Bag of Tricks: Surviving the First Middle School Conference

The first school quarter is over and done with--thank goodness. Both kids brought home their report cards on Friday, although Scott and I had already snooped at L.'s grades via the online portal the county provides so that parents can keep up with their kid's progress. It seems a little Big Brother-like, but I like having access to L.'s grades and to information on assignments--when they were turned in, or whether they were turned in, as the case may be. L.'s 5th grade teachers tried to run something like that last year, but it failed miserably and the information was never updated, or was inaccurate, which drove us crazy. But this year we can see how well an online system like that can work, if teachers are committed to updating the assignments/grade information on a daily basis.

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