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STUDENT LED CONFERENCES Angela Ingram - BC, Canada 1998 Introduction Sunset Elementary School is located in the town of Port McNeill on Vancouver Island BC. Port McNeill has a population of 3,000 people. The town’s major industries are forestry, fishing and tourism. Sunset Elementary enrols students from kindergarten (age 5) to grade 7. There are 16 classes and the student population is approximately 370. The school year begins in September and ends in late June. British Columbia schools report to parents five times during the school year. Formal written reports comprise three contacts. Three way parent/teacher/student interviews are held in October and student led conferences occur in May. Student involvement in assessment and reporting is, in my opinion, a logical component as students are key figures in the teaching and learning process. Student led conferences provide the opportunity for students to introduce their parents to school and individual classrooms. I chose student led conferences as my topic as I believe that this method of reporting about student progress and school routines would compliment and enhance the portfolio reporting format already adopted at Port Broughton Area School Definitions "Student led conferencesrefers to the process whereby the student plans, implements, conducts and evaluates a conference. It provides a forum in which students can effectively talk about their school work with parents." (pg 19 Student led conferences – using portfolios to share learning with parents – Grant, Heffler and Mereweather, Prmbroke publishers 1995) The role of the teacher is to act as a guide. The teacher is an observer in the process. He/she only enters the dialogue when invited to do so or when necessary to change the direction of the interview. His/her presence is to give confidence and power to the child. "Student led conferences", celebrates student learning. It demands that students take responsibility for their learning and in so doing it promotes the creation of self-motivated learners capable of reflecting critically and constructively on that learning. (pg 105) BENEFITS OF STUDENT LED CONFERENCES For the Students
For the Parents
For the Teacher
GOALS OF STUDENT LED CONFERENCES Students – To accept responsibility for reporting to parents about how they are doing in school and the progress they are making. Parents – To be positive and accepting of their child’s efforts and to recognise the importance of their encouragement Teachers – To prepare and teach students the basic principles of accepting responsibility for the work they do at school. To teach communication and leadership skills the students will need to report to their parents. STUDENT LED CONFERENCES – FORMAT This is one example of the process to follow when establishing and setting up student led conferences in a classroom. Most teachers at Sunset Elementary School followed this process. Steps: 1 Folder making – (portfolio) The purpose is for students to prepare a place to consolidate their schoolwork activities that they intend to share with their parents. The cover of the folder can be decorated with magazine cut outs of pictures that are meaningful to the student. (This step has already been accomplished at Port Broughton Area School, as portfolios are a significant part of our assessment and reporting process). 2 Curriculum samples The teacher leads a brainstorming session so that students can decide upon which samples of work or activities they wish to show parents. These can be collected from work-books, work folders or project work etc. Audience and time restraints need to be taken into account. Teacher guidance by providing subject areas and topics can be helpful and examples can be provided. For example: Math – choose one sample of subtraction work Information not relating to specific subject areas can also be added. (social skills,
sport skills etc.) Information can be collected throughout the year for the portfolio and kept in a separate folder. Samples to be used in the conference can be collected from this folder. One grad 1 teacher asked students to choose one favourite work sample a day and on Fridays the students chose their best piece and placed it with a review in their conference portfolio. Another teacher organised conference times for students to talk to the teacher about their selections. (See appendix C) Work Samples Once the work has been chosen by the student, assessment and comment sheets can be prepared by the teacher to help students discuss the sample. It is important to have only 4 – 5 of these examples as time will be needed to discuss them in detail and for the students to show work at the different stations. Copies of outlines that teachers could prepare and show students when they are ready to make their choice of work samples are included as Appendices D, E and F. 3. Appointment setting Older students can do this by themselves. Younger students may need teachers to organise this aspect. The process for students organising the timetable is as follows –
A copy of sample letters and timetables are included as Appendices G and H. An example of the booking sheet could be as follows – 2.30-3.00pm red family green family 3.00-3.30pm square family triangle family 4. Invitations Students write invitations to their parents stating time, place and date that they wish their parents to come to school. They may also give a brief indication of the programme for the conference so their parents know what to expect. The invitations need to be sent out one week before the conference. 5. Communication skills Buddies, preferably older students need to be organised before the conference. If possible, children need to have more than one practice of the activities for the conference. Skills that need to be practiced may include – introductions, time management, communication of work, key phrases (eg Here is a package of my work. This is what I’d like you to notice about it….), answering questions, being specific about work samples, eye contact, holding audience attention and practice following the plan of the conference. 6. Encouragement It is important that the teacher recognises and comments to students about their work prior to the conference. A way to do this is for the teacher to slip a short message into the child’s folder to give them encouragement about the way they have organised or worked during practice. This will help the student to gain confidence about their conference. An outline describing the order of events during the conference is also important. This can be organised into a booklet. (See Appendices I and J) 7. Class arrangement It is important that the students feel comfortable about the way the class is arranged for the conference. They can make choices about the location of the stations taking into account the noise level of some activities. 8. Refreshments These are optional but can be arranged by the students. For example, they could brainstorm ways to raise money or how to distribute responsibility for food amongst themselves. 9. Guest book This book is place near the entrance to the classroom. Parents are encouraged to sign the book and to add comments about the conference. A parent response sheet can also be added. (See Appendices K, L and M) so that the School and individual teachers can gather information about how to improve student led conferences. STATIONS These can be decided upon by the students. They can be relevant to work being done at the time in the classroom or work that has been done previously in the year. 4-5 stations are ample. Some active work is beneficial as the children can then actively show their skills. Videos/special presentations can also be presented in a station as can gym or computer work. In summary the student learning conference will involve students demonstrating –
