-Ask about strength and weakness
- Ask if they have noticed anything concerning academically, socially, or behaviorally.
-If not provided, ask about standardized test scores, what the cut score is for the current year, and what review of these scores indicates for the teacher/teaching team.
- Ask if your child is doing grade level assignments? If above grade level what enrichment/differentiation they are being provided.
- Inform them about any particular interest or problems. Ex: Larla loves science and is looking forward to exploring it more this year. Can you tell me about what topics or special things will be occurring this year?
- Close by asking how you can help support you child outside of school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you see as his weaknesses?
What would you like him to work on?
Who does he do well sitting next to?
How is he doing compared to the rest of the class?

Teachers should not be naming kids. I would ask is there anything we can do to work with them at home. Any suggestions for books, textbooks, videos, etc.

What can we do to support you to improve things.

It's totally fine for a teacher to say "He used to sit next to Alex and they both had a hard time paying attention but now he sits next to Dylan and they work very nicely together and encourage each other."

We are told we should NOT mention other students by name, and I won’t do it anyway. Parents have asked, and I simply state I won’t / can’t mention other students.

- teacher

-

yeahhhh, one person might think it's perfectly fine to name other students if it's not necessarily in the negative, but I'm not going to do that. I can give you all the information you want about YOUR kid, but I'm not mentioning any other names. In the example scenario, I could convey that by saying that your child previously sat with one student but they were distractions to each other, so I moved the seats and now your child sits next to a classmate that's a much better fit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you see as his weaknesses?
What would you like him to work on?
Who does he do well sitting next to?
How is he doing compared to the rest of the class?

Teachers should not be naming kids. I would ask is there anything we can do to work with them at home. Any suggestions for books, textbooks, videos, etc.

What can we do to support you to improve things.

It's totally fine for a teacher to say "He used to sit next to Alex and they both had a hard time paying attention but now he sits next to Dylan and they work very nicely together and encourage each other."

We are told we should NOT mention other students by name, and I won’t do it anyway. Parents have asked, and I simply state I won’t / can’t mention other students.

- teacher

-

I have had success with coming up with 2-3 specific questions for teachers before the conference and emailing it the day before. This gives them a chance to prepare to address those issues and makes it less awkward to ask questions that can feel hard to ask.

I also often get more info from teachers if I share info about my kid with them that I think will be useful to them. So like telling them "hey Larlo's best neighborhood friend recently moved away and it's been a big deal at home just a heads up" is more likely to yield info from the teacher about his behavior or social experience because it provides context that will help the teacher better understand what's going on. Or on the academic said letting her know that math homework has been like pulling teeth and he has said he thinks he's "bad at math" or doesn't like it and you are trying to help build his confidence. Teachers really appreciate insight like this that can help them better understand your kid and that can lead to better communication overall.

I've found if I don't do these things most teachers will just go through assessment data and offer pretty bland feedback that could be about almost any kid. Which is okay -- if there was a real problem I think they'd say. But if there is stuff I'm worried about these strategies have helped me get better info from teachers regarding how those issues are playing out in the classroom.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you see as his weaknesses?
What would you like him to work on?
Who does he do well sitting next to?
How is he doing compared to the rest of the class?

Teachers should not be naming kids. I would ask is there anything we can do to work with them at home. Any suggestions for books, textbooks, videos, etc.

What can we do to support you to improve things.

It's totally fine for a teacher to say "He used to sit next to Alex and they both had a hard time paying attention but now he sits next to Dylan and they work very nicely together and encourage each other."

Anonymous wrote:What do you see as his weaknesses?
What would you like him to work on?
Who does he do well sitting next to?
How is he doing compared to the rest of the class?

Teachers should not be naming kids.

I would ask is there anything we can do to work with them at home. Any suggestions for books, textbooks, videos, etc.

What can we do to support you to improve things.

What do you see as his weaknesses?
What would you like him to work on?
Who does he do well sitting next to?
How is he doing compared to the rest of the class?

Any tips to get our elementary school teachers to divulge more about our kid during parent/teacher conferences other than, "Your kid is doing great."?