Parents: Hopefully, your child’s teachers have shared their plan for making up any learning deficiencies that may have occurred during the pandemic. Soon you should be receiving information about upcoming Parent/Teacher Conferences. You must attend to find out some specific information from the teacher. You need to know exactly where your child is academically after the many disruptions that may have occurred to their learning since March 2020.
While you participate in a conference, be sure to keep the focus on your child and make it clear to teachers that you want to work with them to help your child succeed.
You should expect the teacher to give you the answer to these questions:
1. Is my child performing at, above, or below the expected grade level in all of his or her classes?
2. Does my child need help in any subject? What help will be given? How can we help at home?
3. When will my child take standardized tests to evaluate his or her progress in school?
4. How would you describe my child’s work habits? Does he or she regularly complete homework and classwork?
5. What goals are appropriate for my child this year?
6. How well does my child get along with their classmates and teachers?
7. Are there any discipline problems? How can they be improved or eliminated?
8. Can we look over some of my child’s work together? I would like to see where my child needs improvements or excels.
Before the conference you should definitely talk to your child. You need to hear first-hand exactly what he or she thinks about how the school year is going so far. Your child might give you specific issues that should be discussed with the teacher. Another key step is to make sure that you have looked over your child’s work, the quality of the work should not be a surprise to you. And you certainly should be aware of whether your child’s grades have improved, gone down or remained the same since last year. As part of your conference preparation, jot down anything that you want to talk over with the teacher from too much homework being assigned to your child’s difficulties with story problems. Try to limit your list to items that are vital to your child’s success in school.
At the end of the conference be sure that you and the teacher sum up together any decisions that have been made about your child. Don’t forget to thank teachers for all the help that they are giving your child. If necessary, you can schedule an additional conference.
Your job is not done when the conference ends. Don’t just forget about the conference once it is over. Be sure to discuss it with your child’s other parent if he or she was not able to attend. And talk about the conference with your child. Begin by pointing out all the strengths brought out by the teacher. Then talk about the suggestions which were made for improvement. Agree with your child on a plan of action to improve any problem areas. Did the teacher suggest that your child needs a better study schedule? Did you agree to find a tutor to help your child in certain areas. Start to carry out these plans.
Computer Work vs Paperwork
Question: During the Pandemic almost all of our children’s work was done on the computer. This year almost all assignments are still being done on the computer. Are there any good arguments for them to do some of their work on paper? – Paperless
Answer: We are definitely in the digital era. Here are a few arguments for doing work on paper rather than computers:
• Parents are more likely to help their children with homework that is done on paper.
• Universities are finding out that students who write their class notes by hand retain the information better than students who take notes on their computers. This is probably true for students at all levels.
• Students universally admit that the biggest challenge of working online is the temptation to look at Facebook updates, Instagram or photos.
• Also, students type at very different speeds. So, writing a timed essay may put slower typists at a disadvantage.