Part two continues with additional tips for a successful parent-teacher conference, plus ways to ensure a healthy parent-teacher relationship.
(4) Make sure you arrive at your appointed time or even a few minutes early. Also, make sure you don’t go over your allotted time. Unless you are the last scheduled parent, remember, other parents will be waiting for their turn.
(5) To put everyone at ease, start by making a positive comment about the teacher, the school or the classroom. But don’t get too chatty. You want to focus on the subject at hand and that’s how your child is doing, what areas need improvement, etc.
(6) Stay open-minded to suggestions from the teacher and keep your emotions under control. No parent wants to hear any negative comments about their child but sometimes you will.
Your overall goal should be to forge a healthy relationship with your child’s teacher. I’m fortunate that I seem to have done just that with Tyler’s teacher. And I did it mainly by simply taking the time to talk with her, even if it’s just for a few minutes each day. In this way I find out from her how Tyler is doing, rather than relying on him to tell me. He’s certainly not going to tell me if he was misbehaving in school. His school work is sent home everyday with comments so I know I how he’s doing academically, but his behavior within the classroom is of utmost concern to me.
I think what also helped forge the relationship I have with Tyler’s teacher is the two week program he attended before school started. There were fewer children in the class and the first day all the parents stayed over a few minutes talking with the teacher and getting acquainted. And each morning and at pick up time we also chatted. So when school started it was like we were old friends.
I’ve also let her know that I am available if she needs help with field trips or anything going on in the classroom. She’s also commented several times that she can tell I spend a lot of time with Tyler exposing him, to many things in the community.
In part three I will offer additional tips on how you can make sure your relationship with your child’s teacher is solid.