Three Questions to Ask During Teacher Student Conferences
Why hold teacher-student conferences?
As teachers, we know there are so many things to get done in a school day. It can sometimes be overwhelming to think of trying to add anything else to that list. Teacher-student conferences can be the most valuable time we spend in a day or week. Teacher-student conferences can be beneficial to both you and your students. They give you the opportunity to see where each of your students are achieving and struggling. Adrienne Lanier stated, “This time spent talking to students in either a small group or individually, gave me a chance to actually see where they were struggling. I was able to readily distinguish my students who didn’t understand the structure of a text, how to think about the text while reading to understand, or even their individual struggles with word attack strategies.”
Three Questions to Ask During the Conferences
- What have you done well to hit the learning targets we are working on?
- What gaps are still occurring that are keeping you from hitting the learning targets?
- Do you have the information you need to hit the learning targets?
These three questions are to help guide the teacher-student conferences to make sure they stay on track. You don’t want it to be a waste of your time or students’ time. Be sure, when meeting, to stay on track. Remember these meetings don’t have to last an hour per student. The conferences can be as long or short as you want and need them to be. If you end up with not as much time as you thought you may have, meet with students in groups instead of individually. These conferences can be flexible.
Feature Image: Blackboard
Resource: The Educator’s Room
Resource: Who’s Engaged? Book