In order to prepare this information I reviewed references about Student Led Conferences and interviewed several teachers as Sunset Elementary School, about their way of organising and running conferences in their rooms. The following information is a summary of the information presented to me by kindergarten, Year 1, Year 3, Year 5 and Year 7 teachers. KINDERGARTEN This teacher had 20 minute sessions with 3-4 families being in the room at one time. The focus of the conference was a scrap book that included student work samples collected throughout the year. Students would discuss each work sample with their parents at the conference. The teacher had labelled each sample to give parents some idea of the curriculum area covered. The teacher prepared for the conference by holding a whole class practice session where the students looked through their sample books and discussed the work together. Stations were then discussed and the students had the opportunity to practice these with an older student in a buddy situation. The stations included a journal (writing) station, a math activity station, a computer game station, a science station and a calendar station. The calendar station was set up so that students could explain how they learn about the calendar each day and show parents what they do every morning. The students would tick each station as they completed it to keep track of their work. A parent response sheet was prepared which was later added to the students sample book. YEAR 1 This operated similarly to the kindergarten station but the sessions lasted for 30 minutes. Students rotated through the stations. This teacher ensured that there was significant time for students to show parents their work books with fewer stations. A grade one evaluation sheet filled out by the students demonstrating four highlights and one area to improve in was included as a station. (See Appendix P) To ensure maximum attendance at the conference the teacher contacted parents who had not responded previously by letter. A rose and star sheet was filled out with the child at one of the stations at the conference. (See Appendix Q) YEAR 3 The year 3 student led conference was influenced by stations. There were several stations for students to work through in a 30 minute session. These included – desks and books, home reading chart, computer lab, rose and star centre, math/science centre, a project centre which demonstrated an example of a current project, an imaginary centre – this was a station which demonstrated something special and not always related to a specific subject area. The centre this year was the children’s work on creating and writing about an imaginary creature. The year 3 teacher also recommended work be demonstrated through photos, art folders, novel study displays, times tables and class booklets of student reflections on past work. The stations were set up around the room but several were held in different parts of the school to ensure that the noise level was not high. Those stations at different locations were usually done last in the conference. Students practiced with a buddy prior to the conference with their parents. YEAR 5 The year 5 student led conference was the same duration as the year 3. Four families were invited into the room at once. The year 5 teacher planned student led conferences from the beginning of the school year by establishing portfolios of work. Collections of work samples, photographs, assessments of key events and basic skill test results devised by the teacher were gathered and collated during the year. The purpose of the portfolio for the year 5 teacher was twofold. One aim was for the portfolio to be a souvenir of the school year for the children that could be held in a manageable form. The other aim was for it to teach children to be reflective about the school year and to see what they have learnt. The student led conferences were set up in the same way as the year 3. Stations and assessments of 3-4 work samples were established. This teacher also wanted parents to be aware of the use of technology in the classroom, so she also set up stations to show how to use the internet and a video of student work. The students practiced for the conference with a buddy from their own class. YEAR 7 The year 7 student led conference was mainly arranged and organised by the students. The teacher gave guidance but the students were responsible for organising the times, the type of work samples they would share and the centres or stations around the room. The process was as follows –
The students must then negotiate with each other regarding their conference times. Once this has been decided the students send out personal invitations to their parents stating their conference time. My Student Led Conference I had a year one class in 1998. The students had done one student led conference previously in kindergarten. I followed the process established by a number of teachers by first sending a letter home to parents asking them to indicate 3 times they would be available for conferences. Once I had this information I was able to organise times and confirm times for parents. I found that most parents wanted the later times and sometimes had to schedule 5 conferences at the one time. Our next step was to discuss our stations. I asked students to choose a number of stations which would reflect the work done in class. They chose a number of curriculum areas to cover including science, PE, Math and language. They also chose to do a puppet play where they would introduce Australian animal puppets to their parents. Once our stations were decided I made a book for each child which enabled students to rotate through the stations during the conference. The class practiced using this book three times. Initially we did it as a whole class with one – two students modelling a station each day. The next step was working with a partner and practicing the actual conference. Lastly we worked with year 5 buddies and role played the conference. Once the conference was completed students filled out an evaluation form about their own conference and how they felt it went. COMMENTS I found student led conferences to be a positive experience for all. Every student in my class had at least one parent attend the conference. The students enjoyed sharing their work and talking about their skills. Most of the conferences went for 45 minutes to an hour with the parents being very willing to spend time talking with their child. The stations worked well. The students were familiar with how to operate the station and could follow their booklet. Some students were more verbal than others. I found my role to be one of a listener only giving comments when asked or if a student needed guidance. I added comments or asked questions of students occasionally. Parents were pleased with the conference and most filled out the rose and star sheet with their child while at the conference.
THINGS I WOULD CHANGE
CONCLUSION Student led conferences are an excellent form of assessment and reporting to parents. They include all the participants in the learning process and provide an opportunity for students, teachers and parents to celebrate their achievements. In summary student led conferences –
I found the conferences a very rewarding way to share the school experience with parents and would gladly see it adopted by my school in Australia in future years. BIBLIOGRAPHY Student led conferences – Using portfolios to share learning with
parent. Student led teacher parent conferences. Thanks to |