2013-14 Volume 26

February 25, 2014

 

“You do what you can for as long as you can, and when you finally can’t, you do the next best thing.  You back up but you don’t give up.”

-Chuck Yeager

News/Timelines/Due Dates

Congratulations to our TOTY Lisi Furman and our professional of the year Robyn Magnussen.  Wish the seed fund group luck as we go present our proposals today!  We should know the results next week and we will be sharing at grade levels.

Seven myths about rigor – Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing seven myths about rigor in the classroom from Barbara Blackburn, author of Rigor is not a 4-Letter Word

Myth 6. Standards alone take care of rigor.

Standards alone, even if they are rigorous, do not guarantee rigor in the classroom. The Common Core State Standards are designed to increase the level of rigor in classrooms across the nation. However, if implemented with- out high levels of questioning or applications, the standards themselves are weakened. Your instructional practices, or how you implement standards, are just as critical as the curriculum.

PRIDE – On Friday, Feb. 28^th  6^th & 7^th grade students will be doing student choice lessons for the PRIDE. This week the choice is yours! Topics may include Cyber Bullying, Making Good Choices, Self-Advocacy, Teasing and Harassment, Top Ten Middle School Issues, or Honesty.  Lessons will be located in the mailroom in folders.  Please browse and choose 2 lessons you would like to discuss with your students.  One will be used this week and the 2^nd lesson will be used next week on March 7^th.

8^th Grade students will be creating a “Legacy Project”.  This is a special two week lesson that will allow students to leave their mark on AMMS as they look forward to the future of high school.

Next week, March 7^th will be an advisement class.

Noteworthy News: 

Congratulations to the following AMMS students for earning a position in the 2014 Georgia All-State Ensembles for Band, Chorus, and Orchestra!

Yein Chae – 7^th Grade (Flute)

Kevin Kim – 7^th Grade (Violin)

Angela Cheng – 7^th Grade (Violin)

Erin Ohm – 7^th Grade (Violin)

Daniel Kim – 8^th Grade (Violin)

Phoebe Liu – 8^th Grade (Violin)

Jane Lee – 8^th Grade (Cello)

Stephanie Zhang – 8^th Grade (Cello)

Maya Kang – 8^th Grade (Violin)

Kevin Park (Chorus)

Srija Sengupta (Chorus)

Erin Abely (Chorus)

Sabrina Elson (Chorus)

Gwen Cuccia (Chorus)

This is an amazing accomplishment for these students and they have worked hard to earn a place in this group!  Having a seat in the All-State ensembles ranks these students as the top middle school musicians in the state.  They have competed with thousands of students across the state to earn a position in these ensembles making it quite an honor.  Congratulations to all of our AMMS All-State participants!

If you would like to attend any of the remaining middle school ensemble performances, they are free and open to the public. The concerts will be from 12:00 – 1:45PM (Bands) and 6:00 – 7:00PM (Orchestra) on Saturday, March 1st at the Athens Classic Center.  We would love to have you join us!

More Exciting News:  Congratulations to our Math Counts Team who placed second this past weekend.  Thanks Michelle for all your hard work.  Our Junior Thespians also placed in their competition this past weekend.  Thanks to Amy and Michelle H. for the great work you do with our kids.  And all of  our French students received superiors at Linguaplooa this  past weekend.

Where is Livingston?

Ashley Sutton says “I am passing Livingston on to Becca Myers. Becca came to AMMS this year, and she has made an amazing connection with her students and the 8^th grade teachers as well. Becca is always happy and always has a good outlook on any situation. She works hard as a science content chair, and she is always thinking about what is best for the students. Becca works hard to make sure 8^th grade science has what it needs in order to function as a group and that we are all on the same page. The students love her as well as the teachers! I am her “mentor” this year, yet I feel like she mentors me more often and I learn so much from her.”

