We’ve turned the corner past the last few days of the first marking period. As students, we need to look at what we’ve done so far as we start to think about midterms. 

Parent-Teacher Conferences happen at the end of the first and third quarters. This gives parents a chance to know how their children are doing in class, besides their grades, while giving students an extra nudge towards what they might need to work on more. 

“I enjoy talking to the parents,” Said Science Teacher, Heather Carlson. “I usually give the parents a general progress update and let them guide the conversation, assuming the student isn’t having problems.”

According to Mrs. Carlson, many parents use this opportunity to help their students for the next quarters. 

“For my AP class, it’s usually about the exam and how they can support their students.” She said. “For honors its generally about grades, behavior, and social aspects of the class.”

Parents, of course, genuinely try to help.

Some parents think that these meetings are integral to the success of their children.  Others don’t even bother to set up a time. You probably know how your parents feel about them, but how about your teachers?  Mr. Harold has years of experience with conferences. 

“Conferences form a critical connection and allow for communication between parents and teachers. They are just as important as they were when students were younger,”  Harold said.

This year,  over 79% of parents came to conferences at the High School.  It’s not necessarily a surprising amount, but it does tell us something about our school.  Whether that something is that parents are too busy to set up conferences or parents just trust their children is up to your interpretation. Ignoring the ambiguity of this statistic, It can be agreed that teachers and families alike enjoyed the day off.  

As students, we must keep all of this in mind when we go back into the new quarter. What did our teachers tell our parents we need to work on? How can we work on it? Is there something else we need to work on that our teachers didn’t cover?

Parent-Teacher Conferences give us an advantage as we progress. This way, we don’t just see the quarter through our lenses, but also our teachers’. And we must do our best to keep this in mind when preparing for the rest of the year.