Written with love by | Chelsea |
Hello to all of you fabulous mommies who frequently stop by. I’ve been trying to decide if I wanted to write about this or not on here, because I typically save all of my “teacher” posts for my own personal blog. However, I know that a lot of my readers are teachers, whereas a lot of CupcakeMAG’s readers are parents, and I don’t want to be “preaching to the choir” so to speak.
I teach 6th grade Social Studies at a middle school, and we recently had parent teacher conferences at my school, and I can honestly say that I LOVE getting to sit and chat with parents for a few minutes about their kid. It is really an eye opening experience to learn more about where a child comes from and what they struggle with through their parents eyes. I know a lot of parents really don’t enjoy coming to Parent-Teacher Conferences which often results in a poor turn-out at the school. I thought I would just take a few minutes to give you a teachers perspective as well as 5 tips to make the most of your conferences with parents.
1. First off, in my opinion, it is always a good idea to actually schedule a conference with your child’s teachers. Just because your child is making great grades in class, doesn’t mean they might not be struggling in another area.
2. Think of one or two questions before hand. At my school, we schedule in 10 minute blocks. We have 110 students this year and over 50% of our parents wanted to conference so we had to stick to our schedule. Having a few questions lined out ahead of time is a great way to keep things moving.
3. Don’t take what teachers say personally, but remember that they also see a different side of your students. I have fabulous kids, but that doesn’t mean their behavior is fabulous 100% of the time. Every one has off days, it’s part of being human, but your child’s teacher might begin to see a pattern between different behaviors of your child that you may not. As hard as it may be, try
4. Don’t believe everything your child says about me, and I won’t believe everything your child says about you. You would be AMAZED at the things that 11 year olds say without thinking about it. End of story.
5. Work as a team. The ultimate goal of parent teacher conferences is to work as a team to make sure that your child is successful. If you have a concern, don’t be afraid to voice it! If your child’s teacher has a concern, make sure that you are willing to hear them out.
At the end of the day, you and your child’s teacher both care about your child and the better the two of you can communicate, the smoother the year will go. Good luck at your conferences!
