Another good suggestion is to ask your child how things are going before the conference. It is best to remember that the success of your child not only depends on the teacher, but as well as a mutual task between parents, teachers, and that communication is the main key for success.
A conference with a child's teacher is similar to a visit to the doctor's office. You have a lot that you want to talk about, in a limited amount of time. The better prepared you are going, the best the end result.
Here are some tips for a good and productive parent/teacher conference.
• Ask your child how things are going at school.
• Write down your questions and suggestions.
• Establish a rapport with teacher.
• Try not to get defensive.
After the conference, make sure you stay in touch with the teacher to follow-up on the students" success.
Encourage both parents to attend conferences when possible. Making contact early; get you relationship with parents off to a goal, contacting them early in the year, perhaps wih a memo or newsletter serving all pupils. Allow enough time and schedule plenty of time for the meeting, twenty to twenty-five minutes is usually adequate. Make sure you are ready for questions are prepared to answer specific questions a parent may have. Be sure you have all papers organized ahead of time, assemble your grade book, text scores and sample of the students" work, attendance records and other pertinent data. Also have in mind a general but flexible outline to guide parent. And following these specific tips the parent/teacher conference should be successfully done.
• Plan ahead.
• Greet parents near the entrance they"ll use.
• Get their names right.
• Avoid physical barriers.
• Open on a positive note.
• Structure the session.
• Be specific in your comments.
• Offer a suggested course of action.