Meet-The-Parents Session

[schellen]

barney:

Can some experience parents advise what kind of questions we need to ask during the MTP session?

If you can react fast, then just pick up on what the teacher says and ask along the way. If not, the teacher should give you a report on your child's academic, social and emotional strengths and weaknesses. If not, ask about them. For strengths, don't neglect them. Ask how to encourage/motivate. For weaknesses, I'm sure many parents will know to ask about how to help the child. Just don't dwell too much on the weaknesses to the expense of forgetting about the strengths. Many parents are guilty of that. Then, back home, the child only hears scolding after scolding and not encouragement/motivation and praises.

If you want to know more about the timetable, particular teachers, the canteen food, CCAs, etc, now is a good time to ask. Bear in mind that the teacher may not be able to answer everything on the spot due to time constraint and/or lack of resources/info. He/She should take down your queries and get back to you by e-mail. E-mail is good as you don't have to get the timing right plus, you get a record of your \"conversations\" with the teacher(s).

Don't bother with phone calls. They are very frustrating to schedule due to the teacher's busy timetable and yours. Also note that teachers usually have to share phones and recess time is very busy so don't expect calls during that time.

[barney]

Thanks schellen, that’s very helpful. My gal’s school does not have any exams for P1 so there’ll be no report book, guess I just have to ask about her progress and interaction with peers and teachers. Also, thanks for the reminder on the strengths and weakness part. I guess for sure I’ll just dwell on the weaknesses without paying too much attention on the strengths. A very good reminder indeed. Thank you very much

[RubberBand]

I'm meeting the teachers of my P3 & P1 tomorrow. For my girls' school, such session is only arranged if the kid is not doing well in school. Yup, my kids are not vey bright and super sensitive so they are not following me to the session.


I can only hope that they will be able to cope better as they grow.

[schellen]

barney:

Thanks schellen, that's very helpful. My gal's school does not have any exams for P1 so there'll be no report book, guess I just have to ask about her progress and interaction with peers and teachers. Also, thanks for the reminder on the strengths and weakness part. I guess for sure I'll just dwell on the weaknesses without paying too much attention on the strengths. A very good reminder indeed. Thank you very much

You're welcome! ^_^

I am guilty of that too so I must remind myself first before sashimi reminds me (in a not so polite way) later.

[buds]

Remember too, that other aspects of the holistic child is as important as

the academic report during Parent Teacher Conference. I remember one
teacher who commented my strengths as being a responsible pupil ie.
cleaning up the classroom before period over, has many friends, well-liked
by teachers and friends, polite, pleasant and neat disposition, displays
good leadership skills, extremely good in sports and drama, etc...

It made daddy happy to know while i did well in school, i was a happy
student... can behave without his supervision... had good relationship
with teachers and friends, very helpful in class, can pay attention and
enjoy all lessons learnt. He was one proud daddy..

He didn't really look into the report book during the conference. Guess
the teacher's compliments on non-academic areas already made him go
over the moon. So back in the car, we sat down to have that first look at
the report book results while waiting for the aircon to chill..

He jumped at his seat and shrieked, \"Wuh? :shock: You ARE first in class!!!\"

[en107rn.01056yahoo.01056com.01056sg]

I've met both ds & dd teachers. As some of you know both my kids are placed in different schools, both with different capabilities and both with different type of results (the all band 1 and the all band 2&3).


What stumps me most :? both teachers gave the same comments. What motivates your kids? Both can do better if they are motivated. Both are capable of better results. When ask such questions, I'm not able to answer cause, the same question is posed by my boss to me even though my appraisal shows excellent but somehow, my superior believe, I can be soaring high above the rest.

How can I help my kids to be motivated when I myself face the same comments?

[jedamum]

EN:

How can I help my kids to be motivated when I myself face the same comments?

My boy's teacher commented that he is overall pretty good except for his handwriting. Digging up his dad's P1 report book results, it stated the same,'need to be neater in written work'.

My boy is a tad messy...his bags...his study area...i can't nag at him much too cos I am guilty of cluttering my workspace too. :oops:

So...i do need advice in this area too. :?:

[KingRascal]

Hi

Do you guys ever feedback re the way the exam papers are set? Meaning, on the appropriateness of some of the questions, or spelling errors, etc…

I have some concerns but have reservation in sharing them as I am worried my son would be "marked"!! Any comments?

[concern2]

Japhys,


My sis never thought she’d be one of those parents who would approach a teacher on how her kid’s papers are marked, but she became one, with valid reasons.

The question went something like ‘A boy has 11 candies, he passed 5 to his friends, how many does he have left’? The correct working answer should be ‘11-5=6’, answer is 6, but her daughter wrote ‘5+6=11’, answer is 6.

She debated to herself for quite sometime. Her daughter was given only 1 mark out of 4 (or 5 can’t remember exactly). To her, it wasn’t the fact that the marks were deducted, but the issue of 'what message are we giving our kids? Aren’t they being taught in school to think creatively and be flexible in giving the answers? Ultimately, the answer is correct.

She finally stuck a sticky note onto her daughter’s papers before passing them back to the school. The note went something like this: ‘May I suggest that the marks given to this question be reassessed? Ultimately, our children are being taught that ‘5+6=11’ and ‘11-5=6’ is the same’. (She tried not to sound too pushy)

Sure enough, the teacher called to inform her that after assessing with the principal, the full marks to the question be given back to the child!!!

[Miracle Child]

I had a colleague’s daughter who was in Pri 1 two years back. In the exam, there was a question which had a girl’s name (let’s say "Danielle") and there was no other reference in the question that you could possibly tell that it was a gir’s name. Her daughter, when replying the question, use "he" instead of "she". She was deducted marks for that. My colleague provided feedback to her teacher during PTM on this; she felt that he daughter was unfairly penalised : a Pri 1 student cannot possibly know all the names in the world and the gender associated with the names.