It's that time of year again that most teachers dread... PARENT CONFERENCES. The dread mainly comes from long days filled with appointments, no shows, and repeating what you've already said in a variety of ways! Time to help alleviate some of that load by putting it back on the students and making them an involved partner in this educational partnership .
In the past, I would assign parents time slots for conferences and accommodate rescheduling, have students lead their conference by walking parents through a folder filled with filled in reflective forms and activities, and finally end with parents providing me feedback via paper on how the conference went. Well overdue for a change...
Instead this year:
1. Parents were able to select their day, time, and translator needs via Google Doc calendar embedded on Haiku site.
> Success!
2. Saved a few trees, copy limit, and time by creating a Google Slide template (click to view) for students to copy for their own. I am always in awe at the honesty that EVERY student can give when they are asked to reflect and put into words. Sometimes all that is needed is a little encouragement with a sentence frame, think aloud, and examples before they are soaring with ideas.
> Success!!
3. Students are given freedom to add content to their presentations that are relevant to progress thus far. Then they create Haiku Wiki page to host this parent conference presentation, favorite pictures of this year, projects thus far, and again more student choice of content!
> Success!!!
4. Finally, feedback is retrieved from the parents immediately after session via Google Form. One is a questionnaire that is regarding their child (click to view) if they haven't filled out yet and the other pertains specifically to the conference (click to view) process itself.
> Will see soon!
What I do know is that students are engaged in reflecting on themselves, their work, and looking ahead to goals more than ever before by making them an involved partner in this process. Parents are listening to their own child tell them about themselves, their successes, their needs, and what they would like to see to come. And finally, it feels incredible to "go green" with the use of technology as my data collection, storage, and organizational tool.
Wish them luck and a prayer for a successful series of parent conferences!
