ShortCuts in This Guide

• Help My Child Get Organized
  If you and your child are stressing over how to juggle student homework, chores, clubs, and friends, you need to teach some simple organizational and time management tips. Experts who study time management and organization recommend these steps:
  
  Schedule your child’s life. Put a day planner at the top of the school supply list, and then show your child how to use it. First, write down essential tasks, such as classes and soccer practice. Then add in the other activities for each day.
  
  Set realistic timelines for assignments. Talk your child through the process of scheduling time for getting work done. Here’s an example of what you might say: “Suppose you have a science lab report due in a week. You figure you’ll need about three hours to complete the assignment. How many nights will you have to work on it? Remember, you'll probably have other homework and assignments, too. If you can give the assignment a full two hours of attention one night, you'll have it done in two nights. But if you're also working on an essay for English, the timeline for your lab report might have to change.” After a few weeks of going through the process together, begin to let your child take control of setting timelines for homework assignments.
  
  Set priorities. Life is all about making choices. Your child might want to watch TV, but a science lab report is due tomorrow. What takes priority: watching TV or writing the lab report? A good student recognizes that homework comes first and prioritizes time to complete multiple assignments.
   
  Teach your child to prioritize by asking the following questions:
  

  1. Which assignment will take the most time?
  2. Which assignment will take the least time?
  3. Should I finish one assignment before I start the next, or should I do parts of each assignment every day until I finish all of them?

  
  Break big tasks into smaller subtasks and schedule each subtask. Break down big projects into smaller pieces. It's easier to schedule smaller activities, especially when there are only two hours a day to work on several assignments. For example, your child might break down the steps in completing a science lab report like this. Help your child talk through this process for a few assignments until he or she is comfortable doing it independently.
  

  1. Review assignment expectations, evaluation rubric, my observations, and data from the lab (ten minutes)
  2. Draft conclusions based on data (one hour)
  3. Write the purpose, hypothesis statement, materials following proper scientific format (forty minutes)
  4. Create data tables and graphs (thirty minutes)
  5. Put it all together (thirty minutes)
  6. Read over the report to catch errors, review conclusions, etc. (ten minutes).

  
  Give your child the tools to succeed. Get a desk for your middle schooler’s room. A desk represents a tangible family commitment to schoolwork and provides an excellent place for storage, too. Stock your home library with a dictionary, thesaurus, and possibly an atlas. A good dictionary is worth the substantial price tag for hard cover, and thesauruses are available in paperback. Finally, buy a file box or accordion folders so your child will have a place to store papers. A simple, accessible filing system will help him or her find previous notes, tests, and reports quickly and easily.
  
  Reward your child. If you see that your middle schooler is succeeding at sticking to the study schedule, give him or her a treat. It could be shooting hoops for an hour, eating popcorn, surfing the Internet for fun, or playing a video game.

• Help My Child Get Organized

  If you and your child are stressing over how to juggle student homework, chores, clubs, and friends, you need to teach some simple organizational and time management tips. Experts who study time management and organization recommend these steps:
  
  Schedule your child’s life. Put a day planner at the top of the school supply list, and then show your child how to use it. First, write down essential tasks, such as classes and soccer practice. Then add in the other activities for each day.
  
  Set realistic timelines for assignments. Talk your child through the process of scheduling time for getting work done. Here’s an example of what you might say: “Suppose you have a science lab report due in a week. You figure you’ll need about three hours to complete the assignment. How many nights will you have to work on it? Remember, you'll probably have other homework and assignments, too. If you can give the assignment a full two hours of attention one night, you'll have it done in two nights. But if you're also working on an essay for English, the timeline for your lab report might have to change.” After a few weeks of going through the process together, begin to let your child take control of setting timelines for homework assignments.
  
  Set priorities. Life is all about making choices. Your child might want to watch TV, but a science lab report is due tomorrow. What takes priority: watching TV or writing the lab report? A good student recognizes that homework comes first and prioritizes time to complete multiple assignments.
   
  Teach your child to prioritize by asking the following questions:
  

  1. Which assignment will take the most time?
  2. Which assignment will take the least time?
  3. Should I finish one assignment before I start the next, or should I do parts of each assignment every day until I finish all of them?

