Top 5 Ways to Set-Up
Parent/Teacher Conferences
Whether you meet with parents at one coordinated time, or if you casually "meet" monthly/weekly, any parent contact is better than not communicating with parents at all. If you set-up annual parent/teacher conferences, I wanted to provide some ways to help you coordinate the set-up of these meetings. Below are 5 different options to help you set-up your conferences. If you have a different method, please let us know in the comments below.
1. Google Calendar Appointment Slots
- -Google Calendar (kind of difficult to set up)
- Appointment slots will allow your guests to choose one of the times you have designated for conferencing. Using appointment slots also avoids overlapping appointments, and, unlike a Google Sheet with everyone having editing access, appointment slots will only allow parents to select a specific time slot.
2. Google Form or a Google Sheet with Edit Access:
- -Form: Google Form using a dropdown question. Using the Google Form add-on (Choice Eliminator 2), you can set this dropdown question to automatically get rid of each choice after a parent selects it. Doesn't always work perfectly... so do it at your own risk.
- -Sheet: Change share settings: ANYONE with the link can edit... this will allow parents to fill in their name next to a designated time slot.
3. Calendly
- -https://calendly.com/
- -I know a lot of folks that use this outside of our school district... free and easy to use. Calendly uncomplicates scheduling by only offering times that work with your availability across all of your calendars. Calendly is your hub for scheduling meetings professionally and efficiently, eliminating the hassle of back-and-forth emails so you can get back to work.
4. Appoint.ly
- -https://appoint.ly/
- This is a great booking website like Calendly. Works well for creating appointment slots and having people choose their correct time/date. No back-and-forth emails, no double booking. Only a few seconds to schedule an appointment.
5. SignUpGenius
- -https://www.signupgenius.com/faq/create-time-slot-sign-up-appointments.cfm
- SignUpGenius has been around for a long time. This site, along with YouCanBook.me, were the first two booking websites I used to use before I started scheduling everything through Google forms. SignUpGenius is an easy to use booking website that may be a great option for people looking for a quick & easy way to conduct scheduling.
This afternoon, I learned that our district communication platform, ParentSquare, can also be used for setting up appointment slots for parent conferences and many other ideas. ParentSquare has been an excellent platform addition to our school district, and benefits staff, parents, students, and community members. Check them out if you haven't already!
Other GREAT reasons to use Appointment Slots!
Don't forget, you could also keep your entire parent/teacher conference virtual by using Google Meet, Zoom, or any other teleconferencing service/program. I enjoy using whereby.com. Whereby allows me to create a static teleconferencing room that I can invite others to. The cool part, the guests that I'm inviting don't need to have an account. Basically, once you create your digital room, you are just sending parents a URL that they can join.
This link will take you to an excellent resource (provided from TEA) that will give you pointers for when your conference begins. Talking points, how-to, questions to ask, etc. Enjoy, and good luck during your parent/teacher conferences. Infographic from TEA, HERE.
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