Parent-teacher conferences are an age-old tradition that has been evolving to include students and extended family to set academic and personal goals for students and to share information about student progress.
Activities
Teacher Preparation
1) Communicate early and often with families when planning conferences.
http://www.teachhub.com/parent-teacher-communication-tips
(Module 2, Lesson 2, Reflecting on Your Goals – What is Empowering Communication and How Can I Achieve It?)
2) Prepare a send-home note that invites parents to meet with you, states the purpose of the conference, and lists potential times in both the afternoon and evening. Ask parents to reserve a time slot through phone, email or a note.
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/planning-parent-conferences/
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
3) Decide on the goals for the conference and prepare an agenda. Plan and write down what questions and topics you want to discuss.
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/planning-parent-conferences/
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
4) Provide parents with a sample parent conference form to fill out prior to the conference to help them prepare, which can be found in this resource.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/classmgmt/parconfform.htm
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
5) Fill out this sample teacher conference form prior to the conference as you prepare what areas you want to address.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/classmgmt/teachconfform.htm
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
6) Gather materials to show parents such as a daily schedule of the classroom, a student progress checklist, and sample work.
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/planning-parent-conferences/
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
Tools for Parent Preparation
Teachers can provide parents resources on how to prepare for conferences.
1) Provide parents with a list of topics they may want to consider before coming to their child’s conference (examples are in bold).
https://theeducatorsroom.com/from-the-classroom-home-communicating-with-parents/
(Module 2, Lesson 2, Reflecting on Your Goals – What is Empowering Communication and How Can I Achieve It?)
2) Provide parents with these 10 tips on how they as parents can prepare for their parent-teacher conference.
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
3) Provide parents with these 6 questions to consider as they prepare what they want to discuss at their child’s conference.
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/parent-teacher-conference
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
4) This resource provides tips for ELL parents as they learn about and prepare for parent-teacher conferences. This is a guide for you (if you speak the family’s language) or a translator to go over with families to help them understand what a parent-teacher conference is and how they can prepare.
http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/tips-successful-parent-teacher-conferences-your-childs-school
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
5) Provide parents with a sample parent conference form to fill out prior to the conference to help them prepare, which can be found in this resource http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/classmgmt/parconfform.htm
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
Involving students during the conference
1) If possible, include the child in the conference.
http://www.nea.org/tools/tips/parent-teacher-conference-preparation.html
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
2) Prior to parent-teacher conferences, have students write about their progress, what they feel they are doing well and what they feel they need to improve on. This paper can be displayed at home as reminder of the goals the student has set for him or herself.
http://www.nea.org/tools/tips/Student-Comments-for-Conferences.html
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
Tips for successful parent-teacher conferences
1) Start and end conferences with something positive about the student.
http://www.nea.org/tools/tips/parent-teacher-conference-preparation.html
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
2) Make the conference setting as comfortable as possible and plan in advance how you will prevent disruptions during the conference.
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/planning-parent-conferences/
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
3) Focus on the “whole child” during conference discussions & begin conferences focusing on what the student is doing well.
http://www.adi.org/journal/ss05/Graham-Clay.pdf (p. 120-122)
(Module 2, Lesson 2, Reflecting on Your Goals – Analysis of Current Teacher-Family Communication Practices)
4) Use parent-teacher conferences to share with parents about your instructional methods and tools that you use in the classroom as some parents may be unaware of them.
https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2013/10/23/beyond-parent-teacher-conferences/
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
5) Ask parents to inform you about their child’s performance in past school years.
http://www.nea.org/tools/tips/parent-teacher-conference-preparation.html
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
6) Share students’ work examples, journal entries, projects, testing and things they’ve done in school.
https://theeducatorsroom.com/from-the-classroom-home-communicating-with-parents/
(Module 2, Lesson 2, Reflecting on Your Goals – What is Empowering Communication and How Can I Achieve It?)
7) Value parent voices by asking them for their impressions of how school is going for their children, what is working well for their children, what they see their children struggling with, and what questions they would like answered.
https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2013/10/23/beyond-parent-teacher-conferences/
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
8) After parents share their impressions and you share your observations, use this sheet to assess student progress and set goals. Follow up with parents about these goals as the school year continues.
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
9) This resource provides five strategies under “Conduction the Conference” for delivering information about academic or behavior concerns during parent-teacher conferences.
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/planning-parent-conferences/
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
Student-led conferences
1) Have students guide the parent-teacher conference, allowing them to take ownership of their learning. This resource provides strategies and suggestions regarding how to set up student led parent-teacher conferences.
https://www.edutopia.org/practice/student-led-conferences-empowerment-and-ownership
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
2) Prior to parent-teacher conferences, have students write about their progress, what they feel they are doing well and what they feel they need to improve on. This paper can be displayed at home as a reminder of the goals students have set for themselves.
http://www.nea.org/tools/tips/Student-Comments-for-Conferences.html
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
3) This sample script for a fourth grade student-led conference can be used as a guide to help students prepare to lead the parent-teacher conference.
http://www.p21.org/news-events/p21blog/1865-learning-targets-and-student-led-conferences-part-ii
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
4) This resource provides a step-by-step guide for student-led conferences at the elementary level. It addresses some of the benefits of student-led conferences, how they can look, and 5 helpful tips for organizing them.
https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2013/03/20/student-led-conferences/
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)
5) This resource also provides a guide for student-led conferences. It explains what they are, the teacher’s role, the student’s role, and the parent’s role.
http://www.edudemic.com/guide-to-student-led-conferences/
(Module 2, Lesson 3 – Strategies to Improve Communication with Families: Parent-Teacher Conferences)