Parent-Teacher Conference Tips for Teachers

Posted on March 1, 2010 by Dane Dormio

I came across this article by Robert McKenzie today and was so impressed with the quality of the information that I wanted to share it for the benefit of the teachers reading my blog. Info on the author and a link to his website with resources for teachers follows at the end of the article.

– Dane Dormio

Parent-Teacher Conferences

By: Robert McKenzie

Communication between parents and teachers is essential to the success of the students. Often, the only time communication takes place is at parent-teacher conferences. For that reason, it is essential that teachers learn to effectively manage parent-teacher conferences in order to obtain the most benefit from the communication that occurs.

The following tips allow teachers to take a proactive approach to parent-teacher conferences, helping to create effective communication during the conference:

Prepare – Preparing for a parent-teacher conference means knowing exactly what goals have been established for the class, and each individual student, and being ready to show parents how their student is performing toward those goals. For each student, be prepared to show work samples and test scores. In addition, be ready to share behavioral anecdotes for that child. A story can help convey behavioral issues without stating them explicitly, helping to keep parents from becoming defensive. While showing the grade book is an option, it must be done in a way that prevents parents from viewing the grades of other students.

Environment – Create an environment that is comfortable for the parents. Placing parents in smaller chairs than the teacher, or facing the teacher across the teacher’s desk, places the teacher in a controlling position that can cause parents to feel intimidated or defensive. Instead, place them in equal seating, perhaps across a table, to establish a sense of equality. Ensure privacy for the conference so parents do not feel as though others can hear what is being said about their child. Organize paperwork so it is easily accessible but out of the way during the conference.

Professionalism – Preparation and proper environment are two aspects of professionalism. Dress and manner of speech fall into this category also. Parents judge a teacher’s competence by the amount of professionalism, or lack thereof, that they see displayed. Teachers who want to be viewed as competent professionals should project that image throughout the parent-teacher conference.

Rapport – Teachers should begin the parent-teacher conference by attempting to establish a connection with the parents. Greeting parents warmly, welcoming them to the classroom, and engaging in brief small talk all help to establish rapport. Teachers should also encourage parents to discuss their views and/or concerns about their children. Doing so demonstrates genuine concern for the child, which helps get parents more involved in their child’s education.

Communication – Not only should communication at the parent-teacher conference be positive, it should also be clear and specific. When discussing behavior issues, teachers should focus on specific actions, including duration and frequency, rather than offering general comments. Teachers should communicate clearly about all positives and negatives of the student’s behavior and performance. Clear, specific statements leave less room for interpretation, which leaves less room for argument by the parents. Communication should also include positive statements, making it clear that the student is a person of value, rather than including only the negatives about the child’s behavior and performance in class. Even the negatives can be phrased in such a way that the statement is positive and does not create the need to place blame.

There are other techniques for managing parent-teacher conferences, but this list is an excellent starting point. By creating a professional, positive atmosphere, teachers can effectively manage the parent-teacher conference and make the most of the communication that takes place.

About the Author

Robert McKenzie is a teacher and writer. Visit his website for more information about Successful Parent Teacher conferences.

(ArticlesBase SC #248811)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ – Parent-Teacher Conferences

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Exciting Site Updates, Including Links for FREE Tutoring and Educational Resources

Posted on February 28, 2010 by Dane Dormio

Being a perfectionist, I can never stop tinkering with the website, making minor additions and tweaks to make it more user-friendly. But there are some important recent updates that all visitors should be aware of: links to educational resources on the web and FREE tutoring (that’s right, completely free tutoring is available instantly on the web).

FEED YOUR LEARNING ADDICTION

I confess: I have a habit. A habit of learning every day. I’ll admit it, I just don’t feel alive if I go a whole day without studying up. From books, from videos, from websites, from audio programs, I’ll take my learning from anywhere I can get it, and I always keep a steady supply of educational paraphernalia on hand. I can’t even leave home without taking a book with me, just in case I start to feel the need. But instead of keeping my habit to myself, I can’t help sharing it with others. That’s why you’ll find a newly-minted educational resources page with links to some of my favorite suppliers, including books that challenge and broaden the mind, inspiring videos and documentaries, learning tools appropriate to all levels of formal education, even access to free university courses online. You can expect this page to grow over time as I continue to blaze a trail through the universe of online learning.

FREE TUTORING AND HOMEWORK HELP

Also newly minted is a page with links for FREE tutoring and homework help for those in need. Through these links you can receive free tutoring and homework help instantly from me and other tutors who love helping students and are willing to volunteer their time. You can also use these as a no-risk way to try out my services before signing up for one of my monthly tutoring packages. In case you are wondering “why buy the cow when you can have the milk for free?”, the drawbacks associated with free online tutoring are that it is limited in time and availability, and doesn’t allow for the high-quality, personal attention that you get by establishing an ongoing relationship with a tutor. Free tutoring is good for getting a sample, and will work for those who can’t afford to get help any other way, but doesn’t compare to the quality and value of of the service received by hiring a private tutor. Just think, if I’m willing to help students for free in my spare time on a voluntary basis, imagine the quality of service you’ll get when you hire me!

