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How To Have A Successful Parent / Teacher Conference

Parent Participation

All students need to improve in some way and this is the time to introduce this. An effective way to get parents to understand the shortcomings of their child is to get them to admit it and tell you about it. Pose some questions, such as, "Does Joe have chores to do at home?" Maybe Joe is irresponsible in the classroom and has no responsibility at home. This contributes to the lack of responsibility and you can get them to admit that it might be a good idea to give him "jobs" to do at home. "Do you find Joe to be polite to his brothers and sisters?" "To parents?" They might begin to tell you that he gives them a hard time at home and has an attitude. You can sympathize and begin to contribute to the conversation and explain his lack of courtesy to others in school. Together you can begin to work on respect and you can offer some ideas to use at home. Maybe his impolite words can be rephrased when he "forgets". Modeling is an essential.

The importance of parents being able to share is that they actually begin to see where their child needs help without you saying it. Parents will begin to see you as the professional and look to you for guidance. As the professional they will look to you for suggestions. You are now in control of the meeting. To be in control, means that you can use your expertise to assist parents in helping their child. You can explain the difficulty their child is having without the parents feeling threatened. Parent participation has now become strength for you.

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