Many parents in the past have asked for strategies they could use with their son/daughter to get more out their science experience.  The following is a list of suggestions.

 Ask your student:

1. To share the information we are studying in class with you each day.  Check to be certain they are entering assignments and due dates in their planners/ phone calendars.  All of this will help you to encourage your student to be better organized.  To keep you and your student up to date in class, I will provide a schedule of events on my Honors Physics home page and on the stream on google classroom.

2. To set up a space to keep all of their school work organized.  Make sure that they have a central calendar that they mark all of the assignments on so they do not lose track of due dates.  They should write down their work that needs to be completed as soon as they receive the weekly schedule from their teacher.

3. To come to class on time each day.  A lot of important information is given out in class.  Students will also work in groups to practice and discuss the content.  That is hard to make up when a student is absent.

4. To check their email each day.  A lot of communication will be coming to them through email.  Have them delete anything that they do not need and flag important emails so they do not get lost.  At the end of the week, they should look through the emails that they received and clear out anything they do not need so they are ready for the next week's work.

5. To ask for help AS SOON AS THEY NEED IT!  I am available to help, they just have to ask to schedule a time.  Physics concepts build on one another and it is best to ask for help early because the concept will not be going away.  We will just be adding to it in future chapters.

6. To make sure to keep up with the assignments.  Again, physics concepts build on one another and it is best learned in small chunks, not all at once.

7. To explain the concepts that we are learning in class to you.  Physics is a laboratory-based class.  I believe in hands-on learning and real life examples.  There are many opportunities to explain physics concepts in real life. It has been proven that you retain 95% of the material when you teach it to someone else.

I believe that one of the main keys to your child’s success is parent-teacher communication.  I update the weekly schedule each week to let you know what learning should be taking place during the week.  

I may also periodically e-mail parents/guardians through MiStar.  Please make sure your e-mail is up to date with the main office.  

This year parents/guardians will be again able to check their student’s test grades, missing assignments, and overall grade from MiStar.  Please contact your student’s counselor if you need more information about this service.  I will be entering the standards that students will be earning each chapter at the beginning of the chapter.  As students prove that they have mastered the standards, I will enter their grade.  I will be using the typical standards based grading scale, which is 1-4 and will reflect students’ increasing skill. 1's indicate that students have little understanding of a concept, and consequently cannot demonstrate any mastery.  If they can demonstrate partial mastery, the  score is a 2. Once they meet a target, they score 3. Typically 4's are used for students who exceed targets.  If there is a blank, I have not entered the score for that standard yet.  It may be that the student has not had the opportunity to show me what they have learned.  A zero indicates that the student had the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, but they chose not to.

Your student is encouraged to sign up for text messages from me through Remind.  I will be sending out quick reminders or helpful hints on Remind.  All of the weekly announcements will be posted on here and on the google classroom stream, which you can receive if you sign up for a parent email summary (see that section above.) 

Please also talk to your student about academic honesty.  I have seen a rise in students using their phones to take pictures of homework assignments and tests to send to other students.  Sending or receiving other people’s work is academic dishonesty and could result in a zero for the assignment/test, no credit in the class, and/or academic dishonesty written on their report card.  It is important for students to do their own work to be able to properly learn the material.  Your student has signed an academic honesty agreement that said that they understand what it means and will not engage in any dishonest behavior.

With standards based grading, students need to show that they have learned the material, not that their lab partner or friend has learned the material.