Conferences

Conferences are coming up this Tuesday and Wednesday for Green students and the theme is goal setting. The first conference will be used to work actively with families to set goals together around math, reading, and language proficiency. Students will be actively involved in the process (as will families).  I plan on beginning conferences welcoming families to the classroom (not diving straight into data). Ultimately, I want to make sure the time together establishes a space to form relationships with families, is informative for where the child is academically and socially, and allows for a collaborative environment to set goals.  My hope is that the two goal setting sheets will advance this process.

The “Grade 5 Goal Setting Conferences-Green Central” artifact shows one strategy for beginning to set goals with families. The first part shows attendance which is important for families to see visually how often their child is attending school. This sets up a good time to discuss the importance of attending school, assess whether there are potential troubles with transportation that I can help support in, and a good space to generally talk about why attending school is important for the student at the conference. I imagine using this part of the sheet as a 5 minute discussion between me, families, and students.

The second part of this sheet shows data for reading, math, and English language proficiency. I would use this time to explain to both students and families what each of the data pieces tell us about the student’s proficiency in the core subjects. The document helps break down the different ways we monitor proficiency and visually shows students and families where we hope to have students in December, February, and end of the year with the goal of having students make 2 years growth. This part can become overwhelming and the explanation of all the tests can be monotonous. In order to decrease teacher talk during this time and not overwhelm families with pure data, I will explain the end of the year test (MCA) and the steps we are taking to reach proficiency through the other tests listed on the form.

The last part of the sheet touches on social/emotional strengths. This part was intentionally created with strengths listed rather than negative aspects (pays attention vs. has trouble focusing). This will allow space to discuss qualitative strengths rather than purely focusing on data. I will also ask students during the conference to self-assess themselves in this area in case I have missed anything.

Once families and students have an understanding of where the student is academically and socially/emotionally, we will collaboratively set goals. At this time we will utilize the other conference planning sheet below. Starting with strengths will help set the discussion in a way where we can utilize the strengths to set goals. This will be done collaboratively, with minimal talk on my part. I will open the space for students and families to list strengths and I will record them. Then we can go on to setting goals in math, literacy, and social/emotional. Again, this will be goals that families and students have so they will be leading most of this part of the conference. The next step is to create student, family, and teacher strategies to reach the goals. I will ask the student to lead the student portion, families to lead the family portion, and I will conclude with my strategies from a teacher perspective. This sheet is created with carbon copies so the families will be able to take a copy home with them to remember the goals we came up with.

These two goal setting sheets will set the foundation for ensuring families are plugged into the work that their students are doing and strategies to meet goals. The conference goal setting sheets provide a bridge between teacher led conferences and student/family led conferences. My goal is to have students ultimately leading their own conferences. This way of introducing families to quantitative and qualitative data will allow for all voices to be heard so that during the next conferences we can utilize these sheets to have students inform families on how they are progressing toward their goals. According to an article from Edutopia, there is evidence that student led conferences provides a sense of empowerment for students. I ultimately hope to lead conferences in this way (http://www.edutopia.org/practice/student-led-conferences-empowerment-and-ownership). The conference setting sheets will serve as a bridge to reach that goal.  I plan on using these sheets as I confer with students about their goals throughout the year ensuring that the two conference sheets have longer impact than just a one-time creation in a structured space.

Strengths
Goals	Math	Literacy/Language	Social/Other
Strategies to Meet Goals
Student Parent Teacher
Student Signature:                                            Parent Signature:                              Teacher Signature:

Grade 5 Goal Setting Conference - Green Central

ATTENDANCE

Days Enrolled	Percent Present	Days Absent	December 2016	February 2017	Attendance Goal
(MM)	(MM)	(MM)			95%

MATH

Assessment	Current Level	Considered Proficient	December 2016 Goal	February 2017 Goal	End of Year Goal Spring 2017	Considered Proficient
MCA	(MM) Spring 2016	350 Meets			(MM)	550 Meets
FAST	(MM) Fall 2016

READING

Assessment	Current Level	Considered Proficient	December 2016 Goal	February 2017 Goal	End of Year Goal Spring 2017	Considered Proficient
MCA	(MM) Spring 2016	450 Meets			(MM)	550 Meets
FAST	(MM) Fall 2016			(MM)	(MM)
F&P	(MM) Fall 2016	S	(MM)	(MM)	(MM)	U/V

ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

Assessment	Native Language Equivalent	Present Level	End of Year Goal	Current Goal:
WIDA Speaking	6
WIDA Writing	6

Social/Emotional

Attends school every day On time to class Brings all materials Remains seated during class Completes class work Participates appropriately Communicates respectfully Helps others as needed Positive towards learning Pays attention, focus Completes homework Other: _____________________________ Other: _____________________________

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