Conferences

So I attended conferences at my main placement on Thurs and Fri. Wow! I can't even begin to tell you the things I learned. My teacher did a great job is guaging the parent's reactions to certain things she said about them. Many kids needed their behavior addressed (partly disruptive, partly being a kid), and some were struggling a great deal with their academics. Some interesting highlights of my week were: 2 Spanish speaking conferences with a translator, a drunk mom, and receiving a Thanksgiving pumpkin loaf from a happy family! It was also interesting to hear what the different parents had concerns about. One of the Spanish speaking families was very uncomfortable attending the conference. The mother kept her head down the whole time my teacher told her how bad her child was struggling with reading. She also stressed the importance of the child attending a morning program for English Language Learners, but the parent refused due to transportation. She also did not ask one question about her child. I got the feeling that she just wanted to leave the room, and she did not seem to care all that much about her child's progress in school. On the flip side, many parents came in with a list of questions about their child. We even had a parent send a note ahead of time asking if we could discuss the HOTS of his son. Both my teacher and I did not know what HOTS meant, but googled it to find: Higher Order Thinking Styles. Okay....really? 2nd grade! I am happy I attended these conferences because it allowed me to get more familiar with the parents, but it also gave me insights on how to handle different parenting styles and their many questions and concerns!