Do you stress over parent teacher conferences?

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There’s so much to prep and keep track of for parent teacher conferences in the midst of your regular teaching. And then there’s the minefield of helping families understand their child’s strengths and weaknesses honestly but with great compassion. It’s a lot, especially in the meager 15 - 20 minutes of time we have per family!

I don’t need to tell you a lot of confidence comes from being prepared. You KNOW that. But WHAT to prepare is the tough stuff. But before we can dive into preparing for the actual conferences, we need to know parents come to parent teacher conferences with a head full of their own worries, stresses, and things they want to know.

THE NOISE IN PARENTS' HEADS: WHAT DO PARENTS REALLY WANT TO KNOW?

Is my child doing well? How does my child compare to others? Do you like my child? Does my child have...

Being properly prepared for Parent Conferences allows you to go into each conference with confidence.

It’s fall and that means that parent conferences are just around the corner. Wouldn’t it be fabulous if you could go into each student’s parent conference feeling prepared and confident?

Well, you can with the right steps. That means some obvious steps and some not so obvious steps - preparing in advance, creating a structure for your conferences, taking time to rehearse a bit and understanding parents' expectations.

FVIE THINGS EVERY TEACHER NEEDS TO DO TO BE READY FOR CONFERENCES.

1. Decide: What are you hoping to accomplish? What is the purpose of your conferences?
2. If you haven't already, create a data form for each child - partially filled out (testing data, class time observations...)
3. Collect work samples for each child to back up your talking points. 

4. Prep your meeting area with your conference materials for each student, paper, pencils or pens, a...

Being properly prepared for Parent Conferences allows you to go into each conference with confidence.

So what do we need to do to have successful conferences? Prepare, structure and rehearse and understand parents' expectations.

THREE THINGS EVERY TEACHER NEEDS TO DO TO BE READY FOR CONFERENCES.

1. Decide: What are you hoping to accomplish? What is the purpose of your conferences?
2. Create a data form for each child - partially filled out (data, class time observations...)
3. Collect work samples for each child to back up your talking points. 

STRUCTURING YOUR CONFERENCES FOR SUCCESS. 

Remember, parents are often both excited and nervous about coming in for conferences. These kids are their babies, and mama and papa bear are quick to protect. For extra confidence: Write out a script and practice it for any conferences you are nervous about. This ensures you cover what needs to be said, builds trust with parents and ensures you listen more than you...