  
  Break big tasks into smaller subtasks and schedule each subtask. Break down big projects into smaller pieces. It's easier to schedule smaller activities, especially when there are only two hours a day to work on several assignments. For example, your child might break down the steps in completing a science lab report like this. Help your child talk through this process for a few assignments until he or she is comfortable doing it independently.
  

  1. Review assignment expectations, evaluation rubric, my observations, and data from the lab (ten minutes)
  2. Draft conclusions based on data (one hour)
  3. Write the purpose, hypothesis statement, materials following proper scientific format (forty minutes)
  4. Create data tables and graphs (thirty minutes)
  5. Put it all together (thirty minutes)
  6. Read over the report to catch errors, review conclusions, etc. (ten minutes).

  
  Give your child the tools to succeed. Get a desk for your middle schooler’s room. A desk represents a tangible family commitment to schoolwork and provides an excellent place for storage, too. Stock your home library with a dictionary, thesaurus, and possibly an atlas. A good dictionary is worth the substantial price tag for hard cover, and thesauruses are available in paperback. Finally, buy a file box or accordion folders so your child will have a place to store papers. A simple, accessible filing system will help him or her find previous notes, tests, and reports quickly and easily.
  
  Reward your child. If you see that your middle schooler is succeeding at sticking to the study schedule, give him or her a treat. It could be shooting hoops for an hour, eating popcorn, surfing the Internet for fun, or playing a video game.
• Help Me Create a Study Plan with My Middle Schooler
  According to a study by Joan Carver, an educational researcher and expert on helping students improve their middle school study skills, the best study plans include seven characteristics. Good study plans are:
  

  1. Simple. Good plans are uncomplicated.
  2. Specific. Good plans state what you're going to do and where, when, and how you're going to do it.
  3. Positive. Good plans state what you're going to do (not what you're going to stop doing).
  4. Repetitive. Good plans include something you can repeat frequently.
  5. Independent. Good plans are based on you doing the work; they don’t depend on anyone else.
  6. Immediate. Good plans can be started right away, usually within twenty-four hours.
  7. Committed. Good plans include I will statements.

  Encourage your child to write down the study plan. Why? Because when people write down a plan, they are more likely to do it.
  

  How About an Example?

  Here's an example of a study plan for completing an assigned reading:
  I will read at least ten pages of Animal Farm between four and five every afternoon until I’ve finished the book. I'll read in my bedroom where it's quiet and there are no distractions. After I finish every page, I'll pause to ask myself what happened in the story. I'll answer out loud to help me remember.
  

  Now It's Your Turn

  With your child, create a study plan for an assignment.
  

  • Write down the plan.
  • Make sure it includes Joan Carver's seven steps.
  • Check it over.

  Don't underestimate the power of making plans. Remember: if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

• Help Me Create a Study Plan with My Middle Schooler

  According to a study by Joan Carver, an educational researcher and expert on helping students improve their middle school study skills, the best study plans include seven characteristics. Good study plans are:
  

  1. Simple. Good plans are uncomplicated.
  2. Specific. Good plans state what you're going to do and where, when, and how you're going to do it.
  3. Positive. Good plans state what you're going to do (not what you're going to stop doing).
  4. Repetitive. Good plans include something you can repeat frequently.
  5. Independent. Good plans are based on you doing the work; they don’t depend on anyone else.
  6. Immediate. Good plans can be started right away, usually within twenty-four hours.
  7. Committed. Good plans include I will statements.

  Encourage your child to write down the study plan. Why? Because when people write down a plan, they are more likely to do it.
  

  How About an Example?

  Here's an example of a study plan for completing an assigned reading:
  I will read at least ten pages of Animal Farm between four and five every afternoon until I’ve finished the book. I'll read in my bedroom where it's quiet and there are no distractions. After I finish every page, I'll pause to ask myself what happened in the story. I'll answer out loud to help me remember.
  

  Now It's Your Turn

  With your child, create a study plan for an assignment.
  

  • Write down the plan.
  • Make sure it includes Joan Carver's seven steps.
  • Check it over.

  Don't underestimate the power of making plans. Remember: if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
• Help My Child Listen Better
  Critical listening is an important study skill. If your child doesn’t understand statements the teacher makes, his or her class notes will suffer, and studying for tests will be harder. Share these critical listening studying tips with your child.
  

  Listen with the intention of understanding.

  To learn, you must understand what the teacher says. Use these strategies to engage your "listening ears.”
  

