Parent-teacher conferences are here and I know for many teachers its very stressful. I know just by helping my teacher prepare, it was exhausting. I think that its're extremly important to be prepared and ready to present material to parents. From past experiences, I can see how quick parents are to judge a teacher. I went online and found a great website (www.ehow.com) that had some really helpful tips that will help us as future teachers prepare for conferences! Hope this help!
Instructions
Difficulty: Moderate
Things You’ll Need:
conference notices
conference schedule
conference prep sheets
samples of student work
pre-conference notes about each student
Step 1:Send conference notices home with plenty of advance notice. Preferably, you should provide parents with a few options of dates and times so that they can choose a meeting time that's convenient for both their schedule and yours. Should you have a student who also spends a significant portion of the school day in another setting, coordinate with that teacher to make sure she, too, is available for a parent conference.
Step 2:Attach a proposed agenda or parent conference prep sheet to the notice. A conference prep sheet gives parents a chance to send back to you ahead of time any information or questions they'd like to have addressed at your meeting. Having that information will allow you to prepare for individual conferences.
Step 3:Let parents know how much time is allotted for their conference. With many conferences to run, you'll need to make sure to stick pretty closely to a schedule. It will also force both you and your students' parents to know exactly what you want to address and to get right to it. Consider setting a timer at the beginning of the conference to keep track of the time.
Step 4:Prepare your physical space for conferences. Set up a waiting area, if possible, for parents to sit comfortably until it's their turn. This would be a good place to put a small table with samples of classroom work and copies of the curriculum and class rules.
Step 5:Make notes about each student's progress and have samples of work to back up your statements. Under the best of circumstances it's difficult to remember all that you want to say, but when you have twenty or more meetings, it's nearly impossible to remember it all. Parents won't mind if you need to refer to pre-conference notes.
Step 6:Ask an administrator to sit in or be available for any conferences that you think might be confrontational. Though you'll probably have no difficulties defusing a tough situation, it's best to have back-up just in case. Along the same lines, if you will be referring a student for special services, ask the specialist or special education teacher to sit in to answer any questions a parent may have.
What do you think of these steps? Can they be helpful to you? Can you think of anymore tips that might help teachers in preparation for the conferences?
(www.ehow.com)
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5 comments:
You might ejnoy reading this article!
How can you deal with angry parents?
Conferences do seem like a very stressful event in the school year. I have to admit, as much as I enjoy working with the studetns, having to talk to parents scares me. This guide seems very helpful because it breaks down a scary week of conferences into smaller steps, starting weeks before the conferences. This way, all of the concrete documentation and things you want to mention are sorted through and on paper. Thank you for sharing this with us!
I liked really enjoyed the second step and believe that it will be very useful when I am organizing my own confrences. Sending home a form for the parents so that you are aware of their concerns before the meeting will give ample planning time to address the concerns.
This website will definately come in handy and I would like to say thank you for sharing it with me. This guide is extemely helpful and I will be using it for future confrences.
Out of all the steps which one do you feel was most helpful and informative?
Alicia,
I can't really pick just one step only because I feel that they play such an important part of the conference process. I must say that keeping in contact with the parents is extremly important when building communication and relationship with them. I haven't been able to see just how a conference works so I really hope to get that experience in the future!
This is definitely a stressful time for teachers, especially new teachers. I do think that carefully record keeping of assessement results, anecdotal records, and samples of student work will help you feel more confident during the meetings. These meetings are often very short, so having a few points regarding each student beforehand will also make the meeting go smoother. Regarding the list of steps, I think having parents ask questions or provide comments when they initially sign up for a time slot is extremely helpful when creating the final agenda.
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