iConferences
By this time of year, parents have a clear understanding of how their child is doing academically as well as socially. Students need the opportunity to show their parents what they are have been learning in the classroom. Each child needs the opportunity to take a leadership role and teach his/her parent. My fourth graders prepared, organized and led the conference with their parents. Since my students are the experts, they were proud and excited to share their accomplishments. Our district has had student-led conferences for as long as I remember, but this was the first time I truly took the backseat.
One of the most important goals I had was to have student presentations tie in with district curriculum and expectations. My students do so much each day to show their learning, we had to decide what were some of the most important components to share. I also knew I had to keep it manageable for my students and myself.
As a class we brainstormed what we would include in our student-led iConferences. After the guidelines were established, students were on their own.
Parents signed up for a one hour block of time. There were about four families attending conferences each hour. The showcase of learning took place in the hallway and classroom.
iConference Agenda
View our IConference Agenda
Student-Led Conferences can happen in any classroom. We took our learning objectives and then the students began collaborating, sharing, creating, and learning as a team. So how did it work? Below is an example of what my students shared with their parents.
Words their Way - Spelling
Stick Around
Brie's Math Video
Greek and Latin Roots
Writing Genre of the Week
Our YouTube Channel to Watch all my Students Videos
Summarizing and Sharing Favorite Book for Third Quarter
Reading Fountas and Pinnell Level
Writing
My fourth graders created a Movie Trailer of our iConferences
View our IConference Agenda
Student-Led Conferences can happen in any classroom. We took our learning objectives and then the students began collaborating, sharing, creating, and learning as a team. So how did it work? Below is an example of what my students shared with their parents.
Students used augmented reality to welcome their parents and thank them for attending conferences. They created two pictures on the iPad they created for conferences. I set up a public channel on Aurasma and let the creativity and learning begin. To see each's child's parents face light-up was priceless.
Video on TPT on How to Make an Aurasma Augmented Reality Video
Words their Way - Spelling
Stick Around
One of our favorite apps to use with Words Their Way is Stick Around. Students create puzzles for their word patterns each week. Students selected a puzzle for their parents to solve. It was amazing watching my students explain to their parents what they had to do.
Tips for using Stick Around by iPad Educators
Math
My fourth graders use different apps throughout the day to show their learning. For math we have been learning about multiplying and dividing decimals. Students created videos showing their learning of this concept. They sent their video to iMovie to edit before sending to our classroom YouTube channel.
Brie's Math Video
Greek and Latin Roots
With our new curriculum, Greek and Latin Roots are a big part of our curriculum. My fourth graders have been creating a year-long book of all the Greek and Latin Roots they are learning. Students shared the books with their parents during conferences.
Writing Genre of the Week
Each week, my fourth graders have a different writing genre. They use different apps to share their learning depending on the genre. The week they wrote adventures, we knew Toontastic would be the perfect app to share their adventure. Students read the adventure they wrote before scanning the QR code and sharing the adventure they created on Toontastic. Students use Kidblog as a platform to share their writing and learning.
Eme's Adventure
Sean's Video on The Declaration
Our YouTube Channel to Watch all my Students Videos
Summarizing and Sharing Favorite Book for Third Quarter
Students selected their favorite story from third quarter. After students created a picture from the story, they summarized the selection and read an excerpt from the story. Parents listened to their fluency and automaticity.
Reading Fountas and Pinnell Level
Our district uses Fountas and Pinnell to track students reading levels. I love Literably and parents were very impressed with the information shared about their child's reading level. Students scanned a QR code which took them directly to their child's individualized reading site from the literally site. Parents listened to their child read and were able to see their child's fluency and comprehension data.
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| Overview of How Each Student is Performing |
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| Specific Data for Each Student |
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| Students' Running Records |
Kidblog
After scanning the QR Code parents commented on one of their child's posts.
As time permitted students shared other ways they show their learning each day.
Since all my coursework is formed in iTunesU, my fourth graders taught parents how they used it on a daily basis. Students use Notablity each morning to complete their Daily Language as well as their Math Spiral and Problem of the Day. Students also shared with parents how they send work to Google Drive.
Several students shared the video they created on the Parts of Speech.
My fourth graders created a Movie Trailer of our iConferences
Students taking the Leadership Role in their Learning is...
21st Century Learning at its Best!
