Parent Teacher Conferences leave you frustrated? What you’ve heard and what you can do
Most parent and teacher conferences have wrapped up and the experience often leaves both educators and parents frustrated. Have you been part of a conversation where a version of the following phrase has come up:
“I know they are smart, but…”
Their work doesn’t show it
It’s just not coming out
They are just making sloppy mistakes
“They understand the lesson but seem to take a long time to….”
Finish their work
Answer questions
Follow directions
Finish the test
“They work hard but continue to struggle with….”
Math facts
Decoding words, they don’t know
Staying on task
Organizing their material
Getting to the root cause of the issue can take a bit of digging and helping a student succeed is a team sport. Teachers are more than happy to help and will take the help to define the best path of success for the student. Following are a few things parents can do to help a child get on the path to success:
- Ask the teacher for samples of work – copies of quizzes, tests, or other work. Many things are turned in on-line these days, teachers can get the copies.
- Talk to your child about their habits and take steps to help develop good ones – are they asking the teacher for help? Prioritizing their work? Then set a goal that helps develop the right habit and reward them for it. For example.
- Ask three teachers for help each week – a month of success=ice cream (star bucks, etc)
- Agree on a course of action with the teacher and stay in contact.
- Use outside resources like tutors, brain trainers, or other resources. Your school should be able to help.
If you are trying to figure out if there is an issue related to attention, auditory processing, memory, executive function or other cognitive issue LearningRx can be a good resource. Our free brain quiz is a great place to start.
