Hannah Rhoades Individual Parent Teacher Behavior Meeting Reflection 1-29-2014

Today the homeroom teacher, physical education teacher (my cooperative teacher) and I met with a mother and her child over behavior issues we have been having in the classroom. This is an essential meeting to prevent further problems within the school and make sure there are no unspoken causes for the student disruption. Working together with the parent helps students focus on problems that might be happening at home as well; this overall can improve the childs day to day activities. In this meeting we reviewed the cause of this overall bright students complications: day dreaming and lack of focus on instruction. In both settings, the student was seen not paying attention and due to this not following direction. The issue became severe enough that he could not perform tasks without individual management, which can be difficult on a constant basis for the teacher. When a student needs constant correction, it can be disheartening and tiring for both the student and teacher. The homeroom teacher and my cooperative teacher decided to bring this to the attention of the mother and see if this was an issue at home as well. I observed the teachers using the best approach to presenting this issue; though they never clearly pointed a finger and said, You are the mistake, the questions and implications helped the mother bring up the fact that the teacher was attempting to bring the student back in for instruction, but he was busy being distracted. No person in this situation is 100% innocent, and the relationship between parents and teachers must be balanced in order for the student to be the most successful. This is especially true in situations when the student has an IEP or other special needs within the school; both the teachers and parents must be working together in order for the student to reach their full potential. By the end of the meeting, we had agreed that this was a common issue occurring at home and school. The mother was surprised to hear the son complain that he wasnt getting enough sleep and a TV in the bedroom seems to be the cause. We set goals together that he will try to get more sleep, and we will look for improvements or set-backs that the mom will be notified of on a weekly basis. This strategy helps keep the teacher-parent relationship in check without constant face to face meetings, which might not always be possible in a large school. Overall I found the experience to be beneficial and educational in what approach I will use with students that need assistance. Using proper vocabulary and approaches to parents can help them feel more of a part of the their childs school day, which can prevent minor behavior issues or other educational set-backs from growing into large problems.