Student Led Confereces were a success!

Last week the Emerald team had student led conferences and they were a success!  The scheduling of the whole event was a bit tricky but it was certainly worth it after seeing my students interact with their parents in such a mature and professional manner.  Each parent came in for a 15 minute conference with their child.  No teachers were involved in the conference and the students were prepared to review their current progress in school with their parents.  The kids showed up dressed to impress in their suits, khakis, and skirts and the parents seemed pleasantly surprised when their children shook their hands, offered them a seat, and began to honestly discuss their successes and weaknesses in the classroom.  Almost every parent left with a smile and seemed happy to have had this opportunity with their kids.  Whew...I'm glad it's over and I'm glad it went well.  Since the first set of conferences went so well we're thinking of repeating the process in June so parents and students can take a look at their progression throughout the school year.  A few ideas to keep in mind for the next set of conferences are: 1) longer conference time  2) have more examples on hand to share with parents and 3) incorporate information from non core classes.  I have a google docs survey set up on my website for parents to give more feedback that will help us improve this process.

In addition to the wonderful conferences there was another amazing thing that happened during those two days.  We selected a group of 10 kids to serve as greeters at the door and check parents in and escort them up to the conference station where their child was waiting.  The greeters were amazing, innovative, and proved how wonderful 8th graders could be.  As a matter of fact we had many kids begging to be greeters the whole time!

It all started with the clipboard.  I chose one, very tall, very nice young man to be in charge of the clipboard and direct the other greeters.  He did a great job but the other greeters wanted to get in on the clipboard action too.  So, they held a meeting, on their own, and designated a time for each of them to be in charge of the clipboard.  Then they really starting putting their heads together!  They took over a white erase board and wrote a message just for parents coming to our conferences, which was the perfect greeting.  Then they noticed that parents were showing up early and were standing around waiting so they found nice comfortable chairs and set them up in the lobby so parents could sit and relax while they wanted to be escorted upstairs.  These 10 greeters were professional and thorough and knowing that they were in charge downstairs took a lot of pressure off of me and gave me the opportunity to do my job and monitor the conferences upstairs. 

These conferences proved that 8th grade students have the ability to be professional, think on their feet, and take charge when necessary.  Student led conferences gave them the opportunity to practice many skills that they will use over and over again as an adult.  I was impressed by their creativity and willingness to improve our original plan.  That was so amazing, the 10 greeters made spur of the moment changes that they KNEW would work.  They didn't ask a teacher if they could and they didn't think twice about it.  Those kids were confident enough to know that they were doing the right thing and they were so proud of themselves.  That was truly a proud moment in my Connections class!