Parent Teacher Conferences

When you have your conference with your child’s teacher be prepared.  Prepare questions you want to know about how your child learns and how it is displayed.  Also, ask questions about his/her social /emotional development and behaviors.  Social /emotional development and behaviors can also provide you with an understanding of how the child is interacting with others in the class and school.

Most of the time the teachers are leading the conferences because they tell you how your child is performing. However, ask questions of the teacher about the strengths and areas of growth that are needed.  Ask questions about how she/he interacts with others in the class and the school and his/her friends.  Ask questions about what you want to know about his/her performance.

Furthermore,  you want to know how you can help your child at home not necessarily with homework but maybe with learning support.  How reading to your child even at all grade levels can help in school. Middle school and high school children’s parents ask questions related to the subject and how you can help at home since many subjects are taught very differently than how we were taught. Ask questions on how you can help your child improve.

Remember this is a time to ask probing questions. Primarily, do not allow the teacher(s) to give you a list of all the details where your child is not doing well.  It is not helpful to you to hear all the aspects where he/she needs improvement.  If that does start to happen stop the teacher with specific questions.  Here are some suggestions  Where is my child struggling specifically? As a parent, you want to know exact areas where you can help at home not a long list of the things your child is not doing well.

Here are some questions to get you started,  how does my child attach decoding?  How does my child understand the process of addition and subtraction/multiplication and division?  How does my child relate to other children in class and adults in the school?  How does my child comprehend the subject?  How does my child build on his/her weaknesses using his/her strengths?

Remember do not allow the teacher to lead the conversation because the teachers are only telling you what they think.  Not what you want to know. To explain,  a parent had a conference with the child’s teacher. The teacher spent a huge amount of the time discussing how the child’s one-to-one was doing the work for the child. The teacher also showed artwork to prove it to the parent.  The parent asked if she should tell the paraprofessional and the teacher kept stating she would talk to the person. The conference was not that helpful to the parent because it was not really about the child. In the end, the parent did not really receive any real information to help at home. So, please do not let that happen to you lead the conversation.