Saturday Parent Conferences

Yesterday morning, when my alarm went off at 6:00am, I was pretty sure that I had made a terrible mistake by scheduling parent conferences for a Saturday morning.  Two weeks ago it had seemed like a good idea.  We had Saturday School yesterday (just to make up absences) and since it was at the end of our Conference week...well, it had seemed like the "good teacher" thing to do...last week.
Tips for successful Saturday parent conferences.

During the week as my colleagues discovered what I was doing and laughed at me, when my principal kept teasing me about bringing my sleeping bag, and even the kids questioned sanity of having conferences on Saturday, I started to question myself. 

So, when I woke up tired and relunctant, I reminded myself that the "brand new teacher me" would have and had done Saturday conferences.  So, I dragged myself out of bed, caffeinated my brain, and set off to school.

By the time I got there, my "happy to see you again" teacher attitude and smile were in place.  I collected some of my students who were attending Saturday School and opened up the classroom.  We had about an hour before the first parent to get missing work together and to get them started.  We chatted a little, and they again questioned my sanity.  When my first conference showed up, they went to the computers, signed in to Read 180, and put on their headphones.

All five sets of parents that were scheduled showed up.  All five conferences went really well.  Some of the conferences had been ones that I was not looking forward to, but even those - no, especially those went really well.  I was more relaxed and the parents were more relaxed.  They were not rushed and tired from work and traffic.  We went over the grades, the all Holy MAP scores, and we got to talk about ClassDojo. 

Would I do Saturday Conferences again?  Absolutely!  Has anyone else held Saturday Conferences?  Did you love them too?  I would not reccomend doing them by yourself.  I knew that I had five other colleagues on campus - just in case I had needed support.  In January, on the scheduled Saturday School time, we will have an "open house" style morning for Student Led Conferences.

Yesterday, I let myself leave everything at school.  Today, I slept in.  After this, I am going do some quilting.  Tomorrow, I am ready to start a new quarter.

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