Hurtling Toward the Finish Line

Posted on May 20, 2013 by

topperMiddleImportant Upcoming Dates

  • May 22 – Faculty Meeting in the Library 2:30 (Food provided by all females)
  • May 27 – Memorial Day – No School
  • May 28 – GMS Chorus performs at St Joseph Pavilion
  • May 30 – End of Year Band Concert in the Auditorium 6:30 pm
  • June 4 – Solo Instrument Concert in the Auditorium 5:30 pm
  • June 5 Leadership Team Meeting in Melanie’s room 2:30 pm
  • June 7 – Step Up Block Party in the Gym at 6:00 pm
  • June 8 – 3rd Annual GMS Film Festival 6:00 pm
  • June 12 – Faculty Meeting location TBD
  • June 14 – Step Up Day for grades K-8
  • June 17 – Last day of school

Congratulations, We Are On A Roll!

We certainly have had quite a Spring this year! Over the past few weeks we have been notified that we are the recipients of several grants from several different foundations as well as some very significant donations to further our work with our students.

We are all very aware that the kids of the Little River Team received a $2,000 grant as the first place winner in the Zero Waste Challenge. They also received, totally unsolicited, an additional gift of $200 from the Manager of LKQ, a local affiliate of a large national company that specializes in recycling old and demolished automobiles.

Heather Whitaker and the students of the Alternative Education Program were notified this week that they are the recipients of a $2000 grant as part of the WalMart Foundations Local Community Contributions Program. These funds will be used to further the goals of the Garden Project that contributes over 1000 pounds of fresh vegetables to the Ecumenical Food Pantry of Gorham. The garden will also be the recipient of a direct donation to the Garden Project of $1000 from the wonderful people at the Gorham Savings Bank, to help fund the much needed Deer Fence that we will now be able install because of these very generous folks.

If you have been the recipient of such good fortune and I have not mentioned it here, please let me know. We would love to let our whole community know of our good work.

This Just In! OM Team Heading for Worlds

wf2013_logoEight GMS Students will travel to the Campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan to compete in the World Finals for Odyssey of the Mind on May 22nd through the 26th. They will join teams from throughout the United States and more than 20 countries in this creative, problem solving competition. We would like to wish our OM Team members of Avery Arena, Lizzie Lemieux, Maddie Joyal-Myers, Andrew Sharp, Trevor Gaia, Thomas Nelson, Kyren Bettencourt and Izzie Kolb in their quest for the gold!

Faculty Meeting Agenda – May 22

  • Accolades
  • Open Discussion
  • Presentation by Apple of Options Available
  • Other

Grant Lichtman

So, I am really not sure how I have not heard of this man before today. I guess this is the place where my ignorance (meant in a nice way!) or just my sheltered upbringing really shows through. I came across this video as the result of one of the people I follow on Twitter, and I was thoroughly impressed with his message.

Grant Lichtman is a graduate of Stanford University and  former partner in an international geology and geophysical consulting firm. For the past 15 years, or so, he has been involved in education as a parent, teacher, administrator and volunteer. He has traveled extensively throughout Asia working in geology. I guess one could say he has lived an interesting life, and, judging from this video, he has learned much!

End of School Activities

As we do every year, there will be some of our “rituals” that we must follow through with. The last day for the laptops will be June 7th for most students, meaning that if you have a specific request to allow certain, limited number of students to keep their devices for a short period after the 7th, you may make that request to Bob or Susie.

Please make sure that you complete you inventory of your textbooks. Any textbooks that are missing or so badly damaged by your student will need to be replaced and that cost passed on to the student’s family. It will be very important to know this information before the students leave for the summer.

Please collect all student locks, complete with the correct combination attached to the lock. Any student who has lost their lock must pay $5.00 for the replacement. All teachers will keep their locks in their room, but you should report any missing lock, along with the student responsible for the lock to the office. Also, any $5.00 that you collect must be turned in to Kristen in the office.

Maine Model United Nations Conference

This past week, we have 21 students from Gorham Middle School attend the 15th Annual

MEMUNC2Maine Model United Nations Conference held on the campus of the University of Southern Maine. It was quite a proud moment for this Principal to see our students interacting with students, most of whom were high school students as they made the case for their representative country.

