Parent-Teacher-Student Goal Conferences

I meet with students and their parents three times a year (October, January, and April) to discuss their strengths and areas for growth, and to help them set an academic or social goal for the year. During our first conference, we establish a goal and outline the next steps that everyone—students, parents, and I—can take to support this goal at home and in school. I take notes in a shared Google Doc, which I update during each subsequent conference. This allows us to adjust strengths and areas for growth as needed and plan additional steps to ensure students meet their goals.

​At the start of each follow-up conference, I ask students to rate how much they enjoy working toward their goal and how often they work on it at home, using a 1-5 scale. I emphasize that progress is directly related to the amount of time spent on their goal, and I offer my support in any way I can. Our entire conversation is recorded as an .mp4 file and uploaded to the student's Google Drive account, which is shared with their parents. You can find a blank template for notetaking here, along with examples of completed templates for different goals and the discussions from our first two conferences.

2015-2016 Goals

2014-2015 Goals

Goal Work Exemplars

Each week following the first goal conference, students are responsible for approximately 30 minutes of goal-related homework. This replaces their regular reading and writing assignments. During this time, they might have conversations with their parents (who can send me notes via email), write reflections in Google Docs, produce writing pieces to read, or prepare presentations to give at the end of the week. Examples of goal-related work are shown on the right.

Parent-Teacher-Student Reading Conferences

I meet with students and their parents three times a year (September, December, and March) to discuss their reading progress. Depending on the time of year, we may focus on fiction or nonfiction. Each conference begins with students rating how much they enjoy reading and how often they read at home, using a 1-5 scale. We then discuss books they have enjoyed in the past, and I use Scholastic Book Wizard to help them find new books to read. We also talk about their reading strengths and areas for growth. I emphasize that progress in reading is tied to the time spent reading, and I help them find books that are interesting and accessible.

I also introduce the Diagnostic Reading Assessment (DRA), along with the rubric for oral reading fluency and reading comprehension, and explain the success criteria we develop in class. Our conversation is recorded as four separate .mp4 files: the initial discussion, the student's read-aloud, our conversation about the passage, and our conversation about the entire book.

DRA Process
  • Oral Reading Fluency: I introduce the text, listen to the student read a passage of predetermined length, and take notes on a separate sheet to calculate words per minute and record errors. I share my observations with the student and their parents, using the rubric to assess expression, phrasing, rate, and accuracy. We discuss the assessment and brainstorm ways to improve, if necessary.
  • Reading Comprehension (Part 1): I prompt the student to reflect on what they’ve read, the title, and any pictures. I typically ask them to describe the characters or setting and make predictions about the plot. I then assess their use of text features and prediction skills using the rubric. We discuss the assessment and consider ways to improve, if necessary.
  • Reading Comprehension (Part 2): I ask the student to use the text to support their answers to questions. They summarize the plot, answer factual and opinion questions, and reflect on the author's message. I assess their summary, vocabulary, comprehension, interpretation, and reflection using the rubric. We discuss the assessment and brainstorm ways to improve, if needed.
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Before leaving, students and their parents receive a copy of the color-coded rubric, and I ask the student to articulate a next step in both oral reading fluency and reading comprehension. I also send an electronic copy of our conversation during the conference.

Parent-Teacher-Student Writing Conferences

I meet with students and their parents three times a year (November, February, and May) to discuss their writing. Depending on the time of year, we may focus on opinion pieces, fictional narratives, letters, or informational texts. Each conference begins with students rating how much they enjoy writing and how often they write at home, using a 1-5 scale. We then discuss their writing strengths and areas for growth.

I read the first draft of a recent writing assignment aloud so that everyone understands the gist. I introduce the corresponding rubric and explain the criteria for organization, content, style, and conventions. Alternatively, I might assess the writing for genre, usage, and conventions. Our entire conversation is recorded as an .mp4 file.
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  • Organization: I note the presence of all essential elements on the piece itself and highlight them on the rubric. We discuss the assessment and brainstorm ways to improve, if necessary.
  • Conventions: I correct any mistakes in capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and usage, and highlight the corresponding items on the rubric. We discuss the assessment and consider ways to improve, if needed.

Before leaving, students and their parents receive a copy of the color-coded rubric, and I ask the student to articulate a next step in all areas of writing—organization, content, style, and conventions, or genre, usage, and conventions. I also send an electronic copy of our conversation during the conference.

Rubrics

During my time teaching with the California Academic Content Standards, I used the following rubrics: a blank rubric for fictional narratives is available here, a blank rubric for letters is available here, and a blank rubric for opinion pieces is available here. While teaching with the Common Core Content Standards, I’ve used these rubrics: a blank rubric for fictional narratives is available here, a blank rubric for informative texts is available here, and a blank rubric for opinion pieces is available here. Lists of rubrics from past conferences are provided below.