Today, during parent-teacher conferences, I noticed the different approaches parents take when conferencing with the teacher about their child. Some parents sat and waited for my mentor to start speaking about their child, while others got straight to the point. Some parents were blaming my mentor for giving their child bad grades, while others agreed completely with what my mentor's reasoning was. Some parents were taking the blame for the way their child was performing academically, while others were essentially blaming the teacher for how their child performs. Many parents were concerned with their child's behavior, as well as, their academic performance. Other parents only cared about behavior. Overall, we had 80% of the parents show up, which was great compared to the amount that showed up at the open house. This showed that the parents were genuinely concerned with how their child was doing at school.
It's important to note how my mentor reacted to the different approaches that parents took. My mentor tried to keep the same positive attitude with all parents, regardless of their tone of voice. This was very professional of her and showed that she respected everyone's opinion equally. She remained calm while discussing failing grades with some parents, just as she did while discussing A's with other parents. I can understand that all parents have a different way of dealing with issues that their child may have. I can also understand that it's so important to provide evidence for student performance so that parents can see why their child may be failing. Most of the parents were able to understand the failing grade after seeing documentation. This made them act a lot calmer as they continued the conference. Overall, this is a case of understanding parent's feelings about their child's performance and reacting to those feelings in a professional way.
I think this is a good reflection on how it is important to keep parents informed periodically throughout a semester, as opposed to just as parent teacher conferences. As you note, those who already knew what was going on with their child were less confrontational and more understanding. I think it is also important to consider ways of documenting as much student information as possible during the course of a semester (for example, with a record-keeping tool like the student "smartness" chart which allows for the capturing of a number of different dimensions of student thinking and processes in the classroom). Sharing this kind of information periodically with the parents will no doubt help them to feel more involved in their child's education.
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