All of the delegates to this year’s Model UN were treated to a Keynote address by a former member of the United Nations who, together with her husband, were connected with the United Nations since the very first meetings held in San Francisco, Ca after the end of the Second World War. The speech inspired and energized all of the delegates and she sent them off to begin their duties in a rousing fashion.

Physics Day at Funtown/Splashtown

Funtown 2A day that would appear to the uninformed to be just another fun day at the amusement park was truly an adventure in experiential learning. No, really, it was!

Students actually had several problems to solve while they were riding on the different rides. It was great to see all of our students actually getting involved in real discussions about what weightlessness felt like at the moment the Dragon’s Descent began to fall. They also had to calculate the speed of the drop as well as the effects that acceleration would have on the body.

Besides being fun, it definitely was educational.

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I Knew We were Busy,

Posted on May 15, 2013 by

topperMiddle 01

Important Upcoming Dates

  • May 16 – MLTI Student Conference in Orono
  • May 17 – Funtown Physics Day – 8th Grade
  • May 22 – Faculty Meeting in the Library 2:30 (Food provided by all females)
  • May 27 – Memorial Day – No School
  • May 28 – GMS Chorus performs at St Joseph Pavilion
  • May 30 – End of Year Band Concert in the Auditorium 6:30 pm
  • June 7 – Step Up Block Party in the Gym at 6:00 pm

TED on Education

ted_logoI usually put this section down a few more spaces in this weekly missive, but this week, I felt the need to put this higher up (actually first!).

Lat week, on PBS, the good folks at TED joined with PBS to produce an hour long show featuring some of the great promoters of American Public Education. The show was hosted by singer/songwriter/performer John Legend and he magnificently maneuvered all of the participants to a memorable and informative (I might even say, thought-provoking!) evening.

One individual with whom our faculty is very well acquainted is Sir Kenneth Robinson. Sir Ken delivered another gem of a talk that gets to the heart of our educational woes with his very dry wit and insightful comments of what we all know are the realities of our chosen profession. It is difficult to listen to Sir Ken and not understand that we can always do better and we always need to do better for our kids and our collective future. I hope you enjoy this, in fact I am sure you will:

Common Core PD Opportunity

The Maine Department of Education is inviting K-12 educators and higher educational professionals with experience in working with several different student populations to join the Maine State Network of Educators (SNE). The SNE will contribute to the Smarter Balanced Digital Library, an online, interactive clearing house for educators, students and families. The Digital Library will provide resources, tools and professional learning opportunities that can be tailored to the instructional need of students.

The selected educators will collaborate with the State Leadership Team (SLT) and they will participate in five (5) trainings between September 2013 and September 2014, submit and review resources for the Smarter Balanced Library and provide valuable feedback on the usability of the Digital Library application.

For this service, the selected educators will get early access to the digital Library resources and innovative collaborative tools and a stipend of $1500. The minimum criteria for the payment is:
Attend and complete each of the 5 trainings;
Submit resources into the Digital Library after each of the 5 trainings;
Submit at least one resource after training one;
Submit at least one resource that is approved for the Digital Library after trainings,2,3,4,5;
Review at Least 3 resources in the Digital Library after each of the 5 trainings.

The application period runs from May 1 through June 3. If you would like to be considered, please submit your application no later than June 3, 2013. For more information go to: http://www.maine.gov/doe/smarter/index.html#digital

Invitation to Join the Conversation on Maine’s Grading System

The Maine Department of Education is extending an invitation to all teachers to join a conversation about the controversial Maine System for Grading Schools. This online forum will be held on Thursday, May 16 beginning at 3:00 pm until 4:40 pm. To register for this webinar go to: www1.gotomeeting.com/register/631576520.

Interns in Gorham

We are indeed very fortunate to have an abundance of pre-service candidates who wish to complete their internships with our many fine teachers. We have gained  an excellent reputation in the “Land of Teacher Preparation” as a great place for new teachers to gain a great deal of experience.

