Student Lead Whanau Conferences (Parent/Teacher interviews)

This week we had 'whanau conferences' and many of our classes held student lead conferences.  Being digitally immersed makes the sharing of student work ubiquitous, so the conferences gives students the opportunity to explain their learning and progress to their families.   Prior to conferences, teachers work with students developing presentations to share their goals in core subject areas and to give students the process the conferences will take.   Below is a great little clip I discovered on Youtube, made by a teacher giving her students guidance on how they can prepare for their conferences.

Teachers guide the conferences more as a facilitator, ensuring that conferences are all about the learning - not on behaviour which, should there need to be parental communication, would take place at other arranged times. 
It was timely also, that I came across an excerpt from “Deeper Learning How Eight Innovative Public Schools Are Transforming Education in the Twenty-First Century,” by Monica R. Martinez and Dennis McGrath on a website which discusses student led conferences.   What spoke to me loudest in this article was the message that "As kids learn to advocate for themselves in this way, they discover how to let their parents know more specifically how to support them."  I was able to make connections with this through my own personal experience of parent interviews with my 14 year old son.  It was the first time we had actually attended the conferences with him, and all teacher's said the same thing...very capable, but does not apply himself. In the first 3 interviews, for English, Maths and Science, the teachers spoke consistently with no real opportunity for our son to contribute.  We asked a few questions, points were made towards our son, but he was not asked to contribute any further other than yes or no directed questions.  It was our son's Social Studies teacher who asked him how he felt he was going in class.  This opened a space where our son had to take ownership of his learning.  He explained to us what he did well, what he knew he could do better and what he needed to do as next steps in his learning.  I felt that this empowered him and encouraged him to do better.  His very next class project, he earned an 'excellence' grade.  This grade, in turn gave him something to aspire to and, we have noted, he is beginning to work harder towards.  His teacher encouraged him to watch the news, discuss world events and give his opinions to us at home - a great piece of advice for us as parents to use to assist in his learning.

Martinez and McGrath describe schools who practice this level of student voice as "Schools built on deeper learning principles".  We have just started on this path of reporting.  I would like us to develop this even further with having student voice in mid and end of year report writing...exciting next steps in our own development!!!