Student Led Conferences – A Celebration of Learning at IST!
Grade 2 students put a lot of time and effort into getting ready to celebrate their learning with parents and family members. Students started the process by brainstorming different ideas for learning stations. Students and teachers then worked together to set up classrooms to accommodate the following interactive learning stations.
Conference with Teacher – Two Stars and a Wish
Two Stars (students celebrate two things they have done well so far this year) and a Wish (students set one goal to work on for the rest of the year). Students took time before their conference to reflect on academic work and behavior. Teacher and parents listened attentively to students as they shared their strengths. Both teacher and parents then added what they thought were also strengths and strategies for students to attain student goals.
Portfolio and PYP Learner Profile Review
Throughout the year students and teacher(s) chose work to placed in individual student portfolios. Students wrote short reflections on selected pieces of work before placing in their portfolio. At the conference, students led parents through learning evidence collected in their portfolio and on the IST Grade 2 Website. (Students showed parents how to search for specific learning evidence using the “search” option on our website.) Students reflected on learning and completed the PYP Learner Profile Reflection form with parents.
Maths Activities
Grade 2 classroom teachers worked with students to create interactive Maths learning stations. Students chose from activities that have been happening in class. Students chose to play Maths games, build 3D objects and complete tasks using Geoboards and other Maths manipulatives used in class.
Literacy/Unit of Inquiry Activities
Students chose various Literacy and Unit activities to demonstrate learning to parents. Some students chose writing tasks such as journal writing and acrostic poems. Other students chose to lead guests though an Internet activity from EdHeads that we used during our Simple Machines unit. Many other students chose to read a book or favorite part of a book asking parents to make predictions and comprehension questions to check for understanding.
Thank you parents and family members for taking time out of your busy day to celebrate learning with us!
Please feel free to leave us comments and suggestions on how we can continue to learn and improve on Student Led Conferences.
Posted by Mikey McKillip 