All of that being said, we feel the need to centralize and normalize the process that we select our pre-service interns, whether they are undergraduate students looking for a few hours to those in the graduate program of ETEP. Therefore, when, and if, you should be approached by a pre-service candidate to be placed in your classroom, please ask the prospective candidate to contact the Office of the Superintendent to request an application packet that will outline the requirements and criteria necessary for consideration.

The Office of the Superintendent will be the point of contact for all who are interested in placing interns in the Gorham Public Schools.

News from around the School

We have twenty 7th grade and one 8th grade student participating in the Maine Model United Nations Conference being held on the campus of the University of Southern Maine this week. The students, members of the Little River Team, have spent the past 4 months researching and preparing to act as committee members and delegates from various countries from around the world.

The students will be tackling various “real-world” issues that are facing emerging nations as well as established nations in the area of population and world hunger, education rights of women across the globe and the necessity of clean water in order for nations and peoples to prosper.

These are very “heady” issues for our youngsters to take on, and they are truly prepared to argue for their cause. The students will be dealing with over 500 students from high schools and middle school from Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont to come to viable solutions.

The Garden Project

Last week, I mentioned the work that Heather Whitaker and the students in our Alternative Education have been doing in our GMS Garden, building new frames for the raised bed gardens, weeding, mulching and preparing the soil for seeds. I even put a couple of pictures of the ongoing work progress.

The next project is to add a Deer Fence to protect the harvest from the onslaught of the wild deer (and antelope) that roam our campus. Dan tells me that some mornings, when he arrives to open the school a 5:00 am, there will be several of “wild things” just enjoying a leisurely breakfast on the succulent shoots and fruits of our students labor.

In the past, as in before the deer found our natural salad bar,  the garden would bear over 1000 pounds of vegetables that would be donated to the local food pantry. This last year we were able to only reap about 400 pounds because of the ravaging of the deer. The deer fence should bring this free lunch to a halt.

We are actively seeking out several grants from other sources to help pay for the fence. If you feel moved to help out our garden, you can do so by giving us a call at the school 207-222-1220.

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I Can’t Believe We Do This All in Just One Week!

Posted on May 10, 2013 by

topperMiddleImportant Upcoming Dates

  • May 10 – MEA Science Assessment for all 8th graders
  • May 10 – School Dance sponsored by 8th grade Physics day
  • May 11 – Gorham’s Got Talent 6:00 pm GMS Auditorium
  • May 15 – Leadership Team Meeting Melanie’s room 2:30
  • May 16 – MLTI Student Conference in Orono
  • May 17 – Funtown Physics Day – 8th Grade
  • May 27 – Memorial Day – No School
  • May 28 – GMS Chorus performs at St Joseph Pavilion

Dress Code Reminder

“Tis the season of Spring, when we break out our warm weather clothes and revel in the idea that we can once again wear shorts, T-shirts and flip flops. I know that I am excited to see my flip flops again after their winter hibernation.

Unfortunately, we still have about 25 days of school left and our dress code still applies to all of our students, and yes, our teachers too! Please remind your kids about our dress code. I am putting the actual section from the GMS Handbook that covers our Dress Code for your reference:

Students are to dress in a manner that will not distract, disrupt or be hazardous to their safety and well-being.  Parents should be involved in setting standards of dress and grooming for their children.  However, if the student, by dress or grooming is interfering with the educational process or is not dressed conducive to the activity, appropriate action, involving the parents will be taken.

The following will not be permitted in school:

  •  Shirts, tops, and dresses should cover the entire back and midriff and should be buttoned appropriately; students wearing spaghetti straps should have no exposed undergarments, as exposed undergarments are considered inappropriate for school.
  • Suitable footwear should be worn at all times.  Socks, bare feet, or slippers are not considered safe or suitable footwear.
  • If students wear shorts they should be worn at the natural waistline, be of a length no higher than mid thigh, and should not expose underwear.
  • All pants should be worn at the natural waistline and belted if necessary to keep them at natural waistline.
  • All skirts and dresses should be of a length no higher than mid thigh.
  • Hats, caps, chains, headbands, and bandannas cannot be worn in the building.
  • Students may not wear clothing or jewelry that depicts obscene, vulgar, or sexual, promoting illegal activity (tobacco, drugs, or alcohol), libel, fighting words or other expressions that could cause a disruption.

