Tips on Parent-Teacher Conferencing Parent-Teacher

Tips on Parent-Teacher Conferencing

Parent-teacher conferences can be stressful for a variety of reasons. Young teachers particularly may face these events with dread, as they are uncertain about what to expect. More experienced teachers on the other hand may feel apprehensive regarding some of the potentially difficult issues that parents may raise. A prepared teacher can face parent conferences with confidence, and concomitantly create a favorable impression among parents. A few simple tips can serve to mitigate worry, and help teachers be more prepared for their parent conferences. Below are some suggestions to help the teacher in dealing with parent-teacher conferences.

Prepare conference sheets on every child. These sheets contain information on what the teacher would like to discuss with parents. Each sheet contains a child's strengths and weaknesses. When the parents visit, the teacher then uses these as reference points of discussion.

It often happens that parents are obliged to wait before seeing the teacher. They appreciate a friendly environment in which to wait. Some teachers like to provide brochures with information on classroom activities and some snacks to keep waiting parents occupied. This is also a good way to relieve any tension that parents may feel regarding the conference and their children.

3. Invite parents to enter the conversation whenever they feel the need to do so. In fact, the teacher could also invite them to begin the conversation if it appears that there is a pressing matter. In discussing each child, the teacher should be careful to initially highlight the positive elements, after which the points of more concern are addressed.

4. While parents are mostly friendly and understanding of a teacher's challenges with multiple young minds in her classroom, it could happen that one or two of them will be hostile. This could particularly be the case when students have behavioral or learning challenges. Parents could be in denial, which is unhelpful for their child's learning situation. In such a case the teacher should remain calm and reasonable at all times. It is also important to help parents understand the extent of the problem, while also impressing upon them the positive points within their children. In the case of learning disabilities, it is a good idea to have a copy of documentation such as the state standards of education.

5. In addition to addressing problem areas in order to make parents aware of them, the teacher can also devise specific ways of helping the child in his or her home environment. Some teachers for example like to provide parents with printouts of exercises and suggestions for their children's specific problems. In this way, parents will know specifically what to concentrate on to help their children achieve their full potential.

6. The teacher should be aware that she is not the only one who might be nervous about the conference. It is therefore important to put parents at ease when beginning the meeting with them. To do this, the teacher should maintain an open and friendly air at all times. When having to discuss difficult issues, the teacher should furthermore display sympathy and understanding with the parents' situation, and with the difficulties of having challenging children. Further advice can then be based upon this attitude.