It is the end of the first
nine weeks for many students and you are likely going to a parent-teacher
conference soon. A parent-teacher conference is important because it provides
you and the teacher an opportunity to work together as a team in order to help
your child. You each have an important perspective to share — as the parent,
you know your child's personality, habits, strengths, and weaknesses. The
teacher, on the other hand, has been trained professionally in the best methods
of teaching, meeting individual student's needs, how to control classroom
behavior, and how to help your child succeed in school. Working together you
will be able to find ways that each of you can provide the appropriate and
necessary support for your child. The conference is an opportunity for you to
ask questions about your child's progress, to learn more about the class and
what the students are studying, and to find out if you child is having
difficulty with anything in particular. The more you know about your children's
school and classes, the more likely they will be to talk about daily
experiences with you.
Whenever you go to the conference, be open-minded. Your child's teacher wants success just like you. Don't
be afraid to admit if you don't understand something - ask for more
information! Find out from the teacher what resources you have at home that
would help with your child's education. Preparing a list of questions will help you
have a productive conversation. Some questions you might want to ask are:
- What are my child's strongest and weakest subjects?
- What are some examples of these strengths and weaknesses?
- Is my child participating in class discussions and activities?
- How are my child's social skills?
- Do you think my child is reaching his/her potential?
- What can I do at home to help support his/her academic progress?
- What can High Country Academy do to support his/her academic progress?
It’s important to share the
information from the conference with your child’s tutor at HCA. The information
you give us will allow us to develop lessons that will most benefit your child.
We want to work as a team to make your child successful!