The Student-Led Conference Handbook

Student led conference can change everything! For years I had done regular parent-teacher conferences. It was twenty minutes of sharing papers and talking about areas the student could improve upon, all while the student sat in the hall. Students would change behavior for a day, maybe a week. Then it was back to the same old, same old. Then an amazing teacher from Oregon came to our school, and started talking about student-led conferences. Every grade level had done them at her old school. She conducted them with students in her class, and showed us how it was done. I was hooked! THIS was what I had been looking for.

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BENEFITS:

• Students must reflect on their own learning/behavior.
• Students make goals and design a plan to meet those goals.
• Students, parents and teachers sign a contract outlining how goals will be met.
• Students no longer are a passive part of the process, they lead it.
• Parents still have time alone with the teacher for a one-on-one conversation.
• Parents, teacher and student become a team.
• Parents greatly appreciate the extra steps taken on behalf of their child.
• Students no longer sit in the hall and worry about what is being said about them.
• Helps students accept responsibility for their own learning.

Very helpful for learning disabled students. It helps them zero in on one area to work on as a goal, rather than be overwhelmed by many problem areas.

Best of all, real long-term change occurs in students. Behavior problems and study skills improve.

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DISADVANTAGES

Student-led conferences take more time. Each conference should be one-half hour.

Preparation takes longer, as students are usually not used to doing self-reflection, and must be guided through the process.

Is not recommended for students with severe behavior problems.

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This handbook will give you everything you need to conduct your own student-led conference! There are two versions for students. The first is for younger students and includes graphics, the second is for older students and does not include graphics.

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Comments about this resource include:

"This fits EVERY requirement I thought I might have if I ever had the opportunity to use student-led conferences. Now that I've found my perfect tool, I can't wait to get started!"

"Thank you for providing such an in-depth look at student led conferencing. I am excited to implement this next year!"

"What a comprehensive tool! This is probably one of my favorite downloads/purchases on TpT!!!"

"Wonderful, if you have never done student-led conferences this is for you. Even if you have done student-led conferences this is a wonderful resource. Anything you could ever need is included!"

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About this Teacher Author

Jan Bernard

National Board Certified Teacher (2001-2011), Masters in Curriculum, Gifted Certified, Cobb County Elementary Teacher of the Year, Addison Elementary Teacher of the Year, Bullard Elementary Teacher of the Year, Atlanta Journal and Constitution Honor Teacher finalist ($5000 award), District 3 Georgia Science Teacher of the Year, Author of seven books published by The Child's World Press, Wrote online k-12 social studies and language arts curriculum for Coca Cola, curriculum writer for CNN, curriculum writer for American Legacy Publishers 2009-2014, 25 years teaching experience in grades 1st-4th.

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The Student-Led Conference Handbook by Jan Bernard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License