Single page - New England League of Middle Schools

Tech Corner
NELMS Annual
Conference
Embrace Social
Technologies
Page 4
Editor’s Message
Looking forward
into the new
year–read Linda on
Advisory. Page 2
Coming
March 31 &
April 1.
MidLines
Winter 2014
Volume 4 • Number 1
New England League of Middle Schools
Increase Student
Engagement and Buy In
Jennifer Stanchfield
Cultivating Choice, Control and
Ownership
Many of the advisors I work with share
that student engagement and buy in is one of
their biggest challenges in facilitating advisory
activities. My suggestions to advisory group
leaders are based on an experiential, brain-based
approach to group facilitation and teaching.
People learn best when they perceive a sense
of control, and have choice and ownership in
their learning experiences. Think about creating
opportunities that build this sense of choice
and control from the very beginning of the
program or school year. Empowering learners
to set reasonable parameters around their participation creates an atmosphere of healthy trust
and will increase involvement from reluctant
participants.
Involving Reluctant Group
Members
• Find something that will intrinsically
motivate group members and increase
buy-in. Some students who are reluctant at first to engage in an activity will
jump at the opportunity to help set
News in Brief
Middle school students
design tomorrow’s cities
From flying saucers to hydrogenpowered cars to hyperloops,
Longfellow and Whitman middle
school students are designing the
cities of tomorrow.
1 Midlines | Winter 2014
up equipment or be involved in some
supportive role such as group photographer.
• Focus on positive participation. Give
those who are opting out the opportunity to participate passively (that does
not mean distracting the group). Once
you draw a critical mass into the group
O
in groups at all.
• Recognize that people learn and are more
comfortable interacting in different ways.
It is essential to differentiate the way you
present material and engage group learners. Take brain research into account and
design lessons that use multiple senses
ver and over, I see students who
did not engage in class or perform
well in previous group situations
excel in experientially-based group work.
activities, more will follow.
• A successful educator has flexible expectations. Remember that sometimes it is
appropriate to acknowledge the need
for taking “baby steps.” Group work is
a process, not an event. It is a practice.
Learning to play and be part of a group
often takes practice. In working with
youth, I have discovered that some actually never learned how to play and that
many students are not used to working
and involve movement and social interaction. Activities that use different senses
and require different skill sets will reach
more students and increase attention
and retention and create multiple neural
pathways to learning.
• Keep it interesting: Props, humor,
and relating activities to popular culture are useful strategies for increasing
involvement.
• Use peers as role models and leaders
Continued on page 7
More than 40 three-to-four person
teams have been tasked to come up
with future transportation ideas and
map out a model city in the Future
City competition.
http://tiny.cc/g2of9w
Before creating plan
to improve D.C. middle
schools, chancellor wants
community input
The District’s school system
cannot articulate how it will turn
around its long-struggling middle
schools until it gathers more input
from the community, Schools
Chancellor Kaya Henderson said
recently in response to pressure
from the D.C. Council to outline an
improvement plan.
http://tiny.cc/v6of9w
Editor’s Desk
120 Water Street – Suite 403
North Andover, MA 01845
P: (978) 557-9311
F: (978) 557-9312
www.nelms.org
The NELMS Mission: We are leaders in
promoting middle level best practices by
providing collaborative learning experiences
that support students’ academic, social, and
emotional growth and success.
Mid Lines is a three times/year newspaper
distributed to its membership and published
by the New England League of Middle
Schools, Inc., a non-profit organization for
professional educators.
© NELMS 2014. All rights reserved.
Mid Lines welcomes your thoughts and
suggestions as well as your editorial
comments. Please send them to
Mid Lines, c/o NELMS, 120 Water St., Suite
403, North Andover, MA 01845
Inclusion in this newspaper does not
necessarily constitute an endorsement of a
particular individual or organization by the
New England League of Middle Schools.
Articles and advertising must be submitted
two months prior to publication.
The editors reserve the right to omit articles,
activities or advertising not in keeping with
NELMS philosophy.
The New England League of Middle Schools
takes no financial responsibility for misprints
or errors, but will reprint corrections in a later
issue, if given notice two months prior to
publication.
Call 978-557-9311 for further information.
Editorial issues: call Brenda Needham,
Executive Director.
NELMS OFFICE STAFF
Brenda L. Needham, Executive Director,
[email protected]
Mary Jean Fawcett, Assistant Executive
Director of Professional Services
[email protected]
Karin Wilmarth, Events Coordinator,
[email protected]
Stephen Nicholas,
Graphic Designer/Web Developer,
[email protected]
Donna Arnold, Business Practices
Coordinator, [email protected]
Bernice MacKenzie, Business Practices
Team Associate, [email protected]
Linda Bourne, Mid Lines Editor, lbourne@
nelms.org
ADVERTISING IN MID LINES
Publications of the New England League
of Middle Schools are read by thousands
of middle level educators. We invite you
to strive with NELMS to continuously
refresh the learning experience for young
adolescents. NELMS only advertises
products and services which serve the
professional and educational needs of
our membership.
