Our 1st IZ PTC

I will be honest in saying that I have never really enjoyed parent - teacher conferences; I do believe they are necessary, however. I was extremely nervous about tonight's conference specifically because we have implemented this new way of teaching. Surprisingly, we had not one parent who was angry or challenged us in any way, shape, or form. I WAS SHOCKED!

Here's why I think it went as well as it did:
1. We were able to explain PBL and how our classroom works so that parents were able to get a clear understanding of what goes on.
2. We had an example of student work readily available (they were shocked at the amount of rigor their child was able to endure and amazed at their final products).
3. We listened to their concerns and addressed them in an understanding manner.
4. We explained that we were new at this way of teaching and that we are doing our best to work out the bugs as we go along.
5. We apologized for any misconceptions or issues.
6. We expressed that we want all of our students to succeed and that we would be willing to work with students to help them understand the content/directions for assessments/skills to complete assignments.
7. We made sure that parents knew that we wanted to include them in this new process as much as possible. (They're input was extremely eye opening because they have a different perspective)
8. We also made sure parents and students knew that we wanted to empower students to take charge of their learning and have an active role in education. (We reiterated the firing process)
9. We showed them how to navigate through Edline - which we still need to have a parent seminar for this. Many of them expressed that it would be beneficial and that they would help their children with their work, but they can't because they don't know how to use it.
10. We told them we appreciated them.

It was great to hear from the parents and know what they're thinking. We heard that many parents were not happy about the group work and the IZ, but we had such a great response that we were worried about nothing. I believe they are just concerned and they walked away from us feeling a little better because they had more of an understanding about what we do. Most of the parents seemed to agree with our professional business culture approach as well. They really like the fact that we are teaching them to work together and use technology to reach a common goal. They also like the firing process because "that's what happens in the real world". Again, I cannot believe that we had 23 conferences and not one of them was bad!

By the way, we were there until 6:40. Every parent after 5:30 thanked us for staying and told us that it meant a lot for us to speak with them. Teachers make a lot of sacrifices and that was one that was well worth it! :D