Thursday, October 24, 2013

Parent-Teacher Conferences - I added a *FREEBIE*



Today I had my weekly meeting with my principal, and something she asked caught me a little off-guard. "What are you doing to prepare for your parent conferences?"

I couldn't believe that after getting approved to stretch it to 4 days rather than 2, emailing, scheduling, rescheduling, and confirming, I forgot about the most important part - PREPARING!

I am reminded all of the time at this lovely school that I have been told what to do so much and to such an extent at all of my previous schools that sometimes things like PREPARE FOR A CONFERENCE slip my mind because no one has been down my back about the date and exactly which test scores to harp on.

It feels good though. All of it. I love that I have this freedom to do exactly what I believe is best at all times throughout the day, week, and school year.

In order to prepare for my conferences, I first thought about what I have ALREADY been doing since August to get myself ready. For those of you who are reading this as a first year teacher, please be reminded that everything you do, everyday is preparing you for whenever you might have to speak to a parent. If you are a good teacher (which I am sure you are!), you are taking anecdotal notes, tracking progress, conferencing with students, collecting work, and of course, speaking with parents of the students who need that extra attention and support.  So, after my initial shock of I HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING, I remembered that I have been doing something. I have actually been doing A LOT.

With that being said, I do still think it is important to have a structure planned out for how you want the conference to go, a place to keep notes about what you want to say, and a place for notes that you want to keep for AFTER the conference.

In my Teachers Pay Teachers store (click here), I added a FREEBIE! A handy-dandy form that will help guide you in the planning of your conference and a place to take notes during!

HAPPY LEARNING :)

4 comments:

  1. I really like the conferencing form that you put together...I saved it for next year!

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    1. Julia said...
      Awesome!! It really helps to structure the time with parents! I also have a free writers workshop lesson available. Not sure if you use Lucy calkins' model, but if you do, check it out :)

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