What's your teen doing in class?

This might be a good time to check your student's grades. I have a few grades in (finally!), and you can get an idea of how well your student works in class by looking at the "Writer's Notebook" grade. Students were assigned 7 entries--I looked at 6. I simply skim through their notebook to see that they've completed the work, usually a reading guide or strategy. Many students completed little of the work--what's important for you to know is that I usually (and I mean about 99% of the time!) give students plenty of time to work on the strategies during class time. Whatever they don't finish, they must finish on their own as "homework". Also remember that aside from reading and vocab quizzes, I give very  little formal homework.

So how do kids know if they've got work to do for English 11? I always give them a verbal reminder: "If you didn't finish your reading strategy, it's homework." I also write the assignment on the front board and/or under the HW section of the board. And last of all (as always!) the daily agenda, assignments, and all materials are available on Moodle.