student led conferences

Day 24 of March Slice of Life Story Challenge

The classroom looks horrid. All that I had left neatly ready for the student-led-conferences is messed up. The student writing - drafts, illustrations and picture books - are tucked between dictionaries, slid under the cupboards and thrown on a high shelf. The pattern blocks and wooden 3-D shapes are dumped on the floor, mixed up with tissue paper pieces and clay, Sawdust covers everything. The sofa is moved to a different corner. Overwhelmed with the hopelessness of cleaning it before the parents arrive, I sit on the floor and start sobbing.

The shaking shoulders and pulling a big breath of air wake me up. Realizing it was a teacher nightmare, I breathe out with relief. My phone shows that it's only 3:49 a.m and I have two more hours to sleep. The night continues on and off with some other bizarre dreams involving rain, mean shop clerks, strange streets, and a red haired witch. All of what provides a good laugh for my colleagues in the morning over a bowl of porridge and boiled eggs - free breakfast served at school.

Before nine o'clock I stand at my classroom door, smiling and ready to greet the first three families.
The classroom is ready. On the left, right next to the entrance, are tables with student writing. On the right is a round table with magnatiles, cards with line and angle vocabulary, and papers, pencils and dice for computation games, On the left side of the room I have two bookshelves turned around to hold energy posters on and above them, student-made musical instruments - banjos, panpipes, xylophones and  a zither - on top of them, and a chair with prisms, mirror, squares of various materials, and a flashlight for light demonstrations next to them. On the right far corner of the classroom is a sofa, in front of it a small oval table with books that students plan to read to their parents. In the middle of the room is another round table with I-Pads for showing the portfolios.
The students have half an hour in our classroom and then another half an hour to tour the school to visit the specialist classes.
When the families arrive, I give them the schedule, remind everyone that this is the student's show to share what they have learned and created, how they have learned, and how much they have improved.
I will be around to help out when needed.

I am so happy to say that all my students showed up, some with mom but most with both parents. One of the families signed up this morning and one arrived in the morning without registering, but this was ok, because what really mattered was that they found the time to be with their child.

The children - some spoke with confidence and pride, some suddenly became shy, some shared only half of what they had practiced yesterday, some wanted to speak more than the thirty minutes, some kept looking for approval from me, some asked the parents questions to check their knowledge of energy and geometry.

The parents - mostly smiling, some positively surprised, some asking more than the child was ready to share, some trying to teach the child instead of listening, some being attentive listeners, some nodding, some patting the child on the back, some getting excited to win a math game.  

I - mostly listened and observed, few times reminded what more the students could explain, described the sawing, drilling and hammering that happened while making instruments, helped out with some of the math vocabulary, thanked the students, thanked the parents for coming.

Being able to witness the children explaining what they do at school - the learners being in charge, the learners reflecting, the learners celebrating - makes my heart leap with joy.