Questions to ask during parent teacher conferences: 4 Questions to Ask During A Parent-Teacher Conference

Опубликовано: September 2, 2023 в 12:10 pm

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4 Questions to Ask During A Parent-Teacher Conference

Parent-teacher nights are coming up soon, and we recommend that parents start thinking about any specific questions they’d like to ask their child’s teacher. Here are some tips to help you get started!

A lot of guides online will encourage questions like, “What is your teaching style?” However, we’d recommend focusing on more specific questions that relate to your individual student. If you’re attending a parent-teacher night, the teacher will most likely give a short introduction and provide an overview of the daily classroom routine. As a result, general questions like “What is the daily schedule for students?” may be a bit redundant. Instead, we recommend asking questions that will help you gain insight into your child’s performance and behavior during class time.

1. “What are my child’s biggest challenges?” This is a good question to start with as it answers the main concern most parents want to know! Academic obstacles throughout the school year can cause quite the headache, and your child’s teacher will have the most direct experience working with them. We’ve seen some guides recommend questions like “What are my child’s strengths?” – but in all honesty, most parents already know the answer to this question! We recommend using parent-teacher night as an opportunity to ask the tough questions, as these will provide you with more insight into your child’s overall classroom experience.

2. “How can we make homework less stressful?” For most parents, homework is the main source of after-school stress. After all, your child’s homework assignments are the most direct connection you have to their classroom experience! Parents are sure to have their own insights that can be very valuable to bring up with their child’s teacher – ranging from organization concerns to time management. This is also a good opportunity to discuss any specific assignments or projects that were particularly overwhelming for your child. Their teacher will be able to provide critical feedback to help improve executive functioning skills at home!

3. “What can I do at home to help my child meet classroom behavior expectations?” One thing most parents don’t get to see is how their child acts during class time. With most students, the answer to this question shouldn’t be anything alarming. However, it’s still a good idea to ask their teacher if any particular concerns have been noted. Distraction issues, for example, are a common problem during class time – but they aren’t always apparent at home. Your child’s teacher may be able to provide a deeper insight into any concerns you may have, so this is a good time to ask!

4. “How do they get along with other students?” This question is an excellent one to keep in mind, as it asks about interpersonal skills – something that is often overlooked in an academic conference. Being able to work with others effectively is a crucial skill that is required for success both in the classroom and beyond. It’s important that your student feels comfortable engaging their classmates, so we highly recommend asking this question!

5 Questions to Ask in a Parent-Teacher Conference

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By Emma Singer

Published Sep 8, 2022

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“How was your day?” you ask. “Fine” or “good” or simply a blank stare is your kid’s response. Sound familiar? Then you’re probably champing at the bit for a parent-teacher conference—the quarterly information sharing ritual that gives parents a sense of what’s been going on…the good, the bad and the ugly. Alas, these tệte-à-tệtes are typically quite brief, so it’s wise to show up prepared. We spoke to Judy Stern, a school principal in Brooklyn with 15 years of teaching experience under her belt, to get her take on the most productive questions to ask.

1. In what moments have you seen my child thriving? Struggling?

This one is pretty straightforward, but it is helpful to know the areas in which your child naturally excels, as well as those that present a challenge. The beauty of this question is that it allows the teacher to touch on a wide range of strengths and weaknesses, from academic performance to classroom behavior. Indeed, Stern says that in her experience “slightly broader questions like this one tend to require a more thoughtful response from teachers. ”

2. Does my child seem happy playing with his/her peers?

A large part of the learning that takes place in elementary school is the social-emotional kind—and you most likely don’t get to see your kid’s social skills in action nearly as often as their teacher does. As such, “you’ll be in a much better position to promote your child’s healthy social-emotional growth at home if you mine the teacher for insight,” says Stern.

3. Does my child ask questions when they do not understand?

Per Stern, “young children sometimes struggle academically simply because they feel too shy or embarrassed to ask for help or even just basic clarification before they begin their work.” The kids who ask for extra guidance when they need it, however, are far less likely to fall behind. Find out how comfortable your kid feels asking questions, so you can help them practice this useful classroom skill if necessary.

4. How can I best support my child at home?

“When teachers and parents are working in tandem, everyone wins,” says Stern. That said, it’s not always easy for parents to determine how best to help, which is why it’s important to come right out and ask. (Hint: The answer will depend on your kid’s specific needs, and could range from anything from “set up a nightly reading routine” to “consider an outside tutor.”

5. How can I best support you?

Teachers also need as much support as they can get in order to keep the whole classroom operation running smoothly, but you won’t know exactly what they need (supplies, volunteer time, etc.) unless you ask. For this reason, Stern recommends ending the conference with this question. After all, both teachers and students are more likely to succeed when parents get involved—even if it just means sending in an extra roll of paper towels.

