Rockin Student Led Conferences

Hey Y'all!

Every year since I have been teaching, I have done student led conferences in the spring. I have to admit, when I first did them, I was just following the lead of my team. I was completely on board and enthusiastic about the concept, but a bit nervous. I had never structured them myself, and I used whatever forms and plans that my team had used previously.

Now that I have been doing student led conferences for 8 years *insert "You don't look old enough..." comment here*, I have made them my own. After reflecting, I think that this is the best round I have ever had.

Possible Reasons for My Best Student Led Conferences yet:

• I kept the work I thought the class did very well on as a whole (and a couple we bombed), to add to the portfolio work that students had been collecting throughout the year. It was nice to see the kids reflect on the work I picked, not just things they had gotten good grades on.

• Most of the class had previously done a student led conference with me last year or with another teacher.

• All of our data collection and charting all year made it easy to analyze grades and assessment data for the conferences. I could also really tell that the kids were very comfortable reflecting on their work since they had previous practice.

• I used new materials (that I had created). The forms and documents were fresh to me, which made me more aware while taking the kids through the process. Also, the fun ROCK STAR theme goes right along with our school discipline model.

• We practiced a lot!

• I circulated during practice time and gave notes on what to do and not to do at the actual conference.

• It was fun. A couple of the things I asked the kids to do were "less than serious" and it think it was just what the doctor ordered. They are kids, after all! The theme helped a lot.

I recently uploaded my conference forms to my TpT store. If you want to give them a look-see, click here!


Bee Tee Dubs, in case you haven't had conferences yet, the first three to comment can have my "ROCKIN Student Led Conferences" packet for free!

Do you do student led?

Toodles,

Freebie Friday: Somebody Wanted But So FREEBIE

Hiya out there friends! I have a super fun freebie to share with you for my first ever link up to Freebie Friday.



I have reformatted this activity numerous times and have settled on this one as my favorite. I like that it has a space for them to write their statement as one loooooong sentence. Listen to me ramble! I haven't even told you what is it! Many of you will have seen the activity "Somebody Wanted But So" as an easy way to get kids to summarize. Somebody is the character, wanted is the characters goal, but is the conflict, and so is the resolution to the conflict. Easy peasy! Sometimes you will also see "then" attached to the end. I left that off because I ask my class to choose one statement out of their 5 to write a then about.  I have included a SWBS printable with 5 places for the kids to write. I have also included an example of how to complete the activity. I post the example on my reading bulletin board to remind the kids of what it looks like when done correctly. 

Here is the link to the product on TpT.  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Somebody-Wanted-But-So-Printable-and-Example-FREE Enjoy this easy activity for centers and small group reading time! 

Teacher's Notebook Anyone?

This is to you, all 18 of my blessed followers. I need some perspective. I am considering two things.

One- Heather over at The Wild Rumpus has me thinking about a custom blog design...I say thinking, I have basically decided to ante up the cash and do it. My homemade version just isn't cutting the mustard, ya know? Thoughts? I contacted Megan, who did her cutie patootie design. I have two in mind.

Two-The next big step is to open a Teacher's Notebook Store. I feel like I am doing all of this work to create my resources in a TpT format, why not also upload to Teacher's Notebook. Anyone out there doing one, the other, or both? I am wondering if any pitfalls await me. Or if you have any tips to ease the start-up.

Toodles from your teacher friend,
Brandi