Note: Administrators will make the final decision regarding clothing/accessories of a questionable nature. 

Zero Waste Challenge Students Present to The School Committee

Emma Cousins, Abbie VanLuling and Garrett Higgins presenting to the Gorham School Committee

Emma Cousins, Abbie VanLuling and Garrett Higgins presenting to the Gorham School Committee

Three representatives from the 7th Grade Little River Team presented to the School Committee a review of their work that led them to be the winning team in the Chewonki Foundation’s Zero Waste Challenge. The Zero Waste Challenge was sponsored by the Poland Spring Bottling Big CheckCompany, Pine Tree Waste Services, EcoMaine and Chewonki Foundation to help schools and school children understand the importance of recycling. The students also brought the “BIG” check for $2000 that they received as the winners of the challenge.

Spring is Springing (Huh?!)

KathyAll around our school Spring is beginning to, as they say, “Spring up” and we couldn’t be happier. One of the sure signs of Spring are the announcements by middle schools and high schools everywhere reminding students and parents about the school’s dress code! It is also the time when our flower gardens and flower boxes begin to come to life with Danbeautiful colors and our school garden becomes a hotbed of activity.

Our Maintenance Department (that means Kathy and Dan) have been busy getting the planters at the front of the school looking good and making sure that our perennial gardens have a fresh bed of nice, rich mulch.

Also, Dan has been busy during the winter building new frames for our raised beds in the school garden. In the next few days, Heather Whitaker and our students in the alternative Education program will begin filling Gardenthe frames and getting them ready for the new seedlings.

One major addition to our garden this year will be the installation of a Deer Fence to keep our local herd of “Bambis”  away from those delicious plants. This Deer Fence is new to us and very expensive, almost $3,000 for complete installation.

In the past, our student garden would produce more than 1000 pounds of fresh vegetables for our local food pantry, but last year we were only able to contribute about 400 pounds because of the damage the deer would do. We are in the process of raising funds for this fence, so, if you would like to contribute, you can call Heather at the school and ask her how.

The BIG Night at the Telling Room

Earlier this Spring, we held our first annual Encourage the young Writer Day at GMS. On this day, we asked authors and publishers to come to our school and speak to our kids about writing and to lend them some encouraging words about this task that some kids find difficult. One group, The Telling Room from Portland, was incredibly supportive of our efforts and came to our school with three of the most dynamic and engaging young people who had our kids sitting on the edge of their seats with their presentations about writing.

On Thursday evening, May 16, the good folks at the Telling Room will be holding their annual event called BIG NIGHT on the Portland campus of the University of Southern Maine in Hannaford Hall. The event opens to the public at 7pm. Their newest anthology, A Young People’s Encyclopedia of Wonder, will be available for the first time, and we’ll have lots of fun, engaging activities including live printmaking from Fast Food Prints, live music from Connor Garvey, a photo booth, and giant scrabble!

This video, courtesy of The Telling Room will give you an idea of how much fun attending this evening will be.

Lots of Students Doing Lots of Good Things

Egg Drop1Mr. Palmer’s 8th grade science class had the Annual MDI Egg Drop Competition. This is a competition where small student groups work to design special packaging for one, poor little egg, so that it can be dropped from a height of about 20 feet… and survive. The students have to be able to collaborate effectively with the design process as well as the experimentation.

This is a fun way to understand several concepts in the science discipline of physics while getting really gross results at the end of the drop (for the unsuccessful drops!)

On the 6th grade Sebago Team, students have spent the year studying ancient civilizations. Trojan HorseThey have studies the Ancient Greeks, the Egyptians, Mesopotamia and the Romans. This week, the students presented something from their year of studies that really resonated with them in the form of a 3-D project.

There were some great representations of lots of the buildings of these ancient civilizations, but, it appears that the Trojan Horse was the most popular, I think  there were 4 interpretations of the “worlds greatest fake out” on display, each one an excellent representation.

