For the past few years we have been trying to build on the success of our well-established Grade 8 learning trip. Fortunately, it looks like we will finally be able to see each of our three middle school grade levels take an extended learning field trip. Our Middle School Week Without Walls (WWW) will be during the second semester (parents have received exact dates and specific info.).
Congratulations to our Team Leaders, Ms. Belden, Mr. Rucki, Ms. Brey, and Ms. Bowley and all the teachers for their willingness to conduct the trips and for all the planning and execution needed to successfully offer such a wonderful experience for our middle school students.
We have been conducting an in-depth analysis of our Final Exam process in the Middle School. As a result, we will be initiating an alternate exam program for all Grade 6 students this semester. The exam week schedule in December will remain the same (Mon. – Fri. Dec. 14-18, 8:15 am – 10:45 am). However, Grade 6 students will not be taking “paper and pencil” tests in the Gym. Rather, all Grade 6 students will be engaged in an interdisciplinary hands-on exam experience in regular classrooms. Grade 6 students will still be tested on their understanding of the first semester material, however the “exams” will be in classrooms and will be through a more performance based and authentic assessment.
ASFM is committed to providing an educational program that develops students who demonstrate academic excellence as well as positive disposition qualities. In an ongoing effort to ensure a Safe and Caring school environment, I invite you to reflect on, and discuss, the following current initiatives with your child(ren).
Grade 6 students will be watching and discussing the move “Pay it Forward.” In addition, students have been discussing the “7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens” and participating in a “homework/responsibility challenge.” In addition, the Counseling Department will be inviting students and parents to the school on the evening of December 1 (7:30pm) to participate in a “No Name Calling” activity and promote a Safe and Caring atmosphere in the ASFM community.
Grade 7 students will be entering into a “random acts of kindness” challenge. Students will have the opportunity to use an anonymous drop-box to report their peers for demonstrating kindness. Acts ranging from picking-up trash to being an assertive bystander will be recognized. Teachers will be selecting a “winner” from those nominated and the person chosen will be “Middle School Principal for the morning.” In addition, the Counseling Department will be inviting students and parents to the school on the evening of November 23 (7:30pm) to participate in a “Bullied to Death” activity and promote a Safe and Caring atmosphere in the ASFM community. Grade 7 students will also be reflecting on, and setting, Safe and Caring School goals with parents during Student-led-conferences.
Grade 8 students will be reflecting on, and setting, Safe and Caring School goals with parents during Student-led-conferences. Several events are taking place in Grade 8 during the next several weeks and over the remainder of the semester. For example, sessions on honesty and integrity in “tough times” will be discussed with students as ongoing attempt to engage our older middle school students in true reflection and planning to respond BEFORE finding themselves in a tough situation. Students will role-play scenarios and discuss a plan of response.
The essence of these grade level initiatives is to instill a sense of responsibility, commitment, and understanding in our students. We invite our community to support these initiatives and ask that all parents continue to emphasize the importance of good character and smart choices.
In addition to ensuring our students achieve academically, we engage our students in a variety of ongoing activities to support their social and emotional development. Please accept the information contained in this post as a “simple update” regarding some of our current initiatives.
Most articles I see lately deal with assessment or curriculum. I agree that having a curriculum that clearly identifies what students are expected to know and be able and to do at the completion of each course or grade level is essential. I also agree that assessments should be planned prior to instruction and assessment data should be analyzed by teaching teams and used to drive instruction. However, what happened to recognizing the importance instruction?
I believe a common lesson plan or schema model should be used throughout a school for instruction. The lesson model should create a common language for discussion of instruction and best practice of presenting information. The lesson schema will aid understanding of instruction for ESL students and the spectrum of mild to moderate special needs learners. Solid instruction includes: 1/objective 2/access prior knowledge 3/present new information 4/application 5/closure. Those five steps might have variations in terms of what each section is labeled in a district or school, but the basic lesson steps should hold form for cooperative learning to inquiry to direct instruction. The only variation would be in the amount of time allotted for each phase of the lesson.
Creating learning outcomes based on clear and compelling curriculum targets should be commonplace practice in highly functioning schools. However, just as needed is a shared lesson plan format for creating a common language and understanding of instructional strategies that will help students retain and apply information for long periods of time. Even when the curriculum is established and the assessment outcomes are determined in advance of instruction, engaging instruction based a clear lesson schema might be the single biggest ingredient to ensuring student achievement throughout the school.
Trust in schools has been shown to directly relate to student achievement. Reflecting on trust and its relation to organizational structure is an interesting exercise. Recall that human relation research for decades has investigated performance impact when structure is modified. Follow this line of thinking and we arrive at a crucial question: do we trust our staff and students enough to give them access to the Internet? The following graphic from Scott McLeod drives the question into our face.
I first watched the Starkville, MS School District’s “Believe” video on Kim Caise’s blog. The video captures the essence of my personal philosophy of education. Due to starting the job search process, I have been updating my philosophy of ed. Here’s my opening paragraph: I went into education because of teachers. Teachers taught me academic skills and helped develop my self-confidence. I was fortunate to have teachers that perceived me as capable and communicated that expectation to me. As an educational leader, I seek to “give back” by working to develop outstanding school experiences for all students, where teachers believe in their ability to reach even the most disadvantaged students. My core beliefs regarding schooling include a belief that schools should have great teachers, that schools should be safe communities where learning is of prime importance, and that decision making should be guided by the fundamental question of “is it good for kids?” I believe each individual child deserves the best opportunity to learn that the school can provide. Every child is capable of learning, and it is the responsibility of the school to help each child find success. I firmly believe in the power of schools to impact a child’s life. I am honored to be an educator, and I love working with school stakeholders to make the world a better place one child at a time.
Give Jeff Utecht’s recent post on Digital Literacy vs. Networked Literacy a read. His post got me thinking about the literacy development we seek for our students at ASFM and how our Online Literacy and recent work with Edu2.0 are seen by students, parents, teachers, administrators, board members, members of the community, members of the larger global educational community etc. We aspire to have our students leave ASFM as literate young men and women. Are we taking the right steps to actualize that goal?
Will Edu2.0 make you more literate or is using Edu2.0 (for example) a literacy in itself? What do you think?
