Parent-Teacher Conferences

Monday was my first parent-teacher conference night in this semester’s placement. Since it was an ISE day, parents were asked to schedule conferences throughout the afternoon and early evening hours. While all but a few of my twenty-two parents signed up, not all of them showed. As the other teachers predicted, the parents/families I was most interested in speaking with and meeting did not show up, even if they asked for a time-slot. While I cannot really say I was surprised, (that trend has been common throughout my placements) I was still hoping for a break in tradition.

Meeting the parents that did attend was a great experience, and I would not trade it for anything. Doing so really gave perspective into the students’ personalities, and sometimes tendencies. Not only did it provide a way for me to get to know the students better, it also gave me a chance to hear things from the students in the way they express them at home. For example, when directing comments like, “I will not repeat these directions again” to inattentive students, the attentive ones tend to hear it instead. Also, I figured out that those attentive students tend to pay more attention to the corrective comments than the ones those comments are directed toward. While I previously felt it was more considerate to make general comments than to point certain students out, I have now learned that may not always be the best way to handle certain situations. Along those same lines, attentive students need to feel certain they can ask for help when they need it without reprimand.

One of the biggest things I took home with me that night, was the reflection of how I interact with a certain student. After speaking with this student’s father during the conference, I wondered if I had been handling his behaviors correctly in the classroom. While I feel his disruptions in the classroom cannot be tolerated as they are, I also feel I may be too hard on him at times. With the child having a past I was not aware of, having him see me as “just another adult always on his back” is the last thing I want. This gives me a goal for the rest of the semester: Reach out to this child, while also decreasing his classroom disruptions. This also gave me a goal for the rest of my career: Get to know my students (especially those causing disruptions) better before allowing myself to get this far into the school year.