I love my team.
There are a lot of reason why this is so, but let me tell you about our plan for Spring Conferences – which are at the end of February, so really, should be named Late Winter Conferences.
Out Admin team, in discussion with the Leadership team, decided that, during this round of conferences, we should make a special effort to conference with the students we are most concerned about. Teachers would reach out to those families first and leave any leftover spots for the students who are performing well.
The 15 minute conference schedule from Fall was too short for struggling students and just a lovely chat with the families of students who were doing well. My team started planning immediately. In our minds, we figured that, in Spring, we would meet with specific families as team, spending 30 minutes with the student, parent and all their Core teachers, so we could work together to ensure success.
But apparently, that’s not what the Admin team meant. They really just meant the neediest families would get first dibs on time slots. We heard that another team had a similar idea, so we went to the Admins with a proposal.
Reluctantly, they agreed. We have to send an email to the other families offering whatever time slots we have left and make it clear that we won’t have time to meet with everyone. That’s fine, as long as we can devote more time to the students who need more support.
I mentioned our plan to another teacher and she thought we were crazy. Her team doesn’t get along as well, I guess. She might have used the term “divide and conquer”.
Maybe, if this really works well for us, we will be able to convince more teams to try it. I’ll keep you posted.
I like that you are pushing boundaries and trying new things. I’m wondering how it will go. I’m wondering how families with children who don’t struggle, but want to have time with the teachers will react. Please let us know how this experiment works out.
That’s our admin’s concern, too. I will keep you posted.
I think this is a great idea. It shows a unified concern by all involved in the student’s learning. Is =not a ganging up on someone but a effort by all concerned to help that student advance. Good luck.