Article Notes:

The Power of Student-Led Conferences--in Primary Grades

Shifting our traditional parent-teacher conferences so that students lead their own conferences
has provided the structure to develop and showcase the metacognitive side of deeper learning
even in kindergarten.
To effectively implement SLC, learning and planning by example is essential in transitioning from
parent-teacher to student-led.
One of the things we learned early on in the pilot is the importance of tailoring our
communications and procedures to the needs of our families. Our families are diverse and busy;
time is one of their most valuable assets. In designing our SLCs, therefore, we made sure to
schedule them conveniently, make them accessible, offer on-line sign ups, and, most
importantly, make them purposeful for parents and students alike.
o Parent teacher conferences are difficult for parents to attend.
To effectively get the community involved where parent and student involvement excels,
o Start the countdown to the big event with a series of articles highlighting aspects of SLCs
and the groundwork taking place in classrooms with students.
o As well as strategic moves being made by staff and leadership.
o Educate the entire community and listen to their feedback.
Parents enjoy learning firsthand from their child about what is going on in the classroom.
o They see the firm grasp that the students have on the material.
o The child gains confidence in showing work that has been completed.
o The child and parent become more aware of the entire learning process rather than the
simple facts that stand out.
o It allows for more involvement and boosts confidence as well as relationships.
Each year our administrative team and teachers work collaboratively to create parameters for
what students will include in their SLC portfolios.
o Integrate performance characteristic traits.
This allows for students to share their growth rather than the teacher.
During grade level collaborative planning, teams decide on specific assignments and projects to
include. They script the flow of conferences, then create student and parent prompts (open-
ended questions) to help keep SLC conversations moving smoothly. Teachers model an SLC with
students multiple times, and then students practice with one another, taking turns wearing the
parent hat.
o Students work together to practice SLC to better benefit the flow of the actual
conference when the time comes.
Teachers can implement practice in SLC by allowing students to articulate their learning process,
strengths, challenges, and how they work to meet learning targets.
o Students verbally present their learning journey publicly with their peers and they can
present their work.
Student-led conferences are a more formal and structured way of talking about their learning,
but they are not the only time our students are asked to do so.
Teachers discovered that SLCs are an authentic and manageable way to engage young children
in understanding and taking ownership of their learning.
 After the SLC takes place,
o Take stock and revise.
Reduce subjects to allow more time to focus on specifics in deeper discussion.
Include rubrics, checklists, and multiple drafts as well as the final product in SLC preparation.
In the end what weve discovered is that the power of student-led conferences, perhaps
especially in the primary grades, is that it benefits every student--the one who struggles to keep
up as much as the over achiever.
o Students, especially in primary grades, are all going to benefit ranging from the over-
achiever to the struggler.
o Allows them to persevere and focus attention on specific challenging steps.
o Encourages high-achieving work.
To begin implementing SLC, just get started by taking the first step...

Article Notes:

Writing to Read: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve Reading

Around the ancient world, people felt the need to leave behind a permanent imprint of
themselves.
The instinct of needing to express feelings, thoughts, and experiences manifested itself into the
Phoenician alphabet.
People had the desire to leave behind their legacy by carving in rocks, cuneiform, painted
hieroglyphs, etc. The process of writing for others to read either in commercial transactions,
transcendent ideas, and daily routines lead to the process of learning and therefore education.
o Transferred from person to person and then generation to generation.
Education is the transmission of education.
It is obvious that if todays youngsters cannot read with understanding, think about and analyze
what theyve read, and then write clearly and effectively about what theyve learned and what
they think, then they may never be able to do justice to their talents and their potential.
Those who are unable to transform thoughts, experiences, and ideas into written works risk the
ability to lose touch with learning.
If students are to learn, they must write!!
We should view this as a crisis, because the ability to read, comprehend, and writein other
words, to organize information into knowledgecan be viewed as tantamount to a survival skill.
Why? Because in the decades ahead, Americans face yet another challenge: how to keep our
democracy and our society from being divided not only between rich and poor, but also
between those who have access to information and knowledge, and thus, to powerthe power
of enlightenment, the power of self-improvement and self-assertion, the power to achieve
upward mobility, and the power over their own lives and their families ability to thrive and
succeedand those who do not.
o This would be devastating for Americas future because those who are unable to read to
better understand how to write put their families as well as the nation in danger as well.
You learn to preserve!
 In an age of globalization, where economies sink or swim on their ability to mine and manage
knowledge, as do both individual and national security, we cannot afford to let this generation
of ours and, indeed, any other, fall behind the learning curve.
Students who graduate high school with the inability to read to write and comprehend, threaten
their well-being due to the financial and social cost that connects with poor literacy.
o Needed in most white and blue collar jobs.
o In the past, high school education was sufficient. However, today jobs require more and
more.
o In the future, or 2/3 of jobs will require more than high school degrees.
o Over 90 percent of white collar and 80 percent of blue-collar indicate writing skills are
needed in job success.
o High schools are facing new pressures in preparing literacy skills for future employment
beyond higher education.
o However, high schools are failing at this.
o 7 out of 10 graduate from high school because of low literacy skills.
Despite efforts, educators and policymakers need additional evidence-based practices for
improving the literacy skills of students in American schools.
Writing is overlooked as a tool.
Reading and writing are functional activities that can be combined to complete and accomplish
specific goals.
They are also connected as they draw up common knowledge and cognitive processes.
Reading and writing are both communication activities.

1. Have students write about the texts they read.

a. Respond
b. Summarize
c. Notes
d. Answer Questions
2. Teach students the Writing Skills and Processes that Go Into Creating Text
a. Teach the process of writing
b. Teach spelling and sentence structure
c. Teach spelling skills
3. Increase How Much Students Write
a. Reading comprehension increase when writing increases

When students write about a text they are reading, they comprehend.
Writing about science, math, history, etc. promotes students learning of the material.
Teaching writing
o Enhances students ability to read a text fluently and accurately.
When students spend more time writing, it has a positive impact on reading and
comprehension.
Problems acquiring needed literacy skills are heightened for students who do not speak English
as their first language, students who have a disability, or who are black, Hispanic, or Native
American
It is also believed that writing about a text improves comprehension, as it helps students make
connections between what they read, know, understand, and think.
 In short, writing about a text should enhance comprehension because it provides students with
a tool for visibly and permanently recording, connecting, analyzing, personalizing, and
manipulating key ideas in text.
Writing about read texts is also an effective activity for lower-achieving students.
Writing about a text proved to be better than just reading it, reading and rereading it, reading
and studying it, reading and discussing it, and receiving reading instruction.
Our review of the data shows that extended writing has a strong and consistently positive
impact on reading comprehension.
The act of taking written notes about text material should enhance comprehension. This writing
practice involves sifting through a text to determine what is most relevant and transforming and
reducing the substance of these ideas into written phrases or key words.
This study shows that students reading abilities are improved by writing about texts they have
read; by receiving explicit instruction in spelling, in writing sentences, in writing paragraphs, in
text structure, and in the basic processes of composition; and by increasing how much and how
frequently they write.