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How Tutoring Can Help With Math

Posted on February 27, 2010 by Dane Dormio

Are you guilty of telling yourself that you’re “bad at math”? How about this surefire creativity-killer: “I hate math.” The good news is that neither is true, but as long as you keep feeding your brain with these kinds of thoughts, you will prevent yourself from realizing your true potential. No one is “bad” at math, any more than they are “bad” at speaking Swahili; if you are not fluent it is just because you haven’t learned it. And if you think that you “hate” math, what you really hate is the tortuous, ineffective practices that you have been exposed to in the name of education.

We all have an innate ability to understand and even appreciate mathematical reasoning, regardless of any negative associations we may have from the past. Interest is the primary factor influencing how easily we are able to learn something, so if your natural interest and curiosity has been marred by negative associations, then you will find learning anything to be a struggle. Once this damage is undone then you will see that you have as great an ability as anyone to learn anything. The next most important factor influencing learning is the method of presentation. Even with very strong interest, it would be very difficult (though not impossible) to learn to play the piano with your feet. Unfortunately, in any standardized educational setting, a teacher must present the material in a standardized way in the hopes of making it accessible to as many students as possible, but since no two students learn in exactly the same way, there are always students who are left out. (What would happen to a teacher who consistently gave A’s to every student?) So, if you are one of the students who always feels “left out” in math classes, it does not mean that there is something wrong with your ability to learn, just that the methods of presentation used have not been effective for you (and perhaps there are some mental blocks caused by lingering negative associations as well). This is why individualized instruction is so important. A teacher with a limited repertoire of teaching methods and a wide range of students to educate must assume “well, these methods work with most students, but not with this one, so there must be something wrong with him”. On the other hand, a tutor with only one student to pay attention to and no limitations on teaching methods has the freedom to assume, “well, these methods haven’t worked with this student, but some will, and I’m going to find them”. Thus, rather than effective and ineffective students, a caring, patient, attentive tutor sees only effective and ineffective educational strategies.

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Free Tutoring and Homework Help Now Available

Posted on February 25, 2010 by Dane Dormio

There are a number of places on the web where you can get free tutoring and homework help from me or other tutors. Links can be found on my FREE Tutoring and Homework Help page, which will be updated as I discover more sources. You can even receive on-demand tutoring from me, if I am available, or from other tutors, on ziizoo.

These resources are great if you need quick help once in a while, or if you’re just plain broke and can’t get help any other way. They can also give you a chance to “try before you buy” if you are considering signing up for our online tutoring services. The potential drawbacks are that they are limited by the availability of tutors, so you can’t be assured of receiving the most timely, accurate responses, or of building a close relationship by working with the same tutor in multiple sessions, and the platforms only provide limited access to the tutor(s) you work with. They don’t compare with the high-quality, personalized attention and care and opportunity to establish a relationship that comes with purchasing one of our monthly tutoring packages, but they can be good resources if you are just looking to dip your toe in to test the water.

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Conquering Chemistry Homework

Posted on February 15, 2010 by Dane Dormio

If you’ve ever struggled while doing your chemistry homework on your own, you’re not alone. Chemistry is a subject that few people understand and even fewer enjoy studying in school. As if to make matters more difficult on students, chemistry textbooks tend to be written in a style that only a chemist could love or make sense of, and chemistry tutors tend to be harder to find than some other types of tutors. What’s a diligent but baffled student who needs help on homework to do if no help is available? Following these four steps can help you to make sense of most types of chemistry problems.

1. Identify the key concepts involved in the problem.
Most chapters in chemistry textbooks cover certain key concepts, and the homework problems associated with each chapter mostly involve these. Your book may even have a list of key concepts at the front or back of the chapter, which makes this part easier. For example, the problem might be one dealing with unit conversions, molar mass, acidity, chemical equations, and so on. Narrowing down the key concepts involved in the problem allows you to direct your attention to the right place when looking for a solution.

2. Identify the problem by type.
The way basic chemistry is taught in most schools is like a bag of tricks. The way typical textbooks are laid out is with a set of unique types of problems for each section or chapter, accompanied by a set of unique tricks to solve them. If you keep this in mind it will make acing the class a lot easier. For example, if the problem involves chemical equations that you are supposed to balance, then you would need to find a certain type of trick for balancing chemical equations (which would be the problem type).

3. Find a sample problem.
Most chemistry textbooks have sample problems interspersed throughout each section that demonstrate how to work different types of problems. So once you’ve identified the type of problem you’re facing, your best bet is to find a sample problem of that type, which will probably be somewhere in the chapter, and try to follow the same steps in the same order.

4. Write out your reasoning.
When you have identified an appropriate sample problem, be meticulous about writing out every step of your reasoning process, even if it feels like you don’t have to. Resist the temptation to skip steps or work things out in your head. Getting comfortable using the exact steps in the exact order presented helps to ensure that you will not balk at more complicated problems of the same type when you encounter them later.

