Displaying items by tag: parent conferences

This Teaching Tip is the fourth in my new “Starting the School Year in Style” series.

In previous years I have usually waited until our school’s annual Parent Conferences in mid-November to meet with parents for the first time. This approach worked well because I had a couple months to get to know the children as individuals before discussing their progress with their families.

Recently, I have tried a more proactive approach, and the benefits have been substantial.

Elementary and middle schools typically schedule parent conferences in November, or roughly a third of the way into each new school year.  I view these meetings as indispensable parts of the home-school connection, and I greatly value the quality time I can spend with each child and his or her family.  During the conferences we work as a team to discuss areas of strength, address areas of need, solve problems, and set goals for the future.  Because meeting individually with each family is so time-consuming for teachers, many schools do not schedule follow-up meetings later in the year to continue these conversations.  Student-led Conferences offer teachers a wonderful way to extend and strengthen the home-school connection because when compared to traditional Parent Conferences, they require only a fraction of the work and the time and provide students with an incredible opportunity to take responsibility for their own learning.

The Teaching Tips will focus on the topic of Student-led Conferences for the next three weeks.

Week 1: Introducing Student-led Conferences
Week 2: Preparing for Student-led Conferences
Week 3: Using Student-led Conferences to Feature Specific Habits of Mind and Habits of Character

Using Student-led Conferences to Feature Specific Habits of Mind and Habits of Character

Elementary and middle schools typically schedule parent conferences in November, or roughly a third of the way into each new school year.  I view these meetings as indispensable parts of the home-school connection, and I greatly value the quality time I can spend with each child and his or her family.  During the conferences we work as a team to discuss areas of strength, address areas of need, solve problems, and set goals for the future.  Because meeting individually with each family is so time-consuming for teachers, many schools do not schedule follow-up meetings later in the year to continue these conversations.  Student-led Conferences offer teachers a wonderful way to extend and strengthen the home-school connection because when compared to traditional Parent Conferences, they require only a fraction of the work and the time and provide students with an incredible opportunity to take responsibility for their own learning.

The Teaching Tips will focus on the topic of Student-led Conferences for the next three weeks.

Week 1: Introducing Student-led Conferences
Week 2: Preparing for Student-led Conferences
Week 3: Using Student-led Conferences to Feature Specific Habits of Mind and Habits of Character

Preparing for Student-led Conferences

Empowering Moments (4th in an Occasional Series):

We are all familiar with the expression “teachable moment” that refers to those times in class when something happens that offers us an opportunity to impart a valuable lesson to our students. Recently, I first heard the expression “learnable moment,” which basically refers to these same opportunities, but focuses on what the children are gaining, rather than what the teachers are sharing. I love both of these expressions, but I have to say that I prefer the latter because of its emphasis on the student’s perspective.

In this blog series I introduce the expression “Empowering Moment.” An Empowering Moment is a classroom occurrence that affords teachers the opportunity to develop character, foster independence, and build students’ capacity for the future.

Empowering Moments (3rd in an Occasional Series):

We are all familiar with the expression “teachable moment” that refers to those times in class when something happens that offers us an opportunity to impart a valuable lesson to our students. Recently, I first heard the expression “learnable moment,” which basically refers to these same opportunities, but focuses on what the children are gaining, rather than what the teachers are sharing. I love both of these expressions, but I have to say that I prefer the latter because of its emphasis on the student’s perspective.

In this blog series I introduce the expression “Empowering Moment.” An Empowering Moment is a classroom occurrence that affords teachers the opportunity to develop character, foster independence, and build students’ capacity for the future.

Empowering Moments (2nd in an Occasional Series):

We are all familiar with the expression “teachable moment” that refers to those times in class when something happens that offers us an opportunity to impart a valuable lesson to our students. Recently, I first heard the expression “learnable moment,” which basically refers to these same opportunities, but focuses on what the children are gaining, rather than what the teachers are sharing. I love both of these expressions, but I have to say that I prefer the latter because of its emphasis on the student’s perspective.

In this blog series I introduce the expression “Empowering Moment.” An Empowering Moment is a classroom occurrence that affords teachers the opportunity to develop character, foster independence, and build students’ capacity for the future.