Parent-teacher conferences begin this week and run through April 4.
In her book "The Essential Conversation: What Parents and Teachers Can Learn from Each Other," noted author and scholar Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot wrote: “Productive collaborations between family and school, therefore, will demand that parents and teachers recognize the critical importance of each other's participation in the life of the child. This mutuality of knowledge, understanding, and empathy comes not only with a recognition of the child as the central purpose for the collaboration but also with a recognition of the need to maintain roles and relationships with children that are comprehensive, dynamic, and differentiated.”
With collaboration in mind, I repeat a few suggestions for parent-teacher conferences offered in my column last fall:
- Take time to be prepared. Talk to your child before the conference. Ask what they like about school, what they don’t like, what work is easy, what is challenging, and whether there is anything they want their teacher to know. Write down your questions ahead of time to refer to them during the conference. If you have a major concern, it can be helpful to let the teacher know ahead of time.
- Assume good intent and maintain mutual trust and respect. Good communication begins with listening and asking questions. Both teachers and parents care deeply about children. We recognize that as parents, things related to our children can lead to strong emotions. And as teachers, we give much of ourselves to our work with children, also leading to strong feelings.
- Remember that we bring different perspectives. Parents and teachers see children in different settings. How a child functions in a large group or responds to the demands of school may be different than how a child acts at home. Parents are advocates for their child. Teachers must be advocates for all the children in a classroom.
- Summarize: At the end of your conference, try to summarize what you heard. Ideally, you should leave with a better understanding of key areas for your child's continued learning and development.
We look forward to having the opportunity to meet with you and talk about your child’s learning and development.
Rick Rogers
rrogers@lexingtonma.org
P.S. On Next Year: The spring conference is not intended for a dicussion of next year's class placement. Any parent input on placement must come in writing to the principal. A letter outlining this process with a parent input form will be sent out on Monday, April 1st and will be due April 12.
