Conference Week

 My current school does conferences Monday through Wednesday of Thanksgiving week. This gives students a full week without classes and allows families to travel to their Thanksgiving destinations earlier in the week if they schedule their conference(s) early. Teachers are given flexibility with the conference schedule they send out. For example, one teacher went to a literature teacher's conference, flying home on Monday. She adjusted her schedule so that her Monday conferences began at noon rather than 8:00am. 

I like conferences. For the entirety of my career they have been uplifting and affirming. I get to celebrate the successes of my students and help set goals for the remainder of the school year. It helps that in the two decades I have been teaching I have only had one student I have truly struggled to find a success to celebrate. Maybe two. But one I remember quite specifically.

That's not to say I've never had difficult or awkward conferences. But they are few and far between. This year there were none. I did make an in the moment decision to basically chicken out and not tell one family that their child continues to chew gum and eat candy throughout the day. But the problems of wrappers littered on the classroom floor and gum being left stuck underneath (brand new this fall) chairs have stopped since I made my displeasure very clear earlier in the year. It didn't seem to be the most important point to focus on as we discussed missing work and peer relationships. Besides, I'm fairly certain some of my colleagues encourage gum chewing during math class, especially on test days.  Thus, I chose to avoid what might have become an awkward conversation.

I have one student this year who uses an impressive vocabulary to speak quite eloquently. As my dad would say, this student uses ten-dollar words. All. The. Time. For example, after a misunderstanding early in the year, I was eventually told, "I did not presume any malicious intent on your part." It is to the point that when this student participates in class discussions, which happens often, other students tend to tune out, knowing they might not understand the question or comment. I have found I have to cut short the input from this student, even though deep insight and thoughtful reflection are always present, so I can "translate" it into language that most of the class will better understand. I had anticipated push back from the student when I mentioned that class discussions would benefit from less elegant language, and that a change might even improve this student's peer relationships. But rather than the defensiveness I expected, this eighth grader turned toward Mom and said, "To be quite candid, I see the logic of this reasoning more profoundly coming from Mrs. Conrow." Followed by, "I shall endeavor to decrease the elaborateness of my articulations."

The middle school team decided to ask about student anxiety/stress this year. The responses were eye opening. One student claimed a baseline anxiety of 1-6, but with a 10 when asked to attend lunch time study hall to complete missing work. The response in the above photo is from a student who genuinely puts forth huge effort but does not always see a return on that effort. With the parents present we were able to talk through sources of stress and brainstorm ways to support students when their stress levels rise. I was able to create easy to implement strategies for four of my students during the 20-minute conference time frame. (In my homeroom of 15, that's more than a quarter of the entire class.) For example, on student will begin taking math tests in the learning resource center, away from the possibility of perceiving classmates are doing better and judging the progress of others. Another will simply ask for a break when anxiety rises and take time to walk down the hall practicing deep breathing, with the anticipated return to class being within a few minutes. We made a contingency plan in case it takes longer than a few minutes, but my sense is just knowing this plan exists will decrease the anxiety felt by the student.

Since my homeroom class is pretty small this year, I had lots of time in between conferences. I used the time to grade papers, create worksheets for next week, and construct an Advent bulletin board. It was one of the easiest boards I have ever created - using short lengths of butcher paper, a fancy font printed in 400pt, clip art candle flames, and leftovers from projects earlier in the year developed around the school's theme of "Growing Together in Faith."

As I stated above, conferences have always been a source of affirmation for my career path. I usually feel showered by compliments from students and their families. This year was no exception. I only had two conferences today, so I was able to put up the Advent bulletin board in anticipation of the first week of the new church year when we return from Thanksgiving break. The first one began with the student bringing me my favorite frothy coffee. The second and last one ended with the dad, who had been fairly quiet for the duration of the conference, saying, "So I have just one more question. Red or white?"  I wonder what he would have done if I had said, "Both." Happy Thanksgiving!

Service Day

Today was the fall service day for the middle school students in my building. I have never had to organize a service day before because all my other teaching positions included doing service inside the school building and/or students logging their off-site service and turning in paperwork attesting to their service. But grades 6-8 at my current school have an entire day dedicated to service at the end of each trimester. Although the sixth and seventh graders usually do on-site service, it is truly a service day for them: the sixth graders organize a food drive every trimester, and then spend the service day sorting, counting, and transporting the donated food to the St. Vincent DePaul food pantry across the street from the school. The seventh graders organize a warm clothing drive in the fall and spend the service day sorting, counting, and bagging up the donated clothing to be transported to different organizations in the north Seattle area.

But traditionally the eighth graders spend every service day off campus performing service in the community, preferably with direct contact helping those in need. The eighth-grade advisory group led by the principal always goes to the local Ronald McDonald House, where he spent time as the parent of a hospitalized toddler decades ago. The experience, even though it ended in the death of his firstborn son, had such an impact on him that he gives back to that organization as much and as often as possible.

My predecessor and the other 8th grade teacher scaled back during the COVID years to taking their groups to a local park to pick up litter. Without direct contact with a specific group or organization, being entirely outside, and close enough to not require parent drivers to transport students, it made sense for the most recent years. However, as the service day drew near, and it suddenly dawned on me that it was in fact my job to organize a service day for my students, I thought I would jump on the litter patrol bandwagon to make my first service day easy on myself. But my principal encouraged me to find something that allowed for direct contact with a community in need.

So, I spent a prep period sending out emails to the many assisted living facilities near our school but did not hear back quickly from any of them. Finally, while I was home sick one day I decided to start calling the facilities I had emailed. The main line of the first place I called transferred me to the volunteer coordinator. I left a voicemail and started hunting for the next phone number I needed. But before I could punch the number into my phone, the volunteer coordinator from the first location called me back. She had apparently been out sick, and had started composing an email to me the same morning I called, but had not yet finished it. She was beyond thrilled that I had 20 eighth grade students who would be willing to work in the gardens at her site in the middle of November.

Thankfully, it was not raining today. In fact, it's been a very dry November for us. But the soil was thoroughly damp, which made it easier to pull weeds and save bulbs for replanting. My advisory got down in the dirt and worked hard today.

They earned their pizza lunch! Even though I had a student talk me into adding more pizzas to my order because they were all SO HUNGRY, it was money well spent. I was able to put two pizzas in the fridge at work for next week, which is conference week, and bring two pizzas home for my family to enjoy.

Also, residents, staff, and students all want us to return for our winter service day in March. My wrist hurts (which happens after overuse after I fell in one of my classrooms over a decade ago) and my spirit wear clothing and jeans are caked with mud. But it was a lovely day.