PowerSchool (user name and passwords available from your homeroom teacher)"How is my child doing in class?" is a common question for parents to ask. The answer is much more complicated than the question, however, and viewing a set of grades does not answer it very well. To give a thorough answer to that question you should receive information about things like:
Currently I don't have a system in place that can provide many of those things listed above but am always open to ideas and for having discussions with any interested parent. Grades are supposed to be a comparison of a student's potential to their performance. All too often though, grades measure merely productivity and a student's ability to follow directions, regurgitate content without extremely deep analysis and with only minimal creativity. Those are valuable skills but not the only ones with which a student should leave 8th grade. Assignments that go beyond that realm are hard to assess on a points scale --- how do I, as a teacher, know (much less measure) a student's potential? Impossible, I say. I can compare one student's product with the average product for that class or grade level, but that comparison rewards conformity, which is not my goal. So my personal compromise is to use grades only for what they are able to measure. Although most middle school kids aren't very effusive when asked "How was school today", some of them will answer specific questions about the activities in a class or their interpretation of the lessons experienced. Ask a specific question to get a specific answer. If you have any suggestions for methods that I can use to effectively communicate the other types of information listed above, I would love to hear your ideas. As always, if you have questions or comments or concerns, feel free to call me. Abbreviations ChartOld text: The unit packets are the best way to find out about the course content and curricular materials. A few days after the end of each unit your child should bring home he unit packet for your review and signature. Although the packets are thick (20+ pages) it might be a good idea for you to ask your child about some of the assignments or maybe review the questions missed on the tests. The student knows that if they find errors in my correcting they can show them to me to get more points, so it is to their advantage as well as yours to review some portion of the materials. Packet cover sheets contain the scores for all assignments and tests from the unit as well as individual comments from the student and me regarding their performance and/or the content of the unit. Please add any comments you have to the packet and send it back to class with your student. Those packets will be assembled into a book to be used (hopefully) concurrent to their continued science education |