Conferences: 1 down, 22 to go

I had my first student-led parent/teacher/student conference this afternoon. I was supposed to have 2, but one got rescheduled at the last minute. It went relatively well, I think, and the student was so cute! In class, he can be a pill sometime (and it seems he's the same way at home), but he was all nervous about what he had to do.

You see, the students all have a checklist of what they need to do when they bring their parents to the classroom. They need to seat their parent(s), serve refreshments (that I've provided), go through the portfolio they've created, discuss an educational article we read, develop a plan to accomplish the goal they've written for the semester, and finish up with me. It's nice; the students are held directly accountable for their work and their grades, and their parents can see immediately how much work has been done.

Anyway, today's conference went well, so the next 22 shouldn't be bad. I'm actually extremely pleased with the turnout; if all goes as planned, I should see 23 of my 26 students and their families! Incredible! :)

Finally, our staff meeting today after school was interesting... we talked about lockdown procedures, should anything horrible happen. (Parents and students alike have been brandishing guns on school campuses lately, so who knows what could happen?!) We were also informed that last year, a lockdown was performed at a nearby district because a black bear was loose on the school campus. Um, where am I? Fun, fun. We practice our "lockdown drill" next week. Man, what happened to tornado and fire drills being scary? Now we're teaching the kids how to prepare in case of school shootings/wild animals being loose. What next?

Ok, off to massage therapy class!