Tips for Parent Teacher Conferences

Parent teacher conferences are coming up next week! Whether you’re a parent brand new to elementary school or you’re an old pro, we have some tips to help you make the most out of this brief, but valuable one-on-one time with your child’s teacher.

Conferences are a great opportunity for you to get feedback from the teacher, but don’t forget about your child!  Conferences are the perfect catalyst for conversations with your child and provide an opportunity to assess how your student feels about school, both academically and socially.  Below are some ideas for topics to bring up with your child prior to the conference and how to prepare yourself for the conference:

• Explain that you and the teacher are meeting to help make this school year successful.
  
• Ask your child how they feel about school: school work, friends, relationship with the teacher.
  
• Ask your child if there is anything that they want you to talk about with their teacher.
  
• Come to the conference prepared. Your child’s teacher will likely have a list of things he/she needs to cover, but it is helpful to be prepared if you have specific concerns you want to address going into the conference, so that your time together can be as productive as possible. If there is something going on at home that may affect your child’s performance socially or academically, this is a great time to bring it up!
  
• If you have specific concerns, prepare a list of topics and questions such as:
  
  • What are my child's strengths and areas for growth?
    
  • How is my child doing socially?
    
  • How does my child treat & respond to others?
    
  • How is my child’s behavior?
    
  • What can I do at home to help support what you are doing at school?
    
• Be open! It’s a near year, new teacher. This means you may hear things from your child’s teacher that are different from years past. Each year, with new class dynamics and new academic expectations students may behave or perform differently than in previous years.