Innovative Tips for Successful Parent-Teacher Conferences

Vickywecksolutions is pleased to present these professional development tips shared by author and educator Jim Gomes.

Have a Student Secretary for Parent-Teacher Conferences*

Select a volunteer from one of your classes to act as your secretary during parent-teacher conferences. Thank the student for volunteering. Familiarize the student with both the benefits and the secretary’s role as outlined below.

Benefits:

• The student secretary accumulates valuable volunteer hours.
• The student also gains experience dealing with adults.
• This illustrates to parents that teachers see their students as valuable by empowering them and by providing growth opportunities.
• It sets a professional tone for the meeting.
• It helps the parent-teacher conference process run much more smoothly.
• It saves the teacher time.

The Secretary’s Role:

• Greet parents in a friendly manner.
• Set up appointment times if not prearranged.
• Distribute a welcome sheet (see Tip 87).
• Take down contact information of parents who arrived but were unable to stay.
• Keep the teacher on schedule.

There may be no better time to make a good impression on parents than on this night. Having a student secretary can help you make the most of it.


Provide a Welcome Sheet for Parent-Teacher Conferences

After welcoming parents, the student secretary should supply them with a welcome sheet that may contain:

• a warm, inviting title such as Welcome to Parent-Teacher Conferences;
• your name, subject, meeting room number, and conference time;
• an introductory paragraph that thanks parents for attending and lets them know you are looking forward to the opportunity of discussing their child’s progress with them;
• contact information such as phone number and extension (and/or professional e-mail address at your discretion), and times when you can be reached;
• times when extra help is available for any student who seeks to improve;
• information regarding tutoring programs that are available at your school—high achievers may wish to become peer tutors (see Tip 64);
• a MEMO section that provides information about policies or procedures you wish to highlight (e.g., frequency of major tests, the need for parental signatures and the meaning of the year-to-date mark), upcoming tests and assignments, and what students are currently studying; and
• a NOTES section where parents can write important information discussed during the conference.

A well-designed and informative welcome sheet demonstrates that you are organized, well prepared, and thoughtful. It also helps to set the tone for a professional encounter. As an added benefit, the welcome sheet is a huge time saver, cutting the length of many conferences in half.