Dear all,

Busy times ahead for us all. With parent conferences next week, however, we do get a lovely four-day weekend afterward. After that, it is a short 4 weeks until our holiday break. Sometimes having limited time heightens our stress as we as educators are always thinking ahead to what needs to be done. Relax, ease your pace; these young children will get what they need along the way of their education. The most important thing is that they enjoy the learning they are doing.

PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCE TIPS

A parent-teacher conference is a great opportunity to:

• share academic progress and growth based on classroom observations, assessments, portfolios/class work.
• learn from parents or guardians so you can be better informed about students’ strengths, needs, behaviors, and learning styles
• discuss enrichment or intervention strategies to support students’ learning
• discuss issues that may be interfering with students’ learning and growth

Before the Conference

Prepare your materials. Preparing materials well before the conference will make you feel more at ease when families show up at your classroom door. As you’re teaching during the school year, keep in mind which assessments will be shared and reported at conferences. Review student data, assignments, and assessments that you’ll be sharing with parents, and make notes about what you’d like to ask parents about their children to support learning.

In addition to progress reports, you may want to set aside separate conference folders with three to five student documents that support progress. Some teachers keep notes with strengths, needs, and social or behavioral notes to guide them through conferences.

During the Conference

Create a welcoming environment. Make your classroom inviting by displaying students’ work and making space for the conference with an adult-sized table and chairs.

Open with positives. All parents are proud of their kids and want to hear about their child’s strengths as well as challenges, so be sure to discuss both — but start with the positives.

Discuss progress and growth. Inform parents about their child’s ability levels or grade levels in different content areas using demonstrative work examples or assessment information. Many parents want to know how their children compare to their peers, but remind them that you’re discussing their child’s individual instructional levels, not their standing in class.

It’s all too easy to let discussions veer off-task during conferences, so try to limit all talk to learning and how to support the student’s instruction.

Avoid teacher-talk. Education is loaded with jargon and acronyms, but a parent-teacher conference is not the place to use them. Be sure to explain any terms or even words on progress reports that aren’t commonly used outside the school setting.

Ask questions and listen. Ask parents or guardians for their input about students’ strengths, needs, and learning styles, as well as their hopes and dreams for their children. Don’t forget to ask these simple but important questions: “Does your child like school?” and “Why?” or “Why not?” That single line of questioning can give you a lot of information that can be helpful in the classroom.

Make a plan. Provide suggestions for activities and strategies to support learning at home. Spend the last few minutes of the meeting on your specific goals for the student.

Be honest and have a thick skin. It’s your responsibility to give parents or guardians an accurate assessment of students’ progress. Sometimes this means delivering bad news. Sugar-coating the facts defeats the purpose of the conference.

In addition, you may see some of your students differently than their parents do, and some parents may take your evaluation of their child in a negative or defensive way. While you should be open to constructive criticism, remember that you’re in charge of the conference, and if the discussion becomes too heated to be effective or goes awry in other ways, you should conclude the meeting and ask to reconvene at another time. If you have reason to expect such negative interactions before the next conference, ask an administrator/counselor to attend.

After the Conference

Follow up. A little thank-you can go a long way.  You can also have students write thank-you notes to their parents or guardians for attending and supporting their learning. In the notes, remind parents to contact you if they have any further questions or concerns.

Be sure to contact parents who did not attend and offer alternative ways to communicate about their child’s progress.

Communicate regularly. Let parents know what’s going on with their child in an ongoing fashion. Keep families informed about class projects and other assignments, students’ accomplishments, and any problems or concerns that may arise.

continued….

Lunch will be served from  11:30-1:00 PM  in the Cafeteria. It is Indian food there are vegetarian options.

Chairs will be placed outside your rooms for any early parents.

I will be available if there are any needs.

LOCKDOWN DRILL

There will be a practice of the lockdown drill on Monday. Please go over the drill with your students first thing in the morning on Monday. Then the alarm will sound at 9 AM. Once you receive the all-clear signal you can go back to normal activities.

The drill has been sent to you via email.

Thanks

EARCOS Articles Wanted

Greetings from EARCOS!
We are rapidly approaching December 1, 2022, the deadline for submitting articles and art for the Winter Issue of the ET Journal.

Here are some of the features:

Curriculum Initiatives – New and exciting adoption efforts, and creative teacher ideas.

Green and Sustainable – Related to campus development and/or curriculum.

Service Learning Projects – Educational approach where a student learns theories in the classroom and at the same time volunteers with an agency (usually a non-profit or social service group).

Action Research Reports – Summaries of approved action research projects

Student Art – We will highlight MS art in Winter issue.

Student Writing – Original short stories, poetry, scholarly writing.

Reading Corner – Book review

For more information on how to contribute to the ET Journal click here and also please let Sandy or Mike know.

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