student led conferences

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Home : 2004 : October : 8

student led conferences
By Shawna

We do student led conferences school-wide. I teach kindergarten and first grade and it is so impressive to see these little children leading their parents through a conference. We have them create a portfolio during the
semester and then practice leading conferences using a checklist with pictures and by doing role-plays. We schedule the conferences after school for one week and have five students lead a conference each day. The parents wait outside until their children invite them into the classroom. Next the children offer cookies and juice to their parents followed by inviting them to sit down at

their conference table. The meeting proceeds with the children showing their parents their portfolio and then they give their parents a tour of the classroom. Finally they thank their parents for coming and the children go outside while the parents complete an evalution form for us as teachers and an evaluation form for the children.

The children's evaluation form is short, just two stars (the parents write what impressed them) and one wish (something that they hope their chid works on the following semester. This year will be our fourth doing them. It is such a rewarding experience for the children to be able to share about their academic growth with their parents for nearly 45 minutes. I learned how to do the student led conferences at the Kindergarten Conference in California each March. A woman named Linda Banda presented on how to do them with younger children and her methods have proven to be very effective. She presents every year if your interested.