four Insights Dad and mom Should Share Throughout Mother or father-Trainer Conferences
In the current school year, parents and teachers alike are facing the ongoing challenges and uncertainties of the pandemic, a return to personal learning and the best preparation of our children for an increasingly complex world. But despite the unknown, as parents and caregivers we can move from a place of fear to a place of meaningfulness by preparing to act as committed partners in our child’s upbringing.
And there is no better time to do this than before the parent-teacher conference in autumn. Teachers may be the experts when it comes to classroom learning, but we are the experts on our kids, especially after spending just so much time in the front row of distance learning. We know schools can do great things for our children, but they cannot do it alone. Families play a vital role in helping schools support both learning and wellbeing – a role that is even more important now as schools reopen and children come from an unpredictable time.
To help families, the nonprofit I lead, FutureReadyFamilies.Org (supported by the Colorado Education Initiative), created a robust website with proven tools, resources, and strategies to empower parents and caregivers to advocate their children’s education strengthen.
I was a head of the school system in the early years and a mother in late life, which means I had the opportunity to ponder all the ways we can improve the connective tissue between school and home. With these insights, the Future Ready Families website equips families with bite-sized information and tools on how to best work with teachers to ensure a path to success that is uniquely tailored to your child and their needs.
In developing the first content, we partnered with Learning Heroes and Seek Common Ground to provide resources in English and Spanish that will help families get a feel for their children’s current learning levels, better understand what is going on in their school year Child and have critical discussions with teachers.
For example, the parent-teacher planning tool can help you share important information about your child. If you haven’t already, there are four you might want to share with your child’s teacher during your parent-teacher conference:
- My child is fine in …
- My child needs help with …
- My child is happy about …
- Changes that I have noticed in my child that are important to you …
Again, ask them if they feel the same about your child about these areas. You can also use the parent-teacher planning tool to find out what is expected of your child so that you can then make a plan for helping at home. In my home, these guides have helped us figure out how to take up and understand the debates about “learning loss” for our own children.
It has never been more important for parents and families to be essential partners in student learning. Supporting your child’s education can be daunting, especially after the impact of the pandemic on schooling, but this is a good place to start.
Rebecca Holmes is a mother of two young children, a former middle school teacher and assistant commissioner for the Colorado Department of Education, and CEO of the Colorado Education Initiative, a regional nonprofit that supports visionary schools and districts.
