FSB Author Article
Now, Discover Your Children's Strengths.
by Jenifer Fox,
Author of Your Child's Strengths: A Guide for Parents and Teachers
Parent-Teacher Conferences, A Time to Celebrate Strengths
It is parent-teacher conference time and you arranged your
schedule three months in advance to attend. If you are like most
parents, you feel a certain amount of anxiety around this event. You
attend hoping there won't be any surprises and that you won't discover
that your child is experiencing any difficulties. Unfortunately, most
parent-teacher conferences focus on grades rather than children, with
the primary goal of addressing a child's area of weakness. Few parents
go to conferences with the main goal of discovering where and how their
children excel. I know, I was a teacher for ten years and the parents
of the students who were getting A's in my class rarely attended
conferences, or if they came, they usually breezed by my table, winked
and whispered, "Keep up the good work."
Parent-teacher conferences become an occasion to look forward to when
they are viewed as prime opportunities to talk with teachers about your
child's strengths. What exactly are strengths? Strength are the
activities that energize and excite your child when he is doing them.
This is as opposed to his weaknesses, the activities that leave him
feeling depleted. There are three kinds of strengths: Activity
Strengths (the things you do that energize you), Relationship Strength
(the things you do with and for others that make you feel energized and
proud) and Learning Strengths (the ways that learning makes the most
sense to you). All of these strengths are discoverable land your child
can develop them to find success.
The conversation about changing our minds, our schools, and our nation
to a paradigm that focuses on strengths begins with parents and
teachers. Parents, teachers, and students can begin to form a strength
alliance between the home and the school. If you are a parent and use
this book at home, share it with your school. Likewise, if you are a
teacher and practice these exercises and philosophies with your
students, waste no time in sharing them with your students' parents.
Here are some exercises to help advance the strength alliance.
- Draft a one-page letter to your child's teacher if you are a parent, to a child's parent if you are a teacher, or to both your teacher and your parent if you are a student. In the letter, describe the Learning Strengths of the child in question in as much detail as you can. Include how he -- or you, if you're the student -- likes to learn, what things he enjoys doing most, what type of environment works best for him, and what he finds difficult. Share this letter with the person for whom you wrote it. If you are a parent, bring the letter to parent-teacher conferences.
- Read the following case study and answer the accompanying questions.
Yolanda's Day in School: Yolanda is a focused student. She takes
everything she does in class very seriously and listens very well to
the teacher. She does not like to participate in group activities, and
she does not raise her hand much or contribute to class discussions
unless the teacher calls on her. Although she completes all her
assignments, sometimes her work is not correct. At recess, Yolanda
likes to sit in the shade and read. She has a few friends that sit with
her, but she does not like to join in the large group activities on the
playground.
Given what you know about Learning Strengths, create a learning profile
of Yolanda. Ask a teacher or another parent to do the same, and then
compare your decisions and insights.
Copyright © 2009 Jenifer Fox, author of Your Child's Strengths: A Guide for Parents and Teachers
Author Bio
Jenifer Fox, author of Your Child's Strengths: A Guide for Parents and Teachers, is an educator and public speaker who has worked in public and
independent schools as a teacher and administrator for twenty-five years. She is currently the international leader of the Strengths Movement in K-12 schools. She holds a B.S. in communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an M.A. in English from Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English, and an M.Ed. in school administration from Harvard University.
For more information, please visit www.strengthsmovement.com