How to Make the Most of Parent-Teacher Conferences in the Fall

Around this time of year, parent conferences occur. Often, this is your first opportunity to sit down with your child’s new teacher and individually discuss your child, hopefully in-depth. Here are a few tips to keep in mind to make the most of your first conference of the school year.

1. Remember that the teacher is still getting to know your child, whereas you know your child best! Remember to find the balance of hearing the teacher’s point of view and sharing your valuable information, too.

2. Write down a few specific questions prior to the meeting. Conferences tend to go quickly and there is usually a lot to discuss. You want to make sure that you will remember what to ask.

3. Take notes during the meeting. Often times you leave a conference and have a general feel for how it went but you may not recall specific information. Write down some key points to help you after the conference is over.

4. Give the teacher a chance. You go in with certain expectations based on your previous experiences, good or bad. Hear her out. Let her prove to you that she is working hard to get to know your child and meet his/her specific needs.

5. Make sure to set goals at the end of the meeting. You want to walk away from the conference feeling as though you have a common goal that has been set for your child. There should also be a plan for reaching that goal and a plan for how to communicate about it in the future. Will you email, have phone calls or wait until the next conference to check in on the goal? Be clear about what the goal is and how it is going to be measured to ensure your child is making progress. (See our tips on advocacy for details.)

Fall conferences are challenging for both parents and teachers. You want to get off on the right foot with your child’s teacher to make the best of your child’s school experience. Following these pointers can help you to do that. In the spring, conferences are quite different…we’ll have more on that later as the year progresses.

Matthew Mandelbaum and Jamie Cohen are parents and learning specialists and are the creators of Jumping Joey’s Number Line. Jumping Joey’s Number Line is an innovative, child-centered, multi-sensory arithmetic learning system for Pre-K through Elementary. Jumping Joey’s Number Line fosters enjoyable, engaging, effective and efficient mathematical experiences, where students are motivated and build a strong math foundation with long-term understanding. Students feel successful and excited about learning opportunities, and confident in their emerging abilities.