Usually, we think of parent-teacher conferences as something that comes close to the beginning of the school year, or at least somewhere before the middle. Parent-teacher conferences often loom large on the calendar. I don’t know how your school or district works it out. When I was in the classroom, we had early dismissal, ate lunch, and then quickly launched into a long afternoon and evening of conferences. I remember once trying to wrap up my final conference as 10:00 PM came and went. But when it comes time to work with parents, you have to make accommodations.
Harder than the standard parent-teacher conference is the parent-teacher-principal conference. Happily, I only had to do a few of those. And when a parent-teacher-principal conference comes at the end of the year, it often means the subject up for discussion involves some heavy lifting and uncomfortable decisions. I don’t think the recommendation that a student repeat a grade comes easy to any teacher, any principal, and certainly very few parents. Yeah, there was that one time when I had a set of parents practically begging the principal and me to have their son repeat a grade, but there were a lot of reasons why that was a unique case.
As a teacher, working with parents—whether they are classroom volunteers or largely absent from their child’s school life—requires all the deftness of a ballerina in a minefield. Some days you can do no wrong. Other days? You can’t seem to avoid causing an explosion.
What are your suggestions for how best to work with parents in both good and difficult situations? Your colleagues value your input. Share your tips with us.