If you're confused at the thought of running a virtual parent-teacher
conference,
then you're gonna want to stick with me because in this video I'm going to share
with you 14 best practices when it comes to implementing and
executing virtual parent-teacher conferences. By the end of this video,
you're going to have seven best practices when it comes to preparing these
parents for these virtual parent-teacher conferences,
as well as seven best practices to keep in mind during these virtual
parent-teacher conferences.
Before we jump into things, if you take nothing away from this video,
be sure to bookmark our free back to school resource hub. In it,
we provide a ton of free resources that will help you in your distance
learning as you navigate this school year. Without further ado though,
hit that like button if you're excited and let's jump into these best practices.
First,
let's jump into seven best practices when it comes to preparing parents for
virtual parent-teacher conferences. Tip number one. Before your conference,
prepare a one pager that essentially outlines the student's progress. Here,
you're going to want to share with the parent the student's data, goals,
as well as how they're trending towards their goals.
It's also helpful to include some of the more qualitative points.
This can be things like covering the behavioral performance of the student,
as well as social or emotional skills of the student when interacting with both
you as well as other students.
The reason why this is so valuable is because this prep sheet is going to help
frame the conversation and provide a structure for your virtual parent-teacher
conference. The second tip that we have is before your conference,
you're going to want to call or email the parents to share some of the things
that you've been observing. This can cover things like the challenges,
the issues, as well as the successes of the student.
Tell the parents exactly what you've been observing in your virtual classes and
be ready to share some examples of those instances of certain behaviors.
This is also a good time to share that one page reference sheet with them so
that they have a heads up before you send it over to them.
The reason why this is so important is because we have to give the parent a
clear why as to why this meeting is important.
If they know exactly what we're going to be discussing and why we're discussing
it, then they can be more invested in the success of their students.
It also allows the parent to potentially be even more collaborative and
supportive of the student's need,
which then makes your life easier as a teacher.
The third tip we can give you for best practices is to make sure that you're
also asking the parent for any topics or issues that they want to address in the
particular meeting. Be sure to ask your parents what issues, challenges,
subjects,
as well as successes that might be helpful to discuss about the student.
It's really important that you don't forget to also talk about the positives
when it comes to these conferences.
Be ready to jot down what they tell you in a Google document or in a notepad.
Then after the initial call or email,
you're going to want to summarize these and add them to your one pager so that
they know that you are listening to them about the needs that they think their
student has.
The fourth best practice when it comes to preparing parents for virtual
parent-teacher conferences is to make sure that you let the parent know that you
can loop in an administrator if needed. Sometimes during more serious meetings,
parents might feel more comfortable when they know that administrator is also in
the room with the two of you.
By simply mentioning that this is an option for some parents can help reduce
some of the anxiety that they might be experiencing in terms of talking about
their student's particular needs.
It also is a great way to show your total dedication to the student success and
wanting to meet their needs as best as you can.
Tip five is that when you're wrapping up your initial reach out,
you're going to want to ask the parent if there is again,
anything that they want to cover in the conference.
This way you're giving them a final say in terms of anything that potentially
didn't come up in the earlier conversation threads via email or call.
Tip six is at least three days before your scheduled meeting,
you're going to want to send over instructions to the parent as to how they're
going to be able to join into the conference call.
We recommend doing this with a prerecorded tool showing you opening the
platform, as well as joining the conference link.
You can use a software like Loom or a Screencastify to record your screen as you
create these instructions.
Remember not all parents are as tech savvy as you.
And so you want to make it as accessible as possible for every parent.
You might also find it helpful to share some of the infographics that have been
really popular on the web when it comes to setting up virtual conferences.
This can take some of the lift off of you in terms of writing out those initial
sets of instructions.
The final best practice is to create a how to guide for accessing the video
platform that is written out supplement the video that you just made in tip
number six.
The easiest way to do this is to create a template or a how to guide that you
will then share with parents in your email outreach to them that shares that
video that you recorded in the prior tip. In the template,
you're going to want to include instructions as to which video platform to use,
how to access it and download it as well as the direct conference meeting link
that the parents should use. If you're finding this video helpful so far,
be sure you hit that like button and that subscribe button with that
notification bell so that you can get notified the next time that we create
another distance learning video. Also, if you find it helpful,
we've linked to a blank parent-teacher conference preparation sheet that you can
start using today.
All you need to do is use the link in the video description below to access the
accompanying resource.
Now that we've gone over seven of the best practices for preparing parents for
parent-teacher conferences,
let's transition to talk about some best practices when it comes to actually
being in these parent-teacher conferences.
