Parent-teacher conferences
Parent-teacher conferences became an important part of the educational process. It is nice when a parent wants to take part in a parent-teacher conference and participate actively in the school life of his/her child. The most appropriate variant is when both parents can be present at the parent-teacher conference even if they are divorced. In this respect, the parent-teacher conference experience greatly influences all parties concerned, including children, parents, and teachers. I believe that a child or a parent that has some positive or negative experience of parent-teacher conferences can apply this experience in the future when holding those conferences as a teacher.
To sum up, the main role of the parent is to participate in a child’s school life and ask questions about a child’s progress at school. The main characteristics of a teacher include being polite and tactful during parent-teacher conferences give suggestions on the problem instead of diagnosing, use time of the conference properly to address all problems, and answer all questions. Besides, a child should not be present at the conference if a teacher wants to give his/her parents some suggestions or talk about some concerns.
So, all conferences should be held in private. Though a teacher should present the information in a positive way, he/she should certainly inform parents about some problems that a child may face so that they could work on their solution as well.
A great example of a successful parent-teacher conference
The picture is a great example of a successful parent-teacher conference as all factors presented in it can greatly contribute to the mutual understanding and further cooperation of parents and a teacher. As the first impression is the lasting one, a teacher can start with some information about a child’s progress because it is always possible and necessary to search for something positive in a child’s behavior and progress.
Both parents are depicted, which seems to me great because regardless of the family status, both parents should take an active part in a child’s school life. Besides, they all have an equal right to affect their child’s progress and help in solving the problems related to poor writing or the development of other skills. It is also important to smile if you have something good to say because your mood influences the perception of the information you provide parents with.
As it is shown in the picture, the conference should take place in private so that nothing and nobody could distract participants of the conference from their discussion. A teacher should have a child’s paper to show it to parents and discuss it; some examples of a child’s works would be useful as well. Moreover, a teacher can have some notes to peep in a while discussing the key points.
Conferencing form
An integral part of the parent-teacher conferences is the conferencing form. As every child is unique, he/she should be approached with a certain method, and a teacher should choose an appropriate approach to address a child’s needs. In this case, a complex approach is the universal one that can be used as a conferencing form.
The first thing that I like about a conference letter as a form of conferencing used for teacher-parent conferences is that it enables me to get all parents involved, and they all can participate, in a way, in the conferences. The thing I do not really like about this conference letter is that I have to shape my ideas perfectly so that I could persuade parents of the necessity of taking some measures concerning their child’s progress or inform them about some problems that a child may face at school.
The tone of the conference letter should be neutral but soothing enough to bring my ideas to parents even if their schedule is not fixed, and they are not able to visit conferences personally. The same concerns the portfolio overview sheet that have its advantages (enables a teacher to touch upon every aspect of a child’s educational progress) and disadvantages 9it takes a lot of time to create my own record of every child’s progress).