Reflection on Parent Teacher Conference for Bragaw Elementary School

            On Thursday, November 29, 2012, the Newark Public School District held district wide parent-teacher conferences.  The purpose of the parent-teacher conferences is to offer parents an opportunity to meet with their child’s teacher.  There are a total of 34 kindergarten students at Bragaw.  The 34 students are divided between two classes; Ms. Jones and Mr. Smith.  Of the 34 students, 20 parents/guardians attended the parent-teacher conference. 

Due to illness, Mr. Smith was absent.  I observed Ms Jones conduct parent-teacher conferences with all the kindergarten parents.  Prior to the parent-teacher conference, folders were prepared for each student.  The folder contained student work, a copy of the student’s report card and explanation of grades.  This packet of information was given to each parent.  Each parent conference began with Ms. Jones offering warm feedback to the parents about their child.  Ms. Jones shared the child’s strengths, their areas of weakness, and suggestions for parents to help support their child academically.  Parents who attended the parent-teacher conference were receptive to the feedback from Ms. Jones and often agreed with Ms. Jones observations.  In between conferences, I asked Ms. Jones about delivering difficult information about a student’s progress or the lack of progress to parents.  Ms. Jones indicated that during the initial in person meeting, she does not bombard parents with a barrage of cool/negative feed back about their child.  Instead, Ms. Jones stated that she makes a habitat of following the parents lead regarding their child especially with respect to behavioral challenges.  During the parent-teacher conference, I observed Ms. Jones following the parents lead and then offering suggestions to the parent on how to support their child’s learning at home and in school.  Ms. Jones always closed by explaining that she and the other co-teachers are part of a team whose primary goal is to support the academic success of their child.

Observing parent-teacher conferences this year had greater meaning as I know the students being discussed intimately.  Parents who attended the conferences genuinely want to support their child but many parents do not know how and/or feel ill equipped to support their child academically.  One parent-teacher conference I observed involved the parent of the child discussed in my child study.  This parent is a young parent who appears to been genuinely overwhelmed and frustrated by parenting her daughter and the challenges of life.  Due to this frustration, the parent has been taking it out on her daughter.  During the parent-teacher conference, which not only included Ms. Jones and I but also the school guidance counselor, Mr. Meredith, we worked as a team to explain to the mother that we are here to support her and her daughter academically.  Mr. Meredith explained that her daughter has been referred to the Intervention and Referral Support team (I&RS) to assist in getting her daughter additional academic support.  Since I am working with the child one-on-one daily, Ms. Jones offered me an opportunity to be involved in the parent conference by explaining the work I had been doing with her daily.  I explained that 4 times a week, I work with her daughter one-on-one on indentifying the letters and sounds of the alphabet. I explained to the mother that her daughter is an eager learning and that she is making progress. I reminded the mother how the small change in calling her daughter by her full name has assisted her daughter in learning all the letters in her name and being able to write her name without the assistance of her name card.  I thanked her mother for helping me with her daughter and encouraged her to keep working with her daughter.  I concluded by  emphasizing the importance of having her intimately involved in the process of supporting her daughter academically stating that she is her daughter’s first teacher and that I (along with Ms. Jones and Mr. Meredith) are there to support and help.  The mother was receptive to the help and asked if I would make additional flash cards for her daughter to take home.  I left this parent/teacher conference optimistic but realistic that progress for this student will be slow.

By observing Ms. Jones interact with parents, I became more keenly aware of how crucial it is to have parental support and to empower parents to be a part of the process of educating their child.  Parents are the first teachers and the foundation for academic success for their child.  As an emerging teacher I intend to incorporate the practice of parental empowerment, parental engagement and the habit of providing truthful but appropriate feedback to parents by using the “sandwich method,” (warm-cool-warm) feedback.  By incorporating these three practices, I am confident that I will be able to effectively and honestly communicate the academic progress of my students.