learning resources

Parent Teacher Conferences

Parent teacher conferences provide families the opportunity to have a focused conversation on their student’s social and academic growth.  It is a wonderful way for parents to see samples of work, learn about classroom activities, and discuss curriculum.  Most teachers spend time preparing to go over assessments and goals for the students.  Parents want to learn valuable information about their kids.  At the same time, it is a wonderful way for teachers to learn important information about their students.  How can you make the most of parent teacher conferences?  Here are some simple steps that will help you conduct a productive conference.

Be prepared – While you can share a lot of important information during a casual talk, when you come prepared to discuss specific goals and milestones, then you can learn many new things.  For parent teacher conferences I would create a brief outline for each session.  I would fill this out prior to the meeting.  For each student, I would note strengths and areas of growth, write assessment scores, and things to work on at home.

Have visuals – Have student work readily available.  When discussing writing, maybe show student samples and benchmark papers so families know what the expectations.  Save some special projects and have the students share what they have been doing.

Watch the clock – Stay on schedule.  You might be meeting with ten families, and just like at the doctor’s office once you start running behind it is difficult to catch up.  If must reschedule a conference to stay on schedule, do it.

Include the student -I encourage students to participate in their conferences.  After all, the conference is focused on their learning needs.  There may be times that the students need to step aside so I can speak privately with the parents.

Leave time for questions – Allow parents and students time to ask questions.  Families may have questions about assessments, routines, homework and even behavioral issues.  As a teacher, take time to listen.  You may have the answers right then, or you may have to let the families know that you will get back to them.

Parent teacher conferences are a great time to connect and build a positive relationships with students and their families.  Enjoy!

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Test Prep for your Classroom

Test prep is a necessary part of classroom instruction.  One of our main goals as teachers is to prepare students for testing.  Whether you are regularly conducting informal assessments or getting ready for that big yearly standardized test, you are trying to gain as much information about your students as possible to monitor their social and academic growth through out the year.  There are many different resources designed to help with test prep.  Here is a list of several resources that may help give you ideas on how to incorporate test prep into your routine.

• Make it fun – There is always value in having students complete exercises that mimic the testing format; however, there are other activities that can be beneficial as well.  There are a variety of test prep games designed to target specific content areas such as science, math, and language arts.
• Find a test prep resource guide and make it work for you and your students.   Maybe you want to use an activity or practice exercise weekly or several times a month in the beginning.  You may want to follow the format of the book.  Some books suggest doing a short daily exercise.
• Approach standardized testing with confidence.  When you make time for test prep over the course of the year, then your students are prepared.

Testing is an important part of education.  Assessments should guide instruction and students should go into any testing situation prepared.  You may be spending only a small amount of your instruction on these practice activities, but chances are that your ongoing formal and informal assessments are helping prepare students for test day.  How do you choose which resources you need to help your students prepare?  Think about your teaching style and what activities would best meet your students needs.