Mid Lines is e-published three times a
year and circulated to 20,000 educators
through their membership. Contact
NELMS for current advertisement rates.
Deadlines:
November 1 for Winter issue
March 1 for Spring issue
July 1 for Fall
2 Midlines | Winter 2014
T
he world has welcomed
a New Year but educators are half way through
their year. You know your
students well and the management routine is soundly in
place. But, just like those New
Year’s resolutions that accompany Auld Lang Syne teachers and administrators have to begin looking toward next
year’s programs and practices.
NELMS hopes that if something happened
in the past years that made advisory fade away,
that your future planning includes rejuvenating
or reinstating this well-researched and proven
practice. In many cases, research tells us that
advisory is a significant factor in student success in all areas, including state/national testing,
improved graduation rates, and a sense of wellbeing. (Turning Points 2000. This We Believe.
America’s Promise Alliance: The Five Promises.
Association for Middle Level Education.)
To inspire you and help with your planning, this issue is focused on resources and
practices for Advisory. Jen Stanchfield of Experiential Tools offers some of her favorite
ideas for increasing engagement, facilitating
learning outcomes, and enlivening classroom
and advisory lessons.
There is a summary of a NELMS program,
Student Success Plans + Cutting Edge Advisory
= Student Success, which was a well-attended
full day workshop at last year’s annual conference. You will also enjoy reading the perspective of advisory from students from Mount
Anthony Middle School in Bennington VT.
As well, advisory is addressed by some of our
regular contributors.
MIDLINES is your publication for all things
middle and we continue to invite you to share
and help us promote and support those practices that are proven to be the best approaches
to fully implement a program that meets the
needs of our population. The spring issue will
highlight the Annual Conference and some of
the outstanding presentations and awardees
for this year. We hope that you will be there
and that follow-up reading in that issue will
provide you with the impetus to maintain the
enthusiasm you gain from attending.
See you at the conference in Providence!
Feedback to:
Linda – [email protected]
Steve – [email protected]
NELMS News from Brenda
J
oin us on March 31 and
April 1 in Providence, RI
for the new look of our
33rd NELMS Annual Conference. Our theme of “Magic
in the Middle” is sure to be
“magical”, a time filled with
learning, sharing, re-energizing
the commitment to middle
level students, and importantly,
having fun with a community of learners
who have a common interest and experience.
It will be wonderful to have the knowledge
and leadership of keynote speaker Nancy Doda
with us. She brings a wealth of experience and
understanding from her vast work throughout
the country and her message of “Why We Teach”
is sure to be powerful. Our other keynoter,
Jack Berckemeyer, will undoubtedly make us
laugh, remind us why we do what we do, and
will share the importance of our impact on students. His connection with students through
his view of “Living It, Loving It, Laughing About
It” is sure to be meaningful. These two will
provide the core of our conference and will be
joined by half day and 75 minute presentations
specifically selected to meet teacher needs.
We want you to be inspired, add to your
knowledge, develop instructional strategies,
and be part of an educator community that
goes beyond your local school. As educators we
encourage students to have a variety of experiences and learning opportunities so the same
is true for us, we need to learn from others, to
expand out thinking, and be exposed to ideas
outside of our local experience.
Attend the conference with a team or come
by yourself and create new connections. Be
part of the future, be engaged, motivated,
and be valued. See you at the NELMS Annual
Conference and join us to of celebrate “Magical in the Middle”.
Brenda Needham is the executive director
of NELMS and the superintendent of the
Rivendell Interstate School District. Rivendell,
one of the first Pre K-12 interstate school
districts in the country, was created to unite
and provide better educational opportunity to
four diverse, geographically disparate towns in
both New Hampshire and Vermont.
View from the Chair
G
reetings and Happy New Year:
We return to our classrooms with resolutions to make
personal and professional improvements in our lives. As
you go about the important work of empowering young adolescents with the skills they will need for the future, consider a
resolution to spark interest in the start of an Advisory program
or to refresh an existing Advisory program at your school.
You will note that this Midlines winter issue is dedicated to the theme of
Advisory. It is my hope that its contents inspire you to make a strong Advisory program the cornerstone of your middle school. Whether starting fresh
or breathing new life into your Advisory NELMS can provide cost effective,
on-site expertise to help you tailor your Advisory to the needs of your adolescents. Need to see an Advisory program in action? NELMS can connect you
with colleagues in your region who can show you first hand the benefits that
Advisory can bring to your student body.
As 2014 begins to unfold, please mark March 31-April 1 on your professional
calendar and plan to attend the NELMS 33rd Annual Conference in Providence,
Rhode Island. With keynotes from Nancy Doda and Jack Berkemeyer and the
opportunity to interact with scores of presenters, colleague, and vendors, you
will not be disappointed. I wish you many gratifying days ahead surrounded
by the young adolescents with whom we love to work.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Hill,
Board Chair
Support
your state
organization!
