Parent-Teacher Conferences

'Tis the season for Parent-Teacher Conferences at my school.  Parent-Teacher conferences make any teacher a bit nervous, even veterans like me. We are used to dealing with smaller people all day, not big ones!  What do I say to parent of a struggling child when I may be struggling myself?  What do I say to the parent of a gifted student who wants to do even more?  How do I tackle a conference about an average child?
The first thing I do is to find a focal point.  Do I want to talk about Math?  Reading?  Writing?  Or do I want to talk about study habits?  Participation?  With that focal point in mind, I try to select a single, recent product to focus our discussion. It is much easier to stay focused when you and the parent have something to look at.  Preferably, this product should be something the parent can take home with them.  When choosing a product, choose something you can really talk about in terms of strengths and weaknesses.  We shouldn't just be sharing a score or a number here.  With Math, for example, you could choose an assignment that has both computation and problem-solving and compare the students' skills with each.  With Reading you could choose an assessment that has both multiple choice and short answers to compare how a student answers each type of question.  Or you could also compare literal questions with inferential ones.
This year with my "loopers" I really wanted to focus their use of the Agenda for daily school-home communication.  We did not use an Agenda last year, so this is new to us all.  I had them keep their Agenda at school to be sure I had it for the evening conferences.We paged through to see how it was being used.  Was everyone consistent:  the child with writing down and completing homework and the parents and teachers checking the Agenda?
There is a reason I only have one thing to share.  I want to make sure to leave time for the parent to express any concerns.  I have a pad of paper right next to me to jot down any notes I need.  It is important to leave time for the parents.  Just like you, they may have an agenda of their own.  If you are nervous that you will have extra time on your hands, make sure you have refreshed your bulletin boards with recent student work.  Show the parents other examples of what their child has done and, sometimes even more importantly, what other students are doing.  Like it or not, it's a fact that parents want to know how their child is doing compared to other students.  This gives parents a frame of reference that they often need.