ACTION FOCUS: Parent-Teacher Conferences

The Piney Branch Action Team met for it's third session on Wednesday, Oct. 21. As always, there was amazing energy in the room. Parents and teachers came together to continue the conversation about parent-teacher conferences at the school. Team members shared the findings of their action research.


What is Action Research?


Well, in this case, action research is a way to discover what parents, school staff, and children think of parent-teacher conferences. PBAT participants went out in the school community to hear about the joys, fears, and uncertainties that surround these conferences. Each Team member reported out on his or her findings. It was great to hear from teachers who'd interviewed students, parents who'd interviewed other parents, and administrators who'd interviewed both students and teachers. The thoughts were captured on flipchart and will inform not only the action ideas for improving parent-teacher conferences, but also the ongoing work of the Team.


Additional Voices

John Landesman (Coordinator of MCPS’ Study Circles Program) joined us to share information on parent-teacher conferences from the county perspective. John answered Team members' questions like, "Why are conferences 20 minutes long?" and "Why aren't full school days devoted to conferences?" He also shared a handout being used by some schools called Planning for the Conference. The document is a guide to help parents prepare for their teacher meetings.

John gave exmaples of specific projects happening at other schools around parent-teacher conferences. He shared the story of a school that created a “buddy” program that pairs new parents with veterans to help walk them through the conference process. John also offered his ideas on how schools can successfully carry out such action projects:

(1) Take small steps,


(2) Evaluate things as you go, and


(3) Comeback and reflect on what you’ve done.


What's Next?


Team members have formed four sub-groups to work on ideas for enhancing parent-teacher conferences. I won't describe the projects here--I'll let individual teams post to this blog about their projects. But, I will say that even though the projects are each very different in nature, they all are intended to help build stronger parent-teacher relationships through the conference experience.

Check back in to this blog soon to get project descriptions and progress reports!

Get Up!

The Action Team met for its first "work" session on Wednesday, Sept. 30th. One of the big goals for the evening was to create a feeling of inclusion. Because not all of the Team members had been able to attend the retreat, there was a bit of an "us" and "them" dynamic developing. A lot of great personal sharing and relationship building had taken place at the retreat that we wanted to try to replicate, in some small way, for those not there.



We started off the evening with line dancing. Yes, line dancing. Thanks to a fabulous a cappella rendition of Bob Marley's Is This Love by Ray Moreno, we were able to share line dancing steps that we learned at the retreat. Maybe it wasn't pretty, but it was fun!



We got a little bit more serious with a socio-drama activity that allowed us to get all of the feelings out on the table from those in attendance at the retreat and those not. This created a really authentic coming together moment that was cemented by having retreat attendees share their recollections of the retreat experience and what made it special to them.



We also started taking some first steps into the visioning process with an exploration of the diversity-based approach to problem-solving. We'll be using this approach as a framework for visioning and ultimately moving into action. The diversity-based approach asks us to look at our assumptions and then ask ourselves what is really going on before trying to tackle tough problems. There's a lot more deep work to be done here (personally, relationally, culturally), but this framework offers a good grounding.



When I got home after the session, I found an e-mail in my "in" box from Team member Ken Allen (a fifth grade teacher). The e-mail was titled "Response to this Evening." To my surprise and delight the e-mail contained a poem that I think summed up the evening quite nicely. Enjoy!

Get Up!

Ray sings, Scott leads,

We step to Bob Marley toward perfection.

The group regrows, solidifies, and stretches

to the beat of optimism.

Questions are posed, chances taken,

Courage is needed to keep

moving together.

Paint the halls, decorate the entrance

Now invite everyone into

the chorus line of dreams for our children.

This is our vision, an invitation,

a decision

to dance as one.

Add a twirl, a flourish of creativity,

that will warm the school

for our families.

Now get up.

PBAT Retreat

The Piney Branch Action Team is made up of diverse parents, teachers and administrators from Takoma Park's Piney Branch Elementary School. Team members have come together to embark on a nine-month journey of self-discovery, team building, cultural awareness, visioning, and acting. The goal of the program is to create a community-owned culture that supports and celebrates Piney Branch's multicultural identity.

The program kicked off on September 25th with an overnight retreat at the Smith Center in Rockville, Maryland. MCPS Community Superintendent Bronda Mills joined the group for the opening session. She started the evening by sharing her personal story and why she believes the work of the Action Team is important. Piney Branch's principal, Bertram Generlette also attended the opening session of the retreat. He is a member of the Team and will be on the school-year long journey as well.

Team members spent a day and a half getting to know themselves and each other better through group discussions, sociometric exercises, physical activities, and just hanging out together. Personal awareness and relationships of trust are essential to working together effectively as a group. Time was also spent on beginning the visioning process that will ultimately guide the actions of Team members.

By the time Saturday afternoon rolled around the disparate group of parents, teachers and administrators were exhausted, but more closely bound together. One parent commented that normally she was an introvert who met one new person a year, but because of the retreat she'd managed to make eleven new friends in one weekend!

The first Piney Branch Action Team work session is scheduled for Wednesday, September 30th. Team members will meet every other week for the next several months. Stay tuned for updates on their work to create a more inclusive, celebratory culture at Piney Branch.