My dear teaching friend, Cindy Jones, will be retiring at the end of this school year. Cindy is an amazing teacher, and it just won’t be the same without her at our school. As I was walking by her room this week, I saw her students preparing for student-led conferences. Later I sat down with her and asked her for some tips on launching conferences that I could share with interested teachers. She allowed me to share all of her resources with you to use for your conferences this year and in upcoming ones.
After a year full of communication with parents, it’s really helpful to end the year with student-led conferences. Some of Cindy's tips include:
All of this sounds simple, but I’ll admit that before my conversation with Cindy, I was too scared to try it out on my own. I wish I had talked to her earlier and asked for her resources. All of the work is already done for you. So, save yourself some time and check them out.
Cindy sends home a signup sheet, then posts the schedule for each day on the door. She types up an agenda, which the students share at the start of the conference. She also uses a parent checklist, with room for goals at the bottom, to help with the self-analysis part of the conference. Additionally, there's a short grammar exercise, the Shurley sentence, for parents to complete. Afterwards, the child goes over their work, which typically contains many errors. It's a confidence booster for students and demonstrates the difficulty of fifth grade standards to the parents.
Feel free to ask any questions you have here, as Cindy teaches across the hall from me.
My dear teaching friend, Cindy Jones, will be retiring at the end of this school year. Cindy is an amazing teacher, and it just won’t be the same without her at our school. As I was walking by her room this week, I saw her students preparing for student-led conferences. Later I sat down with her and asked her for some tips on launching conferences that I could share with interested teachers. She allowed me to share all of her resources with you to use for your conferences this year and in upcoming ones.
After a year full of communication with parents, it’s really helpful to end the year with student-led conferences. Some of Cindy's tips include:
All of this sounds simple, but I’ll admit that before my conversation with Cindy, I was too scared to try it out on my own. I wish I had talked to her earlier and asked for her resources. All of the work is already done for you. So, save yourself some time and check them out.
Cindy sends home a signup sheet, then posts the schedule for each day on the door. She types up an agenda, which the students share at the start of the conference. She also uses a parent checklist, with room for goals at the bottom, to help with the self-analysis part of the conference. Additionally, there's a short grammar exercise, the Shurley sentence, for parents to complete. Afterwards, the child goes over their work, which typically contains many errors. It's a confidence booster for students and demonstrates the difficulty of fifth grade standards to the parents.
Feel free to ask any questions you have here, as Cindy teaches across the hall from me.
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