Most of the tricks you will learn in a basic chemistry class are very simple; it’s trying to keep track of them all at once is the real challenge. But, as in any science class, what’s more important than memorizing all of the tricks is, of course, becoming comfortable with the language and the ideas. If you keep a clear mind and follow the four steps above, you will not only optimize your study time, you will also be well prepared to ask for and receive help, either from your teacher or from a private tutor, whenever it is available.

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Why Online Tutoring is Perfect for Military Families

Posted on February 9, 2010 by Dane Dormio

One distinctive factor in the lives of military members is tranfers. U.S. soldiers, and their families, often have to plan for the possibility of being transferred to a different one of many military bases, within the U.S. and overseas, often frequently, and sometimes on short notice. For children in school, this can mean having to keep up with their studies among schools that may have very different curricula and methods of teaching, sometimes being transferred among multiple school districts in a single school year.

Even kids who can count on staying in one place sometimes need the help of a tutor to supplement the educational attention they receive at school, and this can be even more so when the student has to learn from different textbooks and different teachers repeatedly. But while kids who stay in one place can establish a long-term relationship with an in-person tutor, kids whose parents are in the military don’t always have this luxury.

There are many benefits that any student can receive from a tutor, including attention, a relationship, and self esteem, and online tutoring adds the additional benefits of availability, selection, and value. For military families, however, the availability of an online tutor, who can continuously work with a student regardless of transfers, can be particularly valuable, even essential. As part of an ongoing relationship, an online tutor can provide stability and direction to the student’s education, as well as a consistently personal, caring, and effective in-home educational experience, wherever the student may be located.

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6 Unique Benefits of (Online) Tutoring

Posted on January 31, 2010 by Dane Dormio

Tutoring used to be perceived as being sort of like psychotherapy – a remedy for a defect, only needed if there was a problem. More and more, though, as the weaknesses of traditional education become more clear and the public school system becomes more financially burdened, tutoring, particularly online tutoring, is coming to be seen as something that can supplement any student’s education and even help exceptional students to excel. Here are just six of the unique ways that online tutoring can benefit any student.

1. One-on-One Attention

Most students in schools today suffer from attention deficit disorder: a deficit of attention from teachers. Even before the economic recession became big news teachers were overburdened, with too many students and too few resources. Recent financial changes have only made this situation worse as government budgets have dried up from the local to the federal level, meaning there are fewer teachers employed, with fewer resources available to them, making it impossible for even the saintliest of teachers to appropriately manage the sheer number of students they are expected to teach, inspire, lead, and be responsible for the well being and personal development of on a daily basis.

An online tutor is able to provide one-on-one attention, after hours, in the comfort of the student’s home. Not only is this a more effective teaching environment for the tutor, who can effectively meet the student’s needs without interference, it is also a more effective learning environment for the student, who doesn’t have to suffer the burdens of social pressure or incessant distractions.

2. Relationships

Partly because of the comfortable, one-on-one learning environment, partly because of similarity of perspective, and partly because of other, intangible factors, it tends to be easier for a student to bond with a tutor, even an online tutor, than with a teacher. Unlike a teacher, a tutor doesn’t have to see to the needs of two dozen other students at the same time or pull double duty as an authority figure. Likewise, rather than handing down knowledge from on high, a tutor is able to remember what it was like to be a student (or may even still be a student) and is able to relate more easily to a student’s perspective than a teacher who has to maintain a veneer of discipline and adulthood.

3. Self Esteem

Since a teacher has to present material to a whole class of students at once and doesn’t have time to tailor presentation methods to individual students, invariably with any concept presented in the classroom there are some students who “get it” and some who don’t. This tends to make the students who get it feel “smart” and the ones who don’t get it feel “dumb”. The limitations of the teacher’s methods tend to get internalized by the students who don’t “get it”, who come to accept them as limitations of their own learning ability. In reality, if the material was presented in a different way, the “dumb” kids would get it and the “smart” kids wouldn’t! By presenting concepts in a way that is natural for the student to understand, a good tutor is able to permanently boost a student’s self esteem and learning ability, not by telling them that they are “smart” but by proving it.

4. Availability

A tutor, especially an online tutor, can be available as much or as little as a student needs, and can be available at any time. Teachers generally don’t work after hours, but tutors are generally available whenever the student needs them, and with on online tutor you don’t even have the potential inconvenience of having to meet with somebody in person or having to leave your home.

5. Selection

One benefit that online tutoring can provide that even in-person tutoring can’t is selection. Choosing to use an online tutor makes tutoring talent from all over available to you, making it easier for you to find a tutor whose personality and skills are a good match for your particular needs.

6. Value

Having a wide selection of tutors available from all over also means that you can be more assured of getting a good value. If you pay for an in-person tutor, not only will you be limited to a locally available selection, you will also have to pay for their gas (and yours, if you meet them somewhere).

These are just some of the reasons that an online tutor can be a valuable educational resource for any student. Combining the one-on-one attention and relatability of a traditional tutor with the ease of availability and selection provided by the Internet can make greater educational achievements a reality.

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