My assistant principal sent out an email on Tuesday, “Please remember parent teacher conferences are on Thursday and Friday.” As if any teacher could forget conferences were looming on the horizon. Now every school does conferences a little differently but one thing remains consistent, the slowly building anxiety of what to say to that one parent. You know the parent I’m talking about. Sure, when looking over your list of scheduled conferences you might have thirty conferences that you are looking forward to, but there is always that one parent to whom you just don’t know what to say.
Don’t let that parent become the focus of your conferences. If you do those thirty other conferences may end up worse than the one you’re dreading. In fact don’t allow any of the parents to become the focus of any of the conferences. Keep the focus of each conference on the same thing as in your classroom, the students.
It sounds simple but how easy is it for a conversation to shift away from the student, when they aren’t in the room. Conversations can lead to the content of a course, your instructional methods, a personality conflict between student and teacher, the home environment, or parenting styles. Don’t fall victim to a shifting conversation. Keep the first things first. Keep the focus on the student and their academic progress.
If the conversation starts to stray, do your best to bring it back to the student. Instructional methods can be debated, but a genuine concern for student learning is something we can all get behind. Don’t allow a conversation to dwell on what has been done; shift it towards what needs to be done to help the student reach their potential. Provide resources, make a plan, and most importantly make a partner.
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