Newsletter: Spring 2011
Preparing Eighth-Graders for High School
Helping your student get ready for high school means making sure he or she is ready for some of the academic changes that come with moving up to ninth grade. The biggest one of these is that students will have as many as eight different classes, with eight different teachers, each of whom expects certain things from their students. This will present a challenge even for students who had several teachers in middle school; high school will generally have more teachers and less coordination between classes. While teachers in ninth grade will spend a lot of time helping new high schoolers adjust, students can give themselves an advantage by being ready for what is coming.
The most important step students can take during the summer between middle school and high school is to be well organized. Buy notebooks and folders in advance, even if you do not have a clear supply list. In particular, a homework folder-- in which students can place every assignment they complete before handing it in -- can help to overcome some of the challenges of balancing so many classes at once. Students should plan one place to put all the completed work they need to bring to school each day, whether it is a shelf by the front door, a place on their desk, or a file folder that never leaves their backpack. This homework folder will make it much easier to keep track of the work in every class. Along with this, a planner or other place to write down every assignment is key. Since students may have half a dozen small assignments each night, writing them down in the same place every day will make a major difference. This is also really helpful for allowing parents to stay on top of the work for which their students are responsible. While academic independence is an important skill for high school students, most students will still need some parental guidance and supervision as they transition into ninth grade.
Beyond organization, students will want to get to know their specific school as much as possible. Reading available information, talking to current students and teachers, and attending open houses and orientation events make a big difference. Students who have already been in the building have a totally different, and much better, early high school experience than students who show up the first day not sure where to go or whom to ask for help. Most high schools offer some type of program that allows students to be in the building beforehand. If your school does not, try to arrange a time to visit anyway, by contacting the office at your school.
Finally, students can give themselves can a head start in understanding what is coming in the classes they will be taking. If they know their class schedule, they can find review books and course materials for their classes. Even if students do not know their specific schedule ahead of time, they generally know what topics they will be studying. For example, in New York, ninth graders can expect to take algebra, living environment, English, and global history among other subjects. Review books are available for each of these courses, and while it is not necessary to do much work on their own before the year, students can look through books like this to get some idea of what materials they will be expected to learn.
--Matt Yellin, Ed.M.
Matt Yellin teaches ninth graders in a New York City high school.
The most important step students can take during the summer between middle school and high school is to be well organized. Buy notebooks and folders in advance, even if you do not have a clear supply list. In particular, a homework folder-- in which students can place every assignment they complete before handing it in -- can help to overcome some of the challenges of balancing so many classes at once. Students should plan one place to put all the completed work they need to bring to school each day, whether it is a shelf by the front door, a place on their desk, or a file folder that never leaves their backpack. This homework folder will make it much easier to keep track of the work in every class. Along with this, a planner or other place to write down every assignment is key. Since students may have half a dozen small assignments each night, writing them down in the same place every day will make a major difference. This is also really helpful for allowing parents to stay on top of the work for which their students are responsible. While academic independence is an important skill for high school students, most students will still need some parental guidance and supervision as they transition into ninth grade.
Beyond organization, students will want to get to know their specific school as much as possible. Reading available information, talking to current students and teachers, and attending open houses and orientation events make a big difference. Students who have already been in the building have a totally different, and much better, early high school experience than students who show up the first day not sure where to go or whom to ask for help. Most high schools offer some type of program that allows students to be in the building beforehand. If your school does not, try to arrange a time to visit anyway, by contacting the office at your school.
Finally, students can give themselves can a head start in understanding what is coming in the classes they will be taking. If they know their class schedule, they can find review books and course materials for their classes. Even if students do not know their specific schedule ahead of time, they generally know what topics they will be studying. For example, in New York, ninth graders can expect to take algebra, living environment, English, and global history among other subjects. Review books are available for each of these courses, and while it is not necessary to do much work on their own before the year, students can look through books like this to get some idea of what materials they will be expected to learn.
--Matt Yellin, Ed.M.
Matt Yellin teaches ninth graders in a New York City high school.