Unfortunately, I was unable to attend an official IEP meeting due to the fact that I started my observation hours so late in the school year. Thus, I decided to attend one of the parent/teacher conferences with Mrs. Klinglerer and a third grade teacher at Hillview Elementary School. This particular student went to Mrs. Klingler for reading and writing in the afternoon but was in the general education classroom for all other subjects. According to the third grade teacher, this student is a very hard worker and has a positive attitude about any challenging tasks he is given. He is doing exceptionally well in all of his classes except spelling. His mother expressed concern that although he loves learning new information, he does not like to practice reading or spelling. Often times she has to ask him four or five times to sit down and do his homework, but he still refuses to do it.

The mother said, “I want him to do well, but his homework is his responsibility. I am not going to continue to ask him to do it if he doesn’t want to. He needs to learn that if he doesn’t do his homework there will be consequences.”

Mrs. Klinger seemed to be concerned about the fact that this student had stayed in for recess to complete his unfinished homework for the past two or three weeks. She seemed to think that perhaps the reason why this student was refusing to do his homework at home was because he wanted to miss recess at school. She stated that, “we need to make sure this consequence is not encouraging him to continue to ‘forget’ his homework. Maybe the consequence is part of the problem.” All three adults agreed that they would really analyze and assess the situation before changing the consequence to something different.

Mrs. Klingler continued to express concern about the fact that although this student was in third grade, he was still reading on a 1st grade level. Although he likes to read in school and he tries hard to study his spelling words, his reading is adversely affecting his academics. As the material continues to get harder, the reading will become even more of a barrier. The mother asked Mrs. Klingler if there were any online games or activities that she could use to motivate her son to read because he loves the computer and video games. Mrs. Klinger gave her three or four online databases that are excellent resources for motivating students to read. The mother also explained that her husband has a hard time reading and her son who is now a senior in high school still can’t read or spell with accuracy.

During the beginning of this conference I was afraid that the mother had given up on her son’s ability to read. However, as she continued to talk I realized that there were multiple members of the family who had a hard time reading and spelling and she was doing the best she could to help him succeed in his studies. Listening to this conversation, I was wondering whether a reward system would work to motivate this student to read. Perhaps he could earn his way to having time on the computer or playing video games after completing his reading and writing homework. Overall however, I really enjoyed my first experience at a professional student/teacher conference. I was able to see how the parent and teachers interact with one another and work together to ensure they are meeting the needs of that student. The general education teacher and special education teacher informed her of how well her son was doing academically, what he was excelling in and then strategies for the areas in which he was struggling. The parent seemed very willing to try any strategy that would help her son in school; she seemed fully aware of his situation and was eager to help in any way that she could.