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Parent

Conference

Communication
Initial Email
From Me:
Dear Ms. Raven,
My name is Ellie Knox, I am Jay's second grade teacher. Jay has told me wonderful
things about you, and I am eager to meet you! I would love to meet with you
Thursday at 10:00 a.m. in my classroom for a conference. I have some concerns
about Jay's classroom behavior, and I would like to discuss these with you. I look
forward to meeting with you soon. Please let me know if this time is a time that
works for you.
Sincerely,
Ellie Knox

From Ms. Raven:
Ms. Knox,
I will have to rearrange my schedule but I will be in your room on Thursday at 10:00
to meet with you about Jay.
Thank you,
Ms. Raven

Follow up Email
From Me:
Dear Ms. Raven,
Thank you again for taking the time out of your busy schedule to meet with me today. I
really appreciate your willingness to come and discuss how we can help Jay together. I
will begin incorporating the behavior chart and reward system this week. I will send the
new chart with more room for notes home with Jay today. Please look for an email at the
end of next week that shares the progress of the behavior monitoring. Thank you again,
and I look forward to meeting with you in a month to discuss Jay's progress.
Sincerely,
Ellie Knox












Agenda and Resources


Agenda

Greeting and walk to room
Discuss positives in Jays behavior and
show shark work
Discuss concerns
Present plan:
Move seat
Behavior monitoring
Positive reinforcement
Break tickets

Ask for suggestions
Wrap up and compliment





Resources

1 minute
2 minutes
3 minutes
4 minutes

1 minute
2 minutes

Behavior Management Chart


Behavior Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday


Stays in
Seat
Follows
Directions
Pays
Attention
Keeps
Hands to
Self
Respects
Others

Friday

JKL JKL

JKL

JKL JKL

JKL JKL

JKL

JKL JKL

JKL JKL

JKL

JKL JKL

JKL JKL

JKL

JKL JKL

JKL JKL

JKL

JKL JKL

Monday: ______________________
Teacher Signature

______________________
Parent Signature

Tuesday: ______________________
Teacher Signature

______________________
Parent Signature

Wednesday: ______________________
Teacher Signature

______________________
Parent Signature

Thursday: ______________________
Teacher Signature

______________________
Parent Signature

Friday: ______________________
Teacher Signature

______________________
Parent Signature

Notes from the week:

Goal:____________________________
Reward: ____________________________

What I Did:
_____________

What I Did:
_____________

What I Did:
_____________

What I Did:
_____________

_____________

_____________

_____________

_____________

_____________

_____________

_____________

_____________

_____________

_____________

_____________

_____________

My Reward Choices:


Read a book of choice

iPad

Sit with Ms. Knox at lunch

I Need a Break Ticket













































Feedback

Reflection

This was a very helpful simulation. It helped prepare me for an actual parent

teacher conference in the future. I learned how to prepare resources, create an


agenda, and collaborate with family members to help a student. This taught me how
to involve a parent in their childs learning, and I now know how to include them
more than I did before. Students do not come to the classroom and leave behind
their home lives. Factors outside of the classroom impact the student in all areas. If
something is happening at home, the student will probably act out in class either
cognitively, emotionally, socially, or physically. Children internalize these issues and
act out of them. The teacher should stay informed to see how to best help the
student. Conferences allow a teacher to meet with the parents, which provides
collaboration between the two major influences in a students life.

Parent teacher communication is vital. Teachers need to communicate with

their students' families in the beginning before a conference is even necessary to


connect with them and establish a relationship. As teachers do this, they can begin
to understand a familys culture. Teachers must know what a students home life is
like, so they can help them in a classroom. For example, this student now is living in
a single parent home and is being cared for by his brother until bedtime. This is a
change in family culture, and I believe the teacher should know this. Knowing this
helps a teacher know how to help her student. Teachers must also be aware of the
diverse cultures. By communicating with the students families, the teacher can
understand the family traditions and know how to incorporate these in the
classroom or address them.

Teachers must involve parents in the school. Regardless of the school or

families, parents enjoy feeling needed. A teacher should communicate the ways that
she needs the family members. This could be for career day or even asking them to
come and read to the class. Teachers should communicate her desire for
collaboration and partnership with the families, and they will in turn collaborate as
well. This could be a challenge in some schools, but the teacher needs to
communicate even small ways to involve the parents.

Not only are parents needed in the school, but they are needed at home to

further the teaching and learning. A teacher must communicate with parents her
expectations and need for them to support their children. When I was talking with
my parent, she told me that it would have been beneficial to include ways for her to
help at home. I did not realize this was as important as it was. Parents want their
child to succeed, so they usually will be willing to help. The teacher needs to provide
ways for the parents to help at home. These can include behavior strategies,
academic strategies, or even social strategies. If the parent and teacher can
collaborate, the student will experience greater success.

The process of parent conferences is very important. Teachers should plan in

advance and prepare resources for the meetings. There should be an invitation that
explains what the purpose of this conference is for the parent. The teacher needs an
agenda and have specific topics she wants to address. During the conference, the
teacher should stay with her agenda but respond and listen to the parents concerns
as well. If collaboration is key, then the teacher must be willing to collaborate with
the parents. She should be positive but also realistic and share areas of

improvement. After the conference, a teacher should send a thank you email and
remind the parent what they discussed. This will provide closure and help the
parent remember what they discussed.

After I discussed with my parent, I reflected on my feedback and thought

about what I would do differently. She explained to me that I should have something
for her to have ay home, because she was willing to help. I should have created a
resource for her to use at home that will enable her. She wanted to know ways at
home to help with my plan. I had not thought much about this, and I understand that
it is important to include next time. If I want to collaborate with the parents, then I
need to create ways for them to get involved in their students learning. She also told
me to have specific documentation of events. Due to this, I would have used the data
given to us. I did not use it when I did my conference, but I would use it if I could
have changed what I did. She told me this was important for the parent to see the
different events and different incidences. This was my main feedback, and she told
me otherwise that she thought I was prepared for a conference.

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