Student Led Conferences

“I make parents see their children for who they are and who they can be,”  Taylor Mali truly said best.  In all my years of teaching this is what I aim to do: to show the parents the amazing children they have, enlighten them to their dreams and how, together, we can possibly make them a reality. 

This year our school district said that we were to hold conferences a little different than normal. We were to have student led conferences. The students would be in charge and take complete ownership of the event. They would compile a portfolio throughout the first 18 weeks of the year to share with their parents, not only their successes but their goals and areas they felt they needed the most help. My first thought I had when the announcement was made, was how will parents react to the new way of holding conferences.  Would they enjoy hearing the information from their children or would they miss my perspective of their children? 

As the year progressed, the students and I worked together to build their portfolios. They were in charge of choosing what they felt was their best work as well as writing an explanation as to why they chose that particular piece.  We did this with their CGI math problems, writing, and reading samples that they felt showed off their understanding of the Common Core State Standards.  Together we painstakingly prepared for our conferences in February. 

The conferences went off without a hitch. The students escorted their parents in and showed them where to sign in. After the students reintroduced their parents to me, they made their way to their chromebooks to show them their portfolios.  It was beautiful to see the students sharing what they had worked so hard on with who should be their biggest supporters.  I became misty-eyed at times witnessing the conversations and hearing things like, “I didn't know that was what you wanted to be,” or “what great work son, I am so proud of you.”  The flow of the week was going great.  Now as teachers we have met and worked with our fair share of parents and know that no parent is made the same as another.  The majority of my students have all the love and support from their parents that any child should.  However; I have a small handful of students in my room, whose parents aren't the most supportive, who have heard once or twice that they can't do things, or that they are unable to achieve this or that.  One student stuck out in particular for me, I was anxious to observe as the conference progressed.  What I saw, what I witnessed forever made me a fan of student led conferences.  In the last two years that I have had this student I had never seen his parent smile or congratulate him, but by the end of the conference the parent was doing both.  She was blown away at the success of her son and his openness about the areas he struggles.  This parent listened deeply to what her son was telling her, not what I was showing her, but he was revealing about himself.  In that moment, it occurred to me that while I've always longed to “show parents who their children truly are” he had done that for himself. 

As they thanked me for my time, I heard her say “I am proud of you son,” as they left.  The time we spent and work put into these conferences, the practicing we did in both English and Spanish to ensure that each student could communicate to their parents, the hours of organizing, goal planning and hard work was paid back in full in that particular moment.  As educators, it is our job to equip our students to speak out about who they are, who they dream to be and how they will accomplish those things.  I for one, can not wait for the next set of conferences.