If the enthusiasm and excitement of our staff at our first
meeting of the year this morning at WGMS is any indication of things to come, this is
going to be an incredible school year. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of
our students tomorrow to officially kick-off the year.
Ask anyone in education what they need to better meet the
needs of students and to manage all of the different responsibilities and
initiatives that come our way, the answer is going to be time. Before we start
a dialogue about a longer school day or school year, we took a close look at
our existing schedule in an effort to find more time for our students and
staff. Thanks to the work of our Director of Transportation and the support of
the Superintendent and Board of Education, we were able to adjust how we do
things to create an Interaction Time at the end of the school day. The concept
has been out there for quite some time and our High School has had it for years
so it isn’t something coming out of left field. But it did take a collaborative
effort and persistence to see it become reality.
The concept is simple: create more time for students to
connect with adults and for adults to connect with one another. At the middle
level we believe that it is going to have a tremendous positive impact, not
just on student achievement, but in general to support our students. At no time
during a human’s life, other than infancy, do we develop more physically,
psychologically, socially, and cognitively, than during the ages of ten to
fourteen. For many kids, this extra ‘TLC’ may be the tipping point for them on
a road to success and for our teachers, having this time to make connections
with students and colleagues is going to be incredibly beneficial. To be clear,
IT isn’t a babysitting service. Rather it is a powerful vehicle for our
students and staff to make meaningful connections.
Here are some Frequently Asked Questions I have been asked in
regard to Interaction Time:
What will the middle school hours be for
the 2013-2014 school year?
The day will
begin with homeroom at 7:35 a.m. and end at 2:10 p.m. At that point in time
students will be dismissed, those staying for Interaction Time will remain in
the building with an adult from 2:15 until 2:50 p.m.
Will Interaction Time occur Monday
through Friday?
Students
will have IT Tuesdays through Fridays. On Mondays, IT will be used for staff
development, and faculty meetings purposes. Only students who participate in
modified sports will stay on Mondays and attend a supervised study hall until
2:50 p.m. at which time their practices will start.
How do students arrange to stay for
Interaction Time?
Our students
have three responsibilities associated with staying for IT:
- Student responsibility to sign-up for a late bus in the main office at some point throughout the day so that we know whether we need additional buses.
- Student responsibility to connect with an adult to stay with during IT. Students may not just stay; they need to be with an adult and accounted for.
- Student responsibility to inform parents that they are staying. They may call from a classroom, main office, or use their phones at the end of the day to call or text.
Like
anything new, the implementation of IT at the middle level will take some time
for all of us to adjust to. Essentially we are training nearly 700 students,
all of their parents and guardians, and our staff of over 100 people on what
Interaction Time is and how it is run. Throw in there some major changes in
transportation and we have the ‘new normal’ in terms of the middle school
scheduling. It’s going to be terrific!
In the end we
weren’t able to add any hours to the day to make it longer, but we are excited
to think of how the extra time of Interaction Time might help our students and
staff. Interaction Time will officially begin on Tuesday, September 10th
for any students that make arrangements to stay. Our sports study hall for our
modified student-athletes will begin on Thursday, September 5th, the
first full day of the school year.
Thank you
for your continued support of our students and staff. As always, please let us
know if you have any questions or concerns. Let’s go WILDCATS!
Continued
Success,
Steve Dunham
@Sdunhamwgms
