Techniques and values of parent conferences

Abstract

The purpose of tne Training School in relation to the teacher training institution is most generally thought of as a teaching-learning situation, in which prospective teachers may, during their period of training, observe experienced teachers teaching, participate in classroom activities, and gain a limited experience in teaching. This function of the training school emphasizes methods and techniques of teaching with a greater stress upon performance than upon understanding of the child,.his needs, and potentialities. The growing emphasis upon child growth and development in education and the experiences which a child has prior to entering school presents an additional challenge to the kindergarten supervisor of a training school. It is necessary not only for her to gain as complete information about the children for developing more effective teaching-learning situations, but also creating on the part of prospective teachers assigned to her a greater sensitivity to understanding the child. As a means of further refining techniques of teaching, thus developihg more effective teaching-learning situations for both children and college students, the Campus training school at Western Michigan College of Education has for the past six years studied intensively the kindergarten children, prior to their entering and during the early weeks of the school year. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to give somewhat in detail the procedure used during this six-year period, report some of the findings, and indicate some of the values which may be derived from the study. During this period, approximately two hundred four-and-one-half to five-year-old children have entered the campus kindergarten. The home background of these children ranges from the lower middle to the upper class, using family incomes and occupations as indices. The greater number of the children come from comfortable homes as classified on the economic basis. The education of the parents ranges from elementary school to college graduates with a high percentage from the college group.