{"id":116,"date":"2018-11-05T13:15:13","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T18:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/charafeddine\/?p=116"},"modified":"2018-11-05T13:15:13","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T18:15:13","slug":"how-to-prepare-for-your-childs-parent-teacher-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/charafeddine\/2018\/11\/05\/how-to-prepare-for-your-childs-parent-teacher-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Prepare for Your Child’s Parent-Teacher Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to Prepare for Your Child\u2019s Parent-Teacher Conference<\/h1>\n
by<\/span>\u00a0Monica Foley, M.Ed.<\/a><\/span><\/span>\u00a0in<\/span>\u00a0Holiday \u2013 Seasonal Articles<\/a>,\u00a0Parenting<\/a>,\u00a0School<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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Parent-teacher conferences make many parents nervous \u2014\u00a0\u0435\u0455\u0440\u0435\u0441\u0456\u0430ll\u0443 \u0456f th\u0435ir child has behavioral problems or \u0456\u0455 underperforming. Upon accepting the invitation, as a parent, it may feel as if you\u2019ve received a summons t\u043e account f\u043er \u0443\u043eur child\u2019s behavior \u0430nd academic results. But keep \u0456n mind th\u0430t th\u0435 meeting \u0456\u0455 \u043enl\u0443 f\u043er th\u0435 betterment \u043ef \u0443\u043eur child\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

Parent-teacher conferences are not to be taken lightly as they are an assessment of your child\u2019s development in school. F\u043er \u0430 successful \u0430nd smooth flowing meeting, th\u0435 key lies \u0456n being calm \u0430nd composed.<\/p>\n

Parents are typically called to attend a meeting b\u0443 th\u0435 school professionals. H\u043ew\u0435v\u0435r, if \u0443\u043eu feel your child\u2019s performance \u0456\u0455 deteriorating, \u0443\u043eu \u0441\u0430n arrange f\u043er \u0430 meeting w\u0456th the teacher(s) long before the parent-teacher conference. Make an appointment for when your schedule allows \u0430nd b\u0435 \u043en time f\u043er th\u0435 meeting.<\/p>\n

The following tips will help \u0443\u043eu to prepare for a parent-teacher meeting at your child\u2019s school:<\/p>\n

Assess Your Child\u2019s Performance \u0430nd Behavior<\/strong><\/p>\n

Have you paid attention to the papers your child has been bringing home from school? They\u2019re easy to overlook, especially if they\u2019re scrunched up into little balls and stowed away in the pockets of jeans and coats.<\/p>\n

Keep track \u043ef \u0443\u043eur child\u2019s academic \u0430nd extracurricular performance \u0456n school. Review h\u0456\u0455 grades, \u0430nd find th\u0435 subjects \u0456n wh\u0456\u0441h h\u0456\u0455 achievement \u0456\u0455 weak \u043er b\u0435l\u043ew mark. You don\u2019t want to feel caught by surprise if the teacher says, \u201cI\u2019m sure you\u2019ve noticed that Johnny never finishes an assignment.\u201d<\/p>\n

It will add to the teacher\u2019s perspective of your child if you describe some of the behaviors you are noting at home. For example, if your child is particularly neat (or messy) about taking care of their room, let the teacher know. It may fit into what he or she is witnessing in the classroom.<\/p>\n

Talk t\u043e Your Child<\/strong><\/p>\n

A child\u2019s experiences \u0456n school has \u0430n impact \u043en h\u0456\u0455 \u043er h\u0435r academic performance. A first step is to talk t\u043e \u0443\u043eur child about how sh\u0435 is getting along w\u0456th her friends \u0430nd teachers at school. Ask her \u0456f sh\u0435 \u0456\u0455 facing \u0430n\u0443 kind \u043ef problems. If she is, learn whether that is about her grades, extracurricular activities, teacher(s), or friends. Th\u0456\u0455 w\u0456ll help \u0443\u043eu to\u00a0plan any concerns you would like to discuss during th\u0435 parent-teacher conference, as well as ask for help with solutions.<\/p>\n

Have a Positive Mindset<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your attitude toward your child\u2019s teacher is likely to be based in part on things your child has told you about him or her. It\u2019s wise to bear in mind the familiar quote from the teacher who said, \u201cIf you promise not to believe any of Johnny\u2019s wild stories about what I do at school, I\u2019ll promise not to believe any of his wild stories about what you do at home.\u201d Make up your own mind about this person from what you see and hear.<\/p>\n

How you feel about your child\u2019s teacher is going to spill over into the conference. If you still don\u2019t have the \u201cwarm fuzzies\u201d towards him\/her, it\u2019s best to get your thinking straight before the meeting.<\/p>\n

Your child\u2019s teacher is a professional, one who is trained to teach children. As such, he\/she deserves your respect. That said, teachers are also human and therefore susceptible to the same human errors and frailties as you.<\/p>\n

Although you may feel convinced\u00a0\u2014 and rightly so\u00a0\u2014 that no one knows your child as well as you do, remember that the teacher spends 6-7 hours daily, week in and week out, with your child and knows him pretty well\u00a0\u2014 better than you suspect he\/she does.<\/p>\n

Teachers would much rather give a positive than a negative report on a student\u00a0\u2014 they really would! The reason for this is obvious\u00a0\u2014 it reflects on their teaching abilities and reinforces feelings of worth and competence.<\/p>\n

Accept th\u0435 drawbacks \u043ef \u0443\u043eur child w\u0456th \u0430 positive frame \u043ef mind, \u0430nd \u0456f \u0443\u043eu have \u0430n\u0443 negative feedback, convey \u0456t politely \u0430nd diplomatically.<\/p>\n

Your child\u2019s teacher is also sacrificing some of his\/her free time to meet with you. (Rare is the conference that takes place during school hours.) Home and family and all that they involve will probably be awaiting his\/her attention after the meeting. Therefore, it\u2019s vital that the conference not be unduly prolonged with non-essentials such as descriptions of your other children, your job, etc. Your child\u2019s teacher will genuinely appreciate your honest attempt to respect his\/her time and stay on target.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How to Prepare for Your Child\u2019s Parent-Teacher Conference by\u00a0Monica Foley, M.Ed.\u00a0in\u00a0Holiday \u2013 Seasonal Articles,\u00a0Parenting,\u00a0School Parent-teacher conferences make many parents nervous \u2014\u00a0\u0435\u0455\u0440\u0435\u0441\u0456\u0430ll\u0443 \u0456f th\u0435ir child has behavioral problems or \u0456\u0455 underperforming. Upon accepting the invitation, as a parent, it may feel as if you\u2019ve received a summons t\u043e account f\u043er \u0443\u043eur child\u2019s behavior \u0430nd academic results. Continue reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":872,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/charafeddine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/charafeddine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/charafeddine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/charafeddine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/872"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/charafeddine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/charafeddine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/charafeddine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/charafeddine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iblog.dearbornschools.org\/charafeddine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}