forparents

=About This Website - For Parents and Guardians=

As I've welcomed your students to their fresh academic year, I'd also like to welcome you to life as an Earth Science parent! Science is a subject that will demand much from your child this year, and will also provide them with an academic background that is absolutely essential to their education and their adult lives. I'm designing this website to help your student succeed in science, by serving as a resource both for them //and// for you. It's my hope that this website will better enable us to be an effective team in improving your student's academic performance.

These are some of the ways that parents have used the website in the past:
 * I intend for all assignments and their due dates to eventually be listed here. Parents have used this resource to keep informed about their student's responsibilities in-class, and to help them check in daily with their student's progress. Especially if your student tends to have difficulty remembering to write all of his or her assignments in an agenda, the website can help you stay on top of what your student has completed and reminding him or her what still needs to be completed.
 * Our daily topics and objectives will be listed here, allowing you to stay on top of what your student is learning in science class. Of course, the best way to achieve this is by asking the student to explain what she or he learned today, but teenagers can have that bad habit of skirting the question with the ever-popular "Oh, stuff" or the dreaded "It was okay." Parents tell me that it's easier sometimes to get conversations about school started when they have a jumping-off point from the website: "So you studied population size in class today? What are the things that can cause a population's size to change?" It not only helps you remain active in this part of your teen's life, but research has repeatedly shown that when students must explain what they've learned each day, their performance in school improves!
 * Important documents like the class syllabus will also be available to you to view at any time, for your reference in case you should have a question about the course.

No part of this website contains information about any student, and no part of this website is password protected. You can see everything that your student can see.

I hope that this resource proves helpful for you, and I look forward to meeting you as the year progresses! If you should have concerns about your student's success in the class, please feel free to E-Mail me and set up a time when we can discuss how best to provide support together and ensure that your teen is excelling.

Best Wishes,

Rebecca Stang rstang@harwich.edu