Effective Parent Teacher Conferencing is Key to Working Out Solutions

Report cards are out.  With report cards can come anxiety, stress, arguments, and tension.  If your child didn’t do as well as you would have liked, chances are you’re gearing up for a parent/teacher conference.

Today, these conferences can be sort of like speed dating.  One night, 10 minutes, and a lot of information you’d like to obtain (plus the uncomfortable silence and occasional awkward moment).  These situations can be uncomfortable, particularly when everyone in the room is there for a common cause (your child’s well-being), but making the most of your conference can lead to some great results for your child’s education.  Emotions can sometimes get high during conference night (after all, this is your baby we’re talking about, right?), but it’s important to try to make the most of the time and focus on the facts of the situation.  A few things that, as a former teacher, we would like to have you do to maximize the conference experience for all of us:

Do your homework—write down your questions for the teacher.  It’s easier to think beforehand than on the spot.  And when you have a short window of time, you need to be efficient.  Then, we can spend the time really talking about your child and brainstorming effective solutions to any issues that may exist.

Keep an open mind.  It’s easy to assume that your child isn’t doing anything wrong (and when sometimes your child can’t communicate why he or she isn’t doing well, it’s easy to jump to conclusions).  And sometimes he or she isn’t.  But approaching the conference with an open mind will help us all to get to the ultimate goal of helping your child learn and be more successful.  Prepare your questions based on what you’ve seen in grade reports (what happened that caused Johnny to get a zero on this assignment? Can you help me to understand why Kevin got a 60% on his chapter test?) not emotions (Why did Johnny fail everything here?  He says you won’t let him turn in his homework—what’s the deal with that?).  The factual question will lead to a factual answer.  After all, we’re all on the same team here.

Talk to your child about what was discussed.  Let her know about what her teacher has said is happening (with an age appropriate discussion, of course) and what strategies you’re going to use to help her succeed.  If she is in the know about what you’re going to do, she’s more likely to be on board.

Stay in touch beyond the 10 minute chat.  If we discuss strategies for helping your child to be successful, follow up with an email or a visit to see how the strategies are working.  Or, try to brainstorm new ones.  Check in to see if your study plan helped your daughter to do better on her test.  Don’t just assume the 10 minutes is enough to cure everything.

The bottom line in every parent teacher interaction should be your child.  We, as teachers, got into education to help young people succeed.  We—both as teachers and parents—are all thinking of your child at the bottom line here.  We all want to see her succeed.  The path to get there is what the conference is set to determine.  Let’s try to communicate effectively and work together in order to accomplish this goal.