COVID Didn’t Give Us Much to Celebrate, But We Need to Keep Virtual Conferences

Parent-teacher conferences are a critical component of every school year. This is an opportunity for teachers to share with families the areas of success for…

Teachers Can’t Expect to Be Held to the Whims of Every Parent

Should we teach about the Civil War anymore? This was a question I was asked by a concerned teacher who feared potential pushback from parents.…

Correct Me If I’m Wrong, But Aren’t Parent-Teacher Conferences Part of the Job?

Ever have those moments when something seems so crazy and so wrong that you fall into that trap of optimism and naïveté, convinced that finally,…

A Teacher Asked About My Child’s Hopes and Dreams and It Changed Everything

As a child in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, I did not have a good experience in school. My teachers did not understand my ADHD, and I…

Parent-Teacher Conferences Might Suck, But We Still Have to Show Up

David McGuire, a school leader in Indianapolis, asked the Twitterati this week what does it take to get parents to attend conferences with their children’s’ teachers? I…

Every Parent-Teacher Conference Should Look Like This

I have a confession to make. I am an educator who doesn’t enjoy participating in parent-teacher conferences as a parent. Our son is a junior…

4 Tips for Parents to Get the Most out of Parent-Teacher Conferences

Many schools are preparing for their first conferences with parents. Unlike Back-to-School Night where parents receive general information about the school, a conference with your…

These Parent-Teacher Conferences Are Harder to Get Into Than a Jimmy Buffett Concert

First, a 30-minute student-led parent-teacher conference with one child’s homeroom teacher. Then, six five-minute conferences with another son’s individual subject teachers. And lastly, a 10-minute…

White Teacher, Here’s How You Can Successfully Partner With Black Families

The show was going really well. We were in Pittsburgh, taping a live 8 Black Hands podcast episode at the State of Black Learning Conference,…

Why We Need to Stop Thinking About Students in Terms of Strengths and Weaknesses

My son is a freshman in high school and this felt like my first report card pick up all over again. While I have access…