8th Grade Home Page

·     maintain individual teacher web pages. These are optional, and there is not a single template for these pages. However, most members of the eighth-grade team provide some or all of the following: a list of homework assignments, calendar, links and class handouts as well as other features. Please remember, however, that your child’s planner supersedes anything on the web page. It is impossible to update the site immediately following each class, and it would be pedagogically unsound to rigidly follow a set of lesson plans at the expense of what is actually happening in the classroom.

·     post an eighth-grade web page. This page is located at the top of the list of eighth- grade teachers on the faculty web page. It contains a schedule, monthly academic calendars, late work policies, supply lists and information on events such as Writers’ Café and the backpacking trip. This information is updated intermittently, so it is a good idea to check it now and then throughout the year.

·      instruct and review backward planning during advisory. Hard copies of monthly calendars are filled out and reviewed during advisory. Teachers and advisors will help students break long-term projects into more manageable chunks.

·      foster the student’s sense of resiliency in terms of academic growth and social interaction. Individuals, students and adults alike, can often have a “mindset” about their abilities and their performance that has the potential to impede their progress. Rather than assess the reasons for success or failure and plan for behavioral modifications that increase the likelihood of success in the future, a person with a “fixed mindset” does little to analyze the situation. This becomes especially problematic for students when they associate their failure with the word can’t. In advisory, we will help students ascertain how they might use their mistakes as learning opportunities. We will practice strategies that will help them pinpoint reasons for their disappointments rather than experiencing them as intellectual character flaws. Resiliency asks students to develop a positive attitude about their ability and their social interactions. 

·      provide planner checks for selected students. Many eighth graders still require assistance maintaining an accurate planner. Advisors and teachers are available to work with students needing extra help by checking planners for accuracy and / or completeness. If necessary, a more formal plan can be instituted to include teacher signatures and an end-of-the-day advisor check in. Although our goal for each student is academic independence, some students still need some closely monitored scaffolding as they transition to independent young adult learners.

·      Let your child bear the majority of the responsibility for knowing what the assignments are and when they are due.

·      Help your child break up long assignments into more manageable chunks.

·     Check that your child has an accurate and complete planner. We can make more formal arrangements regarding planner completion if necessary. (See teacher section above.) Include extracurricular obligations and family commitments in the planner.

·     Consider creating a large monthly calendar or whiteboard with due dates for projects / papers. Include major family commitments / events on this calendar as well.

·      Ask your son / daughter to explain his / her organizational methodology at the beginning of the year. Then, check binders intermittently with your child to ensure that this organization is being effectively maintained. Those students who are not naturally inclined to keep themselves organized will need support in this area more often than their counterparts; however, organization is a critical element in any student’s success.

·     Contact the advisor if you have a concern that involves more than one subject.

·     Carefully evaluate the necessity of family trips during the school year. As stated in the student handbook, “Missing classes diminishes a student's learning experience and may result in serious academic consequences. Because much of what we teach requires in-class group work and discussion, some learning opportunities will be missed and cannot be replicated outside of the classroom. It is at the discretion of the teacher how this will impact the student's overall grade. Extended vacations are greatly discouraged because it is not always possible or appropriate for teachers to assist students in making up missed work.”

·     Encourage your child to sign up for a study hall during activity block. If your child struggles in a particular subject, check to see if the teacher of that subject offers a study hall.

·      Review homework policies with your child (see Teacher Web Pages and the 8^th Grade Team Page Late Work Policy link) especially following an absence. Teachers will, of course, review policy with students as they introduce their courses; however, students are often in information-overload during their first several weeks of school. Offering students the opportunity to assimilate this information in the calm of an evening is often beneficial.