They say as you get older time goes by faster and faster. I
must be getting really old because January went by in the blink of an eye. We
had snow days, Martin Luther King, Jr. day, Teacher Workshop Day, and then
suddenly it was Superbowl XLVIII and January was in the rearview mirror.
Much of the late fall and early winter were dominated by the
debate on the New York State educational reform agenda. Pick up any newspaper,
turn on the television, check out the latest tweets on your Twitter feed or
dive into the wide array of blogs out there in cyberspace and you would have
found a great deal of time and energy being spent on debating the merits and
ills of the Common Core Learning Standards, State Assessments, and Teacher and
Principal (don’t forget us) evaluation. Fast forward several months and it appears
as though the Board of Regents is listening to parents and educators and
taking another look at some of the changes that were thrust upon our schools
and students so abruptly. Regardless of what you believe about the recent
reforms and irrespective of any changes or relief that are made in the
interests of our students, teachers, or administrators, a tremendous
‘reshaping’ of education in our country is underway. This reshaping has
significant implications on how we prepare our students to enter the new
workplace of the 21st Century. It goes beyond reading in the content
area, explicit instruction of vocabulary, increasing opportunities for
collaboration, and re-thinking how we assess. All of those are meaningful and
powerful endeavors that we are all in the middle of infusing into our practices
at West Genesee Middle School and we are doing so quite well I might add. But
the deep reshaping that is needed in our schools to truly and meaningfully prepare
our students for the workplace is more systemic; it will require thinking about
every facet of education differently. We can’t go about preparing our students
today in the same way that we did in 1985. Not only has the world changed, but
so have our students. One of the most exciting things about being at West
Genesee is the forward thinking and commitment to continuous improvement that are
embedded in our practices as a district. We are not only focused on doing great
things with our students in the present, but we are anticipating what our
future students will need as we continue to thrive in a world of incredible
change, regardless of what the State or Federal government throws our way.
What’s happening at WGMS?
Great Message
This past Friday we were fortunate to have author Ben
Mikaelsen come to WGMS to talk with our 6th grade students about
becoming an author and the power of telling a story through writing. Mr.
Mikaelsen shared his experiences as a struggling student and as someone who had
a difficult time fitting in with his peers at times. When 231 sixth grade students are
all sitting quietly with eyes fixed on the speaker, you know that he has connected
with them. He left all of our students with this powerful message: “Make your
life story the greatest story that has ever been told! Believe in your dreams,
believe in yourself and never give up!”
Student Leadership
We are constantly looking for different ways to provide our
students with leadership opportunities. This year we initiated a Middle School
Ambassadors group made up of students from all three grade levels, athletes and
non-athletes, musicians and non-musicians, honor roll students and struggling
students, and everyone in between. Middle School Ambassadors are student
leaders within the building that work with building administrators on shaping
and continuously improving our school community. Their input is invaluable at
helping to inform our decision making and providing us with the unique
perspective of a student. Our Middle School Ambassadors will take an active
part in the school improvement process unlike any other students have before. I have met with them on two previous
occasions and will be connecting with them during the school day later this week. Our
agenda for this week is a review of the Seven Essential Elements of a Standards
Focused Middle School Program and to evaluate how we are doing things at WGMS
through the eyes of our students. As a staff we continually reflect on our
practices in order to improve, now we are including our students in that conversation. They have a great deal
to offer and now have another avenue to share their thoughts. I’m
looking forward to learning from them.
Continued Success,
Steve Dunham
Email: sdunham@westgensee.org
Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms
