Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Parent Teacher Conference
Every year as a special educator I hear from one of my parents, "I hate parent teacher conferences. Every time I come the teacher tells me how bad my child is and never says anything positive. I don't even know why I come." This disturbs me greatly. Now I am not saying special education students aren't hard because I know they are but I am saying don't they deserve positive feedback in their education? Imagine going somewhere everyday that you HATE and spending countless hours of the day being put down, yelled at or given work that is too difficult. Would you want to go back the next day? Well, some of these kids don't either.
Now I am not saying this is the majority because it's not, there are MANY teachers out there who get special education students and help them succeed but the minority that don't can make a student's and parent's life miserable. During this time of year as we begin to have parent teacher conferences please take a minute to come up with one positive thing for your special education student. Not only for them but for the parents that have to deal with having a disabled child 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
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Miss Duncan,
ReplyDeleteI think you are so right, but I think it's true for any and all students and not just those in special education. I think even generally as human beings we like to hear praise, compliments, and positive feedback. For students I think it can be huge self-esteem booster and probably provide some added motivation to try harder for the teacher who seems to always be encouraging them and believing in them. Wouldn't we like that for all of our students?
Thanks for the great reminder!
Tara
We just finished our parent/teacher conferences and I really enjoy them. I love speaking to the parents of all my students. I try to make sure I always point out the great things their child is doing and if there are any issues that arise I try to sound positive about the ways we are trying to handle them. It is unfortunate that parents think these meetings are a waste of time, but I guess all we can do is try to make it as positive an experience as we can.
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