Make Your Parent - Teacher Conferences Count!
If your child’s preschool or school organizes regular parent- teacher conferences, consider yourself lucky and be sure to go! If they do not, ask your child’s teacher if you can schedule time to talk about your child’s experiences and learnings.
We know that parents are busy and this may seem like one more item on your never-ending to-do list, but these meetings help build trust and deepen your relationship with your child’s teacher. They provide dedicated time for you to learn more about your child’s experiences while you are away from them, share your concerns and gratitude, ask questions, celebrate your child’s accomplishments, and connect with your child’s teachers about ways that you can support at home what your child is learning during the day.
While the first step to a successful parent-teacher conference is scheduling and committing to attend, there are easy things you can do beforehand to prepare and ensure that the meeting is beneficial to you, your child, and their teacher.
Establish regular communications prior to conferences
Start building a relationship with your child’s teacher on Day 1 by engaging them in conversation, emailing them with questions and encouraging them to contact you regularly. It may be harder during the current health crisis to create connections but possibly more crucial than ever. By creating a bond early, it makes potentially difficult conversations easier to have in the long run.
Organize your thoughts beforehand
It’s possible that your child’s teacher will send out communication in advance of the meeting that will provide you with an agenda or discussion topics and solicit your feedback, such as your goals for your child’s learning during the year. Regardless, you can be prepared by creating a list of questions or concerns you have. Consider asking about:
your child’s developmental milestones and what they may be working to improve
who are their friends and what/how do they play
activities your child likes the most
what concerns the teacher has
how you can support your child’s interests and learnings at home
Be succinct and specific in what you share and with the questions you ask.
Be courteous
If you have to cancel or are running late, give your teacher as much advance notice as possible. Also, you are most likely not the only parent attending a conference with the educator that day so be conscientious that you only have an allotted amount of time and then it is someone else’s turn. This is where meeting prep really pays off! It keeps you and the teacher on schedule.
Allow the teacher to lead
You didn’t create a list of questions for nothing but let your child’s teacher guide the conversation. They too have prepared for this meeting and have lots they want to share with you. Most likely they will cover many of the topics you have noted and will provide time at the end for questions. Don’t forget to take a pad and pen for notes or to jot down questions that may come up during the meeting.
Follow-up
Extend thanks in a handwritten note, an email or phone call to the teacher for their time preparing and in the meeting. If you have follow-up questions or need to clarify information, you can send that in an email or request additional time to meet in-person or virtually.
Consider your child’s early learning care team as valuable partners and treat them as such. Together, you are establishing the foundation for all of your child’s future learning.
Need more tips for successful parent-teacher meetings? See the following articles.