Bullying Behaviors

I mentioned above that it is Springtime and we begin to see Mother Earth bring about her natural changes, warmer, longer days, flowers and trees begin their cycle of life, we need to review the dress code for our students and the not so nice behaviors of students being mean to their fellow students!

I wish that this were not true, but everyday we deal with students who choose not to think about the power of their words or actions and how they may impact their fellow students.

Over the past four months, we have come across several articles from newspapers, magazines, journals and individual blogs from the internet that deal with these behaviors in schools, online and in the workplace (yes, even the workplace has bullies!). Most recently, I have begun reading a book by Emily Bazelon called, appropriately, Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy.  Emily Bazelon is a senior editor at Slate, a contributing writer at The New York sticks and stonesTimes Magazine, and the Truman Capote Fellow at Yale Law School. Before joining Slate, she worked as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. She is a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School.

Sticks and Stones is an engaging look, by someone who is not necessary close to education, into the hallways and classrooms of our schools. She has painstakingly spent time with students from all sides of this issue. She has spoken to the victims of bullying, those who perpetrated upon the victims, the folks who sat by idly while these behaviors went on. Her look into this world is with a clear lens, the heart of a mother and the dogged determination of an award winning investigative reporter. I strongly suggest that this book be part of your summer reading… if not sooner.

One other very interesting person I have “discovered” in the recent months is Danah Boyd. Hanging outMs. Boyd is a Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research as well as on the faculty, in some fashion, at Harvard Law School, the Berkman Center at Harvard, New York University and the University of New South Wales. In other words, she is pretty smart!

She has focused her research on how young folks use social media as part of their everyday life. I had the opportunity to hear her make a presentation last month in Boston, and she absolutely stunned me with what I didn’t know about how our kids are using social media today.

Ms. Boyd is the co-author of a new book entitled Hanging Out, Messing Around and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media. I have not yet read this book, but it will definitely be on my summer reading list. If you would like to follow Ms. Boyd on twitter she is at @zephoria and her blog is here: http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/

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A Full Week of School

Posted on May 6, 2013 by

cropped-toppermiddle.gif

Upcoming Important Dates

  • May 6 thru 10 – Teacher Appreciation Week
  • May 7 – 8th Grade Assembly in the auditorium 11:30 AM
  • May 8 – Faculty Meeting in the Library 2:30 – 4:00 (food provided by all Males)
  • May 10 – MEA Science Assessment for all 8th graders
  • May 10 – School Dance sponsored by 8th grade Physics day
  • May 15 – Leadership Team Meeting Melanie’s room 2:30

Summer Reading Assembly

We will have an assembly immediately after lunch on Tuesday, May 7 with Sue Sedenka and Chris Record to discuss the Summer Reading Program expected of all incoming Freshmen Students. Mrs. Sedenka will give a brief review of each of the books offered and then students will have an opportunity to select a book that is of interest to them, from those offered. All incoming 9th graders will be expected to actively participate on the first day of school in August in a vibrant discussion of their chose book.

Update on Last Week’s Events

School administration and Gorham Police Department are continuing the investigation as to who wrote the threats on the bathroom walls. We are committed to finding the individual, or individuals, involved in these acts. We would like to ask all for any information that you may have regarding this and please let us know.

8th Grade Physics Day at Funtown

home_header2On May 17th, all of our 8th grade students will travel to Funtown/Splashtown in Saco to participate in their annual celebration of Physics Day. OK, I know what you’re all thinking, this is a pretty good boondoggle to get in a field trip to an amusement park for the kids.

I can assure you there is quite a bit of work that the student do to prepare for this excursion to the park and then, once they arrive, they have to complete several real physics problems before they can actually play.

We are very fortunate to be allowed the attend this day, as it is usually reserved for High School students. We have been able to demonstrate a level of work and behavior, that we get invited back each year. There is nothing that can make a student understand the science and math involved in sitting in a chair that had been raised over 185 feet above the ground and then allowed to let gravity work its magic. Students can actually feel affects of physics while they try to figure out the solutions.

GMS Special Olympians

Last Thursday, several of our Special Olympians competed in the regional Special EVANOlympics at Windham High School. Gorham was well represented by all of the schools with plenty of participants in every event.

