Student Led Conferences and Digital Portfolios

Student led conferences allow students to take responsibility in showcasing their learning. Students have the opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions on what they have been learning. Students still have a very different role from the teacher in Student Led Conferences. The teacher’s role is to facilitate and stimulate conversation, they are the guide on the side. Having students present their learning to parents at the end of the school year is an easy way to incorporate Student led conferences into your school or classroom. When students take the role in conferences it builds their confidence, allows them to take control of their own learning, and allows them to self-reflect.  The parents roll in student led conferences is to provide encouragement and ask questions that promote higher order thinking.

            Special Education and ELL students also benefit from student led conferences. Assistive technology can be used as a tool for students to present information or translate. Google Translate and sound board apps are excellent tools to aid ELL and SPED students in sharing their information. It is important to remember that inclusion also stretches into student led conferences. Just because it may take more effort on the teachers part for a SPED or ELL student to host a student led conferences does not mean that they should not get the chance. All students should have the opportunity to share their successes with their loved ones.

            Digital Portfolios are a great addition to student led conferences. Digital Portfolios are a digital collection of student work that follow students throughout their school careers. Students should choose 3-5 pieces of work from the year to add to their portfolios. It is important that the teacher allows the student to choose the work they would like to add to the portfolio because it allows the student to take pride in their work.

            In my classroom, I would love to have students participate in student led conferences at least twice a year or at each quarter if possible. Digital portfolios would be included to allow students to showcase their best work during Open House. Students should be awarded the opportunity to share their growth and accomplishments and student led conferences and digital portfolios do just that.