Preparing for Parent-Teacher Conferences

With Parent-Teacher Conferences coming up I wanted to provide parents with tips that will hopefully lead to productive meetings. We certainly want to promote dialogues which focus on your child's learning and habits. It's all about looking at where he/she stands now and what can be done to support their progress in the future. There are several outstanding resources available for parents, teachers and administrators.

The Harvard Family Research Project published the "Parent–Teacher Conference Tip Sheets 
for Principals, Teachers, and Parents" They advise parents, teachers and administrators to approach conferences...

• as a two-way conversation
• with an emphasis on learning
• with an understanding that there will be opportunities and challenges discussed.

The guide also suggests that parents talk to teachers about the following.

• "Progress. Find out how your child is doing by asking questions like: Is my child performing at grade level? How is he or she doing compared to the rest of the class? What do you see as his or her strengths? How could he or she improve?" 
• "Assignments and assessments.Ask to see examples of your child’s work. Ask how the teacher gives grades."
• "Your thoughts about your child. Be sure to share your thoughts and feelings about your child. Tell the teacher what you think your child is good at. Explain what he or she needs more help with." 
• "Support learning at home. Ask what you can do at home to help your child learn. Ask if the teacher knows of other programs or services in the community that could also help your child."
• "Support learning at school. Find out what services are available at the school to help your child. Ask how the teacher will both challenge your child and support your child when he or she needs it."

Scholastic has published this article entitled, "Make the Most of Your Teacher Conference". The article focuses on preparing for conferences in advance by speaking with your child and reviewing grades and samples of work. .

Resources

5 Resources for Parent-Teacher Conferences from Edutopia

Extended Essay Panel: An authentic learning experience

On Thursday and Friday 69 Graded Juniors presented their extended essays to a panel of teachers and peers. This was our largest group ever and the variety of topics was excellent. The panels are one step in the learning process for IB diploma students. While this is an independent research project, each student has a faculty advisory who guides him/her along the way. The panelists review the essays prior to the panel discussion and they have the opportunity to ask the author questions and make suggestions. The students then use the feedback to create their final works which will be submitted to the IBO for marks.

Sample Extended Essay Topics

• What is the optimal angle to shoot a basketball?
• In what ways does H.P. Lovecraft explore the theme of Isolation in his works?
• An in-depth study of the the theme of alienation and isolation in a post-World War II context in Pink Floyd’s seminal 1979 album, The Wall.
• Estilo literário e crítica social na obra Vidas secas, de Graciliano Ramos 
• The effect of 1980 Colombian Drug Cartels on Colombian society to this day
• “How does the movie, Moneyball, a sports film portray the emotions and motives of a hero in a movie?”
• How did Mark Rothko’s inner conflicts and goals as an artist reflect on his unique rectangular motif? 
• To what extent is music piracy in Brazil a negative externality in the music industry?
• Influence of classical and baroque music on Randy Rhoad's style while in the Ozzy Osborne era
• To what extent did the childhood trauma and educational values influence Robespierre during the Reign of Terror?

Wordles showing the students' essays.

Graded 1 to 1

As most of us have already noticed, technology is the present and the future. And wanting to embrace this tool that has made life so much easier, Graded has adopted the 1 to 1 program, where students are required to bring their laptops to school and where classes are mostly conducted using the aid of technology. And from a student’s point of view, the 1 to 1 can be both immensely helpful and ridiculously frustrating at times. And many of the times, the latter prevails. 

photos by yearbook staff

But let's start with the good parts. I love the fact that I have to carry almost nothing home, it is lightweight and accessible from anywhere with internet (WITH Internet). It gives us access to different teaching methods and I can do my work and immediately send it to the teacher without any “my dog ate my homework” type of problems. My hand doesn’t turn gray with graffiti whenever I write an essay. And of course, the satisfaction of knowing that innumerable trees, habitats, and animals are saved in the process is incomparable. And the list goes on. 

But on the other hand, this 1 to 1 program is becoming somewhat of a bother. It's nothing horrendous, but it can sometimes be very inconvenient. Futile Brazilian outlets that do not correspond with our chargers leaving the students staring at their screens in despair as the battery life drops down to a 0%, uncooperative google docs’ and coursewebs, blackouts, slow Internet and broken projectors are among the long list of things that could (and do) go wrong. There’s more. Certainly, laptops can be used to write notes and take quizzes and more. But annotating passages, making group posters, and math, MATH, online? Are we serious? Oh, and the infamous "keep them at forty-five" term. My ears cringe every time I hear it. And the worse part of it all is the distractions. Oh, distractions. Let's face it. Not only students, but I know parents and teachers can relate to this as well. When things such as Facebook, other classes’ assignments, music, emails, and whatever else are nothing more than just a click away, I can say with confidence that it can be tremendously difficult to stay on task. When the teacher's voice tunes down to a monotonous drone or when my concentration dies out, I sometimes find myself wandering off and reading the strangest articles about the science behind the chills we get while listening to good music or about interpretations of Shakespeare's Othello off random websites. Terribly rude of my part, and I partially blame my laptop for it.

But enough. I am not here to rant about the 1 to 1 program. Well, sort of. But here’s the good news. I personally believe that it is a question of adaptation. Ever since the Mesopotamians developed reading and writing in 3200 BCE, the human race has always been accustomed to writing by hand; and when technological advance and internet and computers are hurled at our faces, it is obvious that our natural inclination is to fight back. But with time, I believe we will learn to adapt properly and use technology much to our advantage. And to save paper of course. Perhaps once we get accustomed to emailing our teachers the homework rather than handing them in and to take our notes online, we will look back and thank the gods for the 1 to 1 program. 

Or maybe not. Maybe we’re just fooling ourselves and paper will forever and always be the most efficient way to do it. What do you think?

MC Otani