The first tip we can give you is to make sure that you're remaining friendly and
solutions oriented throughout the course of the conversation. Let's face it.
Parent teacher conferences can be intimidating because you don't really know
always where the parent is going to be coming in from when they jump into that
conference. So, by staying friendly and positive in the conversation,
you can make everybody in the conference feel a little bit more at ease and
start to build rapport with one another.
If you feel like the conversation is going off way too far into a tangent or
just something off the agenda, and you want to get it back on track,
use one of these three sentence stems.
The first sentence you can use is,
student shows great enthusiasm for pretty much anything we do in class. However,
they're having some difficulty with area of concern or whatever you're
observing. The second stem that you can use is,
students still needs growth and support and subject or behavior of need.
That being said, though, they have grown in their independence.
The third stem you can use is,
students positive academic or behavioral trait has truly helped make my year a
positive one.
The second best practice during these conferences is to actually refer to your
preparation sheet. You spend all that time getting it ready. So,
you need to actually use it.
Use your sheet to reference specific examples from class that demonstrate a
particular behavior that you'd like to discuss with your students' parent.
The preparation sheet will help your conversation be way more grounded and
targeted in terms of the discussion that's had.
It's specificity that makes these conversations really productive because the
parent can then go back after the conference and discuss with their student what
they discussed with you.
The third tip we can give you is to make sure that you're being aware of your
body language.
It's really important that you're not giving some negative body language when
you're communicating these sorts of important messages to your students parents.
Negative body language can be being really tense,
crossing your arms or just something in which it doesn't really demonstrate that
positive solutions oriented vibe that we outlined being so important in tip
number one. Even if the student isn't your absolute favorite student,
try not to demonstrate frustration or fidgety movements when you're trying to
communicate the meaningful feedback that you have to share with your students
parent.
Remember the purpose of these meetings is to discuss the student's academic
performance,
as well as their social emotional skills and their behavioral routines.
Make sure that you're sharing student work that demonstrates either progress or
stagnation in particular areas in your class.
Sharing direct examples of work will also allow for a more productive
conversation with the parent of your students.
Best practice number five, don't forget to ask questions as well.
It's really important that you don't jump into "sage on the stage" lecture mode
in which you're just telling the parent everything that you're seeing about
their students and that it's an actual conversation with the parents.
Be sure to ask parents questions,
not only related to the academic performance of students,
but also the social emotional skills that the students need to be developing.
Here are a few questions to them that you can try for yourself. Number one,
have you noticed any new developments in students' behavior at home? Number two,
would you like to share any of the challenges that student might be facing that
I'm currently unaware of? Number three,
how do you envision the next steps in students' development?
By asking these open ended questions for the parent,
you can get a better glimpse as to the complete student that you are trying to
meet the needs of.
The six best practice that we have for you is to make sure that you make plans
to communicate further. During your virtual parent-teacher conference,
you're going to want to establish the follow up so that both of you are going to
have,
as well as the mode of communication that's going to work best for the two of
you. If, for example,
you decide to chart student progress in a data collection table or in some sort
of journal,
then you're going to want to make sure that the parent is aware as to where the
student is tracking that so that they can hold the student accountable at home.
Another option is to encourage the parents of your students to ask their student
about their Albert analytics dashboard.
By looking at their analytics dashboard in Albert,
the parent can actually gain insights as to how their student is doing in
mastering different concepts.
If your school has never explored Albert's analytics tools or our practice
questions,
you can check out our pilot program and the link in the video description below.
We provide a month's worth of access so that you can try our platform out with
your students and see if it can help meet your needs.
Our seventh and final tip when it comes to best practices during these virtual
parent-teacher conferences is to make sure that you're relaxed and that you are
yourself. It may seem a little obvious and a little cliche,
but it's super important that you are presenting yourself professionally while
also making sure that you're reminding the parents of your student,
that you are human too. If you found these best practices helpful today,
be sure to check out our back to school resource hub. In it,
you're going to get a ton of free resources that cover pretty much everything
related to distance learning or remote learning that you're going to need for
setting up your classroom or your school for this year. Also,
if you found this video helpful,
we greatly appreciate it if you hit that like button and also subscribe,
hitting that notification bell .That way,
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whether that's on Facebook or Twitter that you think might benefit from learning
about these best practices. That's it for this time.
I'm Will from the Albert team. And as I mentioned earlier,
if you're looking for extra practice questions and detailed explanations,
as well as a complete suite of data tools to help monitor how your students are
progressing through the year, then be sure to check out our pilot program.
We'd be happy to help you out.
You can apply for our pilot program using the link in the video description
below, and I'll see you guys there.