Connecting School and Home: Examine the Topic

Determine Conferencing Practices

In this section, you will explore an activity to better understand building home-school partnerships through parent-teacher conferences.

In the discussions, second-grade teacher Adrienne Bradshaw asks about parent-teacher conferences that do not go as well as those in the classroom excerpts. What factors contribute to a successful conference? What factors influence a difficult conference?

The interactive activity Determine Conferencing Practices allows you to organize and navigate a challenging parent-teacher conference. A non-interactive version of this activity is also available as a PDF document.

	Determine Conferencing Practices

After completing the activity, consider these questions:

• How did this Parent-Teacher conference compare with a difficult conference you have experienced?
• Which aspect of the conference do you feel was most successful -- for both teacher and parent?
• Which part of the conference might you have conducted differently? In what way?
• How would you follow-up on the conference to strengthen the trust and partnership between teacher and parent?

	Submit your written response to the questions.

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