These organizations are great
resources for support, information
about local events and issues, and
advocacy opportunities.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Middle Level Educators
www.commle.org/
Connecticut Association of
Schools
www.casciac.org
Maine Association for Middle Level
Education
www.mamleonline.org
New Hampshire Association for
Middle Level Education
http://www.nhamle.org/
RI Middle Level Educators
www.rimle.org
VT Association for Middle Level
Education
www.vamle.org
Ticketed Keynote Luncheons at the Annual Conference 2014
Monday, March 31, 2014
11:30 am–1:00 pm
L1 – Imagine Powerful Learning
Nancy Doda
$40 Luncheon Fee (pre-registration required)
When asked to recount memories from our years of schooling, many of us are challenged to identify more than
1 memory that we would describe as a powerful learning experience. Why? Shouldn’t it be otherwise? Explore
ways that middle level schools can advance our success in creating more powerful learning moments for this
generation of young people.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
12:00 pm–1:15 pm
L2 – Understanding Adolescents
Jack Berckemeyer
$40 Luncheon Fee (pre-registration required)
Being able to figure out the inner workings of adolescents is key to being a great middle school teacher. Come
discover helpful teacher tips on how to relate to young adolescents. Share and apply teaching ideas that meet
the needs of middle school students. This session will also provide practical ideas to help with classroom
management and behavioral issues from structuring your room to methods for getting a class to simmer down.
Connect with your students and discover new ways to relate to them that will surely improve learning.
3 Midlines | Winter 2014
Student Success Plans + Cutting
Edge Advisory = Student Success
by the Council on Adolescent Development of
By Earle Bidwell
Tech Corner
Embrace Social
Technologies
When computers arrived on
the consumer market, they
were tools for programming
hobbyists. By the mid-1990’s
consumer and educational
computers came with Internet
protocols and modems as
standard parts. As massive
numbers of users went online,
the Internet was predicted to be
“the infinite library.”
While traditional publishers
moved content online to begin
creating this library, web 2.0
technologies emerged that
allowed users to create this
infinite library. Social networks,
a subset of the web 2.0
technologies, gained popularity
in the 21st century. In these
social networks, we can observe
the transition from computers
as information devices to
computers as interaction
devices.
At first, educators demonstrated
what can best be described as
a fear of social networks and
media. Several high-profile cases
of cyber bullying and stalking
on these sites fed this fear. In
addition, teachers found little
connection between their work
and the social web sites. “What
do I have to blog?” was the
response I often heard when
suggesting teachers’ blog ten
years ago.
While I was able to convince
many educators that blogging
was an easy way to publish
information useful to their
students (such as homework
assignments and curriculum
links), they continue to be
reluctant users of social media.
Given the misuse of tools such
Continued on page 5
4 Midlines | Winter 2014
the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and
W
This We Believe: Developmentally Responsive
ith the current emphasis on
Common Core State Standards, Race to the Top federal
funding, Smarter Balanced Assessments,
obtaining the latest technology and tying
teacher and administrator evaluations to
Middle Level Schools published by the National
Middle School Association (renamed Association for Middle Level Education {AMLE }
in 2013). In Breaking Ranks in the Middle
(BRIM), a key standard states: “Every student
will have a Personal Adult Advocate to help him/
student achievement, a very important
basic element to student success, “personalization”, is increasingly overlooked, or
relegated to “nice but not necessary”. Both
the research, and virtually all of the school
reform efforts of the last two decades,
point to just the opposite. Personalization
not only works, it is indispensable in helping all students reach their full potential,
her personalize the educational experience”.
NEASC Standard 5 affirms: “There is a formal,
ongoing program through which each student
has an adult in the school, in addition to the
school counselor, who knows the student well
and assists the student in achieving the school’s
21st century learning expectations.”
The Evidence
The research says that students who feel
in closing the achievement gap, and en-
connected at school: are less likely to use
suring that all have access to educational
drugs, have less emotional stress, engage in
experience that academic, workforce and
fewer forms of violent behavior, are less likely
personal skills require for post secondary
to become pregnant, and perform better
success.
by all measures. Their attendance is better,
The Reform Efforts
In the development of their standards,
both the National Association of Secondary
School Principals (NASSP) and the New
England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) looked back to two seminal
works from the 90s, TurningPoints: Preparing
American Youth for the 21st Century published
their grades are higher and their self-worth
is enhanced.
Based on the research and the evidence,
23 states and the District of Columbia have
established laws or regulations requiring
some sort of Student Success Plan (SSP) or
Individual Success Plan (ISP) for secondary
Continued on page 5
Teacher Tips!
Top 25 Middle School Teacher Blogs
Blogs are a popular way for teachers to
exchange ideas, share resources, and
encourage one another along the way.
We’ve selected 25 of the best middle
school teacher blogs from 2012 to help
give future educators a window into the
life of a middle school teacher.
