Friday, August 6, 2010
Session 4: Parent-Teacher Conference
Often new teachers feel very intimidated by the Parent-Teacher Conference. I remember my first conference. I was closer to the age of my students. Their parents were close to the age of my parents. Consequently I didn't feel like I had any authority. In short, I was terrified! Here is an excellent article entitled Meeting With the Parents -- Making the Most of Parent-Teacher Conferences. Read the article carefully, then, in 200-500 words, share what you believe are the four most valuable suggestions. Don't just list the suggestions... be sure to make a comment why you believe that those suggestions are particularly helpful.
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6 comments:
One valuable suggestion is to provide teachers with information and skills for dealing with a variety of parent-related issues. As a new teacher, I did not feel that I was completely prepped for the kinds of parents that my school supported. Most of the parents at my private Catholic school are very involved and in a perfect world would like immediate answers. This was a challenge to me in my first set of conferences. Speaking of this challenge, another helpful suggestion (the one I find to be the most helpful of all) is to have parents fill out a conference planning sheet before the meeting so that the teacher is not blind-sided by issues, but rather knows ahead of time and has had a chance to get other teachers’ and administrators’ inputs. Also a good suggestion is to set immediate goals for the student to work on with the parents. An action plan is a great way to avoid bringing up a problem to a parent with no solution. That can be frustrating and unproductive. It also makes the teacher look more professional to have some forward-thinking suggestions about tips for success. It puts the teacher on the same page as the parent, both with the success of the child as a priority. The last suggestion I found to be very helpful was to plan the times accordingly, leaving more time for students that might need more time to discuss. The worst kind of conference is one that is rushed for time and has to end early, leaving both the teacher and the parents with thoughts of ‘I wish I had said this’ or ‘I wish there had been time to mention that.’ It will save trouble in the long run, and potentially avoid another conference for the same concerns.
I feel that I get more nervous about parent-teacher conferences than I do the first day of school. These conferences are not something I look forward to. I really enjoyed this article. It had several good suggestions some of which I have used to help the conferences go smoothly. One of the most important things I think you can do as a school is to provide translators. The article made a point that urban schools have parents that want to be involved but their involvement might look a little different than some parents. I believe this is true. I teach at a school with a lot of Non-English speaking parents. Telling parents that you are going to provide translators I believe helps to put parents at ease and make them more willing to participate. Another good suggestion from the article is to send home a worksheet like the conference planning worksheet. I was given a sheet similar to these a few years ago and I feel that it really helped the conference go smoothly. The planning worksheet seemed to help parents know what would be discussed at the meeting and helped them to formulate and questions they might have. I also like the suggestion of having a couple of goals for the student to achieve written down to discuss with parents. Parents want their children to be successful but often they are not sure how to help them. Having a plan for how to achieve these goals helps parents to be more involved. Sending home a reminder to the parents is also helpful. I teach at a school where many of the parents work and have busy schedules. Sending out a reminder whether it is a note or phone message can be helpful. Parent-teacher conferences are one of those things that get better with practice. I know that this year’s conferences will be coming up soon and I am thankful for these suggestions.
Dr. T, Thank you so much for showing me this article! You have saved me :) I have had parent teacher conference twice. Luckily both times went very smooth. One thing I have found is if you listen and not only inform it goes a long way. Sometimes parents know their children better thank you and can give better insight into the student's mind. I am so glad the article gave the information about dealing with Urban parents. I am now in an Urban school and I need as much help I can get to understand where these parents are coming from. I don't mean to sterotype but these parents are doing it all. Most of the parents ,like the article said, are single parents. They don't get a lot of help from home. Sometimes my students are having to fill in when the parent is not available. These are very important things for the teacher to know. Having questions to ask to Urban parents and a little insight that the article gave me really helped. On the article was a conference planning sheet that the parents fill out before hand. This allows the teacher to know exactly what the parents concerns are. This not only will pinpoint specific areas that need to be addressed, but will speed the conference up and get down to the heart of the matter. The other suggestion was the time schedule. Plan and schedule each conference. Make sure to check with other teachers of siblings to make it easier on the parent. We want to make it as easy as possible on these parents so they will feel at ease and strive to come back in the future. Also I enjoy the goals you and the parent can set up for the student. Some students may seem right on track or good to go! Every student can grow or do better somewhere. Make some goals to have the child at the next meeting. A preant will feel like they got something out of the conference if there is something to work on. A parent sometimes will not come if they feel there is nothing to work on or no goals are set. I really enjoyed this article and espically the printouts which I will use.
I was TERRIFIED at my first parent-teacher conferences. I felt like I had no idea what I was doing and, being young, less than adequate to tell parents what they should be doing with their children. Being as prepared as possible is important to feeling confident when addressing issues at the conference, as brought out in this article. Knowing the student (background, personal interests, and home situation) often gives you common ground to start discussion and can help diffuse some tense situations. Having a list of questions or topics you want to discuss, as described in the article, is also a good way to keep the conversation focused and on pace and show the parent your professionalism.
