Friday, April 15, 2016

2016 Spring Student-Led/Parent-Teacher Conferences Put Learning at the Center




April 6&14 Student-Led & Parent-Teacher Conferences Show Off Student Learning

On Wednesday, April 6, and Thursday, April 14, NMS parents and students with the help of their teachers engaged in Student-Led Conferencing (SLC) and Parent-Teacher Conferences.

Students in all grades explained to their parents how they were progressing with the standards.

They would show their parents their work examples and talk them through where they might have been in the beginning of the school year, how they improved, to where they are now.

I was super impressed with all the families who came during these busy spring evenings. With baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse, dance, twirling, scouts, homework, work ... life ... there are many things that can take up our time. But parents and students came in batches as cars drove in and out of Tiger Drive to listen to their children explain their learning.

As I was walking around, there were so many conferences going on where I would see the student, the parent or parents, a sibling or two, and the teacher right there at the side supporting or guiding the conversation as well.

This is what we hope for. We want our teachers to be the "guides at the side" for our students' learning. We want our students at the "center of their learning" and be able to explain how they are doing, and what they are going to need to do to improve. Our teachers are here to support them and help them with that improvement, but it will be their, the students' challenge to get to their eventual goal.

This is what is so tremendous about these evenings and why I cherish them as awesome displays of academic achievement.

I have to thank all our faculty for making these nights possible, and our NMS PTA for supporting us with their Raffle Table and Book Fair.  So much great stuff going on.

Thank you all for all that you are doing to help us keep learning at the forefront for our students here at NMS.

Please check out some of the pictures from the evening on Thursday, April 14, and pay specific attention to how many conversations had faculty involved and how intent parents were to listen to their child. Very cool. Thank you again.