Conferences

We're gearing up for conferences here at our little school. An important fact for parents to understand is that Montessori schools do not distribute grades on traditional "report cards". Instead, we respect each child as an individual and compare him only to his own progress, not to his classmates' progress or to progress set forth by a "standard".
In previous years, our progress report was made up of a list of lessons given throughout the year. There would be six columns next to each lesson- enough space for two semesters during the course of three years. In each column would be a symbol. The first side of a triangle meant the child was presented the lesson, two sides of a triangle meant the child was practicing the material, and a full triangle symbolized mastery. A short narrative was also given for each subject area.
This year, we started a new record-keeping system which contains a program for Montessori progress reports. The layout is very similar to our previous reports, but with some minor changes. Change is difficult for everyone, and it's taking some time for me to get used to this new approach to reporting. I know, however, that this approach is more convenient and more state-of-the-art. Overall, my goal is for each parent is for them to get an overview of their child's behaviors, strengths, weakness, likes and dislikes.
I do ask my school parents to bring along questions that they have in order to make the most of their conference time. Here are some sample questions that a parent might ask:

• What is my child's favorite work?
• Does my child prefer to work alone or with other children?
• Does my child seem eager to receive new lessons?
• How often does my child share thoughts during group time?
• How does my child express himself artistically?

I am truly looking forward to meeting with each and every parent to discuss goals for their children this academic year.