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Top 10 Teacher Tips for Making the Most of Every Parent-Teacher Conference

November 5, 2013 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Parent-Teacher Conferences are a moment in time to share your expertise and knowledge while also gaining valuable insights from students’ parents. Here are 10 tips to help you better enjoy the experience:

Establish a positive and trusted relationship with students’ parents right from the start of the school year. Establishing a trusted relationship is essential when challenging discussions need to be held.
Schedule conferences in advance. Be mindful of scheduling requirements at your school and leave a bit of flex time between each conference. Send parents confirmation of their scheduled date and time a day or two before the conference.
Be prepared. Gather relevant materials such as recent work samples, grades, test scores, and observational notes. Review this information so that you can speak about it knowledgeably and confidently. At the table have a pad of paper, pens, pencils, a box of tissues and classroom materials to share as examples.
Greet parents at the door with a smile, a handshake and a warm welcome. Invite them to join you at the conference table, set with adult-sized chairs. There’s nothing like starting on a positive note.
Start and end each conference with positive comments. Comments must be genuine and show that you know and care about their child. Communicate that you believe that their child can and will be successful and that you are implementing strategies to ensure that progress continues.
Begin each conference with a teacher update of student progress. This sets a positive tone for the conference and allows you to address strengths and concerns upfront. After you have shared your observations and data, ask parents for their input, feedback and questions. LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN- you will learn a lot. Respectful two-way communication is a building block to maintaining this critical and trusted relationship, which according to research has a tremendous impact on student achievement and success.
Ask questions during the conference to let parents know that you are interested in what happens outside of school hours as well. “What does your child say about school?” “How does your child feel about his/her learning?” “Is there anything your child wants you to share with me?” “What are your goals for your child?”
Set an environment where parents feel encouraged to share their concerns and provide feedback on how they see their child’s progress and/or the instructional program. It is your challenge to listen and respond without becoming defensive, even though this is difficult. This is significant because allowing parents to share their thinking opens the door for long-term meaningful communication.
Write down any follow-ups that were discussed and agreed upon. Be sure to follow through and keep parents posted on your actions. Let parents know that they can count on you for the agreed upon follow-up.
Remember that every parent is doing his or her best, and sending the very best child they have to your classroom each and every day. Make sure they know you value that.

By Laurie Gross and Amy Shapiro
My Learning Springboard, Inc.

Explaining Learning Disabilities to Your Child

October 31, 2013 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

By Marcia Brown Rubinstein
Original Source: Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities

AT A GLANCE

How and when to tell your child about her learning disabilities depends on your readiness as well as hers • The “right time” is sooner rather than later, never in anger, and always in an atmosphere of optimism and confidence • Encourage ongoing discussions characterized by honesty, clear communication, reassurance, and an emphasis on her unique abilities.

As a parent, you must make sure that your child has the right information at the right time so that she can navigate her world with confidence. The same is true for information about learning disabilities.

Parents often agonize about telling a child that she has learning disabilities. But can you imagine not telling your child she has asthma because you don’t want her to feel funny using an inhaler to breathe?

Learning disabilities are just as real and just as disabling as biological differences. The sooner they’re addressed, the better the prognosis for a productive future.

FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE

In the absence of an explanation, your child will assume that she is stupid if she stumbles in class, struggles with assignments, and sees that others need less assistance to learn. If you haven’t educated her about her unique learning style before that happens, you’ve waited too long.

On the other hand, if you describe all the difficulties that may develop from a particular diagnosis, you may create a self-fulfilling prophecy. She may assume that she is incapable of learning anything, so why bother trying? In that case, you have disclosed too much too soon.

Is there a perfect time to inform your child about her learning disabilities? Of course. But the perfect time is different for every child, in every family, in every culture, in every setting, in every school, for every type of intellectual range, and for every type of learning disability.

