Click for introductory video on the individual conferences.

The core of this intervention is the individual conference. During the individual conferences, you and the student will meet individually for 15-20 minutes per week. The individual conferences are designed to help the student explore his/her goals and aspirations as well as reasons that he/she may choose to achieve or underachieve in school. On this CD, you will find worksheets and directions to walk you through the conferences

• Do not meet in front of other students. The conferences should be private and confidential. You may want to meet with the student before or after school, during a study hall, or during lunch. Try to find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed or distracted.
• Do not talk to the other students in your class about the study. It is important that the student you are working with feels safe and does not feel “singled out.”
• The person who conducts the conferences should have a positive relationship with the student. The classroom teacher can conduct the conferences, or another member of the faculty can assume responsibility for the conferences. A counselor, school psychologist, social worker, teacher of the gifted, another teacher with whom the child feel especially close, or another specialist can take responsibility for the weekly meetings if the classroom teacher is unable to conduct the conferences or if another faculty member has a more open, positive relationship with the student.
• It is important that the person who takes responsibility for conducting the conferences meets with the student once a week for 15 minutes for the entire duration of the intervention.
• Before you meet with the student, you should print a copy of that week’s worksheet. When meeting with the student, you should ask the student the questions on the worksheets, and you should record the student’s answers on the worksheet, and you should save the completed worksheets in a binder or folder. At the end of the intervention, we will ask you to send us the completed forms, so please make sure to keep the forms.

A note regarding the format of the conferences: We suggest that you spend 15-20 minutes a week in individual conferences with the student. We have structured the conferences into sessions; however, depending on the discussion within your actual session, you may cover the material more or less quickly than we have outlined. If you don’t finish an activity during one session, carry the remainder of the activity over to the next session. After session 8, the sessions follow a standard “maintenance” format. Therefore, you will easily be able to complete all of the activities, even if some of them take you 2-3 sessions.
 
 
Next Section: General Strategies for the Conferences