Click here: http://tiny.cc/l7d59w
Embrace Social…continued from page 4
Advisory…continued from page 4
students. The plans generally have three com-
Contribute:
ponents: personalization or social-emotional,
• Give lots of responsibility…
academic and career. Furthermore, because of
• Invite students to create classroom rules
the reform efforts mentioned above, there is
and school policies and climate plans
a resurgence of interest in Advisory programs
• “It is in Advisory where participation is
at both the middle level and high school. The
valued above adult control; that students
new or cutting edge advisories are somewhat
have a chance to learn self-control”
different than the traditional advisories that
It requires a shift of the focus to a learning
were a hallmark of middle schools in the
community, to personalization not uniformity,
19702 and 1980s.
interdependence not individualism, collabora-
The new advisories provide Connections:
tion not competition, and trust not fear.
• Teacher/Advisors develop relationships
In our work with teams of administrators,
• “Quiet availability”, “positive regard”,
counselors and teachers, we have found that
“simple sustained kindness”
• Active listening, validate feelings; show
compassion
• You are important here! The work we do
is important!
the most successful programs are those that
combine SSPs with Advisory. The evidence
overwhelmingly supports all of the underlying
principles of SSPs, and implementation with
fidelity will lead to greater student progress and
• The extent to which a student builds a re-
achievement which, after all, is what we strive
lationship with the teacher is paramount!
for in adopting Common Core and a myriad
The new advisories build Competence:
of other “new and improved” programs. Begin
• “They held a vision of us that we could
with the fourth “R”, relationships and the rest
not imagine for ourselves”
will follow.
• “Identify strengths . . .that assist overwhelmed, labelled, and oppressed youth
to reach up . . .”
• “Challenge students to perform beyond
what they believe they can do”
• “A critical connection is made between
the students’ academic needs and the
need to feel safe, accepted and valued”
The new advisories encourage students to
Earle Bidwell is an assistant executive director
of Connecticut Association of Schools, CASCIAC, who, along with colleague David
Maloney, has trained hundreds of school
teams across Connecticut, New England and
the U.S. To bring a similar SSP+Advisory
training program to your school, district or
area, contact NELMS at 978-557-9311
as Twitter by celebrities, their
reluctance may be reasonable,
but it seems educators are
avoiding a very valuable tool for
communicating with parents,
students, the community, and
each other when they avoid
Twitter and other social media.
Consider these cases:
An athletic director has created
a Twitter account and uses it
to make announcements for
student-athletes’ parents. Last
minutes changes to schedules
are tweeted as are updates
during games. Perhaps the most
interesting use is when storms
interfere with games. He and
officials huddle in safety, and
each time the hear thunder
or see lightning he tweets an
update. Families sheltered in
their cars or otherwise waiting in
safety can have updates about
game status.
A parent group creates a
FaceBook page to announce
fundraising and other events.
The site is available only to those
who have created FaceBook
profiles with their real names,
and the group has a wellunderstood rule of netiquette
for participating. The site allows
for the participation of parents
who work during the regularlyscheduled meetings of the
parent group. In the first year
they used the site, about 50%
more families participated in the
group’s activities.
A group of teachers each
travel hundreds of miles (from
different directions) to attend
Continued on page 8
New England League of Middle
Schools Annual Conference
March 31 & April 1, 2014
Rhode Island Convention Center
Providence, R.I.
Go to www.nelms.org for more info!
Please visit nelms.org for more information and/or to register
5 Midlines | Winter 2014
© Blue Man Productions, LLC.
CHARLES PLAYHOUSE
74 WARRENTON ST., BOSTON
TICKETMASTER 800.982.2787
GROUP SALES 617.542.6700
THE ULTIMATE GROUP EXPERIENCE
Student Engagement… where appropriate.
• Create opportunities for students/participants to make choices within an experience.
Consider some of the following
techniques:
• Add rules to an icebreaker that allow
the “it” person a way out or an option
to participate at their own pace.
• Invite participants to volunteer rather
than calling on them to share.
• Allow participants to pass during
group discussion.
• Allow students to sit out of an activity
O
at the beginning of an activity or program
eventually become the star of the show. This is
especially evident when they feel empowered
by having choices about their participation
and are motivated by intriguing challenges.
In my Inspired Educator Blog, I offer activities and techniques to enliven academic
and advisory group lessons. You might find
them useful in engaging even your most reluctant students. Here are some recent favorites:
Strong Beginnings: Find a Hook to
Engage Your Groups!
Starting Off With Style
ne of the most fundamental
aspects of team building
and developing a positive
learning and working environment
is effective communication..
as long as they are passively involved
by watching. Giving them this control and choice usually empowers
them to eventually join in despite
themselves! When I do this with students it seems that it is harder to sit
and watch peers enjoy an engaging
activity than to join in.
• Help students understand the purpose of the activity and why the
lesson is relevant and useful to them.
