For middle and high school students that means if your conferences are in the gym at school, have your son or daughter attend conferences with you and join you as you walk around and visit teachers. For younger students, even if you want to have your conference without your child in attendance, you can still involve them through reflection, either as discussion or writing or both. Consider integrating one of the approaches below into conferences week this year. Or make up your own approach that fits with your family.
- Before conferences ask your child to reflect with you: what are they doing well in school? Where do they want to improve? What is the best part of school for them? The worst?
- Make predictions about their report cards before you both see them. What will their teacher(s) say? Why? Compare with their actual report card together.
- What makes them happy at school? Sad? Excited?
If you come up with other creative and useful ways to involve your child, let us know! We are always looking for new ideas. As always, we are excited to work with you and the other families in the area to help your child enjoy lifelong learning.