  • Try to repeat what the teacher says in your mind.
  • Ask yourself, Does that make sense? If not, ask for clarification.
  • Nod. Moving your head in agreement can engage you, especially if you learn best through movement.
  • Make connections between what the teacher says and what you already know. If you can't make a connection, ask the teacher to make one.

  Listen for teacher cues.

  Listen for key phrases that teachers use to emphasize important information. Here are examples of phrases that introduce information you should write down:
  

  • The three most important points are
  • The chief cause of this is
  • This happens because
  • The reason for this is
  • Remember that
  • There are five characteristics of
  • The result is
  • They key message here is

  Note: Don’t try to teach all these critical listening strategies immediately. Choose one tip for your child to practice in class this week. Add another as this one becomes a habit.

• Help My Child Listen Better

  Critical listening is an important study skill. If your child doesn’t understand statements the teacher makes, his or her class notes will suffer, and studying for tests will be harder. Share these critical listening studying tips with your child.
  

  Listen with the intention of understanding.

  To learn, you must understand what the teacher says. Use these strategies to engage your "listening ears.”
  

  • Try to repeat what the teacher says in your mind.
  • Ask yourself, Does that make sense? If not, ask for clarification.
  • Nod. Moving your head in agreement can engage you, especially if you learn best through movement.
  • Make connections between what the teacher says and what you already know. If you can't make a connection, ask the teacher to make one.

  Listen for teacher cues.

  Listen for key phrases that teachers use to emphasize important information. Here are examples of phrases that introduce information you should write down:
  

  • The three most important points are
  • The chief cause of this is
  • This happens because
  • The reason for this is
  • Remember that
  • There are five characteristics of
  • The result is
  • They key message here is

  Note: Don’t try to teach all these critical listening strategies immediately. Choose one tip for your child to practice in class this week. Add another as this one becomes a habit.
• Teach My Child to Read Smarter
  Learning to “read smart” in middle school will make high school academics much easier. These studying tips will help your middle school child understand and remember what he or she reads in textbooks. For the next few reading assignments, go over one or two tips per assignment to make sure your child understands them and is using them properly.

  1. Preview the book. Read the contents page. Are there chapters? What are the titles? Is there a glossary at the end of the book that defines terms? Is there an index at the end of the book that lists topics and the pages they are on? Don’t forget: the words in the glossary and the topics in the index are listed in alphabetical order.
  2. Turn to the assigned chapter. What is the title? What can you learn from the headings? Often headings give the important ideas that will be covered in the chapter. Look at the illustrations and read the captions to get a fuller idea about the chapter. Are there graphs, charts, maps, diagrams? What do they show? Graphic aids can sum up some kinds of information more clearly than words alone can. Are there study questions at the end of the chapter? Look for the answers as you read.
  3. What are you supposed to learn? Did your teacher give you an assignment sheet? Comprehension questions? A graphic organizer? Before you begin reading, make sure you’ve got all the worksheets you need. Then fill them in as you read.
  4. Underline, highlight, and write in the margins. If you are allowed to write in your book, highlight important ideas and write comments and questions in the margins. If you aren’t, write comments and questions in a notebook along with the corresponding page numbers.
  5. Take notes. Paraphrasing key concepts will help you figure out how well you understand what you’re reading. Summing up the most important ideas will help you recall what you read.
  6. Draw a picture. Sometimes the best way to summarize information is by drawing a picture. Here’s an example. Learning about photosynthesis? Draw the sun and its rays hitting the leaf of a plant. Add details to show the process the plant uses to turn light energy into glucose, oxygen, and water. You can draw diagrams to compare and contrast or to show cause and effect relationships, scale, a series of events, a complex system, or a cycle.
  7. Stop if you don't get it. If you don't understand a passage, reread it. Try to use the context—the words and sentences around the part you don’t understand—to figure it out. If you’re still puzzled, decide how important that information seems to be. If it’s important, ask the teacher or another student to explain the information to you.
  8. As you read and after you've finished, ask yourself questions. Try these: What main point is the author making? Does this information support the author's argument or contradict it? Why is this fact important to the author's overall message? What did I learn that I didn't know before? If somebody asked me to explain what I just read, what would I say?
  9. Adjust your speed. Is the material difficult to understand or packed with facts? Slow down. Speed up if the material is familiar and easy to understand.

