Primary Student Led Teacher Conferences (PSLTC)

I tried out student led parent-teacher conferences or SLPTCs (I think it'll totally catch on) at the fifth and sixth grade levels and a lot of success.

Then I willingly moved to 2nd grade.  Talk about a culture shock (but that's a whole different blog post)! When it came to conference time, I wanted to invite my students, but was unsure about how to adapt the reflective nature of the conference to better fit my little guys' level.

With a few adaptations from my upper grade student led parent-teacher conferences (UGSLPTCs....maybe not), I was pleasantly surprised at how effectively 2nd graders could run their own conferences.  Plus their enthusiasm was contagious!  The first thing one of my students said sitting down to meet was, "I am just so excited, Ms. Sewell!  I've never been invited to a conference before!"  

So here's how I adapted my conference resources to meet the needs of my primary students: 

• Portfolios: Students kept a portfolio of their work throughout the year, just as my upper grade students did. 

• No Portfolio?  No Problem!: I created a reflection packet to help students prepare for their conference.  We completed a page a day, starting about a week before conference time.  

• Self-Portrait: Students started by drawing their self-portrait.  They were encouraged to add details such as a background, thought bubbles, and speech bubbles.  Parents loved seeing this!

• Reflection Page with Sentence Stems: Students wrote a quick reflection about their favorite and least favorite subject, as well as how they felt about their friendships.  

• Numbered Reflection:  This was a more detailed page, where students gave their subjects a number rating (1,2, or 3) based on how they felt they were currently performing. They could then write more. 

• Favorites and Least Favorites:  Lastly, students wrote about some of their favorite and least favorite parts of the year.

I read these completed packets before they were shared, which helped me better steer our meeting as it occurred.  Students presented this at the very beginning of their conference, and parents loved hearing their child talk about their year. Even if a parent chose not to bring their kid, I gave them time to read before getting started. Great way to get the ball rolling!

Want to hear more about SLPTCs?  (See, you're already on board with the acronym)  Then click here.