Parent-teacher conferences can be a stressful time of year. While it’s exciting to get the opportunity to speak with families (and often much needed 🤪), it can often add another layer of responsibility to an already full plate.

The key to impactful and uplifting conferences is preparation. The beautiful thing is that at least half of this preparation can be done throughout the school year, instead of being packed all into a one-week or two-week time frame.

Take a look at tips 1-5 and see how seamlessly they can be integrated into what you’re already doing! Don’t miss out on #5. This is CRITICAL for building positive relationships with students AND their supporters at home!

1. Student Reflection

Conferences are a FANTASTIC opportunity to incorporate student reflection. Not only does this signal to students that you and their family are about to do a review of their progress, but it lets THEM be a part of it. And why shouldn’t they be?! It’s their learning after all.

Student reflection can be as simple or as complex as you’d like it to be. Sometimes it depends more how much time you have or the differing ability levels of your students.

A quick reflection example is a 3-2-1 reflection. It’s basically students identifying 3 of one thing, 2 of another, and 1 of the final thing. It is SUPER FLEXIBLE and can be used in literally ANY CLASSROOM at ANY GRADE LEVEL. I’ve linked my own 3-2-1 reflection freebie below. BONUS – it has some fun tips for sharing too.

A more in-depth reflection could be daily journaling. Incorporate a Reflection & Goal-Setting themed journal the week before and after conferences to REALLY help students focus their energy. You could even have them look over their grades or some of their graded work before utilizing the 30+ prompts and quotes included in the resource!

Whether it’s a quick 2-minute reflection using a reflective prompt, or a more in-depth activity where they’re analyzing their own grades or specific work, BOTH will help them understand themselves better as learners.

This understanding will carry through into the next semester, trimester, unit, etc. We want our kiddos to build their self-advocacy skills and independence. Self-reflection is a FABULOUS way to do just that!

2. Notify Families

Make sure you give parents/guardians a heads-up! Our district has all of our conferences scheduled already at the beginning of the year. If this is you, you might want to let parents/guardians know at the very first open house!

Worst-case scenario, they don’t use the information. Best-case scenario, they add it to their calendars. Everyone’s work schedules are different, but I know some people are scheduled out months in advance. So the early notice may be super helpful in garnering a higher attendance 🤷🏼‍♀️.

Send out a newsletter, email, or a note home. I recommend doing this at least two weeks ahead of time and then the week of too. Even better, mix up the messaging format and sprinkle it through. For example, send an email two weeks ahead of time, keep a message posted in your online platform for the entire week leading up to it, make some phone calls the 2-3 days before, and send a physical note home with kids at the same time.

This probably sounds like a lot, but simply work SMARTER, not harder. What do I mean by that? Use scripts for phone calls and use templates for the rest. Simply make the little changes and you’re good to go!

The Parent Contact Form template on the right is exactly what I’m talking about. It’s FREE if you want to give it a try.

3. Gather Student Work

This is where you want to make sure you’re familiar with your data tools. In my district we use Skyward, Schoology, and Educlimber. 😳 I know – it’s a lot. Figure out which platform you like (or which one the district wants you to use) and become familiar with its features. Some of these make it SUPER easy to get an overview of how the student is doing. You want something you can show parents/guardians.

While grades present somewhat of an overview of how students are doing, you want to give them a closer look too. Pick one, two, or three assignments that are an example of what you have been working on so far. For example, if you’re working on writing, doing research, and just simply getting to know your learners, you could include an example of all three of these. Plus – if a student isn’t turning in their work…then you have an example of that too.

All of the resources linked in the images below are a great example of student work that would be easily presentable at parent-teacher conferences.

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4. Compile Student & Family Resources

This tip goes a long way in the type of problem-solving we want to target during our parent-teacher conferences. The goal of parent-teacher conferences isn’t just to say how good a student is doing or to let parents know what they’re struggling with. The goal of these conferences is to provide support, solutions and opportunities for growth too!

You may have to do a little research for this one – but the information should be available to you (if it’s not, your district, building, etc. has some work to do.) Identify what resources YOUR SCHOOL provides to support families AND compile that information into a format families can access. Peep the Parent Contact Form template above.

This could mean a number of things but here is a brief overview of what you might have available:

1. Tools or training on how to understand the PARENT or STUDENT SIDE of whatever student management system or curriculum you’re using.
2. Student resources they’re able to use at home (reading websites, math programs, free books, etc.)
3. Connectivity tools (our district had Wifi hotspots parents could rent out)
4. Before, during, or after school programming (childcare, tutoring, etc.)
5. Steps for seeking additional support (academic, behavioral, mental health, etc.)
6. Current events, activities (dates, requirements, paperwork, info, etc)

5. Create a Welcoming & Supportive Space

Make parent-teacher conferences an experience that FAMILIES & STUDENTS want to come back to! Specifically, if you have any English Language Learners in your class, there are some additional things to keep in mind.

1. Translation support: at this point you should be aware if their parents/guardians speak English or if they need a translator (or simply prefer one because they’re somewhere in between). The school or district should be supporting you with this, but the earlier you’re aware the better.
2. Seating: I’ve held numerous conferences where its not just one parent or even one parent and a student, but instead a whole family. Have some extra chairs ready (off to the side) so that everyone can be comfortable!
3. Access: every students’ family situation is different. It isn’t uncommon for an uncle, older sibling, or even a friend of the family to be the one coming to conferences. This can cause issues when it comes to confidential student data. Checking in with families ahead of time to have parents give permission for these individuals to have access can help avoid issues with this.
4. Heads up: it is a good idea to set timers for yourself and remind families AT THE BEGINNING of the conference how much time you have. Its SO EASY to end up going OVER the allotted time. If no one is waiting, no harm done…but some conferences have people back to back to back. We don’t want to keep people waiting OR risk the chances of them not getting to meet with you at all!

A Chance for Connection

All in all, we want parent-teacher conferences to be an experience that fills us, our students, and our families with hope and promise for the continuing school year. This isn’t about catching kids being bad or having difficult conversations with families.

Parent-teacher conferences are a chance for teachers and parents/guardians to connect, to get on the same page and support each other. This is an opportunity for us to show our students that we are a united front that exists to SUPPORT THEM and help them grow!

So let’s bring a lot to the table, and leave them walking away with much more!

Talk soon, teacher friends 🫶🏼.