• Teach My Child to Read Smarter

  Learning to “read smart” in middle school will make high school academics much easier. These studying tips will help your middle school child understand and remember what he or she reads in textbooks. For the next few reading assignments, go over one or two tips per assignment to make sure your child understands them and is using them properly.

  1. Preview the book. Read the contents page. Are there chapters? What are the titles? Is there a glossary at the end of the book that defines terms? Is there an index at the end of the book that lists topics and the pages they are on? Don’t forget: the words in the glossary and the topics in the index are listed in alphabetical order.
  2. Turn to the assigned chapter. What is the title? What can you learn from the headings? Often headings give the important ideas that will be covered in the chapter. Look at the illustrations and read the captions to get a fuller idea about the chapter. Are there graphs, charts, maps, diagrams? What do they show? Graphic aids can sum up some kinds of information more clearly than words alone can. Are there study questions at the end of the chapter? Look for the answers as you read.
  3. What are you supposed to learn? Did your teacher give you an assignment sheet? Comprehension questions? A graphic organizer? Before you begin reading, make sure you’ve got all the worksheets you need. Then fill them in as you read.
  4. Underline, highlight, and write in the margins. If you are allowed to write in your book, highlight important ideas and write comments and questions in the margins. If you aren’t, write comments and questions in a notebook along with the corresponding page numbers.
  5. Take notes. Paraphrasing key concepts will help you figure out how well you understand what you’re reading. Summing up the most important ideas will help you recall what you read.
  6. Draw a picture. Sometimes the best way to summarize information is by drawing a picture. Here’s an example. Learning about photosynthesis? Draw the sun and its rays hitting the leaf of a plant. Add details to show the process the plant uses to turn light energy into glucose, oxygen, and water. You can draw diagrams to compare and contrast or to show cause and effect relationships, scale, a series of events, a complex system, or a cycle.
  7. Stop if you don't get it. If you don't understand a passage, reread it. Try to use the context—the words and sentences around the part you don’t understand—to figure it out. If you’re still puzzled, decide how important that information seems to be. If it’s important, ask the teacher or another student to explain the information to you.
  8. As you read and after you've finished, ask yourself questions. Try these: What main point is the author making? Does this information support the author's argument or contradict it? Why is this fact important to the author's overall message? What did I learn that I didn't know before? If somebody asked me to explain what I just read, what would I say?
  9. Adjust your speed. Is the material difficult to understand or packed with facts? Slow down. Speed up if the material is familiar and easy to understand.
• Teach My Child to Take Better Notes
  Efficient note taking is one of the most important study skills students need to succeed in school. These studying tips will help your middle school student get more out of lectures and class handouts.
  

  • If it's on the board, write it down. If teachers emphasize a point by writing on the board or using a projector, it's important enough to go into your notebook.
  • If it's on a handout, take notes in the margins. Don't rewrite information that's already in a handout. Instead, add notes to yourself and clarifications the teacher offers.
  • Write down definitions and examples. Pay special attention to definitions and examples that illustrate and explain new concepts.
  • Don't try to write down everything the teacher says. You'll never keep up. Aim for notes that paraphrase the main concepts. Write words the teacher emphasizes, key questions, and important points.
  • Make up symbols and abbreviations to use in your notes. This can be fun, plus you'll save time when you use your own shorthand system for taking notes. These note-taking tips from the University of Central Missouri can help you get off to a good start.
  • Pay extra attention at the beginning and at the end of class. Teachers usually introduce the lesson at the start of the class. If you keep the agenda in mind as the class continues, you'll follow the lesson more easily. Teachers often review important concepts at the end of class. During this review, be sure you've got the important concepts in your notes.
  • Review your notes. Students who review their notes the same day they take them—even for just five minutes—remember more than students who don't look at their class notes until they're studying for a test.
  • Keep track of dates. Put the date on every page. If your binder pops open and your notes spill out, the dates will help you get the pages back in order. Dates can also help you remember what you learned when.

• Teach My Child to Take Better Notes

  Efficient note taking is one of the most important study skills students need to succeed in school. These studying tips will help your middle school student get more out of lectures and class handouts.
  

