I am amazed at what I have already seen going on in classrooms this year.  Students and teachers hit the ground running on what is going to be the best year ever.  Tell me about what you have already learned this year.  Can’t wait to read your responses!

In the April newsletter, I mentioned some stories I heard from parents about times when their children got upset when they had to miss school because they were sick or times when kids got into the car after school and couldn’t wait to tell you about their day. 

If you are a student, you can write about a time when you got very excited about something in school.

As we all leave for break, I want to take the chance to reiterate the wonderful things going on daily at HTMS.  Laura Reddick’s students have entered art work into a contest sponsored by the National Middle School Association.  I helped cover her class earlier in the week so she could co-teach an activity with Niki Lincoln for social studies.  Her students applied mathematical concepts as they drew tessellations.  I was able to listen to Brenda Graffeo’s students share poems as beatniks in a coffee house.  I sat in on a discussion in Darrell Stovall’s class.  Students read the article from Time and participated in a discussion about it.  Over the past few weeks, all of the 6th graders went to Birmingham Southern to participate in a variety of ecological activities.  Kids came back very excited about what they learned.  Jamey Curlee is kicking off his body systems unit using the movie Supersize Me.  Erin McGuyer’s students taught me some new tricks in PowerPoint as I walked around her classroom.  Sandy Hoffman’s students rotated through different stations during class.  They had choice in working with a partner or alone and to solve a variety of problems. Check the stairwells going upstairs to see great examples of Jan Sterling’s students illustrating solutions to a problem using different strategies.  Go up the stairs in front of the counselors’ offices.  Emily Walsh had students brainstorm using different strategies (drawing a picture, creating a web, using other graphic organizers, or free write.)  Haley Nichols allowed her students to select from a variety of high interest articles.  Students with the same article formed groups and wrote persuasive essays based on their articles.  Anita Dobb’s students celebrated Pi Day (3/14) by doing a variety of math activities that required students to utilize Pi in their solving of problems.  Joy Young’s students used Excel to recreate and fill in their tournament brackets.  They then utilized the program to calculate the winning percentages based on their brackets.  Very high interest way of teaching students the Excel. Ann House’s students created board games to demonstrate their learning.  Tracy Gulledge’s students dissected hearts; I never was able to dissect anything beyond a frog.  Larry Jones’ students had rocket launches to test different principles in physics.  Did you see the article in the Birmingham News the other morning about the cafeteria’s 100 score on the latest health rating? 

Every day I look over the attendance report.  Usually, I am pretty pleased with what I see.  We average a daily attendance of somewhere between 94 and 96%.  This past Thursday, I was absolutely amazed at our attendance.  There were 18 students absent Thursday.  That converts to 99% attendance, and there were no special programs, pep rallies, big games, etc.  This is a great indication of the positive things going on at HTMS.  I appreciate the hard work teachers put into designing lessons for students.  Their efforts are paying off!

I want to know your favorite memory from school.  It can be from this year or from another grade.  Tell me about your memory and why it is something that has stuck with you.

I recently read an article in Time about what students need in the 21st century. Recommendations about the skills and disciplines needed included technology and exposure to world cultures. The term “portable skills” was a new term to me. Portable skills are critical think, making connections, and the ability to continuously learn. The article also discussed the importance of teaching students how to assess the accuracy of information read on websites. Did you know that in a recent study of 6,200 high school seniors and college freshman only 50 percent could accurately judge the quality of content on websites?
I would be very interested in hearing from you what you think you need to be well educated in the 21st century. I would also like to hear how you learn when you are away from school. Do you see similarities or differences between HOW you learn at school and away from school?

Students,
I wanted to let you know how much I enjoy reading your responses to your teachers’ discussion boards. I go from laughing at your obvious humor to being totally amazed by the deepness of your thoughts. I can tell by the time listed when you post, and I have to say that it thrills me to see you posting as soon as you get home and later into the evening and even on weekends. This is a great example of work that is engaging for students. It isn’t the computer that makes it engaging, but the “conversation” you are able to have with your peers and teachers. Keep up the good work!