Making the most of parent-teacher interviews. Research shows that parents have a significant impact on their children’s educational achievements.
In fact, parental engagement overrides all other factors that have been shown to influence a child’s achievement. It is therefore critical that teachers and parents develop effective relationships to bridge student learning between home and school. While many teachers report feeling ill-equipped to establish collaborative relationships with parents, there are several strategies that can be employed to strengthen these ties. (Doecke et al, 2008). Structure Of A Success Portfolio Defense (Deeper Learning) Edutopia. Back-to-school content is usually focused on teachers and students, and as these two groups will have the largest workload ahead of them, that makes sense.
But for students, the ultimate support system is not an expert teacher, but an informed and supportive family. One of the most significant challenges facing formal education in the United States is the chasm separating schools and communities. Edutopia. Posted 08/08/2015 3:28PM | Last Commented 10/07/2015 10:53AM All teachers, no matter how experienced, will face a time when parents are frustrated with them.
In most cases, it may not be because the teacher has done anything wrong. Frustration is often the result of unmet expectations or misunderstanding. Edutopia. Family conferences are an essential touch point at the start of the school year.
You meet students' families, share classroom expectations, and ask parents how to best partner for student success. As one teacher described it to me, "Family conferences are simultaneously the most energizing and exhausting days of the quarter! " But without clear expectations, pre-planned discussion topics, and tight follow-up, conferences can quickly fall prey to classic pitfalls: a long line of families out your door, meeting cancellations, or forgetting a student's key strengths and areas of development.
There are tons of wonderful resources available to help you think about what to discuss during the conference (I like the Flamboyan Foundation), but we also need to think about how to best prepare for these critical conversations. Here are nine tips to help you prepare for and facilitate a great family conference: Edutopia. Marissa: Hi, mom, welcome to my Student-Led Conference.
First, I'm going to tell you about my goals. The conferences here are different. Edutopia. Parent-teacher conferences are one of the few opportunities for families to converse with teachers about their children's progress and needs.
Lines of people wait their turn for these 15- to 20-minute interactions. One result is a conversation that establishes a relationship and delivers essential information about a student's progress. Teachers usually carry the burden of making the conference productive, yet if families were included more through communications and collaborative meeting planning, the experience could become more mutually fruitful. To this end, I'll introduce each of my points with voices from families suggesting collaborative communication about their needs. Edutopia.