Seven Ideas for Meaningful Parent-Teacher Conferences

Seven Ideas for Meaningful Parent-Teacher Conferences

With Parent Conferences on the horizon, here are some ideas for making sure these days are truly meaningful time. I especially liked #1, 2, 4 and 7. - Kristyn Westphal

Parent Engagement

Dear Staff -

As we continue to look at the best ways to support our P-70 students, parent engagement is something where we could often use some extra strategies or support, particularly if the parents speak a first language other than English. Here is a helpful article, video, and set of strategies for supporting your work in parent engagement.

Finding Your Grading Compass

Michael Williams writes:

Recognizing the purpose and role of grading and how grading practices influence student or teacher success is an interesting discussion we, as educators, need to have with ourselves and others.

Carol Ann Tomlinson's article Finding Your Grading Compass from the November 2011 issue of Effective Grading Practices may help that discussion develop and might even lead to improved teacher success in relation to student performance.

Oregon Writing Project

Two writing workshops are happening this week at Lewis & Clark. Mark Hansen, co-director of the Oregon Writing Project, will be giving a workshop on "Turning Stories into Essays: Fostering Community and Developing Academic Writing Skills." His workshop will be held on Wednesday, October 17, from 5-7 at Lewis & Clark Chapel. 

Amy Lindahl, biology teacher at Grant High School, will teach "Writing Great Lab Reports: Science Writing Strategies that Work" on October 18, from 5-7 pm in room 108 in Rogers Hall on the Lewis & Clark Campus. 

You can just show up. Each workshop costs $30; however, if you are a current Lewis & Clark mentor, you may attend for free. 

For complete workshop listings and registration formats at: go.lclark.edu/graduate/workshop/series

Why Kids Should Grade Teachers

Anne Williams writes -

This article was quite thought-provoking for me. I agree that students have a valuable perspective; as the article says, "Kids stared at their teachers for hundreds of hours a year, which might explain their expertise. Their survey answers, it turned out, were more reliable than any other known measure of teacher performance—­including classroom observations and student test-score growth."  I'm interested in the idea of seeing students' perspectives in order to help improve my teaching, rather than as part of a professional evaluation. Just the questions posed to students were helpful for me to think about.

Read article here