While we would be happy to talk with you whenever you have questions or concerns, seventh grade is the perfect developmental stage to help students begin advocating for themselves and taking full ownership of their learning. To support this growth, we ask that you please talk with your child first about questions/concerns. If they say that things aren't going well or they don't know what the problem is, please encourage them to come talk to us to sort things out, and then report back to you. It is not abnormal for this to be difficult for students, but it is an important part of their growth as learners.

The "red flags" that should definitely alert you to contact us after asking your child to speak with us are:

• any reports of "the teacher doesn't have time to talk to me" about what might be going on with grades or performance (We will always make time to address student concerns.)

• evidence of your child still not understanding what the problem is (We always make sure students understand our discussions.)

• any reports of your child not having a chance to talk to us over a period lasting more than 2-3 days (Students can approach us at the beginning or end of any class period.)

• your child's report of what our conversation doesn't seem to make sense to you (There may be some missing information.)

Parents should have online accounts in Progress Book (see link below) where students' grades can be viewed. Google Classroom will not be as reliable for assignment completion/timeliness as the comments we enter on Progress Book.

PLEASE NOTE: Because of parent access to Progress Book, we will not be contacting parents regularly about student grades.

To see your child's individual grade and assignment status, please remember that you should always be referencing ProgressBook, as what appears on Google Classroom is merely a general overview and should not be seen as an entirely accurate reflection of student progress. (see How do I keep up with my student's grades/performance? section above)