Conferences

Last week was a great opportunity to sit in on a few conferences.  I was surprised that the middle school even had conferences.  At the school I am placed at for my dyad all the conferences are student led.  They plan and build their portfolios for weeks before they meet with their first period teacher and their parent/guardian.  I think I would find it a bit difficult for the students that do not have one of their core teachers to start the day.  Some of the students had conferences with their PE, music, or other elective teachers.  Even though they are student led I would think the parents would want to have some insight from the write/reading block teachers, or math/science teachers.
For my main placement it seem like a pretty traditional set up.  With the students only have one main teacher (with the exception of specialists) the parents met with the teacher with the options of bring their child.
It was nice going back to my main placement and seeing some of the students, and being refreshed on what they were learning. All in all the conferences were a great learning opportunity.