• Many students don’t have a clear understanding of the value of advisory.
Have them work together to develop
goals for their group and a working
definition of what advisory means to
them. Remind them that their time is
valuable and you are willing to work
with them to help them make the
most of their time together.
• Make time for both the educator
and students to share their expectations, requests and goals for the
class or lesson, and regularly check
in throughout.
Many times students who were initially
hesitant, resistant, or “too cool for school”
7 Midlines | Winter 2014
Think back to your most memorable learning experiences, the courses you enjoyed, and
the teachers/facilitators you found most effective. How did they start their classes or workshop sessions? How did they greet you when
you came into their classroom? Chances are
they intentionally planned to draw you into
the learning experience. Many educators do
this instinctively… to read more click here.
Communication Skills Building
Activities:
One of the most fundamental aspects of
team building and developing a positive learning and working environment is effective communication. Communication is an incredibly
important social-emotional skill necessary for
success in the 21st century workplace. Group
facilitators and educators often look for activities to practice communication skills and
explore how communication works in a group
and how to improve it—whether it is between
staff members, levels of an organization, or
student to student. Over the next few posts
I will offer some of my favorite activities to
initiate reflection and conversations around
communication. To read more click here.
Re-Purposing “Ice-Breaker”
continued from page 1
Activities for Academic Review,
Reflection, Context Setting and
Formative Assessment
The educators I work with are constantly
trying to create a balance of learning in their
classes and groups. The challenge is to stretch
their time to include building positive relationships and a strong learning community,
and promoting important 21st Century skills
such as communication, problem solving,
and empathy along with the requirements
of covering academic or training curriculum
content. To read more click here.
Team Tally: A Simple Group
Building and “Get to Know You”
Activity
This group commonalities questionnaire
serves as a “get to know you” or group celebration activity that involves friendly competition between teams of students or colleagues.
Groups talk through questions about their
interests and experiences and come up with a
cumulative score based on their group’s commonalities. This activity helps participants
learn more about each other, engages them in
healthy competition, and is very self-directed.
A facilitator can involve their group in this
self-directed activity during transition times
when they need to attend to administrative
tasks or room set up/preparation.
To read more click here.
Jen Stanchfield of Experiential Tools is author
of Tips & Tools: The Art of Experiential
Group Facilitation and the upcoming
book Inspired Educator, Inspired Learner:
Experiential, Brain-Based Approaches to
Teaching and Group Facilitation to be
released in March by Wood N Barnes
Publishing Company. Her Inspired
Educator Blog offers teaching and group
facilitation tips, advisory activities, and
engaging academic review, formative
assessment and reflection techniques. Jen
will be presenting at the upcoming NELMS
annual conference and offers workshops for
educators throughout New England and
beyond.
[email protected]
www.experientialtools.com
Advisory…
What is That?
by Jeff La Roux
A
dvisory programs are an integral part of middle level education and one of the
most common components of exemplary middle level programs. They are also one
of the hardest components to implement effectively.
An advisory program can provide a structured time during the school day for each student to have the opportunity to discuss school-related academic and personal development
concerns with a consistent adult and a stable peer group. Advisory provides every student
with an advisor, an adult who acts as a mentor and advisor for the student. Sometimes
teachers are assigned an advisory group without the support or knowledge of facilitating a
group. What can they do to feel effective?
As a middle school principal, I had an advisory group each year. At one of the schools
where I worked, we attempted to focus our advisory program on four key ideas: learning
names, building trust and teamwork, goal setting and self reflection, and service to others.
The first key idea was to know each student well and have each student in the advisory
group know his/her peers. We structured activities at the beginning of the year to share
and practice students’ names. Sometimes we gave quick verbal quizzes or set up a challenge
about demonstrating the knowledge of everyone’s name in the advisory group. We facilitated
activities that were designed to have students share their interests or common bonds. There
are several books sold by AMLE that offer activities to accomplish this key idea.
A second key idea was to develop a level of trust and teamwork. With a focus on team
building activities, students were encouraged to communicate effectively, work together, give
100%, and have fun. Some of our activities were merely games, however, beyond the fun of
playing a game with friends, it was important that key ideas were processed with students so
they saw that the purpose of the activity was not just to have fun. Project Adventure does an
excellent job of producing books and manuals that focus on teambuilding and trust building.
The third key idea was goal setting. Through activities that focused on setting and
achieving goals, the process of goal setting was transferred to academic tasks and academic goals. Our advisory program encouraged independence, personal growth, and
self-reflection. Using goal setting in advisory is an excellent foundation for student led
conferences.
Finally, each advisory was required to organize a service project for the school, the
community, the state, the nation, or the world. This left the students with a wide variety
of choices, and demonstrated to them that they could have a significant impact on their
world.
One of the most important practices to guarantee an effective and long-lasting advisory program is to continually evaluate the program and offer professional development.
We used to begin each monthly faculty meeting with an advisory activity. The staff participated in the activity and were encouraged to use it with their students that month. We
typically devoted one or two staff meetings per year entirely to advisory activities.