GMS Special Olympians performed very well with Evan Morrell taking a first place in the 50 meter dash.

Lauren Hawkes Memorial Garden Get a Face Lift

Lauren's gardenI want to extend a huge THANK YOU to Mrs. Tassey for her dedication to our school and for her work at reviving the Lauren Hawkes memorial Garden from a very difficult winter season. It was such a wonderful sight to behold upon returning from the April vacation to see all of the beautiful new flowers and the ugliness of the sand from the winter removed. Thank you again, Mrs. Tassey

Faculty Meeting Agenda

The very first reminder for this meeting is that the males are responsible for the food this week. This could be a real deterrence for attendance, I realize!

We will meet in the Library beginning at 2:30. The agenda is as follows:

  • Accolades
  • Open Discussion
    We are seeking any items from the faculty to be included
  • Content Area meetings to discuss the implications of Common Core for next August and beyond.
  • Other

Scholastic Book Fair

All this week we will be holding a Scholastic Books Book Fair in the GMS Library. Students wishing to purchase any books may do so during the school day. Also, speaking of Scholastic Books, they are holding their regular, end-of-year warehouse sale at the warehouse in Saco, May 9 -18. This is a great opportunity to get some great books at prices reduced 25 to 80% off the regular price. Check out Scholastic Books web site for times and other information.

Rita Pierson at TED Education

Rita Pierson has been teaching school for more than  40 years. Both of her parents were teachers, so she has been going to school almost all of her life. In this video, she shares a story about a colleague who stated “they don’t pay me to like the kids”, to which Rita responded, “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like!”

I hope you enjoy Rita’s humor as well as her message.

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Posted on April 30, 2013 by

topperMiddleUpcoming Important Dates

  • April 29 – NWEA Testing Window Begins, schedule will be forthcoming
  • May 2 – Early Release Day for students
  • May 8 – Faculty Meeting in the Library 2:30 – 4:00 (food provided by all Males)
  • May 10 – MEA Science Assessment for all 8th graders
  • May 10 – School Dance sponsored by 8th grade Physics day

The Events of Thursday and Friday

Unfortunately, Gorham Middle School is not immune to the outside influences, as I had once thought! We are all too painfully aware of the furor and, quite frankly, the inconvenience of a student, or two, writing inappropriate “stuff” on our bathroom walls.

Because of this, we had to invoke our safety protocols that have been developed.

I am pleased to say that all of the protocols worked “to a tee”, and we were able to respond quickly, and in some very unusual circumstances, to keep our kids safe and to get them home to their families. I am also sure that there were some questions that may have arisen, but that all of our communication systems worked very well and gt facts home to parents in a very timely manner.

We continue to take the safety of our students very seriously and work with each instance to complete a review of our protocols to help us get better. Thank you for your continued support for our students and our schools.

I would like to remind all staff to have the students sign out and back into your classrooms with legible handwriting and with the proper time out and in. This is always very helpful in determining timelines for events as well as the people who may have had access.

Gorham Middle School Wins Zero Waste Challenge

You probably noticed over the past few postings on this blog that we had set aside time on the Monday we returned from vacation to hold an All School assembly. Since this is something that we do very rarely, people were asking lots of questions, mostly, “Is Riley off his rocker (more than usual)”?

I think, judging from all of the great “press” we received in the local television and newspapers, it was a great success.

I also want to report to all that, because of our success in winning the Zero Waste Challenge, one of our local businesses read about us in the newspaper and felt compelled to meet our students. His business, LKQ, is actually in the Zero Waste Business for the automotive industry. He spoke to the students about how they recycle every part of the old automobile for use in running the physical plant here in Gorham and how each item on an old auto is recycled.

LKQ also added to the prize that was awarded on Monday by presenting the students with a $200 check to help them continue their work!

MLTI 2013-2014

I have heard considerable talk about the decision of the state to change from the Apple platform to that of Windows 8. While we do not yet have any of the specific of what this change will mean for all of us, we can assume that any change will require work on our part.

