Update: January 3, 2018
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
New Bike Racks for Greely Middle School
GMS students Adam Jacobson, Caleb Croce, and Ray Woodcock have created bike racks for our PT & OT bicycles with support and guidance from Speech & Language clinician, Jen McCullum, Occupational Therapist, Alicia Dostilio and her student teacher Sharan, and special education teacher, Derek Burow. Thank you to all of them for their hard work. As you can see, the racks are well constructed and are helping us keep the bikes organized and stored safely out of the way of hallway traffic. Thanks to each of these enterprising students!GHS Debate Team News
Four Greely Debaters recently showed great promise in recent tournaments. Zack Whiting jumped to the varsity level in Congressional Debate; the Senate. Grant Dresnok also recently joined him and served as Presiding Office of the Senate and passed a successful amendment to a bill up for debate. Additional honors went to Ben Hall and Carson Bell, who took 2nd place and 3rd place in the JV level of the same event, The House of Representatives. The season ends at the end of January, and all competitors are hoping to earn spots at Nationals based on recent performances.
GMS Staff Sing to Students
On the day before the holiday break, the GMS staff greeted students coming into school with holiday carols led by music teachers, Mr. Thurston, Ms. Cummings, and Mr. Saunders. This is a tradition at GMS. There was a look of surprise on students’ faces when they entered the school to find their teachers dressed in ugly sweaters and belting out holiday tunes.
Cumberland in Miniature Form
Mrs. Train and Mrs. Fluet's 1st grade classes made a miniature Town of Cumberland out of gingerbread house creations as part of their study of community. Can you find all of the landmarks of Cumberland in these photos?
Door Decorating
Grades 4-5 celebrated the holidays by decorating classroom doors before the break. Each class created a theme for the winter months and displayed it for all to see on their classroom doors, to be judged for creativity and originality. I managed to find myself in Mrs. Cosquer's 4th grade class in the middle of a snowball fight (photo to right)!
How Do We Handle Old Furniture?
Recently, some inquiries were made as to what we do with worn, outdated furniture that is no longer useful or appropriate for learning.
- The district has a capital plan to replace furniture throughout the schools on a scheduled basis. Right now, we are replacing furniture primarily at GHS, where the old desk/chair metal combination has been the norm for the last 20-30 years. Through the budget process, the Board has supported replacing old furniture with modern, 21st century classroom furniture to better meet the needs of learners.
- The district disposes of property in accordance with Policy DN: Any property determined to be worthless, or for any reason is considered to be inappropriate for sale, shall be disposed of in a manner the Superintendent or his/her designee deems appropriate with recycling as a priority where feasible.
- As we replace classrooms with new furniture, we redistribute furniture throughout the schools and weed out the worst desks and chairs first. During this latest phase, we ended up with about 40 desk/chair metal combination units that were deemed to be at the end of their useful life.
- We do first try to sell or donate any "worthless" furniture to any other district that wants them. We had no interested districts for this batch of 40 desks. Part of the lack of interest is that other districts are also trying to get rid of their outdated furniture and old desks and chairs are a liability.
- After dismantling the desks, we recycle the metal and receive money for it that goes into the general fund.
Thank You to our Facilities & Transportation Crews
Many thanks to our facilities and transportation crews, with special thanks to facilities supervisor Don Foster and transportation supervisor Phil Blake for ensuring our building and buses were ready to go despite the frigid temperatures. Frozen pipes and bus engine failures were avoided because of their efforts!Proficiency Primer
Over the last several blog posts, I have started to dive deeper into the major tenets of a proficiency-based education. Each blog through January, I will talk more about the tenets of a proficiency-based education (PBE). Stay tuned to my "Proficiency Primer" for more details on PBE.
Sixth Tenet: Supporting students who need extra help or could use extended experiences when they already demonstrate attainment of the learning targets
Sometimes students need extra time and practice to attain learning targets. Sometimes they also may need more challenging or extended experiences if they have demonstrated a prior or early attainment of the learning targets. In a proficiency-based system, we welcome both options and strive to provide flexible learning environments where students can work at their own pace at certain points along the way if needed, what I like to call "checkpoints".
Usually, these checkpoints occur after a formative or summative assessment has been given. Students will be provided an opportunity to refine or extend their learning and try again the assessment in order to demonstrate growth in their understanding of important curricular concepts.
Next Blog I'll further articulate the final tenet: School-wide consistency amongst teachers on such practices as grading, late work, test re-takes, and Habits of Work (work completion, preparation for class, engagement in learning, respect, etc.)
#2: Having clear assessments that align to the stated learning targets
#3: Providing students with clear and specific feedback on
progress in meeting the learning standards (Part I)
#3 (continued): Feedback to students in meeting learning standards (Part II)
Sometimes students need extra time and practice to attain learning targets. Sometimes they also may need more challenging or extended experiences if they have demonstrated a prior or early attainment of the learning targets. In a proficiency-based system, we welcome both options and strive to provide flexible learning environments where students can work at their own pace at certain points along the way if needed, what I like to call "checkpoints".
Usually, these checkpoints occur after a formative or summative assessment has been given. Students will be provided an opportunity to refine or extend their learning and try again the assessment in order to demonstrate growth in their understanding of important curricular concepts.
Next Blog I'll further articulate the final tenet: School-wide consistency amongst teachers on such practices as grading, late work, test re-takes, and Habits of Work (work completion, preparation for class, engagement in learning, respect, etc.)
Past Proficiency Primers
#1: Being explicit and up-front about the Learning Targets#2: Having clear assessments that align to the stated learning targets
#3: Providing students with clear and specific feedback on
progress in meeting the learning standards (Part I)
#3 (continued): Feedback to students in meeting learning standards (Part II)