  • If it's on the board, write it down. If teachers emphasize a point by writing on the board or using a projector, it's important enough to go into your notebook.
  • If it's on a handout, take notes in the margins. Don't rewrite information that's already in a handout. Instead, add notes to yourself and clarifications the teacher offers.
  • Write down definitions and examples. Pay special attention to definitions and examples that illustrate and explain new concepts.
  • Don't try to write down everything the teacher says. You'll never keep up. Aim for notes that paraphrase the main concepts. Write words the teacher emphasizes, key questions, and important points.
  • Make up symbols and abbreviations to use in your notes. This can be fun, plus you'll save time when you use your own shorthand system for taking notes. These note-taking tips from the University of Central Missouri can help you get off to a good start.
  • Pay extra attention at the beginning and at the end of class. Teachers usually introduce the lesson at the start of the class. If you keep the agenda in mind as the class continues, you'll follow the lesson more easily. Teachers often review important concepts at the end of class. During this review, be sure you've got the important concepts in your notes.
  • Review your notes. Students who review their notes the same day they take them—even for just five minutes—remember more than students who don't look at their class notes until they're studying for a test.
  • Keep track of dates. Put the date on every page. If your binder pops open and your notes spill out, the dates will help you get the pages back in order. Dates can also help you remember what you learned when.
• Close the Gap with Homework

  "The worst thing a kid can say about homework is that it is too hard. The worst thing a kid can say about a game is it's too easy."
  — Henry Jenkins, MIT
  
  Teenagers will often resist parent involvement in education when it comes to their student homework—even though they ultimately benefit from it. How can you keep your teens from seeing this involvement as just another form of nagging? Try some of these family ideas.

  Ask Questions about Your Student’s Homework

  Talking about assignments helps your teenager think about them in a more critical fashion. Try these conversation starters:

  • Chemistry: “I never really understood the periodic table of elements. How does it work?”
  • Middle and High School Literature: “I never read ______ in school. What is it about?” or “I remember reading that in school. What did you think of the main character? She always reminded me of Aunt Mildred.”
  • Math: “How is that math used in real life?”
  • Social Science: “How could you turn that idea into a business or money-making venture?”
  • Writing: “With texting, blogs, and social networking, writing seems to be back in style. Do you think all this online writing helps improve writing skills or does it hinder them? Where do you think you’ll do the most writing after school is over? Do you find you write differently in different places?”
  • Foreign language: “Could you teach me the phrases I would need to know if I were to visit Paris?” or “How is German grammar different from English grammar?”
  • History: “Do you think we could learn anything today from how the average German citizens responded to Hitler? Do you think we could be fooled by propaganda and charisma the way they were then?”

  Connect Middle and High School Academics to Real Life

  Find ways to connect your teen’s student homework to real life experiences. Here are some ideas:

  • Is your son studying the relationship between speed and distance? Ask him to estimate how long it will take to get to his best friend’s house the next time you drive there. Heap on praise for the right answer. Ask how long it would take if you went five miles per hour slower. What would he need to know to calculate that?
  • Is your daughter studying a play by Shakespeare? Do the characters remind her of people she knows? Why? Has she ever seen anyone in similar situations as to those the Shakespeare characters are in?
  • Is your son studying about the American Revolution? Is your daughter learning accounting? Talk about people’s attitudes toward taxes throughout the years. Show them your income tax forms and see if they can fill the form out using your W-2s. Does the tax seem fair to them? Can they list what taxes pay for in your community? What services might they be willing to give up in exchange for lower taxes? What services would they like to get in exchange for higher taxes?
  • Is your teenager taking physics? Spend an afternoon making paper airplanes together.
  • Is your child studying probability? Spend an evening playing dice games such as Liar’s dice (also known as Bluff), Yahtzee, Poker Dice, Craps, or Ship, Captain, and Crew. As you play, talk about what the chances are for particular numbers to come up with each roll. Make a chart with predictions based on probability laws and then record actual rolls.
  • Is your teenager in choir or band? Put the radio on scan. In the few seconds that each song is on the radio, try to identify what instruments are being played, what the voice range of the singers are or even what key or measure the song is being played in (depending on your teen’s level of knowledge and your own).

  Teaching Makes a Great Study Skill

  One of the best ways to learn is by teaching. Pick a subject that your child is studying in school and ask him to create a test covering a variety of objectives in his current unit. (For example, if the subject is history, ask the child to write questions from throughout the chapters that they are working on. If the subject is English, have them write questions on whatever grammatical topics they’ve been studying or books they’ve been reading.)

  Encourage them to write 20 to 25 multiple-choice and short answer questions. After you’ve taken the test, have them grade it and provide correct answers for anything you got wrong. You can then even ask them to prepare a mini-lesson for you to teach you the information you got wrong. This will boost their confidence while giving them an excellent chance to review their material.

