Parent Information

Your son/daughter has been enrolled in the Academic Intervention Services Program for help in Language Arts. This course is given in addition to the regular English course to help students prepare for the Regents Examination in Comprehensive English, the successful completion of which is a requirement for graduation. This course also aims at improving the reading and writing students do in all areas of their school work, as well as, the reading and writing they might do in their personal lives.

As parents or guardians, you can help the child improve by stressing the importance of reading and writing. This can be done in many ways. Some suggestions include:

• Encourage and/or accompany your child to the library, so he/she or the two of you can pick out books to read for fun. Our public library also offers a parent and teen book club, where the two of you can read and discuss a predetermined book with other parents and teens on a regular basis. This is a great way to foster communication between you and your teen during the difficult time of adolescence as well as to encourage reading that is not required for a class.
• Subscribe to magazines and/or newspapers and make them readily available to your child.
• Give books or journals as gifts for birthday or holiday presents.
• Ask your child what he/she is reading for English class. Encourage him/her to explain what he/she likes, dislikes, or finds challenging or "boring" about a book.
• Ask your child to read a part of his/her assigned reading aloud to you while you make dinner or do some other mundane chore. Reading aloud is something some teens enjoy while others may find less threatening if it's done in a casual context such as this.
• · Ask to read what your child is writing in class. You don't have to "correct" the work. Simple feedback such as "I really liked how you opened this essay" can help a child gain confidence and become more invested in what he/she is doing. Kids need to know what they're doing right as much as what they're doing wrong.

Another way you can help you child is by being actively involved in his/her school work. Suggestions for how to do this include:

• You can require or ask your child to use an agenda at school so that you can continue this process of monitoring his/her work. This was a way to allow you to see what he/she was doing on a daily basis.
• Many teachers give class calendars that allow your child to know what the class is working on and what is due on a daily basis. Ask to see these regularly.
• Many adolescents are not always truthful about what they're doing in school, especially if they are failing or are struggling. Sometimes in order to get accurate information you will need to contact you child's teachers directly and ask for it directly. Be proactive. Don't wait until the progress reports come out to learn what your child is doing in school.
• If your child is failing or struggling, you can also call your child's guidance counselor and ask that weekly progress reports be sent home in any or all subjects.

If you have any questions about this course, please call the high school at 587-6690 and ask for your child's AIS teacher. He/she will return you call.