Happy Birthday

Debbie Wigginton                 February 27

Kerri McCoy                           March 1

Lisi Furman                           March 1

 

2013-14 Volume 25

“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”

-Vince Lombardi

News/Timelines/Due Dates

Well I hope you all had another enjoyable week off!  Where else can you have snow storm, earthquake and weather in the sixties all in one week?  I have no idea about make-ups yet, and I know there is conversation about delaying the CRCT’s, but nothing is definite.  I will let you know as soon as I can.  Congrats to all our TOTY candidates.  They will be having their observations and interviews tomorrow.  Don’t forget we have our Korean luncheon this Thursday!

                 

Seven myths about rigor – Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing seven myths about rigor in the classroom from Barbara Blackburn, author of Rigor is not a 4-Letter Word

Myth 5. Resources equal rigor.

Recently, I’ve heard a common refrain. “If we buy this program, or technology, then we would be rigorous.” The right resources can certainly help increase the rigor in your classroom. However, raising the level of rigor for your students is not dependent on the resources you have.

Think about the resources you have now. How can you use them more effectively? Do you use a textbook that includes true-false tests? Often, they are not rigorous because students can guess the answer. However, add one step for more rigor. Ask students to rewrite all false answers into true statements, and it requires students to demonstrate true understanding. It’s not the resources; it’s how you use them that make a difference.

PRIDE –This Friday, February 21^st PRIDE is scheduled to be a silent reading day; however, please feel free to take the opportunity this week to complete the Team Building challenges we missed during the “Snowpocalypse” if you have not already done so with your PRIDE groups.

If you are deciding to take the challenge: 

It’s time for some team building fun and group challenges! Students will either take on a hula-hoop challenge (6^th grade), build a paper airplane (7^th grade), or take on a series of team created challenges (8^th grade) during PRIDE.

Teachers with 6^th grade PRIDE groups will need 2 hula hoops per PRIDE group. Please see a PE staff member to get the hula-hoops. (It is suggested that the PRIDE liaison or one person pick up hula hoops for several teachers so the PE staff is not bombarded with multiple requests – Thanks!) Please return the hula-hoops to the PE staff members after completion of the PRIDE lesson.

Happy Birthday

Kyleigh Slocum          February 18

Rusty Godwin            February 18

Denise Giancola         February 20

2013-14 Volume 24

“World’s greatest management principle:  You can work miracles by having faith in others. To get the best out of people, choose to think and believe the best about them.”

-Anonymous

News/Timelines/Due Dates

                           

Seven myths about rigor – Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing seven myths about rigor in the classroom from Barbara Blackburn, author of Rigor is not a 4-Letter Word

Myth 4. Providing support means lessening rigor.

In America, we believe in rugged individualism. We are to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and do things on our own. Working in teams or accepting help is often seen as a sign of weakness. Supporting students so that they can learn at high levels is central to the definition of rigor. As teachers design lessons moving students toward more challenging work, they must provide scaffolding to support them as they learn.

Winning Weekend for AMMS!

·         Our academic bowl team took first place at Night at the Museum in Roswell. Thanks Rachel and Robin for your excellent work with this group Paricipants were:

      Samir Gupta
Eric Mei
Maansi Gupta
Srija Sengupta
William Rarer (Captain)
Sarah McWhirter
Faeez Juneja
Emma Menardi
Neharika Bhatia
Manshi Baskaran

·        

 

The following students participated in the Fulton County Science Fair at North Springs High School.  Thanks Ashley for organizing this important event.

Phoebe Liu

Maya Wade

Siddharth Shrivastava

Satvik Venkatesh

Dharma Hufnagel

The following students placed in their category:
Phoebe Liu: 1st Place in Behavioral & Social Sciences
Phoebe will advance to the state fair at UGA
Satvik Venkatesh: 2nd place in Physics & Astronomy
Dharma Hufnagel: 3rd place in Medicine & Health Sciences

 

PRIDE – PRIDE:  This Friday, February 14^th we will not have PRIDE due to the school holiday leading up to President’s Day Weekend.  

