Portfolios and Three-Way Conferences

Things have changed from the time we were at school, haven’t they?  I remember carrying my report home in a sealed envelope and not being at all sure what my parents’ reaction would be when they opened it.   I also remember nervously waiting for them to come home from parent interviews, one year even hiding when they drove into the driveway. 

As a child, I had very little idea what my teachers found important enough to talk about, what my strengths and weaknesses were.  Today, at Sylvia Park School, this has completely turned around.  My son knows exactly how he is doing in different subjects and which areas he needs to work on to take him to the next level.    He is taught to talk about this clearly.  The three way conferences are an opportunity for him to do this in a focused way.

I find the portfolio a great starting point for this conversation because it has a balance of test results, examples and comments from the teacher and my son, it isn’t just based on a single test or event or opinion.  We go through it together when he first brings it home and he proudly shows us some of his best work.  Grandparents also get a chance to see the highlights, if they’re lucky.  By the time we go to the three way conferences, we have had time to read it more carefully and to think of some questions that will help us all to understand it together.

The portfolios and the three way conferences together show my son that we are all in this together, that his family and his teacher work as a team to support him with his learning.  He also knows that he is in the centre for this, he has control of the conversation and he knows exactly what the important things are to talk about.   No hiding for him!

Esther

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 121, 23 May 1936,Page 26.  Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand. Out of copyright.