Preparing for Parent-Teacher Conferences

With Parent-Teacher Conferences coming up I wanted to provide parents with tips that will hopefully lead to productive meetings. We certainly want to promote dialogues which focus on your child's learning and habits. It's all about looking at where he/she stands now and what can be done to support their progress in the future. There are several outstanding resources available for parents, teachers and administrators.

The Harvard Family Research Project published the "Parent–Teacher Conference Tip Sheets 
for Principals, Teachers, and Parents" They advise parents, teachers and administrators to approach conferences...

• as a two-way conversation
• with an emphasis on learning
• with an understanding that there will be opportunities and challenges discussed.

The guide also suggests that parents talk to teachers about the following.

• "Progress. Find out how your child is doing by asking questions like: Is my child performing at grade level? How is he or she doing compared to the rest of the class? What do you see as his or her strengths? How could he or she improve?" 
• "Assignments and assessments.Ask to see examples of your child’s work. Ask how the teacher gives grades."
• "Your thoughts about your child. Be sure to share your thoughts and feelings about your child. Tell the teacher what you think your child is good at. Explain what he or she needs more help with." 
• "Support learning at home. Ask what you can do at home to help your child learn. Ask if the teacher knows of other programs or services in the community that could also help your child."
• "Support learning at school. Find out what services are available at the school to help your child. Ask how the teacher will both challenge your child and support your child when he or she needs it."

Scholastic has published this article entitled, "Make the Most of Your Teacher Conference". The article focuses on preparing for conferences in advance by speaking with your child and reviewing grades and samples of work. .

Resources

5 Resources for Parent-Teacher Conferences from Edutopia

Parent-Teacher Conference Sign-ups

The demand for parent-teacher conferences has been exceptional these past two years and we look forward to productive meetings on October 11 and 14. We have added an extra half day due to increased demand over the past two years. Last October there were a total of 634 conferences on the one day. We hope that this additional time will meet the needs of every parent who wishes to meet with his/her son's/daughter's teachers. Each conference is 15 minutes in length.

• Friday, October 11 - 1:00 - 4:00 pm
• Monday, October 14 - 8:00 - 12:00 and 1:00 - 4:00 pm

Conference signups begin tomorrow morning and you can sign up in the Veracross Parent Portal. Once you have logged in you have to follow the steps that are shown below to sign up for individual conferences. The portal will be open until October 10.

Please feel free to contact Carmen Souza (Carmen.Souza@graded.br) if you have any questions regarding these conferences.