Reply to Talk to me about parent teacher conferences at the kindergarten stage

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[quote=Anonymous]Just had our child's first parent teacher conference this morning, and feeling rather underwhelmed. Ours was the first of the morning, so, I'm not sure if it was a combination of long back to back parent/teacher conference days or what, but, from the start, the tone was more or less unenthusiastic. It's a teaching team, so, I met with both teachers that share time with my child throughout the day--one in the morning, and one in the afternoon. The first teacher started by asking about my child's reporting on school and what they think. I shared that my child generally likes it, and what they report socially. The teacher then proceeded to share that they see a lot of babyish behaviors from my child, lack of attention, distracted, and joking around. My child is a July birthday, and is a young five. They then shifted to say that given that birth date, my child's behaviors were more in the realm of developmentally and age appropriate. I asked if they had suggestions for things to work on at home, and they said they didn't, that my child is where they are at, and we don't need to try and rush them or force them ahead.

Basically, it sounded like a lot of the kids in the class are leaning towards being six, (teachers noted only five kids between the shared classes have birthdays between June-August), and that my child is on the young end of the spectrum. My child also receives weekly speech services, and when I asked about that, both teachers expressed confusion about when my child is pulled out for services, or even which half of the day my child spends in their respective classes. This surprised me, and made me question how meaningful the feedback was that they were offering if they were not even confident about if he is with Teacher A in the morning or Teacher B. They mentioned nothing that my child does well, which, I'm not going to pretend like they are the shining star of the class, but, the overwhelming focus on negative things was unsettling.

Finally, I had a phone call with my child's speech therapist after the conference. The speech therapist's report was a 180 from the teachers'. The ST reported that they love working with my child in the group setting they see them in on a weekly basis, and that from their observations, my child is willing, engaged, attentive, and age appropriate. ST also noted that one of the classrooms is particularly chaotic, and that particular teacher can be rigid and have overly high expectations. My impression was that OT is not overly impressed with this teaching team.

Both Teacher A and Teacher B more or less had a burned out vibe to them, and I 10000% appreciate that teaching is a often thankless under-resourced overtaxed job, but, still. This is why it's called work, and they have to pay you to be there.

Not wanting to be a crazy kindergarten mom, but, want to advocate for my child as needed, and don't want my child to get the trickle down of negativity and develop a dislike for school. Is this beginning of the year growing pains, young five situation, or try to reach out more and advocate for my kid? Appreciate your helpful and constructive comments. [/quote]

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