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Before the Conference: Check In with Your Child and Come Prepared with Questions
The fall parent-teacher conferences are usually held about six weeks after school starts. So it's a good time to do the first check-in with your student's teacher about how the school year has started off. The spring parent-teacher conferences are a good way to see what your student needs to do to finish the year off strong.Often, parent-teacher conferences are the only time you really interact one-on-one with your child's teacher. It's a good idea to come into the session with some questions in mind since the teachers only have a set amount of time during these conferences for each student.
First, before you even go, find out from your student how they feel about their teacher. Do they like their teacher? Do they feel like they are learning well from their teacher? Does their teacher listen to them when they have questions or concerns? Find out if there is anything your student would like to address with the teacher.
During the Conference: Listen, Then Engage. Speak Up If Something Feels Off
Then, when you get to your student session, your teacher will go over their updates and concerns first, like what your student's current standardized test scores are, how they are doing at turning in their homework, making friends, and are they staying on task in the classroom. During this meeting, see if the teacher has a good understanding of who your student is and what they're capable of.
We've had some teachers where you could tell they already had a really good idea about who our student was and were able to tell us exactly what they were doing well on and what they needed to work on. We've also had other teachers, too, where the whole conversation was, "Well, your kid has an A in my class. Not sure what else to tell you."
If you think your student is falling behind in an area, speak up. I didn't feel that our younger son was on track with reading in his early elementary school years. At the fall and spring parent-teacher conferences, I asked about it, but was told he was on track. Then, in the last month of the school year, we get a request for our son to have additional reading tutoring. This took me by surprise because I'd asked. We were changing schools for the next year, so at the fall parent-teacher conference with his next teacher, I mentioned my concerns. That teacher made sure he got the extra help he needed to catch up, and by the end of fifth grade, he won a reading award for being one of the top readers in the school.
After the Conference: Follow Up and Stay Connected
Bottom line is you are your child's best advocate, not only in healthcare, but in education. If you have an amazing teacher, it makes all the difference in the world about how your child feels about school and about how they learn. Keeping an open line of communication between your child's teacher and yourself can set your child up for success in school.
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