A major focus of our approach in grades seven and eight is aimed at helping students build the skills and confidence they'll need to be successful in high school. Among the most essential is their ability to study and complete homework independently. The best way parents can support this process at home is to give their child the support they require, but nothing more. This process is gradual and middle schoolers build academic independence at different rates. Be patient with your child and remember that learning is a journey.

A good place to start in terms of homework support is with verbal reminders:

• Remind your child to check their Google Calendar to see what is assigned every Monday-Thursday evening.

• Upon beginning homework, remind your child to read the assignment's directions and locate teacher-supplied resources that can help.

Many students benefit from a quick content review to refresh their understanding before completing homework. Teachers supply many digital resources to help with this and all are located in Google Classroom; they include: notes, vocabulary squares, Google Slides, Quizlet, Kahoot, and more. After a long day of school, the need to refresh is normal and some families report they have fun quickly going over this material together.

• Middle School homework is all digital in nature and logged daily in Google Calendar. 

• The Calendar includes links to the assignments, which are housed in Google Classroom. 

• Directions on how to complete assignments can be found in Google Classroom and/or directly on the digital document. 

• Homework can be completed on any device where the student is able to log into Chrome to access Google Classroom.

• Begin by helping your child check their calendar to see what is assigned, read directions, and locate resources.

• Help your student review the teacher-provided resources to refresh their understanding before attempting to complete homework. These are all located in Google Classroom and include: notes, vocabulary squares, Google Slides, Quizlet, Kahoot, and more. 

• Encourage your child to use assistive technology like Read & Write for Google. In middle school, we strongly recommend: 

  1. • Reading Tools: Text to Speech (most common), Hover Speech & Screenshot Reader (websites and some PDFs), Screen Masking, and Simplify

     • Writing Tools: Talk & Type, Predictive Text, Fact Finder, and Check-It tools

• If a student is struggling with a specific assignment, has spent a very long time with little success, or has become frustrated/emotional, please pause homework for the evening and notify their teacher of the challenges. 

  1. • This is a great opportunity to model advocacy! Work with your child to send a specific email to their teacher to clarify what they need help on.  Your classroom teacher is the best resource to answer these questions and can do so within the context of daily classes. 

       1. • “What resource can I use to answer Question 2?”

          • “Where do I find the information for...?”

          • “Can you help me better understand _____?”

• All middle schoolers are welcome to attend our  after-school homework support room (Tuesday-Friday) where a staff member is on hand to help guide this process. 

When Middle School faculty assign study time, it's typically a set amount of minutes per evening. Many middle schoolers need help from an adult to study, but over time the goal is to study independently. Parents should note that when a challenging concept arises, it's normal and encouraged for students at any grade level to ask for assistance. Whether your child has been assigned study time, or you just want to review classroom concepts at home, the following suggestions can help you be a productive "study buddy.” 

1. Students should use teacher-created study materials (ex. Kahoot, Quizlet, Quia, EdPuzzle, etc.) along with notes, vocabulary squares or other relevant materials.

2. Parents may use these same resources to “quiz” the student. To help prioritize where to focus efforts, categorize the concepts your child:

1. Knows well

2. Knows, but is still shaky on

3. Doesn’t know

Parents and/or students can then use these resources to review where the most help is needed. 

It may also be helpful to “retake the quiz” after reviewing any content your child didn’t know well. However, parents should note that review, reteaching, and correcting misunderstandings is a regular part of Lawrence instruction. 

4. If an assessment is upcoming and your child is struggling with classroom content, we advise parents to help their child self-advocate. Work with them to email their teacher to ask for help.