  Whichever of these things you choose to do, you’ll be modeling for your student just how important academics are.

• Close the Gap with Homework

  "The worst thing a kid can say about homework is that it is too hard. The worst thing a kid can say about a game is it's too easy."
  — Henry Jenkins, MIT
  
  Teenagers will often resist parent involvement in education when it comes to their student homework—even though they ultimately benefit from it. How can you keep your teens from seeing this involvement as just another form of nagging? Try some of these family ideas.

  Ask Questions about Your Student’s Homework

  Talking about assignments helps your teenager think about them in a more critical fashion. Try these conversation starters:

  • Chemistry: “I never really understood the periodic table of elements. How does it work?”
  • Middle and High School Literature: “I never read ______ in school. What is it about?” or “I remember reading that in school. What did you think of the main character? She always reminded me of Aunt Mildred.”
  • Math: “How is that math used in real life?”
  • Social Science: “How could you turn that idea into a business or money-making venture?”
  • Writing: “With texting, blogs, and social networking, writing seems to be back in style. Do you think all this online writing helps improve writing skills or does it hinder them? Where do you think you’ll do the most writing after school is over? Do you find you write differently in different places?”
  • Foreign language: “Could you teach me the phrases I would need to know if I were to visit Paris?” or “How is German grammar different from English grammar?”
  • History: “Do you think we could learn anything today from how the average German citizens responded to Hitler? Do you think we could be fooled by propaganda and charisma the way they were then?”

  Connect Middle and High School Academics to Real Life

  Find ways to connect your teen’s student homework to real life experiences. Here are some ideas:

  • Is your son studying the relationship between speed and distance? Ask him to estimate how long it will take to get to his best friend’s house the next time you drive there. Heap on praise for the right answer. Ask how long it would take if you went five miles per hour slower. What would he need to know to calculate that?
  • Is your daughter studying a play by Shakespeare? Do the characters remind her of people she knows? Why? Has she ever seen anyone in similar situations as to those the Shakespeare characters are in?
  • Is your son studying about the American Revolution? Is your daughter learning accounting? Talk about people’s attitudes toward taxes throughout the years. Show them your income tax forms and see if they can fill the form out using your W-2s. Does the tax seem fair to them? Can they list what taxes pay for in your community? What services might they be willing to give up in exchange for lower taxes? What services would they like to get in exchange for higher taxes?
  • Is your teenager taking physics? Spend an afternoon making paper airplanes together.
  • Is your child studying probability? Spend an evening playing dice games such as Liar’s dice (also known as Bluff), Yahtzee, Poker Dice, Craps, or Ship, Captain, and Crew. As you play, talk about what the chances are for particular numbers to come up with each roll. Make a chart with predictions based on probability laws and then record actual rolls.
  • Is your teenager in choir or band? Put the radio on scan. In the few seconds that each song is on the radio, try to identify what instruments are being played, what the voice range of the singers are or even what key or measure the song is being played in (depending on your teen’s level of knowledge and your own).

  Teaching Makes a Great Study Skill

  One of the best ways to learn is by teaching. Pick a subject that your child is studying in school and ask him to create a test covering a variety of objectives in his current unit. (For example, if the subject is history, ask the child to write questions from throughout the chapters that they are working on. If the subject is English, have them write questions on whatever grammatical topics they’ve been studying or books they’ve been reading.)

  Encourage them to write 20 to 25 multiple-choice and short answer questions. After you’ve taken the test, have them grade it and provide correct answers for anything you got wrong. You can then even ask them to prepare a mini-lesson for you to teach you the information you got wrong. This will boost their confidence while giving them an excellent chance to review their material.

  Whichever of these things you choose to do, you’ll be modeling for your student just how important academics are.

• Help My Child Participate in a Group Project
  Middle school learning often includes group projects. One purpose of group projects is to learn how to work well with others, but your child may feel that just the opposite is happening.
  Susan Mulcaire, a teacher, mother, and author of “The Middle School Student’s Guide to Ruling the World,” recommends the following steps for participating successfully in group projects.
  