You may have a strong advisory program, one in its infancy, or one that is yet to be
born. I have seen positive results—academic, social, and emotional – emerge from effective advisory programs, and encourage the continued focus on this program at your
school. If you have a cooperative staff, willing to learn and share, you will be amazed at
the number and quality of activities you will find or develop to improve your advisory program.
Jeff La Roux is the Past President of AMLE and was a middle school
principal for twenty years in Michigan. As a teacher and a principal, he
has had 26 different advisory groups. He is currently teaching English at
Qingdao Amerasia International School in Qingdao, China. If you have
questions about advisory, you can email him at [email protected].
8 Midlines | Winter 2014
Embrace Social Technologies…continued from page 5
a conference. They begin chatting after a
session, and find they have a common set of
problems and are interested in each other’s
solutions. They follow each other on Twitter
and become valued long-distance colleagues.
A math teacher encourages students to
work problems in groups. After students
present their solutions to the class, a model
(or several models) solutions are selected. If
the solution was done on a tablet (or other
technology) a picture of the screen is tweeted
by the teacher. If the solution is on a piece of
paper (or other media), a picture is taken and
then tweeted. The teacher’s feed of solutions
becomes a permanent resource for students.
A librarian has students write reviews of their
favorite books under pen names. She posts
them on a Shelfari account, and the bookshelf
with the reviews is embedded in the school
website. In the same school, a student
volunteers to set up and monitor a webcam
so that concerts can be streamed to the
web, the student gets permission to create
a YouTube channel for concerts and other
school performances.
All of these examples are drawn from real
situations that have been observed in New
England middle schools. By using social
media, these educators have:
ǷǷ Found easy-to-use methods of updating
school web sites. By using the widgets
available from many social media sites, the
updates or posts from any user can show
up anywhere on the web. (A colleague once
referred to this “automagic” updating of the
school website.);
ǷǷ Discovered social media to be useful for
connecting with students and their families
as well as the greater community;
ǷǷ Joined a community of connected
educators who value social media and use it
frequently.
Take a first step and create a Twitter account.
Follow @NELMS_info and some of the New
England middle school educators who follow
NELMS..
Dr. Gary Ackerman has taught middle school
science and math and computers for more than
20 years in Vermont schools.
Read Gary’s blog:
http://nelmstech.blogspot.com/
Don’t miss the
rd
33 Annual New England
League of Middle Schools
Conference & Exhibits
March 31 & April 1, 2014
Featuring all of the following
❖❖ Keynotes: Nancy Doda & Jack Berckemeyer
❖❖ Concurrent Sessions
❖❖ Half Day Featured Sessions
❖❖ Collaboration & Networking
❖❖ State Receptions
❖❖Exhibits
❖❖ Two Keynote Luncheons
❖❖ Technology Playroom
❖❖ Social Gatherings
To reserve your spot at the 33rd
Annual Conference fax or mail
your registration
before March 3, 2014 or
click here to register online
What the Kids Say
Following are descriptors by
students at Mount Anthony Middle
School in Bennington VT. These are
an authentic resource of ideas and
supporting documentation for what
an advisory is all about. Thanks to
Mr. Wayne Bell, MAMS English
teacher for his role in collecting this
work for Midlines. Ed.
Alexandra - Grade 8
I am in Ms. Mahoney’s advisory,
she is an art teacher. Around Christmas time my advisory made Christmas ornaments. We made the ornaments out of clay. This took two
days. The first day we rolled out the
clay and cut out different holiday
season oriented shapes, such as gingerbread men, Christmas trees and
stars. I made a gingerbread man.
That day we also scratched what we
wanted to onto the ornament with
a needle tool and poked a hole for
the string, so we could hang the
ornament. A day went by and we let
the ornaments dry. Then we glazed
the ornaments so that they could be
bright, colorful, shiny and personalized. After we had glazed them, Ms.
Mahoney put them in the kiln and
fired them, so that the glaze would
be shiny and the ornaments would
be nice and hard. We then took the
ornaments home for decorations.
Making ornaments was one of the
10 Midlines | Winter 2014
fun and creative activities we have
done in Ms. Mahoney’s advisory.
Ryan - Grade 8
My advisory teacher is Mr.
Moxley. We make stuff in advisory
to give to people or decorate our
room. One of the things we did to
help people was by making Christmas cards for people in the Veteran’s
Home. We wrote asking them to
have a great Christmas and we
thanked them for the great things
they did for our country. What we
did to decorate our room was at the
beginning of the year we colored
stars and wrote our name and advi-
sory. We also are going to decorate
our door in advisory. Another thing
we do in advisory is community
service. Every week on Thursday we
do the recycling on the team Delta’s
wing of the school.