5 Important Questions to Ask at a Parent Meeting

October, 20 2015
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Very often, parent-teacher meetings don’t go quite the way they should. Most of the time, the needs of the school, the needs of the class, and other financial matters are discussed. The teacher can tell what grades the child gets, as well as make the parents of little rebels blush.

In order to direct the dialogue in the right direction, parents themselves must take the initiative.

The issue of socialization

The school should not only provide the child with education, gaining new knowledge, it also has a social function: here the child begins to communicate with a large number of new people and learns to live in society. How well the child is adapted to the new environment is a very important question.

Be sure to ask about how your child communicates with classmates, is there an unpleasant tendency to bullying in the classroom?

Social role in school can be reflected in all spheres of life. If a child experiences difficulties in a team, he may develop complexes, worsen learning.

Is the child happy at school?

Of course, this question sounds very abstract, but a good teacher will definitely pay attention to the child’s emotional state. Your kid spends most of the day at school, it is here that he gets new emotions, respectively, the school largely determines the mental state. A significant part of childhood and adolescent depression is caused precisely by problems at school.

Does the child try?

Don’t get too hung up on your child’s grades, you might miss a lot when doing this. The question of diligence is no less important. If you and the teacher notice that your child is putting in the effort in class but is still getting low grades, this approach to learning may not be right for them. In this case, you can try contacting a tutor.
There is a downside: the child does not try very hard, but gets good grades, often in the first grade with children who were very well prepared for school.

In this case, the child may get used to being lazy, and when more complex subjects begin that will be new to him, he will not be able to organize himself and force them to learn. It is very important to keep such a child interested in learning, not to let him get bored while he listens in the classroom, what he already knows. Talk about it with the teacher, he should suggest methods for solving the problem.

Does the child ask for help?

This issue should not be forgotten either. If the teacher tells you that the child turns to him when something is not clear, you can be calm. Otherwise, you need to pay more attention to the baby, teach him not to be shy to ask for help.

Tell the teacher more

Don’t be afraid to be intrusive, let the teacher know more about your child. You know the child’s personality best and can help the teacher to better interact with him.

Be careful of those teachers who say that everything is fine, who try to quickly end your dialogue and return to the discussion of school needs. Perhaps this teacher is inattentive to students, and you should think about another class.

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What you should definitely ask the teacher at the parent meeting

Fresh issue

WG-Week

Motherland

Soyuz

Fresh issue

Society

09/19/2021 09:00

Irina Ivoilova

Parent meetings begin at schools. What questions you should definitely ask the teacher, and what you should not ask if you do not want to spoil your relationship with him.

Kirill Kukhmar/TASS

So, the parents are going to the first meeting in their lives. What do they need to know about the teacher? First, go to the official website of the school. There will definitely be information about what kind of education the teacher has, what his teaching experience is and how he improved his qualifications. All this is important.

– You should not be embarrassed if the column “education” is “pedagogical school” or “pedagogical college”. It is very good if the teacher graduated from college first, and then from the university. Pay attention to work experience. It is desirable that the teacher had at least a short experience, – Larisa Nozhichkina, a child psychologist, an expert at the Department of Pedagogical Technologies of Continuous Education at Moscow State Pedagogical University, told RG.

She gave six tips to parents of first-graders:

1. At the meeting, the first thing we ask is: what should a first-grader be able to do? Most likely, the answer will be this: tie your shoelaces, recognize your things, be able to ask to go to the toilet, know the name and patronymic of the parents.

2. We ask the teacher what the schedule of classes will be: is there an after-school program at school, after which lesson is breakfast, how long is the break, will they be assigned homework, how much?

3. Now children come to school with very different levels of knowledge. One already fluently reads Pushkin, the other does not even know the letters. Ask the teacher: will there be an individual approach to the student? Feel free to ask: “My child can already read, how will you keep him busy in the lesson?” And be attentive to the answer: “I will take him to the library, what should he do with everyone”, “I will make him my assistant in the lesson”, “I will put him on the last desk and give you an assignment” …

4. At the first meeting, exchange phone numbers with the teacher and immediately agree on a convenient time to call. Some teachers work double shifts or stay with the children on aftercare. Do you think that 6-7 pm is the best time to disturb the teacher? Or maybe he just finished his work day?

5. Suppose a child has a disease. Should I report this to the teacher? “My opinion is yes. If a child needs some procedures during the school day, there is a need to often leave the classroom for a toilet or medical office, say, for an injection, it is necessary to agree with the teacher on a conventional sign so as not to distract the whole class each time “, – says Larisa Nozhichkina.

6. Exchange email addresses with the teacher and see how quickly the teacher can respond. It is not unusual for a teacher to answer you in a day or two. Unless, of course, we are talking about some urgent things. If a teacher asks you to follow their Instagram page, follow them.

“Experience shows that it is better for parents to maintain business relations with the teacher, to do without personal ones.