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.
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?
It has been a while since I got up the strength to write on a blog again. I started blogging after taking a course with Alan November and Will Richardson in my graduate program at Seton Hall University. The course really opened my eyes to how technology can and should be used in new ways, how collaboration is reinvented via new technologies and how schools need to pick-up the pace. Scott McLeod has said that, “the pace of change in schools is too slow and the pace of change in technology is too quick” and I think he is right.
My challange now is to keep my learning moving forward and re-engage myself. I have started by blogging again! Looking forward to connecting, re-connecting and expanding my learning beyond my current understandings.