There will be a meeting of all Administrators on Wednesday and MLTI will be an agenda item. I would expect that we will have many more details of the proposal and some options for us as we try to make heads-or-tails of the Governor’s plan.

Sea Dogs Appreciate Our Teachers
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Seadog1

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On April 19th, the Portland Sea Dogs, AA minor league affiliate of the Boston Red Sox 15 Gorham Middle School teachers were honored in pregame ceremonies. All of the teachers received a free ticket to the game, a “nifty” certificate from the Sea Dogs and their names were prominently posted on the center field message board. Congratulations to all of our teachers.

NWEA Testing Schedule

It is that time of year again where we administer to all of our students the Northwest Educational Assessment (NWEA). These assessments are adaptive computer assessments that can be used to assist us in understanding the progress our students have made over the academic year. The assessments yield an abundance of raw information that, when used properly, can aid us in determining net steps for our kids.

These assessments usually take a period a day to complete and we have 3 assessments that we need to complete. Sometimes we have a “monkey wrench” thrown at us because of connectivity issues or other technical problems. In any event, with make ups for students who are absent and the (un)expected glitches, we an usually complete a whole grade level in one week.

Please refer to the schedule we sent out last week.

Team Leaders Meeting

We will meet in Melanie’s room (as usual) on Wednesday at 2:30. We have several items to discuss regarding step up day and the first days of school next year. Please bring your ideas with you on Wednesday.

Early Release Day Activities

Our last Early Release day of the year will be this Thursday, May 2nd. Denis Albert has devised and organized an great day of wellness and health activities of our students. Your advisees should have signed up for their desired activities through the Google Doc link sent our by Terri Dawson. If they haven’t signed up or a session, they will be assigned to one for each of the four session times.

The afternoon time will be spent in Content Area meetings. We have several items to discuss in each of the content areas regarding the implementation of the Common Core in September 2013.

English/Language Arts and Social Studies will again join together to discuss some of the area where shared responsibility for the CCSS in History should be, as well as the shared responsibility for how we create and log evidence of student learning.
Science will continue to review the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to insure that all of our current units of study are in alignment.
Math will continue with the assessment of the current math program and how it is bringing our students into a better alignment with the expectations of the CCSS
Health and PE will meet to review changes made this year and make suggestions for the coming year.
World and Classical Languages and Visual and Performing Arts Will have received information for their work from the Curriculum Leader.

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They Will Remember How You Made Them Feel!

Posted on April 28, 2013 by

topperMiddle

Just One of Those Days

Have you ever had one of those days when you asked yourself, “would it ever end?”, well, Friday was one of those days for me!

My day began with more than a bit of nervous anticipation. The day before, in school, someone had written some words on a bathroom wall that were not what we expect of our students. The words, given the events of the past few weeks, are the type that make adults, charged with the safety of our young people, stand up and take notice. So, as I was leaving my house, getting ready to drive in the Boston rush hour traffic, my mind was back at school.

I was going to Boston, (Newton, actually) to attend a conference on bringing technology to our schools in a more positive and constructive way for our students and our staff. There were going to be some very interesting sessions for Principals that had me excited about attending, even though I knew the time and aggravation of the notoriously heavy traffic and prototypical Massachusetts drivers (in Maine, we have a very special name for them!) would be considerable, the idea of attending this workshop far outweighed the prospect of fighting the Mass(__) drivers and the heavy traffic.

I will say that the workshop was all that I had expected, and more. I was able to meet some very creative people who are doing some really amazing things in their schools. However, as I was listening to each presentation, I had my cell phone firmly in my hand, ringer on low, hoping that it would not ring!

A little after 1:00, I receive a text message with a picture, that sets the day in an opposite direction and communicates to me exactly what I had hoped would not happen.

Being so far away, there was not a lot I could do except trust that my assistant would handle it, and she did so in a very professional and calming fashion. She followed our training to the letter and finished the day with all of the kids safely dismissed, at the normal time, and sent home. She made sure that the local authorities had been contacted and that she followed their advice. All done with an eye toward keeping the kids safe, not creating a panic and with excellent communication to our families.

