By Tracey
I love conference week. About five years ago, my district made the transition from teacher-led conferences to student-led, and I love it. I’ve adapted it slightly, making it a blending of the two types of conferences. I give my students about 45 minutes worth of projects to share, ideas to discuss, experiments to demonstrate, and learning to prove. And then we all sit together for about 20 minutes discussing goals for the next academic quarter while reviewing the report card. It's moving to see my students show pride in their accomplishments. It's also remarkable to see them show areas where they didn't succeed, because they don't need me to tell them what needs to change. They are truly held accountable, as the gaps are hard to cover up.
There’s a wonderful thing that happens following these conferences and it’s this feeling that we, the parents and I, just formed a team to help their child succeed. I even got a few parents to agree to take away the Play Station after school and instead use it as a reward for completing homework. I won’t be very popular with Leo and Carlos, and I’m OK with that. Carlos’ mother informed me that in Mexico, kids are taught to fear their teachers. Teachers are equipped with sticks, not big sticks, (she made sure the interpreter explained) to hit kids who don’t perform. I told her that I’d like to keep my job, and would leave hitting Carlos to do his schoolwork up to her. We laughed while Carlos squirmed, and I wondered why we didn’t do this sooner? Meeting the families makes such a difference. It makes everything all come together and make sense. I learn more about their goals for their children, the hardships they face, and ways we can overcome obstacles to help their child succeed.
Before the school year began, I talked a lot about home visits. I talked to my principal about doing it. I asked if there was any chance we could get our class lists in August? That way I could make time for home visits. Our class lists came out the same time they do every year – the Friday before school started. I made lots of phone calls and invited families in to meet with me. I even said that I could meet with them at their home if that was easier. Some came in, happy to have the chance. Some wondered what was wrong and came in, nervously. And some ignored my requests entirely. It helped. I learned more about my students and established some connection with some of the families, even if my intentions weren’t made as clear.
One teacher in my school decided she was going to do home visits regardless of the lack of time and outside supports. It took her hours upon hours. She was exhausted, yet very well fed. Each family welcomed her into their home, fed her dinner and talked with her for at least an hour. She came in every Sunday for the entire fall quarter to do her planning because that was the only time available to her.
Since we know that parent involvement plays such an important role in a student’s success, I wonder why we don’t invest more time and money in this? There’s a culture in schools to meet with teachers in November, so it’s accepted. Over the years, I’ve noticed a trend. I see commitment and enthusiasm from parents to continue being involved (checking for homework, working on multiplication facts, etc.) following the conference in November. Then around February or so, it starts to dwindle. I’ve heard that some schools hold conferences again in the spring. How do they do it? I can call parents and invite them in again, and hope they don’t think there’s something wrong again, but it seems that if it were part of the school culture to have regular conferences twice a year, plus home visits before the school year started, we could accomplish so much more. What do your schools do for teachers to connect with parents, and how do they do it?
I can’t imagine meeting all the families of 160 students. I don’t think I could even keep 160 students straight, let alone know them well enough to say anything to their parents about their progress. I can see why a curriculum night is a commonly used model. Although, we do those, too.
I wonder if that’s still part of the culture of parent involvement. At the kindergarten level, those parents are hovering just outside the classroom nearly every day. By the time they get to me at the 5th grade, they know it’s a good idea to show up at curriculum night, but it’s optional. The conferences aren’t, so they come. And from then on, it’s mostly just a signature here or there. By the time their kids reach high school, it seems parents expect far less teacher contact. I wonder if students would be more successful if parents felt they should be more involved?
I’m glad my post brought you such delight, Kristen! Your statement is so true and important to remember. Even when it feels like parents don’t care or kids don’t want to succeed, they most certainly do. They always do.
This post made my day, even though I teach 10th grade and have only the curriculum night you describe, where parents are given the chance to see which teachers are good and which are bad, nothing more. I wish I had the chance to sit down with parents, but even reading your post reminded me of what I would learn, which is that families care about their children, and that children want to succeed.
I had the chance to participate in Student-Led Conferences when I was at a junior high. It was great, though the kids were not my 160 actual students, they were my advisory/homeroom kids. It was still very powerful to hear the kids talk about their work, see the parents’ responses.
I’m my 9-12 high school, we only have one formal ‘parent night’ and it isn’t for conferences. The parents walk through their child’s schedule, 15 minutes per period, and witness a brief presentation from the teachers. From what I understand, the Open House versus Parent-Teacher-Conference format was a hot debate for years in my building before the present model. I don’t particularly favor our present model, but apparently it is better than any of the other alternatives which had been tried.
As for home visits, I’m much more leery than you seem to be. For one, I’m one of six teachers, though that is not meant to sound like an excuse. I wish we did have more traditional “conferences” or student-led conferences, just to get the face time with kids.