Anonymous wrote:MY DS is now a 7th grader, we are no longer getting the weekly emails on what they are working on and how their week was... Do we have to email them? I just emailed his core teacher and CC THE AP asking them why the lack of emails?
How often are they suppose to emails?

They are supposed to emails when there is problem.

Anonymous wrote:MY DS is now a 7th grader, we are no longer getting the weekly emails on what they are working on and how their week was... Do we have to email them? I just emailed his core teacher and CC THE AP asking them why the lack of emails?
How often are they suppose to emails?

Oh. My. God.

Anonymous wrote:This is why departmentalization stinks.

It's middle school. Any college-educated professional teacher should be able to teach every core subject (not world language or high school level math) to middle schoolers.

Fine but you're still not sending a weekly newsletter home. It's middle school not kindergarten.

Anonymous wrote:This is why departmentalization stinks.

It's middle school. Any college-educated professional teacher should be able to teach every core subject (not world language or high school level math) to middle schoolers.

This is an absurd post.

In middle school, teachers should be specialists in the subject they teach.

I don't want my child taught pre-Algebta or Geometry by someone who doesn't have a specific license in mathematics. Errors in mathematical methodology can impact understanding of mathematics globally. I want even middle school- level math taught by a specialist.

I don't want my child taught grammar or writing by someone who doesn't have a specific license in English and who knows the intricacies of English grammar. By middle school, kids need much more specialized writing, literary analysis, and vocabulary instruction than a generalist can provide.

Perhaps middle school science and history can be taught by almost any college-educated individual, but math and English cannot.

This is why departmentalization stinks.

It's middle school. Any college-educated professional teacher should be able to teach every core subject (not world language or high school level math) to middle schoolers.

Anonymous wrote:Since you’re new to middle school, it’s really easy to track what your students are working on in schoolology. The parent login shows due dates, completed and missing assignments and their grades. You can also see the folders and topics for what they are working on. If you ask your child to login, you can see the lectures, assignments, and all the work your student is doing. The parent login is very helpful in helping to have conversations with your child about what they are working on.

This. Plus if your middle schooler is bringing home homework you can see that work also. And ask them to show you graded work, if there's any on paper.

If you want to know what they are learning, it's on you.
-parent of new 7th grader

I'll be kinder than the others. It's time to start loosening the reins a bit. If you want to know what is happening in school, ask your child. If you get nowhere, push harder. Then log onto Schoology if you still get nowhere. Do not make lack of communication with your child the teacher's issue. They are old enough now to give you a run-down of what they are doing in each class if that is what you desire.

OP: Your child was in a class of 20-30 kids with one Teacher for most of ES. That Teacher could easily send an email to the parents of the students that covered what was happening in the classroom. Your Child in MS has 7 Teachers who have 140-210 students (7 periods with 20-30 students in each class.) I might be off on the number of students because I have seen people say that MS/HS teachers have 150 students so it could be that the number of students is capped at 150. Either way, that would be 7 emails, instead of one, for 150 students. It is not feasible for Teachers to do that and answer whatever questions that parents will be sending weekly.

You can access your child's Grade Book on SIS and Schoology. My kid is a 7th grader and I can see his grades and a description of the assignments that have been entered in his gradebook.

You can also check the syllabus and assignments in Schoology.

Finally, my child is bringing home work in his binders so I can see what it is that they are working on by flipping through his binder.