This week I'm meeting with most of the parents of my students. I like meeting with everyone at the same time as it gives me a chance to present similar information, and step back and focus on individual children as well as the program as a whole. Parent conferences are both affirming and challenging--affirming as much of the program is meeting children's needs, and challenging because no matter who you are or how long you've taught there is always room for growth and new challenges to meet.
Each year the collective conferences present a new profile and need for the class in general. This year parents were very interested in building writing skill and deep understanding and explanation in reading and math. Individual goals and challenges included relationship building, more specific feedback, and daily, structured practice in specific curriculum areas. With this in mind, I refined the weekly schedule putting into place a number of small revisions to better meet student needs.
Parent conferences are an essential part of the teaching year for elementary school. I wish we had more time-on-task to prepare and carry out these conferences however since the more we move towards a personalized, differentiated approach to teaching, the more time we need to carefully review and analyze individual student data and programming. The time to analyze, meet, assess, plan, and revise makes a positive difference in students' lives, hence I advocate for some revision of structure and time to better meet this process.
