What?
A new experience I had the privilege of experiencing today was the opportunity to observe a parent-teacher-student conference. The way in which these conferences were conducted was that they were primarily student led; with the first 10 minutes devoted to the students, independently from the teacher, showing their parents what they had been doing over the past few weeks. Projects, assignments, and online materials were showcased to the parents in great detail by the students, who seemingly relished the opportunity to “show off” to their parents or guardians. Something that was unique about these conferences was the enthusiasm the students showed coming into the meeting. They were proud of their work and happy to show what they had done and learned. When the students were finished, my SA sat down with the parents and did something I thought was a wonderful way of structuring a conference: ask questions. How are you feeling about the workload? How are you feeling about so-and-so’s progress? What are you looking for this year with their goals? And from these questions, my SA was able to not only answer the parent’s questions themselves but also get them to reflect on their own child’s progress, as well as inserting suggestions for improvement. He also directed many of the questions posed by parent back to the student, having them answer in their own capacity to their parent’s inquiry into their learning.

So What?
This style of conference was excellent to witness as it allowed it essentially to be a conversation between child and parent. This kind of a casual run through off the work and then question asking to the parent, made it feel very relaxed, comfortable, and yet covered the areas of concern the teacher had. This may not always work for all parents, but the atmosphere created it made the conference extremely positive. The students felt, in a possibly very stressful situation, quite relaxed and even happy to be there. Creating such a safe environment and comfortable discourse made this event, which again can be stressful for all parties, one of progress and focused on the student.

Now What?
Something I am going to take forward with me is two-fold. First I would like to implement the style of “asking questions” more in my personal practice. It is something I feel benefits everyone when implemented, as it allows everyone to reflect and actually think about the situation at hand. With parents, students, and colleagues, I feel like questioning is a tool I can better use to gauge the temperature in my classroom. Secondly, making the conference student led was something I will take with me it my future classrooms. It allows the students to present what they’ve learned. They may have done it in class, but now it allows them the opportunity to break down the wall between school and home and actually demonstrate their learning to their parents. This is something that is lacking more often then not and makes the content of the classroom feel more “real-world” applicable to both the students and the parents.