5 Tips for Successful Conferences in the Primary Classroom

Conferences are a great time to connect with families, but they can be stressful! Here are some tips I keep in mind every time I’m getting ready for conference week.

Conferences are a great time to connect with families, but they can be stressful! Here are 5 tips to prepare you for successful conferences.

Tips for Successful Conferences - make sure you send out reminders. Families have busy schedules and may need more than one reminder to add a child's conference to their calendar.

It can be very frustrating to put time and effort into preparing for a conference where the family doesn’t even show up! One of the best ways to ensure your families make it to their conference is to send out more than one reminder.

Tips for Successful Conferences - make sure you gather plenty of student work samples.

Whether you are discussing student behaviors, work habits, or academic progress, make sure you have student work samples and assessment data to back it up! You might even grab a copy of the previous report card just in case.

Tips for Successful Conferences - make sure you start and end with a positive comment about each child.

One of the best pieces of advice I was ever given was to start and end with a positive. Families need to know that you care about their child and see them in a positive light.

Tips for Successful Conferences - use your time wisely. Families deserve to have their time honored.

Everyone’s time is valuable! Keep a checklist of all of the items you need to discuss during each conference and use this checklist to keep yourself on track. Save time at the end for questions or concerns. If a family shows up late or there are more concerns than you originally thought, offer to schedule another conference on a different day. If you let one conference run over, it will have a domino effect on the rest of your day!

Tips for Successful Conferences - listen and take notes. What you are seeing at school is just one piece of the puzzle.

Take notes on any questions or concerns brought up during the conference. When families offer tips or suggestions that have worked in previous years, write them down! You will thank yourself later when some of the conversations begin to fade and your notes will remind you of all of the items you promised you would follow-up on.

One last thing to keep in mind as you approach any conference: