end, we hope that the conference allows for an in-depth conversation about your
child’s growth and change over the past year, both with respect to performance
in school, and life generally.
Purpose of the conference The purpose of the conference is to ask students to reflect seriously and in-depth on their growth and change over the past year. We’d like them to assume responsibility for their performance in school by sharing their perceptions/opinions, always supported by specific evidence, be it PowerSchool grades or work samples.
Conference agenda The conference will cover the nine areas cited above. While the student remains the center of gravity, the conference should be a conversation, with the student encouraging parent feedback and dialogue throughout. At it’s best, the conference is a kind of family meeting, and a structured conversation. It is not about their best work, or favorite work, but self-assessment across bodies of work, requiring a deeper level of thought and reflection.
Student’s role Students
will receive a conference planner, which will serve as a template for their
meeting with you. They are
required to think through each point, and decide upon areas to be covered, and specific
evidence/examples to support their opinions. They may prepare by recording notes, bullet points, or
written narrative. I will be
encouraging (though not requiring) students to treat their conference
preparation as if it were a project presentation (which it is), providing you
with bulleted summary points upon which they will elaborate.
Parents’ role The parents’ role is key. The conference should be distraction-free for the period of the meeting. (I kiddingly asked the kids to request that all cell phones be turned off, and computers closed.) We ask that you reduce distraction, be supportive, and encourage dialogue with follow-up questions such as, why do you think so? or what others examples can you think of? Encourage depth of inquiry by responding with deepening questions.
If history offers insight, some families will meet
for one hour, while others will return to the conference questions over
days. From our view, either
is fine. An abbreviated,
superficial, hurried conference with kids racing through the planner, and
parents passively nodding, should be avoided.
Parents are also asked to complete a rubric following
the conference, with written comments. Note the image above.
This rubric is informational only. It will not be entered into PowerSchool (relieving the kids of a source of unnecessary angst).
Teacher’s role Our role
is to guide the kids through the planner, spot-checking that it is completed in
depth, supported by specific work samples. By example, I will give particular attention to growth in
writing and project work in class by assessing across their body of work. We will also coordinate the conference
schedule for our respective homerooms.
Scheduling Due to
its scope and depth, the conference will take place both at home and
school. Unlike other conferences,
scheduling around a 20-minute meeting block with the teacher, you are asked to
sign-up for an hour block, and you may drop by at any time during that
hour. Four families are being
schedule for each hour block, so meetings will be held in the classroom café
style, with the teacher dropping-in for a few minutes to ask and respond to questions. Expect to meet in the classroom for
about 20 minutes.
GoogleDoc Sign-up
Links
What areas are
covered at home; what areas are
covered at school? This
will be determined in conversation with students next week.
Variations on a
theme While
I have organized student-led conferences in this form over the past six years,
there are always new twists that arise.
One is this: If a student
engages a parent/s in the preparation of the planner, if it is completed
jointly, then there is hardly a reason to have a formal presentation
thereafter. The preparation of the
planner would be the conference, and might actually be more interactive and involve
greater dialogue and reflection than if the student was to complete it
independently.
What we require is a completed parent rubric, with
written comments. Whether
the conference is formally presented, or the planner is completed in
collaboration with a parent, involving substantial dialogue, is not an
issue. Our meeting in class could
then become a summary of what was determined at home.
Final
thoughts/impressions
At best, this conference format provides a structure
for an extended conversation not only about performance in school, but growth
and change generally. For those of
you who talk openly and often with your children, the planner simple offers you
another opportunity for reflection.
Experience reveals the following recurring comments. Students commonly report that their
parents were not listening during their presentations. Parents commonly report that their
children hurry and do not allow time for discussion. What is most interesting is that the presentation itself
reveals children’s strengths and obstacles: what you observe in the preparation of this conference
reflects what we observe in the classroom.
Send questions!