So how and when should you begin to educate your child about her learning differences? The answer is simple: When you are ready, when she is ready, when the time is right, better sooner than later, never in anger, and always in an atmosphere of optimism and confidence. Following are tips to help you through the process.

Educate yourself about your child’s diagnosis and her assets and deficits before communicating the scope of the learning disability to her. In your discussions do not lose sight of her strengths and unique abilities.

Reassure her that she’s perfectly healthy, then explain her specific learning disability in detail suitable to her age and intellect. If she has dyslexia, for example, you may want to say that her brain works differently when she reads. If she’s been mixing up letters, point it out as an example of what happens with dyslexia. With older kids, prepare material for them to read and referrals to websites that explain their specific type of LD in language they can understand.

Tell her how you’re going to get help. Reinforce the fact that you and all family members will do everything it takes to guarantee her success. Share some examples of successful people with LD.

Explain tasks she’ll find easy to complete and ones that might provide challenges. Find support professionals to cover areas you cannot manage yourself. This includes emotional as well as cognitive issues.

Maintain an ongoing discussion about your child’s future. Discuss your expectations and hopes as well as hers. Make sure she knows that she can excel as long as she works hard. Don’t downplay the fact that there will be frustration along the way. Reinforce the fact that you and other family members will do what’s needed to ensure success.

Communicate clearly. Make sure your child understands everything you’re saying. Don’t hide behind jargon and clinical terms. Translate those into language she will understand. Help her apply the information in proactive, upbeat ways.
Compliment her often and sincerely. Self-esteem and resiliency are often fragile in a child with LD. Praise her lavishly, but make sure you mean it. Never give empty or gratuitous praise.

Get involved in your child’s school. There is nothing better than your active and obvious presence. You are your child’s primary educational advocate. Make sure that the teachers and administrators know you and know that you are overseeing her entire school program. Don’t find out too late that accommodations were not carried out.

Tell your child at least once every day, “I love you.” This advice works well for kids without LD too, but for those with LD, it’s as critical as food and shelter.

There may be few things more difficult than having these important discussions with your child, but if you get stuck, keep going back to No. 9. It’s more important than all the others combined.

Child Speak: Guiding Conversation

October 28, 2013 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Children love to tell stories. They’re brimming with anecdotes from the adventures of their short lives. Sometimes, they may seem to us like random strands of thought. But we can build off these thoughts, prompting conversations that offer children opportunities for rich language development. While children often love to talk, we can’t assume that they understand how to talk or how to organize their thoughts. We can help them learn by considering some of the following:

Instead of asking questions that invoke a yes/no or “it was good” response, ask something that encourages further elaboration. Rather than “How was soccer?” say “Tell me about this afternoon’s soccer practice.” Then, ask follow-up questions. What else do they remember? How were they feeling? Describe what it looked like. If the child has not already offered this information, questions like these can help them understand the usefulness of descriptive detail.
Parents often say that when they ask their child “How was school?” they’re met with “It was fine.” By making it a habit of knowing the child’s daily school schedule (the teacher should be able to provide it), a parent can have talking points from which to ask more informed questions.
Help a child stay on topic as they talk. If they veer in another direction mid-story, as children sometimes do, bring them back with “Tell more about ____.” This doesn’t disregard their new idea; it can be revisited. But committing to finish a single line of thought establishes a clarity of communication that will have a lifelong benefit.
Anything can be a conversation starter. If you pass a fire truck on the street, ask “What do you know about fire trucks?” or “What do you want to know about fire trucks?” If they express a preference (“My favorite movie is ____” or “I like ____ Park” for example) ask “Why?” or “What is it you like about it?” Encourage answers in complete sentences.
When a child is telling a story, help them define the story as having a beginning, middle, and end. Having a narrative progression that makes sense is an important skill that does not come automatically.

Developing the ability to converse in deep, substantial ways will greatly benefit budding readers and writers. Being able to communicate clearly and succinctly in writing is something with school application and far beyond. And the more developed the language of the child, the greater the benefit for reading comprehension and fluency.

