Here’s how it is scored:
Now, let’s see what that looks like in practice!
If the participant says…. My experience has nothing to do with it. I know what I am talking about.
They would be scored… Low
Because… The teacher is responding negatively and focusing on defending themselves rather than on building a relationship with the parent.
If the participant says…. They had experience with Katie, but I have quite a lot of experience myself. So maybe you could tell me some things that Katie’s teachers have done to help her have more peer interaction?
They would be scored… Low
Because… Here the word “but” is doing a lot of work. The teacher sounds like she is agreeing with dad, but then she pivots to defending herself. The goal is to build a strong relationship with the parent and it is hard to see how this line will get the teacher there.
If the participant says…. Okay, so my, what I’m thinking is I might try, I’m thinking about having Thinking about having her join another base group and maybe makes a difference. And I’ve also told her that if there’s any time the class that she feels uncomfortable, all right, someone’s giving her a hard time about something, she can always come and talk to me.
They would be scored… Medium
Because… Here the teacher totally ignored what the parent said– and that is totally okay! If the teacher ignores what the parent says and pivots, we give them a medium score because as a response that doesn’t hurt or help the relationship with the parent.
If the participant says…. I understand that I am new to teaching. That’s why I wanted to reach out to you.
They would be scored… High
Because… This is a simple response but the teacher has affirmed and pursued– acknowledged what the parent said and then made a connection back to the meeting purpose.
If the participant says…. Yeah, that’s, I mean, that’s true. I’m not as experienced as other teachers, and I totally understand where you’re coming from. I don’t know if she’s the same way and other classes. I’ll have to talk to the other teachers about that, to see what they’re doing in order to get her to participate.
They would be scored… High
Because… There’s a theme here. Everyone doing this simulation will be an inexperienced teacher. Denying it and arguing don’t build the relationship with the parent– we have had folks tout their hours of observation or tutoring after school. Those are great– but we also want new teachers to understand that parents will ask them about their experience and they need ways to respond that build the parent relationship and the teacher’s legitimacy (and a 21 year tell a 40+ parent I tutored a few times is probably not going to get there).