I have found that parent-teacher conferences are often more about student behavior and effort than about grades. A grade is often a sign to everyone of a bigger issue. Students who do what is asked of them by their teachers rarely do not reap the fruits of their labors. Normally if addressed early in the school year, the teacher and parents can get to the heart of the issue, which is often a breakdown in communication about expectations and procedures to be followed. If level of understanding or ability is in question, showing examples of work is a good way to show what efforts are being made to overcome these issues. Something else from the article I've used is class portfolios or organized binders. When these are brought to a conference can show what effort is being put into the learning process. Make sure to give parents time to talk about their concerns and try to be objective about what they are saying. Cooperation needs to be the intent of the conference, not conflict. This was difficult for me to learn at first, and I got my feelings hurt thinking that I was being attacked by parents taking their child’s side of the story only. Usually, parents are just concerned and need reassurance that what they are doing to try to help is the right thing to do.
Initial contact is another issue addressed in this article. Contacting parents about conferences is often difficult, especially with the middle school students I deal with, because they do not want their parents talking to their teachers and sometimes do not give notices to their parents. Personal letters are nice, but in the digital era, many of my students’ parents are asking most contact be sent via email so they make sure to get it. Personal requests are definitely better than blanket emails, but some notice is better than no notice, in my opinion. Phone call follow-up with parents you REALLY want to meet with is a good idea after not receiving a response to a letter or email message.
The last point I found important to remember is follow-up after the conference. This is a way to make or break a relationship formed with a parent. If you say you are going to do something, make sure you follow through in a timely manner. Take good notes at the meeting about what each party says they are going to do and use a calendar to organize personal due dates to keep yourself on track.
I’m still working on this and never expect to perfect the technique. In fact, I’m sending the Parent-Teacher Conference preparation form to parents this week to let them start preparing for conferences beginning next week. I’m looking forward to using some of these ideas this year to make this experience even better.
Since I have not had the opportunity to do Parent-Teacher conferences yet, the idea is quite intimidating. I cannot decide if I would rather have a school with parents that are not involved and allow the teachers to be free to teach or if I would rather work at a school where the parents were calling and visiting all the time and there was pressure to teach a specific way. I suppose a happy medium would be the best!
I think a good suggestion the article makes is making the conference convenient and meaningful for the parents. Sending them an agenda ahead of time to layout the items that will be covered not only will help the meeting stay organized, but it also shows the parents that useful information will be discussed. Also, the article talks about being flexible with scheduling based around sibling's conferences. This could mean so much to a parent to have teachers working together on this instead of worrying about multiple appointments.
Planning ahead is obviously always a teacher's best course of action, but in parent-teacher conferences it could prove specifically useful. I could imagine that being unprepared when a parent comes in for a conference could be one of the worst situations for a teacher. These people are leaving their children in the teacher's care for hours and hours every day and appearing unprepared will almost certainly come across as unprofessional and possibly unqualified.
Another aspect of being prepared is to have "proof" of work from the child, either good or bad. For example, if there is a discipline issue that needs to be discussed, written documentation of this would be better to have than simply a verbal discussion.
I also like the "script" near the end of the article. It will be very helpful to have a sort of outline to follow during a conference. It was interesting that the article suggests devoting half of the conference time to the parent's concerns. I think this is a good suggestion, although one I might not have come up with on my own. When thinking about preparing for a conference, I think about MY end of the preparation, but I like the idea of allowing the parents time to discuss any issues.
Finally, it is so important to think about how to involve urban parents, especially in Metro Nashville schools. I like the suggestion to use "ordinary language." We use the same mindset at my research lab at Vanderbilt. We work mostly with children who have reading disabilities, which often are genetic. So we keep this in mind when communicating with the parents of research participants verbally or through print. Keeping phrases and terminology will help build a relatable relationship with the parents.
“Meeting the Parents – Making the Most of Parent-Teacher Conferences” illustrated several helpful suggestions for approaching meetings with parents. For example, I found particularly beneficial the suggestion to provide parents with “curriculum and an outline of general areas of study.” When parents have walked into my room for a conference, they have asked questions about content. I felt ill-prepared and inexperienced. Having a brief syllabus with themes of the week in each subject area available would encourage parents to practice the skills at home and ease my anxiety about content questions. Furthermore, another useful suggestion is to have appropriate materials available for parents to take home from school. Parents in my school often lack or are not familiar with the resources necessary to practice with their children, such as websites, flashcards, and sight word lists. Making available these resources will lessen the barriers between school and home. In fact, these resources will assist me in inviting parents into the learning process more fluidly. With in-hand tools, parents are much more likely to leave school engaged in their child’s education. Another supportive suggestion is to be prepared with specific behavior and academic examples for each student when expressing concern to a parent. I have met with parents previously where I used a vague description of a child’s disruptive behavior. A conference would have been an ideal opportunity to discuss the issue. However, since I did not have explicit instances of the behavior, it was difficult for the parents to address. A list of documented examples would be much more helpful than a vague description of behavior. Lastly, as I teach in an urban area, I found valuable the idea to use ordinary language. Parents in my school’s community have not always understood education jargon. Unassuming and more welcoming, ordinary language will help my parents feel more comfortable asking questions and responding to concerns. This article was especially helpful and encouraging to me. Parent-teacher conferences generally terrify me. However, these tips will give me small, though powerful, to steps for preparation.
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