• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts

The Educators Room logo

  • Start Here
    • Impact Statements: Teacher Expertise
    • Newsletter
  • Browse Topics
    • Content Strategies
      • Literacy
      • Mathematics
      • Social Studies
      • Educational Technology
      • ELL & ESOL
      • Fine Arts
      • Special Education
      • Popular Topics
        • Teacher Self-Care
        • Instructional Coach Files
        • Common Core
        • The Traveling Teacher
        • The Unemployed Teacher
        • The New Teacher Chronicles
        • Book Review
        • Grade Levels
          • Elementary (K-5)
          • Middle (6-8)
          • Adult
          • New Teacher Bootcamp
          • Hot Button Topics
            • Menu Item
              • Principals' Corner
              • Charter Schools
              • Confessions of a Teacher
              • Interviews
              • The State of Education
              • Stellar Educator of the Week
            • Menu
              • How to Fix Education
              • Featured
              • Ask a Teacher
              • Teacher Branding
              • Current Events
  • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout- An 8 Week Course
    • Becoming An Educational Consultant
    • Teacher Branding 101:Teachers are The Experts
    • The Learning Academy
    • Books
    • Shirts
  • Education in Atlanta
  • Teacher Self-Care
  • The Coach's Academy
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts
×

November 10, 2015 Current Events in Education

5 Ways to Flip the Parent-Teacher Conference Script

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Ruben Abrahams Brosbe

Ruben Brosbe is a former elementary school teacher. He currently facilitates professional learning for Teaching Lab, Ramopo for Children, and the Center for Racial Justice in Educaton. He is passionate about social justice oriented project based learning, and finds that young people make the best activists. He is a co-founder of Teach Resistance, an online community for social justice and anti-bias elementary educators. He is also the founder and host of Teachable Moments, a live storytelling event featuring stories by former and current educators.
  • The Solution to Burnout is Solidarity - September 22, 2022
  • Creative Solutions to the Teacher Shortage Problem - August 16, 2022
  • Florida's MAGA Approach to Civics is Dangerous to Democracy - July 19, 2022
  • 7 Picture Books for Earth Day That Aren't The Lorax - April 21, 2022
  • Teaching Was Never Sustainable - March 11, 2022
  • Opinion: Fighting Fascism from Our Classrooms - January 31, 2022
  • How to Quit Teaching in 2022 (Part 2) - January 17, 2022
  • How to Quit Teaching in 2022 - January 11, 2022
  • Opinion: January 6th is Not Up for Debate - January 6, 2022
  • Using Rituals to Survive Remote Learning - January 8, 2021

With a total of five hours to meet 20-something families, elementary school teachers in New York City have between 10 and 15 minutes for each conference. That doesn’t leave a lot of time to cover a child’s academic progress, social-emotional progress, areas for growth in these areas, and provide suggestions for supporting learning at home.

It’s no surprise then that teachers can end up talking the whole time and still feel like they didn’t say everything they needed to. It’s not surprising, but it’s a shame. Because in many schools, Parent-Teacher Conferences are one, if not the only, time when families and teachers to meaningfully engage around student learning. If a teacher ends up doing most or all of the talking then that’s a missed opportunity.

Family-Teacher Conferences* are not only a time for teachers to communicate about student learning to families. Communication must be bilateral. Beyond the obvious issue of respect, it’s an issue of gaining valuable information. As the authors of Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships write:

“Educators can learn a great deal from parents. Parents and other family members bring knowledge and perspective about their children, their culture and values, and the strengths and problems of their communities.”

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="yes" overflow="visible"][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="no" center_content="no" min_height="none"]If educators are going to learn from families, then they need to make sure they get the most out of conferences. Click To Tweet

1.Start the conversation early. One of the main reasons I have adopted home visits as a teacher is to enlist parents as partners in their child’s learning, long before conferences come around. Families are a child’s first teachers. I want to learn everything I can from them as early as possible and set academic goals collaboratively.

2.Plan ahead. You don’t have to script everything out, but be prepared to speak to specific strengths and areas of growth. This Educator's Room post provides a good primer on how to do this as well as how to center the conversation around student work, not just a teacher’s assessment of that student’s learning.

3.Invite students to participate. Even though some might consider my third graders too young to participate in Family-Teacher Conferences, I know they can and should be responsible for speaking to their own learning. Prior to conferences I have students fill out a brief reflection on the skills and strategies they feel they do well and those they want to improve on. Whether families bring their children to conferences or not, I begin conferences by reviewing this document.

4.Ask questions. Listen. I know this feels obvious, but I know at times I’ve felt under pressure to cover everything we’re learning I’ve forgotten to stop talking and just listen. Again this is where preparation can really be helpful. A few questions I like to ask my families are: How do you feel about your child’s progress at this point? Do you have any questions or concerns about the classroom? How do you feel communication has been so far? Do you have any ideas or suggestions for our learning?

5.Provide concrete resources. Almost every family I meet with is looking for specific ways to help out at home. I try to have a few hand-outs ready. You’ll know what resources best fit your classroom and school community. This year I provided directions to access our class account on Khan Academy, a list of STEAM apps, and an infographic on diversity in kid’s literature that was connected to our current writing unit.

There’s no one way to do Family-Teacher Conferences. Like all aspects of teaching, it depends on who you are as a teacher, as well as your students, their families and the community you teach in. What’s most important to remember is that conferences are a chance for us to listen and learn as much as for us to speak and share.

*This term feels more inclusive of non-traditional families, i.e. students who live with grandparents, or other non-parent guardians. 

 [/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailEducators Waiting for Mr. Rochester Default ThumbnailTeaching: The Card Game Default ThumbnailThe Tyranny of the Datum Standardized Protesting
« Guided Reading: Different Kids, Different Text
Using Learning Theories as a Framework for Teaching »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

The Educator's Room was launched in 2012 to amplify the voice of educators. To date, we have over 45+ writers from around the world and boast over twelve million page views. Through articles, events, and social media we will advocate for honest dialogue with teachers about how to improve public education. This mission is especially important when reporting on education in our community; therefore, we commit our readers to integrity, accuracy, and independence in education reporting. To join our mailing list, click here.

What we do

At The Educator's Room, we focus on amplifying and honoring the voice of educators as experts in education. To date, we have over 40 staff writers/teachers from around the world.

Popular Posts

  • My Union Showed Up for Me, and I'll Never Forget It
  • Your Students Deserve a Diverse Classroom Library. Here's How to Set It Up.
  • You Don't Have to Watch the Tyre Nichols Video, But Be Ready to Talk About It
  • "Let's Make This Happen": Following Student Interests to Interest-Based Mentorships

Featured On

Buy Our Books/Courses

How to Leave Your Job in Education

Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout

Using Your Teacher Expertise to Become an Educational Consultant

Check out our books on teaching and learning!

The Learning Academy

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Accessibility Policy

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • Services
  • Media Kit
  • FAQ

 

Copyright © 2021 The Educator's Room.