PTC

The Parent Teacher Connection is critical to your child’s success at school. Just like the times that children pit parents against each other in order to get what they want, children try to pit their parent against their teacher. This may happen when their behavior has gotten them into trouble or when their grades are dropping. The best way of preventing this is to promote parent-teacher communication from the start of the school year. Attending conferences, open houses, PTA meetings and special school events sends the message to your child that their education is important to you. I suggest that you set up a conference with the teacher between the second and sixth week of school. Before the second week of school, the teacher is still getting to know your child. After the sixth week, your child’s school habits may be set for the year. If your child is having trouble, the teacher and you may be able to come up with some ideas that will help. You both have very valuable information needed to help your child: the teacher knows about curriculum and teaching techniques and you know your child.


At this point, I also want to include a blurb about over communication. With all the things that teachers are required to do, daily communication with parents is not possible. My recommendation is that you conference with your child’s teacher no more than two times in a semester (or four times in a school year) and limit phone calls to four a semester (or eight in a school year). Note that just like the times that teacher’s call to let you know when your child has done something good, teachers love to get calls from parents letting them know that they are doing something right. If more conferences are needed due to behavior or academic difficulties, let the request come from the teacher.

Should your child attend the conference? This question has no easy answer. When answering this question it is important to take into consideration the age of the student and the topic to be discussed. You will need to consider the pros and cons of your child attending a conference, each time you meet with the teacher. The answer may very well change from conference to conference.