Parent teacher conferences are right around the corner. Here are seven easy steps you can take to better prepare yourself for a productive conversation with your child’s teacher.
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Talk to your child in advance of parent teacher conferences about any concerns or issues.
These parent teacher conferences are an opportunity for you to talk with teachers about any areas of concern as well as possible solutions. These may be academic concerns, but this is also the time to bring up conflicts with peers or disciplinary issues. The teacher may be able to provide information that will help you and your child resolve the problem.
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Check your student’s most current grades and any missing assignments.
Most schools have moved to electronic grading systems that rely on live data. This means you can view your child’s grade for each assignment as it is updated in real time. These websites also keep track of how many assignments were turned in late or were never turned in at all.
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Bring work samples to the parent teacher conference.
If you are concerned about how your student is performing academically, or you want to better understand the teacher’s grading standards, make sure you bring in samples of your child’s work as a reference. It’s much easier to discuss these expectations with concrete examples rather than in the hypothetical.
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Bring a list of questions or topics you would like to discuss at the conference.
Parent-teacher conferences are usually about 10-15 minutes. That’s not a lot of time to cover every facet of your child’s education. Be prepared with a list of questions to keep your conversation on track. You can even rank the items on your list in order of importance to guarantee the most productive discussion.
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Take notes.
No doubt these conferences can be overwhelming for some parents, especially at the middle school and high school levels where your child has upwards of eight different teachers. Bring a pad of paper and pen to keep track of what you discussed, as well as any future steps you or the teacher proposed during the conference.
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Ask about upcoming events.
You can help your student stay on track by knowing what’s coming his way. Are there major units coming up? Ongoing reading requirements? Field trips you should know about? Some teachers use classroom websites like Google classroom, Edmodo or Weebly to help parents and students stay organized. Don’t forget to ask your child’s teacher about these resources to stay informed.
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Follow up.
After the conference, add important dates to your calendar and set a reminder to follow up with the teacher on any significant topics discussed. Reference your notes to be as specific as possible. If there’s nothing that needs following up, consider sending a quick thank you; this can establish rapport with the teacher to ensure a positive relationship throughout the remainder of the school year.
