Our last round of parent-teacher conferences finished last night. We do a hybrid for of parent teacher conference. We schedule a family every 15 minutes. Each student/parent combo gets 15 minutes with me and 15 minutes to share a presentation with their parents. Neither are ever exactly 15 minutes, but it all works out in the end.
I love watching kids sitting next to their parents talking about what they’ve learned or explaining the significance of something they’ve done in a notebook. I love the looks of pride on students’ faces and of sincere interest on parents’.
There are a few hard conversations to be had, too. I was uneasy about these in the early years of my career, but 30 years in, I can gently, but honestly, tell it like it is. It makes me sad to see families where things are not running smoothly. More than once, I’ve had to grab the box of tissues off my desk and offer it to a parent or a child.
I especially love the times when there is only one family in the room and I can eavesdrop. Not all the presentations are in English, because the home language is something other. I love seeing this side of my 6th graders that I don’t get to see at school.
My real favorite thing to do is capture golden lines such as my favorite one from yesterday: “My goal is to limit the number of books I read at a time to four. ”
Yeah, I love my job.
Today is Day One of the 2019 Slice of Life Story Challenge. Stay tuned for 30 more.
booksandbassets 
There is so much to be learned from parent conferences. I remember always keeping a box of tissues at the table where we sat just in case. In our school we would schedule conferences with the entire sixth grade team. Students generally did not sit in on the conference.
I love it when I realize the student is ready to advocate for himself with his family. Kudos to you – thirty years and still going strong!
I wish we had interviews more than once a year. I love meeting with families. I always encourage them to bring their children so the child can talk about what they are proud of. The format you describe is really interesting!
That student’s golden line you shared sounds like a textbook example of gentle honesty!