Ellis - Grade 8
Advisory, usually a time to prepare for the day, in my opinion is
one of the best classes. Having an
art teacher for advisory we have
the opportunity do craft activities. Around Christmas time, we
made clay ornaments. Beginning
by taking a slab of clay, we took
cookie cutters and cut out shapes
with the clay. In our advisory, we
all get along and are pretty close
friends so it is easy to have fun while
doing an activity. After painting and
Happy New
Year and
Greetings
to All!
A
s we begin the New Year, I’d
love to share a personal experience that is still very close to
my heart. It focuses on the benefits
of advisory. Advisory is a wonderful
way to get to know your students and share a side of yourself
that is personal and caring.
I recall a session that was pivotal in making social and emotional
connections for several struggling students. The advisory activities
were engaging and fun but more than that, they opened a window
into our students’ perspectives and validated the differences among
us. Several days afterwards, one of struggling students shared in a
private conversation that the session was so uplifting to him. He
finally felt a part of something and his voice was finally heard in
a respectful and kind way. He shared a new-found feeling of hope
and was so encouraged.
Several months later, he was trying harder in his classes; was hanging out with new students; and became involved in extracurricular
activities. He connected with other students whom he originally
thought were different. He realized they had difficulties too but
in different ways and together, they could use their own strengths
to help each other. What an amazing discovery, life lesson, and an
experience that I will remember forever! My Best,
Janet Griffith,
East Region Trustee for AMLE
What the Kids Say… continued from previous page
glazing the ornaments, our advisor took them to
put in the kiln. Since the ornaments could not
be fired in the time we had leftover, our advisory
spend the rest of our time talking about the
day’s upcoming events
and things we might be
looking forward to. We
received our ornaments
the next day to later
hang on our Christmas
trees.
Bethany - Grade 8
This morning in advisory, my classmates
and I played a game
called assassin. This
game is played by all
the kids standing in a
line, side by side with
their eyes closed. My advisor then walks behind
us and taps the person
she picks as the assassin,
on the head. Before we
open our eyes, she picks
a healer by tapping them
on the shoulder. Once opening our eyes, we go
around, shaking everyone’s hand. The rules are,
you cannot deny a handshake. The assassin and
healer are unknown so that’s what makes the
game interesting. The assassin goes around like
11 Midlines | Winter 2014
a normal person and shakes everyone’s hand but
if they choose, they can rub their pointer finger
on your palm, which indicates that they killed
you. The assassin can choose not to kill a certain
person if they choose however. In this case,
they would just shake the hand normally. The
reason why the assassin may not kill somebody
is because maybe you are expecting they are the
assassin and they want to get the attention off
them, so they
stop expecting him/her.
The assassin’s
identity is
slightly protected by the
5 second rule.
This rule indicates that
the person
who
got
killed, must
wait 5 seconds to drop
to the ground
so it’s not that
obvious who
the assassin
is. The healer
goes around
and
taps
people on
the shoulder
when they get
killed by the
assassin, to revive them. I think this game could
be better if it was more like the game “Clue”
and you won if you found out who both the
assassin and the healer were. The way the game
is set up, it’s almost like the assassin gets to pick
the winner because you can’t deny a handshake
so he would just choose to kill everyone but the
one he wants to win. The assassin typically tries
to find out who the healer is and kill them as
soon as possible, so that once people die; they
cannot be revived by the healer. That is a game
that we have played in advisory and I recommend it to other advisories.
Destiny - Grade 8
In Mr. Bell’s advisory we are competing in
a competition to decorate our Advisory door
to help promote bullying awareness during
“No Name Calling Week”. We are planning
on making a basketball and unicorn themed
door. We will have a real miniature sized basketball hoop. We will use lights to light up the
scoreboard. The scoreboard will say “Bullies: 0
Allies: 100”. We will have a rainbow background
and we will have unicorns on the rainbow. Our
advisory normally competes in this kind of
competition and we hope we win, not for the
prize but to help kids who are being bullied be
able to find help. We also want allies to know
if you see someone being bullied tell someone
so that we don’t let the bullying happen.
Around the
Office
Brief introductions to the NELMS
staff…
Karin Wilmarth
ǷǷ Events Coordinator
ǷǷ Has worked at NELMS since 2005
ǷǷ Married to her husband since
1990 and they have one son
ǷǷ Owned by two dogs, Dexter (mini
lab mix) and Oskar (shepherd
mix) who was adopted from a
kill-shelter in North Carolina
ǷǷ Is a first generation American as
her parents immigrated to the US
from the Netherlands
ǷǷ Loves going to country music
concerts and her favorite country
singers are Sammy Kershaw and
the Charlie Daniels Band
Keys to Literacy
Writing Institute
February 5, 2014
Topic 3–The ANSWER KEY Routine for Extended Response
Holiday Inn Springfield/Enfield–Enfield, CT
Description: Extended response writing is a combined comprehension and writing task that requires students
to answer a text-dependent question that must be answered by referring back to one or more text sources.
