Parent-Teacher Conferences: Communicating with your students’ parents
Teachers’ relationship with parents is as significant as their relationship with students. Building partnerships with parents not only encourages a more positive and productive learning experience for children but also cultivates mutual respect among the teachers and parents.
The key to teacher-parent collaboration is effective communication. Developing an open and faithful communication can help both the teachers and parents assess and work together on students’ school performance. Through teacher-parent partnerships, school and community projects can also be successfully carried out.
Planning the Teacher-Parent Conference
Here are some simple tips on how to prepare and conduct teacher-parent conferences:
Prepare your agenda. The agenda will give parents knowledge on what will be discussed in the conference and how important their participation is. The agenda could include topics such as the teacher’s general impression of the student, the student’s progress in each academic area, standardized test scores, the teacher’s goals for the child in each content area, and strategies that the teacher and parents can use to meet goals.
Invite them cordially. Prepare a send-home invite for the parents that will include the agenda of the meeting and list of proposed schedules. A survey or pre-conference questionnaire can also be attached. This survey form, can ask the parents about their perception of their children, their weaknesses and strengths at home and in school. Ask parents to bring the survey form on the day of the conference.
Put parents at ease. Choose a comfortable conference area. Meet and greet parents at the door and arrange the workshop area in an organized yet casual manner where everyone can face and talk with each other.
Be open. Most parents think that when they are being summoned to the school, their children are in trouble, so be positive and enthusiastic. Discuss classroom goals and strategies and how the students, as a class and individually, are progressing with homework, tests, and other classroom activities. Show parents the daily activity schedules of the class, sample works and scores, progress reports, and other future plans for the class. Teachers can also provide a set of materials that parents can read at home -- information on homework, grading, and school policies, newsletters, suggestions for how to help children at home, and invitations to school activities or parent group meetings.
Collaborate. Ask for and listen to the parents’ reactions, suggestions, and advices. Answer questions clearly and objectively. Respond to parents as individuals, realizing each has a unique personality and set of concerns. Sympathize and empathize. At the end of the meeting, thank the parents and congratulate them for sharing their ideas or sentiments. Act as a facilitator and always refocus the discussion to its primary goals so that parents will not be overwhelmed or get confused. Conduct a recap of the discussion and give parents a copy of the meeting’s minutes --- this will let the parents know that their ideas were really considered and listened to. Keep the parents informed and involved!
Keep in touch! Remember that teacher-parent conferences can remain just a spark so keep the communication going to keep the fire burning. There are a lot of ways teachers can reach parents – simple notes written on the student’s notebook, phone calls, e-mails, or through a class web page! Keep track of all encounters with parents – incident reports, parent responses, actions taken, etc. --- and make sure that the parents have a copy too.
Creative ways to reach parents
Maintain a good communication with parents through these creative ideas!
Personal letters (In paper or electronic)
Personal letters and emails are ideal to use in giving a thorough and detailed report on each student’s progress and performance. Be professional with your letter and keep it neat. Personalized paper or letterhead will give a good impression.
Bring it on the phone
The tricky part in talking with parents through the phone is to not sound phony. Introduce yourself and converse in a friendly yet truthful manner. Also, remember that phone calls are not just for bad news!
Newsletters
Newsletters are ideal for announcements of school celebrations, explanation of school policies and grading system, and features of classroom activities and other important projects. Keep newsletters brief and straightforward and be consistent on the tone and frequency of the newsletters.
Go online!
Why not post all your classroom schedules, activities, homework, and reminders in your own class homepage? Students and parents can easily browse the homepage and all the information they would need can be provided in the homepage.
To help you create a class homepage, try the links below:
Class Homepage Builder by Scholastic
One of the teacher resources that Scholastic offers is its Class Homepage Builder. You can create a free class homepage where you can post your announcements, homework, and reminders. The class homepage is secure and does not contain any advertisement. You can also link your homepage to your school website! Scholastic offers a step-by-step guide through the online tutorial and printable user guide.
Class Notes Online
Create a homepage for your class with user friendly control panels. No need to recall those html or programming lessons – setting up and managing the web page is made easy through Class Notes Online.
For more resources on teacher-parent communication, please visit the pages below:
Source:
n.d. “Planning for Parent Conferences”. Scholastic.com. Retrieved on September 25, 2007 from http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4194
(Published 1 October 2007, Smart Schools Program)
