*week 8 post*

What are the top three things you need to know when working with parents?

I always knew that you would need to work with parents one on one about their students but never really thought about how to go about doing that before watching this video in class. Before I watched the video I thought some good things you need to know in order to work with parents were to know how their child is doing in class. Parents like to know how well their child is doing compared to everyone else in the class. Also, You should be understanding about the parent's background, and do not be judgemental unless something is dangerous for the child. Knowing a parent is a certain way(good or bad) should not affect the way you look at their child and teach their child. One last thing that I thought would be good to know when working with parents is you should be very understanding and open to their suggestions and comments.

After watching the video, wadsworth cengage home-school communications-The parent teacher conference, in class on Thursday Oct 22 I have a much better understanding of what parents want out of a parent-teacher conference and what you, as the teacher, have to give to them. I think one thing that is extremely important I learned is you should know how to ask the parents what their student says about school. You do this to get an idea of what the parents thoughts are and what ideas the parent may have already against or for you as their child's teacher. A child can go home and say anything they want and in most cases I think parents believe them. In the video, another good point that the teacher brought up is that as a teacher you should interact with the parents in a parent-teacher conference. It is good to get their feedback and hear what they have to say. You can question them about what they think and then in return tell them what you think. As the teacher in the video said it should be a dialogue back and forth not just you talking. One more thing I learned from this video is that you need to make parents allies and partners. When you are not partners with your students parents, it is not a stable situation for the student.