Extended response writing is sometimes called evidence-based writing, constructed response, open response,
or response to a question prompt. Research shows that having students analyze, synthesize, and summarize
information from text significantly improves their writing and comprehension skills. Connections are made in
the training to Common Core literacy standards that are directly related to extended response writing.
This professional development day trains teachers how to use extended response writing as a classroom tool to
help students learn and remember content. When students answer question prompts about content reading,
they learn how to think on paper. Participants learn how to generate effective question prompts for classroom
reading material that range from low-level (description, explanation, summarization) to high-level (analysis, synthesis, inference). The responses to these question prompts require informational or argument types of writing.
Participants learn how to teach students a routine for writing extended response that includes these stages:
ǷǷ
ǷǷ
ǷǷ
ǷǷ
ǷǷ
A Analyze the question
N Note plan
S Skim, read, and select
W Write the response
ER End by Revising
In order to successfully complete an extended response, students must already have grade-appropriate reading skills (i.e., fluent decoding, vocabulary, comprehension) and writing skills (i.e., sentence and paragraph
writing, writing conventions). The ANSWER Key Routine does not teach these basic skills, but participants do
learn to recognize when students need explicit instruction in these skills before they can successfully apply
the routine to write a response.
Participants also learn how to give user-friendly feedback to students about their responses so they can revise
and improve their written responses over time.
Target Audience: This professional development day focuses on grades 4-12. The elementary target audience
is all grades 4-6 teachers and administrators. The secondary target audience is science, social studies/history,
and other content teachers who incorporate writing about reading into classroom instruction, ELA/English
teachers, literacy/special education teachers and administrators for all of these teachers. The program is not
designed for mathematics teachers.
For more information and/or to register for this or other Literacy conferences please go to http://goo.gl/LyKAA5
Scholar Leader Awards 2014
This program is intended to give public recognition to two students from each middle level school in
your state who have distinguished themselves in terms of outstanding scholarship and leadership. The
selection of these two students, who are being recognized as representatives of all young adolescents
who might qualify, will be the responsibility of each school, in accordance with the Selection Criteria
accompanying this announcement.
The students selected, along with their guests, will be invited to attend the statewide Awards Banquet.
The Governor, the Commissioner of Education, and other dignitaries will be invited. Each student will
receive a plaque with his or her name on it signifying the honor. A photograph of the Scholar Leader
receiving the award will also be given to each of the students.
Plan now so that your students can participate in this wonderful event! Connecticut schools should visit
cascia.org for information. NELMS will send specific information and pricing to principals in RI, ME, MA,
VT and NH in February. If you have not received information by March 19, 2014 please contact the New
England League of Middle Schools at (978) 557-9311, or by e-mailing NELMS.
Rhode Island
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
West Valley Inn, West Warwick, RI
Maine
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Augusta Civic Center, Augusta, ME
Massachusetts
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Location: Best Western Royal Plaza, Marlborough, MA
Connecticut
TBD
New Hampshire
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Radisson/Center of New Hampshire, Manchester, NH
Vermont
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Norwich University, Plumley Armory
Northfield, VT
Professional Publications
To see the complete list and order go to www.nelms.org
Advisory
The Advisory Guide
by Rachel A. Poliner and Carol Miller Lieber
School leaders agree that advisory is a core
structure for personalizing schooling for
adolescents. The challenge is crafting the best
program for your students and faculty. The Advisory
Guide helps secondary educators design and
implement an advisory program tailored to their
school s needs and goals. In this comprehensive
guide, the design chapters present snapshots of various advisory
models, and help planning teams think through nine major issues that
should be addressed in order for the program and faculty advisors to
get off to a good start. The implementation chapters offer facilitation
tips, suggestions for using 15 different formats, and over 130 sample
activities organized around ten advisory themes, including student
orientation, community building, tools for school and learning, goalsetting and assessment, life skills, and career exploration. Perfect for
large and small schools, independent and public. The Advisory Guide
is a must-have resource for anyone involved in advisory from study
groups and committees thinking through implementation to the
advisors in the classroom..
Educators for Social Responsibility
P5906 $38.005
To order click here
Advisory: Finding the Best Fit
for Your School
by Jim Burns, Jaynellen Behre Jenkins, & J.
Thomas Kane
The exciting new release provides examples
and support to for teachers searching for ways
to meet the young adolescent need for building
relationships that help them succeed academically
and learn behaviors, values, ethics, and self-concepts
that will guide their adult lives. Help your students
build productive, meaningful lives by providing
support they can count on during their critical developmental years
by custom fitting an advisory program for your middle school.
AMLE
P4835 $14.99
To order click here
Advisory Book, The Revised
Edition Building a Community
of Learners Grades 5-9
by Linda Crawford
For Middle Level • 5-9, with application to high
school
Best seller
Now in its fifth printing!
The Advisory Book has guided thousands of teachers to lead successful
advisories, carefully designed to meet the developmental needs of
adolescents so they can thrive in school.
Origins
P5888 $26.95
To order click here