Legendary Middle School - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Legendary Middle School

Greg Locke Kelsey Gantt Jeremy Boice Drake Long Slide2

This We Believe: Our Mission Statement

“Successful middle grades schools provide continuity of caring and support that extends throughout the entire middle level experience (TWB, 36)”: We believe that the basis of a strong middle

level program is the relationship which exists between

the

students and the staff. Building these relationships are the

key

to creating a middle school that has a safe environment,

and

that encourages learning and positive experiences.Slide3

What is Advisory?

Advisory is a specific time during the day, which the purpose of is to create bonds between students and teachers – giving the students another advocate within their school. These relationships are vital in a middle school because it allows students to feel important, and it gives them time to work on assignments/study/ask questions. An important aspect of a successful middle school teacher is the ability to be flexible, and this takes form in the advisory teacher because the activities will change daily. The teachers create their own schedule and could take time to discuss current events, bullying, or whatever they feel is necessary to discuss according to the curriculum set in place for that grade level. Teachers can alter the schedule depending on the needs of the school. Once the broad schedule has been determined, teachers have the freedom to fill those days with relevant content.Slide4

Roles of the Advisor

Be a mediator for student issuesAdvocate for studentsBe a role modelBuild relationships with studentsCreate a classroom communityEngage students in their studies

Be a trustworthy mentor to students Slide5

Exploratory

“The purpose of this program is to give our students an opportunity to explore their interests, during a time where their nature makes them curious and adventurous. Exploration is an attitude and approach, not a classification of content (TWB, 20).”Slide6

What are exploratory courses?

Exploratory courses last for nine weeks, so students have two different exploratory courses per semester – one for the first half of the semester, and another class for the second half. They are taught by different teachers throughout the school, and they focus on different interests. We have exploratory courses that involve a variety of options of things that students wouldn’t learn about in a traditional classroom. Some options include community service, hiking, sewing, acapella, various sports, and much more!Slide7

Our School – Students, Teachers and Teams

Our school works with students in grades 6-8, and each grade level contains approximately 100 students. We have two teams per grade, and four teachers for each team: so we employ 24 core teachers

. We also have teachers who teach various explanatory

courses

and electives. Our teams are named after different

dragon

varieties, because we’re fired up about learning!Slide8

Teams

6th Grade: Chinese Fireballs and Norwegian Ridgeback 7th Grade: Hungarian Horntails and Swedish Short-Snout8

th

Grade: Ukrainian Iron-Bellies and Peruvian Viper-Tooth's Slide9

Block Scheduling

Block scheduling breaks up a student’s day, allowing them to regain focus when their core classes are split up and aren’t back to back. Block scheduling gives 90 minutes daily for academic classes, which allows time for reflection and classroom management that traditional shorter classes don’t allow for. Slide10

A/B Days*

On the class schedules, you will see where exploratory is split with the word “required”. This means that on “A” days students have exploratory, and on “B” days, students have required classes (either Physical Education, or band)Slide11

Our School/Class Schedule

Sixth Grade

Seventh Grade

Eighth Grade

7:45-7:55 Homeroom

7:45-7:55 Homeroom

7:45-7:55 Homeroom

8:00-8:50 Advisory

8:00-8:50 Advisory

8:-8:50 Advisory

8:50-10:20 Academic

8:50-9-50 Exploratory/

Required*

8:50-10:20 Academic

10:20-11:50 Academic

9:50-11:20 Academic

10:20-11:50 Exploratory/Required*

11:50-11:55 Break

11:20-12:30 Academic

11:50-11:55 Break

11:55-12:30 Lunch

12:30-12:35 Break

11:55-12:25 Lunch

12:30-12:35 Break

12:35-1:10 Lunch

12:25-12:30 Break

12:35-1:35 Exploratory/Required*

1:10-1:15 Break

12:30-1:35 Academic

1:35-2:45 Academic

1:15-2:45 Academic

1:35-2:45 AcademicSlide12

Curriculum

Sixth grade: transition from elementary to middle school, learning about body changes, club expo (get students involved early), building relationships between students who came from different elementary schoolsSeventh grade: acceptance of self-identity, body developments, extracurricular involvement, media (social) awarenessEighth grade: career pathways, drugs/sex/alcohol awareness, relationships, preparing for the transition to high schoolSlide13

Core Classes

While encouraging students in a social and emotional setting is important for young adolescents’ growth, academics are the main focus at LMS. We hire only highly qualified teacher at our school, and constantly work to make sure that the core subjects are being taught as they should be, so that students are prepared for their standardized tests at the end of each semester. We follow North Carolina state regulations and curriculums to teach English language arts, social studies, math, and science to our students. Teachers work in their teams to create lessons that are interdisciplinary, and also across the school within their subject areas. By utilizing all available resources, the staff works as an effective team to help students learn. Slide14

Citations

This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents. Westerville, OH: Association for Middle Level Education , 2010. Print.