New Twist on an Old Tradition: Student Led Conferences
We are making a change in our parent-teacher conferences again this year. Last year for high school students we moved to a single conference format in which you met with your child’s advisor. This year we will continue with this format and your child will lead the conference. This change will affect all grades in the building, sixth through twelfth grade. As this is our first attempt at student led conferences, students will have a script that has been prepared for them to follow. Students will be responsible for filling in all the pertinent information in the script. They will cover their academic goals as well as any strengths and/or challenges in behavior. During their conferences students will also discuss career goals and information from Career Cruising. Students will also have some assessment data to discuss with you. As always, current grades and effort in class will also be addressed.
Conferences should last fifteen minutes and students will facilitate the conference. You will still have the opportunity to visit with specific teachers one-on-one as you have in the past. We will have a master schedule of advisors’ appointments with students and parents in the office. Student will also have input from other teachers just as we did last year when we started the single conference format. Your student’s advisor will have all the same information your child will have in order to make sure there is no pertinent information overlooked.
We are expecting 100% participation from students and parents during our student led conferences. Student led conferences provide a unique opportunity for students to take true ownership of their education and their overall performance. Being able to conduct a conference will also give our students many skills directly applicable to the workforce or postsecondary education. This change is also in coordination with some of our goals related directly to the state’s new accreditation process. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me at Argonia Jr/Sr High School.
