Coaching Your Student to Success: Teaching stretches beyond lessons (& includes you)

Students learn best when they feel safe making mistakes and expressing opinions.

 We (teachers, students and YOU) actively build that community where rigorous learners thrive:

Where family engagement enhances learning

You can help in several ways to build this cocoon that fosters challenging learning. Become an active, connected member of our community:

• Seize opportunities to volunteer and participate in our community either on campus or through one of the many micro-communities our community has built around first-languages, social media, booster clubs for athletics and activities. Contact our PTSA to learn more or follow activities in our principal's email newsletter for parents every Sunday morning.
• Come to events and chat with other parents about their family’s learning experiences and how they are coping with challenges.
• Encourage your student to get to know our staff beyond their role as teachers (for example, what are the teacher’s special interests, do they have pets, what were their high school and college experiences and challenges. Essentially, who are these people who have chosen a career helping teens learn?).

Understand & support Active Learning at home

We use a research and practice-proven technique that depends on students feeling comfortable working closely with teachers and fellow students. It works best when students can work without fear of embarrassment holding them back. 

That technique, Active Learning, teaches students material AND how to apply it. In the process, the brain records the learning differently and accesses it more readily as needed.

Essentially, lessons include I Do, We Do, You Do:

• the teacher starts with a lesson and demonstration,
• then the class works through an example with the teacher (the We), and
• finally, students apply what they learn while the teacher is present to answer their questions.
• Critical additional practice as homework plays a crucial role in revealing any lingering confusion and cementing learning

At home, you can support your student by:

• helping your student understand the critical role of focusing in class. Even if your student finds the lesson easy, they can use these opportunities to teach their brain to actively probe for deeper learning by thinking of clarifying or deepening questions they can ask.
• again during the "We" portion, focus on deepening understanding by thinking of additional applications or connections to other aspects of the curriculum.
• when it comes time for "You Do," students must practice even when the lesson seems clear. If it seems easy, continue for ways to connect this lesson to big picture of class topics.