What about phone calls? Do we start with a positive on the phone as well before we get involved with misbehavior problems? How often do you get parental calls or emails?
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Parent Contact
In regard to parent contact, I will start off with addressing parent teacher conferences until I have a further prompt. Parent teacher conferences seem very intimidating to me at this point in my career. Your there with 15 minutes to tell them everything about their child both what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong. Except with the wrong, it seems so hard to sit there and tell them about their "innocent child" that they are doing something wrong. Do you find it is easier to have parent teacher conferences with the child present? How did you feel when you first had to do them? Did you feel that it was not enough time?
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Sorry, I'm just getting caught up on this.
ReplyDeleteP/T Conferences are intimidating, even to veteran teachers. Let's talk face-to-face specifically about difficult messages you feel need to be delivered at conferences and how these could be framed for parents. A key here is to present your observations and concerns, but frame them in a way that will minimize parents' "gut reaction" of being defensive or taking their misbehavior personally. It all takes practice and I'd love to help you role play this in advance, or deliver the difficult messages on behalf of our team wherever you don't feel comfortable.
I always feel like conferences are never enough time...but that's why being in constant contact with parents by email/phone call throughout the year is helpful.
I always leave it up to parents if they want to bring their child or not. Sometimes parents of 5th/6th graders would rather not have their child there, especially if they have concerns they want to share with you privately. When students are there, I strive to ride the fine line between holding them accountable in front of their parents, and shaming them into admitting that some days they're a pain in the butt who makes bad choices. (Does that make sense?) It's tough. I strongly suggest you look through the parent surveys that we sent home...the ones returned to me and those returned to Brent for students we will see...as they will help you frame your very brief chunks of time. I try hard to limit conversations to 5 min math, 5 min reading, 5 min writing/behavior/concerns.
I get parent emails daily and phone calls maybe weekly. I try to structure phone calls just like emails...starting positive (even if it's just "I'm really thankful to have your kiddo in class this year!") and then transition in to any concerns. Using phrases like "What can we do together to support your child" often work well for me. I always want parents to see me as a member of their team, not someone who knows more/better than they do.
My other thought related to conferences/parent communication is that it's critical to listen more than you talk. Parents feel good about conferences if they feel like any questions or concerns they have have been addressed. They can always take grade reports with them, consult PowerSchool or Discovery Reports after the fact, email/call later for more information. Use this time to problem solve and be part of their child's support system instead of using it as a time to spew information. (This is SO hard for me to remember!)
:)