by Dennis Harter
Keeping informed of how your child’s learning is progressing is an important part in the partnership between home and school to ensure your child’s success and happiness. In addition to PowerSchool updates and an open door communication philosophy with teachers, counselors and administrators, we also schedule events that keep you “in the loop” on information you might need to know about our program.
During this semester, there will be several of these events specifically targeted for certain purposes, so please be on the lookout for these.
Expert on substance abuse
On March 4th, 7:30 to 8:45 AM, a consultant from Freedom from Chemical Dependency will be running a parent session on drugs, alcohol, and general substance use and abuse by adolescents. During Tuesday – Friday that week, he will be working with our middle school students around these topics.
Parent-Teacher Conferences
On March 10 & 11, we will host parent-teacher conferences. This is a time to talk with teachers about how your child’s learning is progressing at this stage and to get feedback regarding their Habits and Attitude for Learning (HAL). Conference appointment “sign-ups” will be online and will take place in the week prior to the conferences. Based on feedback from last semester, we will be strict around honoring sign-up times and ensuring that parents in the time slot are prioritized to see the teachers. Parents who are late for their time block will not be allowed to join another slot, unless there is space as that negatively impacts others’ opportunities for rich conversation. Within the 30-minute blocks, we will use a timer to indicate when parents need to switch to other teachers.
Grade 8 to HS transition
On March 14th, we will be hosting parent sessions in conjunction with the high school, to share information regarding registration and general expectations for grade 8 students transitioning to high school next year. There will be a morning session 9:30 to 10:30 am and a repeated evening session, 6:30 to 7:30 pm.
Growing our Culture of Care
Throughout the school, we are invested in the social and emotional development of our students. More and more, this is becoming the focus of schools as they prepare young people for success, not just academically, but in life. Once thought of as “soft skills,” in fact, resilience, empathy, collaboration, communication, and responsibility are fundamental to both academic success and long-term happiness. In the coming year, the ISB Middle School will be implementing an Advisory program, which will focus on kids feeling cared for (important if we expect them to learn) and social and emotional development. This semester we are preparing for this implementation, including training, curriculum development, and scheduling. At a future PTA meeting, we will share some of the tenets of the program, along with our hopes for how the students’ experiences will be impacted.
What’s the IB Program?
In grades 11 & 12, students may elect to take courses within or the full IB Diploma Program. That is a long way off for our MS students, but there are still some elements of the program worth knowing about even during middle school. In April (date to be determined) we will provide general information sessions for parents on what the program entails, what options there are for students down the road, and what students could or should be doing in the years leading up to grade 11 (as well as the things they don’t need to worry about).