  • Communicate with others in the group. Students should share e-mail addresses and phone numbers so they can communicate easily with each other and avoid “but they never told me” excuses.
  • Appoint a project manager. This team member keeps a written record of everything the group decides and makes sure that every team member has a copy of the plan. The project manager also keeps the group focused during team meetings. However, this person’s job does not include bossing everyone else around.
  • Share ideas. Group members should listen to each other’s suggestions and ideas without putting them down or letting one student take over the project’s direction.
  • Plan carefully. At the first meeting, group members should review the entire project, which should include going over the teacher’s instructions, creating a schedule (being careful to include potential schedule busters such as sports practices, holidays, and so on), making a list of supplies, and finding out each member’s talents and skills.
  • Define tasks. Group members need to know which part of the project each person is responsible for, as well as what steps each part includes and when it is due.
  • Share the load. A common complaint about group projects is that one person gets stuck doing most of the work. Review the tasks and the number of group members and divide the work fairly among all the members.
  • Set meetings and group goals. Frequent meetings will help keep the group on track, ensure that each part of the project is getting done, and solve small problems before they become big ones. This downloadable “Group Project Organizer” will help keep middle school students on track while working on group projects. You can help your child complete his or her part of a group project by providing the following support.
  • Go over the assignment with your child: when the project is due, what it comprises, and how it will be evaluated. The assignment sheet should clearly explain expectations and evaluation criteria, so be sure to read it carefully. Have your child clarify any unclear instructions with the teacher.
  • Ask what your child already knows about the subject. Calling on prior knowledge primes the brain for deeper thinking and boosts confidence as the child realizes how much he or she already knows.
  • Ask how your child will find information about the topic. Have him or her make a list. When every resource has been exhausted, be a resource for your child.
  • If your child’s part of the project requires library research, let him or her lead the way. Help write down questions for the librarian about where to find information on the topic. Observe as your child searches the Internet. Explain why some sites provide more reliable information than others.
  • Help your child make a schedule for completing the project. Put the schedule in a prominent place—on the family calendar, the bulletin board, or the fridge so that forgetting the deadlines will be impossible.

• Help My Child Participate in a Group Project

  Middle school learning often includes group projects. One purpose of group projects is to learn how to work well with others, but your child may feel that just the opposite is happening.
  Susan Mulcaire, a teacher, mother, and author of “The Middle School Student’s Guide to Ruling the World,” recommends the following steps for participating successfully in group projects.
  

  • Communicate with others in the group. Students should share e-mail addresses and phone numbers so they can communicate easily with each other and avoid “but they never told me” excuses.
  • Appoint a project manager. This team member keeps a written record of everything the group decides and makes sure that every team member has a copy of the plan. The project manager also keeps the group focused during team meetings. However, this person’s job does not include bossing everyone else around.
  • Share ideas. Group members should listen to each other’s suggestions and ideas without putting them down or letting one student take over the project’s direction.
  • Plan carefully. At the first meeting, group members should review the entire project, which should include going over the teacher’s instructions, creating a schedule (being careful to include potential schedule busters such as sports practices, holidays, and so on), making a list of supplies, and finding out each member’s talents and skills.
  • Define tasks. Group members need to know which part of the project each person is responsible for, as well as what steps each part includes and when it is due.
  • Share the load. A common complaint about group projects is that one person gets stuck doing most of the work. Review the tasks and the number of group members and divide the work fairly among all the members.
  • Set meetings and group goals. Frequent meetings will help keep the group on track, ensure that each part of the project is getting done, and solve small problems before they become big ones. This downloadable “Group Project Organizer” will help keep middle school students on track while working on group projects. You can help your child complete his or her part of a group project by providing the following support.
  • Go over the assignment with your child: when the project is due, what it comprises, and how it will be evaluated. The assignment sheet should clearly explain expectations and evaluation criteria, so be sure to read it carefully. Have your child clarify any unclear instructions with the teacher.
  • Ask what your child already knows about the subject. Calling on prior knowledge primes the brain for deeper thinking and boosts confidence as the child realizes how much he or she already knows.
  • Ask how your child will find information about the topic. Have him or her make a list. When every resource has been exhausted, be a resource for your child.
  • If your child’s part of the project requires library research, let him or her lead the way. Help write down questions for the librarian about where to find information on the topic. Observe as your child searches the Internet. Explain why some sites provide more reliable information than others.
  • Help your child make a schedule for completing the project. Put the schedule in a prominent place—on the family calendar, the bulletin board, or the fridge so that forgetting the deadlines will be impossible.