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.
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!
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