We had our first conferences tonight and they were quite interesting. It was really valuable to hear the parents talk about their children from that perspective. I learned a lot about my students, including some issues that neither Diane nor I had really picked up on. It seems we have a bit more anxiety and insecurity in our room than we realized. We also learned some interesting things about the way the kids behave at home.
It got a bit exhausting going through the same bit over and over with each new family, but it was so nice to be in the conference and feel like I could share and speak up as a second teacher. I was very grateful to Diane and the families for including me on these meetings as a full participant.
Finally, one of our student's father teaches in the Metro State licensure program as the literacy expert. When he saw the math journals Nicole and I are using as our action research he asked me to send a synopsis of the project so he could show his students as an example of content area literacy. It's really cool to think about how we are all a part of this community of educators and learners.
I have a feeling I know who that "Metro State" dad is . . . I'll ask you the next time I see you, ok?
ReplyDeleteDid you meet with all the parents in your homeroom during that single night of conferences (or at least the majority, assuming some had conflicts)? Whew. That's a long, long night. I'm glad the experience was informative; there must have been a strong feeling of familiarity for the families and Diane given that most of them were together last year. Have you talked with Diane about how to handle the anxiety among students whose parents said they were struggling? Do you have some theories about why you weren't seeing those signs, but parents were?