2008+Middle+School+Retreat+Cypress+Bend

Avoyelles Parish Middle School Retreat Cypress Bend July 29 – 31, 2008

2008-2009 Middle School Changes I Instruction A. The 3 R’s...    1. Rigor a. Quadrant “D” Lessons b. Revised Comprehensive Curriculum c. Pacing Guides I think the pacing guides are a good idea. It helps the teacher know about where they should be with the students. This way the teacher can not get behind with the Comprehensive Curriculum. D. Gold Seal Lessons: The retreat was a supper success and very educational. As an ELA teacher, I really received valuable information as far as engaging my students. I will use these stratagies and hopefully they will be valuable tools in my class. such a way that I am not only their teacher but also a person. This will allow my students to percieve me as human. This will also allow students to really get to know eachother and have another support group to depend on. b. Character Education If you read the book "The Framework for understanding Poverty" you would understand the values some of our struggling students have been taught. Character Education helps them to learn middle class values, such as saving money and education, and apply them to their own life. It will help them understand and practice the skills that they will need to use as working adults. This will cause our students to strive to learn more. 4. Technology a. ACT… Avoyelles Connected Tech Project “proactive vs. reactive” b. PLATO Plato is a wonderful activity. For those students who are not up to the grade level skills they need, PLATO will allow them to catch up and learn the material in an interesting manner. This program is not a substitute for a teacher, but it is a wonderful resource for practice and remediation. This will help our students close the learning gap and acheive higher test scores. c. Online Discussions 1. Wikispaces I think that this is a wonderful idea. I love Wikipedia eventhough it is not always accurate. This is a great tool for students to share their thoughts in a way that is fun. 2. Blackboard/Moodle 3. Learning Village II. Non-Instruction A.  Teaming Teaming will be great for not only the students but the teachers as well. For the students, teachers will have a unified front in giving them positive and negative feedback. Students will know that the teachers are working together for their benifit. Students will also get better quality lessons, due to the fact that more than one teacher is working on the Quadrant D lessons for the students. For the teachers, it will create a close knit community of teachers that will work well together. It will also create support for the teachers and help in dealing with troubled students and in creating better lessons for our children. III. Personnel A.  Dean of Students I thought this was a wonderful idea. It is true that this past year, our principal was seen in a negative light due to having to be not only a public persona for our school but the diciplinarian as well. This will allow our principal to have more positive contact with parents as well as take off some of the responsibility of such a demanding job. This will help increase the moral of the students, parents, and teachers. B.  Curriculum Coordinators C.  Ed for Careers Teacher D.  Tech Facilitator

  Please rate the Retreat Facility on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest. The retreat Facility was definitely a 5. Very beautiful place - relaxing.

Please reflect on the information that has been presented to you and post your thoughts on how your classroom will change by incorporating some of the ideas presented to you. List your concerns, doubts, you may have.

Concerning the various changes, it seems as though it is a lot, but we have to take drastic steps our middle schools have been so deprived and we are in trouble. Since the year has started, we've already experienced the positive impasct of teaming (calling students and parents for + recognition and redirecting students. Also, when I saw teachers sharing a strategy that had worked, I said YES - this is what it's all about. That time has also made it possible for us to speak the same language (engagement, Quadrant D, etc.) - D. Compton

The retreat site was held at a very nice place. It was a nice place to bond with the staff and make plans for the coming year. In my position as dean, I can make a difference, by handling discipline and many of the management responsibilities, freeing the principal up to perform administrative task related to instruction.