Are you getting ready for Parent-Teacher conferences?
Join us in this pre-recorded workshop with Jonathan Wolff as we review the essentials of having a successful parent-teacher conference and learn how to leave parents feeling good about their child's progress, the teachers, and your Montessori program.
This workshop is suitable for teachers of all levels who are preparing for conferences or progress reports (particular focus for Montessori primary), and administrators interested in refining their parent communication skills.
This course is vital for any teacher/administrator who is soon to be engaged in parent/teacher conferences. No training course prepares you for this important part of teaching and communication, but this course does. It helps you see from the parents' perspective as well as find the right words to help parents understand some difficult parts of their child's experience in school.
1. The most effective ways of presenting a child's progress and challenges, and your plans for the next steps in their learning and development in a parent-teacher conference or progress report narrative.
2. The most effective ways to build trust and rapport with parents while advocating clearly and honestly for their child's learning and developmental needs.
3. How to move away from the communication extremes of either avoiding a difficult and delicate issue, or presenting it in a manner that causes parents to become frustrated, defensive, accusatory, or non-cooperative.
4. How to strike a balance in a parent-teacher conference between giving parents an opportunity to discuss their concerns and having sufficient time to present a complete picture of their child's progress and needs.
5. How to employ the Three Period Lesson model in presenting information to parents.
6. How to use prior knowledge of parents' expectations, educational philosophy, and school experiences to help you determine how best to present information in progress reports and parent-teacher conferences.
I really enjoyed this webinar, especially since I'm a first time toddler head teacher. I found that even though I spoke with parents on almost a daily basis, I still wasn't getting my point across to some of them. And when I did address concerning behaviors some of my parents felt as though they were being nagged at. This webinar has given me such amazing tools to use for future conferences, conversations and just a better way to get to know my parents, as well as what I can work on personally so I don't get misunderstood. Top marks!
This course is designed for professional educators. We will look at this topic through a Montessori lens, but non-Montessori education professionals will also also find a lot of value here.