Giving students a voice at conference time

How teachers at one school prompt kids to take an active part in parent conferences-- and why that's smart.

It's parent conference time at Wildwood Elementary School in Piedmont, California, and classrooms are abuzz with young voices. In one classroom, at a desk laden with portfolios, artwork, math puzzles, and books, a child confidently talks about the map she designed for a unit on Africa. In another classroom, parents look on as a small group of students and their teacher begin a lively literature discussion. Further down the hall, a child points out her contributions to a whole-class mural.

These scenes may be disconcerting if you're used to the kind of third-party parent conferences where adults talk about what students have learned, and children are present only as amalgams of test scores, pen-and-paper achievements, and an art project or two. But at Wildwood Elementary and other schools across the country, teachers are giving children a place at the conference table. The benefits? When students add their insights to the assessment process, conferences become more meaningful--and a lot more fun.

In this article, we'll tell you why the teachers at Wildwood decided to go out on a limb and include students at conference time; how each teacher personalize her approach; and what the teachers found to be the keys to successful conferences.

Why Include Students at Conference Time?

Several years ago, when colleagues from Wildwood attended a workshop on student-led conferences, they thought it sounded promising. "We believed that kids might be able to do a better job of reporting their progress than we could," recalls second-grade teacher Nancy Litton. "And it made sense that this type of conferencing would give children the opportunity to review their progress and understand why keeping a portfolio is important."

But before the teachers rushed to change their conferencing format, they weighe the challenges. First-grade teachers Suzanne Latham and Lianne Morrison weren't sure how parents would react. Confides Suzanne, "I thought moms and dads might feel cheated out of their regular conference, but I thought it was worth taking that risk."

Fourth-grade teacher Bev Schmidt, who already had experimented with letting students sit in on conferences, wondered how to structure the new format to be more effective. "The role of students in my conferences had been passive," she admits, so kids were just as invisible as if they hadn't been there.

The Nuts and Bolts of Student-Led Conferencing

Confident of the benefits they'd reap, the teachers at Wildwood decided to work together to overcome obstacles and structure truly child-centered conferences. Here are six lessons they learned along the way.

1. Prepare samples of student work. At Wildwood, the foundation for student-led conferences is laid early in the year as students develop the habit of collecting samples of work for their portfolios.

* Three weeks before the conference period begins, Nancy Litton's class makes a checklist of subject areas, and students select corresponding work for each area.

* Bev Schmidt's fourth graders, on the other hand, use a report card (which Bev makes a large copy of on poster board) as an outline for organizing work samples.

* To help kids decide how to share their work, Lianne Morrison hands out a booklet to each student with a curriculum heading on the top of each page and completed projects from a student-generated list typed below.

2. Customize your format. Although kids make many decisions about what happens during the conferences, some teachers at Wildwood also set aside time for more structured activities. Bev Schmidt, for instance, schedules parent visits aroun literature discussion groups that are unrehearsed. "I let parents become flies on the wall," she explains, "so they can get a genuine feel for what learning i really like in my classroom. Afterward I have students individually share their portfolios with parents." In Nancy Litton's and other primary classrooms, students read for five minutes from their favorite books, compare several stories they've written throughout the year, and play a math game.

3. Walk students through the conference. To prepare her students for the big da and alleviate any anxiety, teacher Suzanne Latham models a conference for her class, playing the role of a student and asking her first graders to play the parts of the grown-ups. "I help kids anticipate every stage of the conference," Suzanne explains, "from the time they greet their parents at the door until the time they say good-bye." In Nancy Litton's class kids pair up to rehearse how they will share samples of their work.

4. Don't try to run the show. No matter what format you've decided on, once children have begun to conference, try to fade into the background. Says Nancy Litton, "I let children know ahead of time that I will be there if they need me but that this is their chance to show what they've learned."

5. Brief parents beforehand. Because at first parents may feel a bit wistful about not getting to talk intimately with teachers about their children, let parents know well in advance what they can expect from student-led conferences. At Wildwood each teacher writes a fairly detailed letter to parents that paints a picture of what student-led conferences are like, and their benefits.

Teachers also suggest ways parents can respond to children during conferences. "This can be tricky because you can't dictate to parents how they should act," says Lianne Morrison. "I just remind them that if they sit back, are observant, and let the child take charge, they'll learn a lot."

Also, Wildwood teachers reassure parents that they can still schedule traditional parent conferences, but ask them to wait until after the child-led conference. "Chances are parents will have their concerns quelled and questions answered during the student-led conference," says Lianne. "And even if they do request a traditional conference, it's generally enriched by what happened during the student-led one."

6. Finesse conference scheduling. Wildwood teachers provide the traditional parent conference in the fall--as well as whenever a parent or teacher feels th need for one--and plan the student-led conference for the spring. To accommodat working parents, Bev Schmidt advises scheduling some conferences before school. Nancy Litton, on the other hand, schedules overlapping conferences--four per half-hour time slot. "Originally I had planned for each child to spend about 30 minutes with his or her parents," Nancy remembers, "but both kids and parents wanted to stay longer. So I put a sign on the door encouraging parents to stay as long as they wanted." How does she deal with the logistics of space? "I make sure that, for example, the four conferences scheduled for 1:00 P.M. are set up at different tables than those scheduled for the 1:30 P.M. slot." Is this constant flow of people in and out of the room distracting? Not really, says Nancy, because kids and parents become focused on what they're doing.

Helpful Hints for Successful Conferences

To launch your student-led conferences into trouble-free waters, the teachers a Wildwood Elementary and other schools advise the following:

* Rally administrative support well in advance. "When we explained the hows and whys of kid-led conferencing, our principal was immediately supportive," says Bev Schmidt. "She was only concerned that we provide opportunities for traditional conferences for those parents who wanted it--and we did."

* Anticipate--and be ready to respond to--potential problems. Rehearse in you own mind how you will deal with issues--such as a disagreement about invented spelling, stages in the writing process, or using calculators--that have arisen or might arise. Be prepared to defend your approach to teaching.

* Keep parents informed throughout the year. A short monthly newsletter that keeps parents abreast of classroom activities prevents anything from coming as much of a surprise during the conference period.

* Nurture parent-child communication. Help kids develop the habit of talking meaningfully with their parents about their schoolwork. For example, in Beth Black's classroom in Edmunds, Washington, students take turns videotaping themselves explaining one aspect of their math curriculum. They show the video to their parents or caregivers and bring back responses.

* Provide "substitute parents" where necessary. At one school in Rhode Island if parents simply find it impossible to make it to their children's conferences teachers allow students to invite another adult, or the teachers arrange for a school staff member to fill in.

* Keep developmental stages in mind. Ann Carlyle, a primary teacher in Goleta California, feels that parents of primary students need to meet with the teacher, and she knows that portfolio-sharing is challenging for youngsters. So Ann helps guide the conferences, during which a child shares his or her portfolio and demonstrates an activity. Then if parents have a specific concern Ann finds a natural way for the child to exit so the adults can speak privately Later, the student is invited back.

* Ask for feedback from both parents and students. After a conference session encourage parents to reflect upon the process by filling out an open-ended evaluation form. Ask kids to evaluate the conferences, too, either in written form or during classroom discussions.

SUZANNE MOYERS, a former teacher and Instructor editor, is a freelance writer based in Miami, Florida.

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