Ask the Expert; Parent-teacher conferences 101

Welcome back. It's that time of year again for parent-teacher conferences, and a lot of us parents have questions, right? Judy Cohen is here from Lakeside Educational Services to answer some of the questions that you submitted. Thank you so much for being here. I love talking about parent-teacher conferences. In fact, some teachers are calling it a parent-teacher-child conference. So you and I were just talking because I said my sons, we just did a video call. He was doing great. We moved on. My daughter, I'm like, oh, no, no, no, you're coming with me. I want you to hear what the teacher has to say. So let's talk about that. The greatest amount of questions that parents sent to me all talked about, should I take my child to the parent-teacher conference? If your child is fifth grade or up, my definite opinion is absolutely. And this is more than just sitting there, he's not doing well or she's doing great. It is about teaching your child, number one, how to talk to an adult, how not to look at a phone, not to scroll, give eye contact, talk slowly and loudly and articulate how they feel. Those teachers might learn a whole lot because don't forget this teacher is responsible for 25 other children and she might not know or he might not know. Your child might learn a lot about what he is or she is missing and guess who wins in this? The parent. The parent hear both sides so absolutely but on the flip side of that a lot of questions came in how do i prepare my child to go yeah there are some teachers that are definitely preparing kids they actually make up a google form and your child fills it out if that's not the case then as a parent you role play you write up the questions or your child writes up the questions that they want to ask the teacher and that child becomes much more confident and you know what really is is critical here is the relationship between your child and the teacher oh definitely that is a big plus definitely and within that also i feel like we should also talk about beyond the grades too because i feel like a child's behavior makes a difference the kid's character so you want to ask questions about that as well you want to know and i had a teacher send me questions about little ones but this goes across all levels. Is your child kind? How does my child react to disappointment, challenges, frustration? What does my child do when they don't get that A or they don't do well on a test? Is my child respectful to you? When you ask my child a question, are they responding to you or do they ignore you? And that happens a lot with kids. So it's a matter of respect and those are definite questions parents should ask and speaking of questions let's take a look at some of the other questions that were submitted to you um okay one parent asks is it okay to bring we're talking about food we're talking about pets we're talking about all different things all right so break down some of these questions pets no i don't care if you live across the street from the school no pets if you have a little one at home if you can find somebody to watch the little one rather than bring that child to the conference because it typically is a distraction find a babysitter food no for food find out if the teacher drinks coffee or iced tea or lemonade but stay away from food because you never know or candy oh my goodness a little bit of sugar goes a long way yeah um i want to talk about some of the questions too sometimes you feel like you know the five or ten minutes that you have allotted you're not getting all of your questions answered or maybe you want to follow up what should we do next biggest point of advice for parents if you have a question for your child's teacher do not let it go to parent teacher conference it's the same thing if you have a toothache are you going to wait until your six month checkup of course not you're going to call your dentist if you have a concern or your child is struggling you make an appointment to see that teacher now not later so that you get five to 15 minutes. By the time you sit down, it's time to leave. And another big point of this is time reference. So you know that there are parents standing in back of you waiting, which is unnerving for some people. Make an appointment with the teacher and the principal if you have to, or do a Zoom conference that is convenient to both of you. So you get your questions answered. And it seems like some of these parents who submitted questions obviously wanted to take some notes. Yes. All right. You had some questions about recording and note-taking. Absolutely. I think of a parent-teacher conference as a business meeting. You wouldn't walk into a business meeting unprepared. Parents need to come in with specific questions, bring a notebook. And if you're going to record the conversation, please tell the teacher you're recording. She may want to record it too. So yes, all of the above. This is a business meeting because it talks about the success of your child. Yeah. And also, let's talk a little bit about paperwork, tests, homework, like being able to have examples of your child's work too. Many kids do not bring what they are working on in school home until the end of the month. You have every right to say to the classroom teacher, I want to see my child's writing samples. I want to see that written language notebook. I want to see their social studies notebook because kids are being told, no, you can't take at home. So yes, ask for it. I can guarantee you teachers are truly prepared for these conferences. Parents, you need to be prepared as well. Is there anything that they want of us when we're going into it? I think they want to know what's your child like at home when they are doing homework. How much help is your child requiring? Are they crying? Are they screaming? Are they whipping through it? You have every right as a parent to say to your child, I'd like to see that homework. you're not going to do it for them but you have every right to review it and say number two isn't correct you better review it and then before we go just also share a little bit about how critical this is during this time of year because now is the time that you can perhaps make up the work make some changes or kind of get back on track before the grades do come out well and that goes back to not letting this go don't wait until the first report card comes out talk to the teacher now if your child is struggling with tests it could be the way they study it could be the way they take notes don't wait until the parent conference talk to teachers now yeah and i was going to say mine were really really helpful because i was able to once again bring my daughter have these conversations absolutely don't be afraid to bring your child with you yeah it's their life it's their academic progress it's important they be a part of it and they were emboldened to also share what they thought they could do to you know do better or maybe study better like and they may tell a teacher you know there are kids in back of me that are really bothering me she may not even be aware of this so it's critical yeah julie thank you so much good luck more real milwaukee after the break yeah that was one of the things too my daughter was like hey