Conferences! "Listen, listen, and listen . . ."

Conferences begin this week! What a great opportunity to meet with families. Conferences are too short, too rushed, and too packed with information to feel natural, but there is something you can do. Prepare everything you're asked to prepare, and go into the conference following the advice of mentor Jim Hiller: 

"Finally, I would listen, listen, listen during the conference. If we were running out of time, I would schedule another meeting to continue our discussion and approach it with an open, learning and collaborative attitude."

Read more about Jim Hiller's Conference Fail in this quick article. Learn from his mistakes so that you can make fewer in your first round of conferences.

Another great quote:

"Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk." -Doug Larson

Finally, two years ago The Washington Post published this fabulous article: About THAT Kid. It's well worth the 4 minutes it will take you to read it and will reset your mind for these next few days of conferencing with families.

Have a great few days building further partnerships with those people who are most important to our students: their loved ones.