Parent Conferences
Posted by Debra Liverman on 03 Oct 2008 | Posted in: Classroom Management, Holiday and Seasonal, Intermediate, The Mailbox
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Thank you, teachers! We had great response to our First-Day Ideas blog posted in August. Next up for discussion is parent conferences. That is the topic in the “What Works for You?” department found in the October/November Intermediate edition of The MAILBOX. Here are two of the featured ideas:
- Parents often have no idea what their child’s work should look like at your grade level. At conferences, share with parents a binder of average-to-superior work samples with students’ names whited out. As a parent compares work from her child’s portfolio with the samples, she can more easily understand her child’s effort and ability level.
- To occupy parents who arrive early for a conference, run a PowerPoint slide show on a computer outside your classroom. As they wait, the early arrivals can view their children participating in classroom activities, plus postings of upcoming classroom events, tests, and projects.
I’d love for you to share “What parent conferences ideas work for YOU?”
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I’m a little late on this topic but it is worth sharing. I do student-led conferences. In short, the students are in charge of leading the conference by telling parents all the great things they do, explain our routine, show off work, etc. I then ask parents what questions they have which are usually very few if any because they are so pleased with how well their child communicates with them, uses manners, clear speech all while I’m in the ‘background’ letting them do all the work! I get requests for these each year.
Our conferences are not timed, but instead our district has early dismissal and the parents come from 3-6pm for conferences. We also have to fill out a conference form for each conference. I fill my forms out ahead of time for each child so that I don’t have to take time to complete it during the conference time. It also serves as “notes” to make sure I cover everything in regards to the child’s academics/behavior. The parents who are waiting, are given their child’s work folder to peruse. The class newsletter goes home each week with test grades written on it for each child so most grades are not “news” for the parents. However, this has greatly sped up conference time as most of their concerns are answered by the time they go through the folder and get to conference with their child before they conference with me.
When doing conferences with Pre K age I use the terms “Areas that Glow” and “Areas to Grow” to discuss each child’s strengths and weaknesses. I stole this from one of my own children’s Kindergarten teachers. The parents seem to like the gentleness of these phrases. We do fall & spring conferences each year. The parents are a little unsure with the fall conference but walk away with a better understanding of what is going on in their child’s developement. They usually are eager to do the spring conference to see growth & find out if their child is prepared for kindergarten. We are hoping to start doing conferences in preschool in the near future.
I am a preschool director/teacher. My staff attended a workshop on conferences to get them ready. We now do 2 conferences a year. The one in the fall is 10 minutes in length. This conference was designed to get everyone on the “same page’. We tell the parents our expectations and hear theirs. in the spring we do a 15 minute conference to go over report cards that we designed ourselves to test the skills we teach.Both have been well received by our parents AND teachers!
I am the director of a preschool that has classes for children 2 to PreK and this is my second year. they have always done parent-teacher conferences one time - in Feb. I feel that we need to do one in the Fall but they are resisting. Any suggestions?
I am just finshing up with my last conference and I have to say things went very smoothly this year. I first send a note home for sign up. Next I send a form that asks the parents a few questions and what concerns they would like to go over at conferences. This helps me prepare for the conference and get any resources needed. I set out a table and chairs in the hallway with books the class has made. I also try to hang the students lastest works in the hall for parents to see. At the actual conference I go over the students strengths and areas to grow in. I sign the form and have the parents sign and a copy is made and sent home. The parents appreciate having the copy to help remind them of what their child still needs to work on. This year I have asked for email addresses as a way of communication and parents are all for it. So glad to be done:)
We have conferences back to back that last 15 minutes. While parents are waiting for their conference I leave supplies to write a letter outside the door with instructions to write their child a note for mail call tomorrow. The kids love mail call the next day!
Our school conferences are ony 15 mins. long and often back to back. To keep myself on time. I set a timer for 10 mins. This way I can stay on schedule. When the timer goes off I simple say’ We have 5mins left are there any last questions?”
Fran,
Love your idea about a scavenger hunt, I work with preschool special education students and I sometimes don’t think parents understand all that we learn in our centers. Thanks for the great idea!
Our conferences are only 15 min. each, and there is so much to cover. I always begin the conference with the parents sharing their questions or concerns first. This lets them feel that what they have to say is valued, and is generally a great lead in to what you have to share with them about behavior, academics, etc. I give the parents a folder with all of their child’s end of quarter/final tests, most recent work, etc. We also go through their writing journals and reading and math notebooks (these don’t go home) so parents can see what they are doing in class and see why they received their grade. I always have lots of work samples for them to see. While parents wait in the hall for their conference to begin, they sit and read from a basket of class books we have made. This can be an eye opening experience for a parent when they see their child’s work up alongside that of their peers! Sometimes I put out a basket of candy or apples for parents with a little sign…”Your child sweetens my day…thanks for sharing them with me.” “An a apple for the teacher—parents are a child’s most important teacher.”
I hold student-lead conferences in the spring, and invite students to accompany their parents. The child has previously completed a self-evaluation and set some goals for the coming semester. The student begins the conference, then I finish up going over the report card with both of them.
Just some tips that have worked well for me for the past 22 years.
I teach Preschool where the children do most of their learning in the centers while they play. I wanted to give the parents a fun way to explore the room and all the centers, so I made up a scavenger hunt. Not only did they look for specific items in the centers,but also the potty for bonus points. When they checked everything off their list, I rewarded the parents with a sticker. It was fun watching them run around the room just like their kids.
We put together portfolios for each child in our class, with photos of the child doing different activities, samples of artwork, and observations of things the child says or does. We put them in a binder with page protectors, so that at the end of the school year there will be a complete book with sections for ABC’s, colors and shapes, numbers, drawings, monthly photos and weekly observations. We can pull out the portfolio for conference time, and show parents what their child is doing, and progress throughout the year. This is for our PreK students, but could be done for other ages ,as well.