None of these suggestions has to take a lot of time, and each can be done anywhere, at any time. One of the first ways a child learns to communicate is through spoken language. We can strengthen that ability in ways that will reverberate through all of their future learning by thinking deeply about how we talk with children.

By Kevin Wood, Private Tutor

Language Gap Study Reinforces Importance of Early Literacy

October 25, 2013 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

A recently published New York Times article, Language Gap Study Bolsters a Push for Pre-K, points to new research showing that the Achievement Gap starts even younger than previously thought– a language gap develops in children as young as 18 months of age. The research done by Anne Fernald, a psychologist at Stanford University, demonstrated notable differences in the abilities of children of that age to identify pictures of simple words, such as “dog” or “ball.” Children of wealthier families were able to identify these words much more quickly than children from low-income homes– and by age 2, the difference in number of words known had grown to 30%.

This research reinforces and provides further insight into the conclusions drawn by a similar study of almost 20 years ago, that found a marked difference in vocabulary in children of high vs. low-income households at age 3.

This research has important policy implications, and will hopefully lead to an increased emphasis on early childhood education and support for programs that promote early literacy. Literacy experts are quick to point out that the increased emphasis should not be on vocabulary and rote memorization; instead, “[they] emphasize the importance of natural conversations with children, asking questions while reading books, and helping children identify words during playtime.”

Both studies highlight the importance of parental conversations with children; parents play a critical role in helping children to build vocabulary, comprehension, and the ability to read and write.

So how can parents have a maximum impact on their children’s language development? Amy Shapiro and Laurie Gross have written a number of blog posts here on the MLS website about the best ways to build your child’s vocabulary, citing the earlier studies done on this topic.

In Building A Strong Vocabulary they provide tips for how to incorporate a rich and varied vocabulary into a child’s daily routine, from thinking out loud around a child, to reading aloud. Check out How Big Is Your Child’s Vocabulary? for more resources and information on the subject of early language development.

By Laurie Gross, Educational Consultant and Reading Specialist.

Alternative Methods in Elementary Math: Partial Sums and Differences

October 11, 2013 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

$Elementary Math Algorithms$ Alternative algorithms that break addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication problems that involve large numbers into more manageable pieces are an excellent way to help students develop strong conceptual understanding before instructing standard algorithms. As a parent this can be a wonderful method to understand in order to help your child with their homework, or go over a test that they get back. In this post we will highlight the partial sums and partial differences methods, and over the next few weeks will continue on to the other operations.

Partial Sums

As the name implies, this algorithm works by calculating partial sums, one place value column at a time, and then adding up those sums to get the final answer. Students practice using base-10 blocks and estimates to add multi-digit numbers, and also gain a deeper understanding of how those multidigit numbers are actually constructed. Partial sums can be done moving from left to right or right to left, giving students some degree of flexibility in how they come to their answer.

This video demonstrates a sample problem using this method:

Partial Differences

The partial differences method is the same as partial sums, with the only change being the introduction of negative numbers when calculating individual differences. Both of these videos show examples using a sample problem, and demonstrate a couple of different methods for organizing the numbers on the page while solving a problem.

The partial sums and partial differences method is taught in most classrooms today, so the next time your child asks you a question about their math worksheet, you will be able to jump right in! Reach out to the math specialists here at My Learning Springboard to organize individualized tutoring for your child in these and other popular classroom methods.

By Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed.
Board Certified Educational Planner and Learning Specialist
My Learning Springboard, Inc.

Top 10 Teacher Tips for Making the Most of Every Parent-Teacher Conference

Explaining Learning Disabilities to Your Child

AT A GLANCE

FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE

Child Speak: Guiding Conversation

Language Gap Study Reinforces Importance of Early Literacy

Alternative Methods in Elementary Math: Partial Sums and Differences

Partial Sums

Partial Differences

Company Overview

School Planning

Private Tutoring

Test Preparation