So, while I was very pleased by the way our faculty, staff and students responded to the situation, I was incredibly disappointed that one of our students would feel that this was an OK thing to do in our school.

I know that I will sound arrogant when I say this, but this is not what we have come to expect of our students. We are always reminded our how great our students are when they go out in public. We had a group of students go to Washington, D.C. this past vacation, and the reports that came back to us were all very positive. When we have guests come in to our school, they always comment on the behavior of our students in positive ways. We have students win local and state academic competitions and most recently, our school was in the news for winning a year-long ecology challenge.

I am very proud of our school and our students and I am not afraid or ashamed to let everyone know this! The events of the past two days are so contrary to our norm, it is very disappointing and frustrating.

So, my drive back to Maine from Newton, complete with the heavy traffic and those wonderful Massachusetts drivers (do they put turn signals in the cars sold in Massachusetts?), was a tad more edgy than it probably would have been. I think there are some Mass drivers who finally understood they messed with the wrong Maine driver, but I did keep the “language” inside the car and did not use any “hand signals”.

When I got back home to Maine and began to settle in to my weekend routine, I found that my brain could not get away from the events at school. As I was mucking out the stalls for my horse, my mind was on who could have done this! Clearly, I was frustrated to the point of agitation!

So the bets way to clear up the condition of “agitation” is a visit from my two best friends Ben and Jerry! Alas, we did not have any in our freezer so that meant a trip to the store.

This is where my day changed even more dramatically that it did when I got the text message at 1:00!

After losing the debate with myself about why I shouldn’t go to the store to get ice cream, I got into my car and drove to the local store. The entire trip downtown, about 5 minutes, I am muttering about my school and who would have done this unthinkable thing to all of us, especially me.

In the parking lot, I carry forward my “attitude” of driving in Massachusetts as I complain, to myself, about how people drive in the parking lot. Clearly, my trip to visit my friends Ben and Jerry has now reached critical levels!

I walk into the store, eye blinders secure, my mission clear, head to the freezer section and do not engage anyone! I am resolute to complete this mission successfully when I am interrupted, mission interruptus, how could I let this happen? I saw him coming out of the corner of my eye. I could tell he was coming for me, but I’ll be darned if I could recognize him. I am hoping I am wrong, maybe he’ll walk by me.

He doesn’t. He says to me, “did you use to teach social studies?” By now I have to look at him, but his face is not bringing me a name. I answer, “yes, did I have you (you poor unfortunate soul!), I can’t put your name to your face”.

He looks me straight in the eye and then says “you probably don’t remember me, I was kind of a pain. I’m Mike ____”.

You know how some interruptions can really ruin your day, even a day that has been going really bad to begin with? Well, this was not that kind of interruption. This was the kind of interruption that turned my day, my attitude 180 degrees into a positive direction.

Mike was the student who helped me as a teacher far more than he thinks I helped him. I remember Mike everyday I go into school, each and every day.

He’s correct, he was a handful. Mike was a kid that traditional school wasn’t right for. First of all, Mike was a kid who believed that if you didn’t treat him “right”, he wouldn’t treat you right. Of course, he would also work to push your buttons and get under your skin. He knew when and how he could get you to react with minimal effort on his part. He was absolutely the best at getting teachers to react to him. The result was that he would get sent out of class, which is exactly what he wanted.

I was never a fan of kicking kids out of class and he learned that rather quickly, not that he didn’t keep trying.

The long and the short of this chance encounter with Mike was that when he saw me at the store he said he just wanted to say hi and to thank me for “being nice to him”. He could have walked passed me, I don’t think I would have recognized him. He would have just been another stranger in the grocery store aisle. Could he have sensed that I needed a positive intervention?

Finally, I am reminded of something I read about teacher, students may not remember what you taught them, but the will remember how you made them fell.

Thanks, Mike for turning my day around and for all of the great lessons you taught me about teaching.

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The Dress Code Deputies

Posted on April 26, 2013 by

topperMiddle

Our Dress Code Video

Last night, at our annual night to introduce our 5th grade parents to our middle school, I had some difficulty getting our very cute and funny video about our dress code to operate properly. So, here it is, as promised.

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