Letter to Families:
Peoples
Academy Middle Level
202 COPLEY AVENUE
MORRISVILLE, VERMONT 05661
PHONE:
(802) 888-1401
FAX:
(802) 888-6488
KAREN S. WEEKS
Principal
October
10, 2014
Dear Parents and Guardians,
I would like to take this opportunity to explain
a new practice at PAML this year. Each student will be creating a portfolio
to showcase their work. At the start of the year they are creating goals
and making plans as to how they will meet their goals. Throughout the
year they will be collecting evidence to assess how they are doing toward
meeting their goals, reflecting on their growth, conferencing with their
teachers and documenting their progress in their portfolios.
In addition, students will be participating in student-led
conferences. They will be sharing the portfolios with
families at these conferences. The purpose of student-led conferences is
to put the students in charge of sharing their learning and to help them take
personal responsibility for their performance. This means you will need
to bring your student with you on Thursday, October 16th, 2014. If you
are unable to attend, you can send a family member or close friend with your
child so they have an opportunity to share their work.
In the traditional parent-teacher conference,
students are often “third parties” to hearing about their progress. Of
course teachers and parents play a vital role in students’ education, but
students must also take an active role in this area to maximize their potential
for success and student-led parent conferences have proven to be a successful
way for students to take the lead.
There are three components to the student-led
conference: preparing, conferencing, and after-conference
review. All three elements require the students to reflect and
evaluate their own progress and determine what they can do next to be
successful. In preparing for a student-led conference, students see how
their strengths, weaknesses and behavior can affect them as learners, thus
allowing them to take more responsibility for, and control over, their
achievement in school. Student-led conferences are an experience that can
improve the communication patterns of both students and parents. Parents
listen to their students, encourage growth and discuss with them solutions to
specific problems. These conferences help build organization and
self-confidence for the students.
Please call the school at (802) 888-1401 to sign
up for these exciting Student-Led Parent Conferences on Thursday, October 16th,
2014, and don’t forget to bring your student with you!
Thanks for all that you do for the PAML
community!
Karen Weeks
HINTS FOR PARENTS FOR STUDENT-LED CONFERENCES:
·
Express positive
interest and anticipation about the upcoming conference.
·
Listen and respond to
the student.
·
Express pride in growth
and progress.
·
Ask questions.
·
Be positive, offering to
help in areas where improvement is needed.
·
Recognize that students
need to develop independence in communicating progress – the teacher will be
there to facilitate and answer specific questions but will not take charge of
the conference. There may be two conferences happening at the same time -
the teacher will be in the background.
POSSIBLE
QUESTIONS TO ASK DURING THE STUDENT-LED CONFERENCE:
·
Can you explain this to
me?
·
How did you come up with
this idea?
·
How have you grown in
this area?
·
How can you improve in
this area?
·
How can we help you at
home?
·
What was important to
you about this?
·
If you could do this work
over again, how would you change it?
·
Have you thought about
future goals?
