Students take the lead

In a typical school, "Parent Conferences" are when parents come to school to talk to teachers about the student's progress.

At Tiospa Zina Tribal School, we are doing it differently.

Working on slide shows.

Parents will come to school on Friday, October 28, between 2 pm and 6 pm and will meet with their student. The student, not the teacher, will lead the conference.

The student will share his/her most recent test scores. He/She will explain the grades earned in all subjects and will explain why those grades were earned. Then, the student will talk about their attendance during the first quarter of this school year. The student will also tell their parent their goals for improvement next quarter. 


Each student in this class will also share work examples in his/her personalized portfolio, and will also share the "About Me" slide presentation created using Google Slides.

Designing dividers for our portfolios

All of these are ways for students to show what they are learning and to think about the meaning of school.

We are practicing for this. There are many parts to remember and do. We need to correctly introduce our parent to Sister Patrice. We can welcome them in English or Dakota. If we do it in Dakota, we get extra credit. 

Then, we have to lead our own meeting, explaining all of the things and answering any questions. Leading a meeting is one of the things we will have to do a lot when we are out of high school, so this is very good practice.

Although it will be hard to do, it is important. If a member of our family can't come, we can talk to Sister Patrice about who else to invite. If no one comes, then our family member can reschedule until November 9. After that, Sister Patrice will do a home visit and we will do the presenting at home.

On October 28, there is also a Tiospa Zina Halloween Feast and Wacipi. It will start at 4:30 (meal) and there are prizes and games as well.

Hopefully, some of us will have good costumes! The rumor is that Sister Patrice will dye her hair blue for Halloween. Come and see if the rumor is true!