Saturday, November 20, 2010
Just a Thought on Conferences
This is mostly for elementary educators, but could apply to all. I just finished up my conferences this past week and in the middle of them I once again started wondering why we do them the way we do. Why do we have this two day marathon of conferences when teachers are tired and the conferences are back to back so we can barely catch a breath before the next one starts. I only have 23 students in my room. If I could start meeting with parents one on one sometime in November and have them wrapped up by December I think I would be much "fresher" for each conference. I would feel more prepared and I would feel like I can give the parents the time and attention they deserve. I could have one or two a day before or after school. I would be able to block off more time if I felt it was needed for a specific conference or less time if I felt it was needed. I would not be rushed or exhausted. The fact is that there are some parents I do not need to meet with because I had already met with them a few days earlier at an IEP and they still feel obligated to sign up for conferences so they don't look like a bad parent. I also have those kids that are just awesome and all we do at the conference is sit there and chat about other things. It is nice to catch up with and meet parents and I believe conferences are an important part of what we do. I just think the structure is not the best it could be.
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I great way to cut down on back to back conferences with parents that 1- don't really need a conference for their child because you are in constant contact and communication with them and 2- students that are really doing good (great grades/no behavior issues)- is to send out their child's report card to all parents before conferences. Attach a quick form letter that checkmarks the area of -No conference needing child is (fill in a special note). Or checkmark -Yes a conference is needed child needs to (fill in the blank). I have found parents really appreciate this system and are happy to notice that their child is doing great and no conference is needed. Sometimes the old saying of no news is good news relates to this issue.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea and I would love to do it this way...unfortunately our district won't allow us to do this at the elementary level. It is good to know that there are some schools out there that allow people to do things that make sense for all involved!
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