Next week, February 21^st is scheduled to be a silent reading day in PRIDE; however, we missed a great Team Building experience with our students due to the “Snowpocalypse”.  If you have not completed the Team Building challenge please find the lesson and have it ready for Feb. 21^st.  (hula-hoop challenge (6^th grade), build a paper airplane (7^th grade), or a series of team created challenges (8^th grade))

 

Noteworthy News:  Just a heads up that the AMMS music department will be taking all yearbook photos for Band, Chorus, and Orchestra on Thursday, February 13^th.  While the majority of the pictures will be taken within our class periods, there may be students and/or groups that we will need to borrow while the photographer is here.  We will do our best to keep interruptions to a minimum.

 Where is Livingston? 

Robin Wexler says “Coming in last Monday morning after our snowcation and seeing the Livingston Lion on my desk really made my day.  I’ve always said a good teacher at AMMS would be a rock star teacher at most other schools.  For that reason, getting the lion from one of my peers was so meaningful for me.

I’d like to pass Livingston along to an awesome teacher.  She came to AMMS as an SEC science teacher where she quickly became a leader in the department.  After several years she went on to be a general education science where she continued her leadership role in the 8^th grade.  She has been a team leader for the past two years and is the STEM leader for us.  She does a great job of encouraging the math and science teachers to be open minded about the changes coming up (cant’ lie, it’s often me who needs the encouragingJ).

In addition to teaching and her leadership role, she is also finishing up her school counseling degree.  I am positive she will continue to positively impact her students in her new capacity.

I’m so happy to pass Livingston on to Ashley Sutton, a most deserving recipient.

Happy Birthday

Natalie Smith             February 13

Warner Williams       February 14

Tim Anderson           February 15

2013-14 Volume 23

“Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination of a successful team.”

-Anonymous

News/Timelines/Due Dates

Seven myths about rigor – Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing seven myths about rigor in the classroom from Barbara Blackburn, author of Rigor is not a 4-Letter Word

Myth 3. Rigor is not for everyone.

Often, teachers think the only way to assure success for everyone is to lower standards and lessen rigor. This may mask a hidden belief that some students can’t really learn at high levels. You may have heard of the Pygmalion Effect—students live up to or down to our expectations of them.

Each student can complete rigorous work at high levels, whether they are advanced or a student with special needs. Does the end result look different for those two students? Yes, but I know from my own experience as a teacher of struggling students reading far below their grade level that any teacher can be rigorous, and any student can reach higher levels with the right support.

Make-up Days – I do not have an answer yet.  District leaders will make a proposal to the board within the next few days.

PRIDE – This Friday, February 7^th, students will be silent reading during PRIDE in their PRIDE groups.  Looking ahead – there will be no PRIDE next week due to the upcoming holiday. 

Yearbook Deal - Would you like a really good deal?  Would you like to remember this precious time with your middle schoolers forever and ever? The week of February 3^rd, Dana Griffin will offer a one-time only special yearbook price of $25.  This is a fabulous $15 savings form the current on-line price.  If you would like to take advantage of this offer, please place your exact cash OR a check made payable to AMMS in an envelope in her mailbox or deliver it to her room D101.  Thanks for supporting the yearbook staff!

Where is Livingston? 

Rachel Luthringer says “It has been an honor to have Livingston at my desk for a week. It was not difficult for me to pass him on because I work with so many amazing and dedicated teachers. The person I am sending him onto is one of the most dedicated teachers I know. Her humor is contagious, and she is able to make you laugh just when you need it the most. The rapport she has with her students is unprecedented. She knows how to build lasting relationships with her students. You can see it immediately when you walk into her classroom. She supports the RTI eighth grade math students to ensure struggling students are able to be successful.  She leads the eighth grade math content team, supporting her fellow teachers with the necessary resources and lessons they need. She also devotes a significant amount of her time coaching the Academic Bowl team. She not only helps them prepare for competitions during practice, but cheers them on during weekend competitions.  She has been teaching for thirty plus years, and continues to have a positive attitude and devotion to her students. It is with great honor to pass Livingston onto Robin Wexler, one of the most amazing math teachers at AMMS!”

Happy Birthday

Rebecca Myers          February 7

Vicki Alvis                   February 7

Susan Baker               February 9