At the end of last year we were involved in conversations
about transforming the middle level experience for students. In a blog late in
the school year I wrote “As we think
about what our students truly need in order to be prepared for their future our
focus is on skills rather than stuff. Our students need skills that transcend
all content areas, all situations, and can continue to evolve and grow as they
develop as young men and women. Leadership, digital literacy, communication,
emotional intelligence, entrepreneurship, global citizenship, problem solving
and teamwork are the essential skills that our students need for their future;
whatever that future looks like.”
There is a big difference between having a vision for how
things could be and actually making it happen. Listening to all of the
Presidential candidates (19 at last count?) it reinforces the concept that big
ideas without a plan to implement them aren’t anything more than a good sound
bite on the evening news. Real change never truly occurs when the only true
action taken is talk.
What is so exciting and energizing now is that the
conversations of last Spring have become meaningful change at the middle level.
All of the talk around transforming what we do in order to better prepare our
students for their future is being backed up with action. Teachers have been
working very hard over the summer writing curriculum, creating PBL and inquiry-based
learning experiences for our students, and attending various professional
development opportunities with a focus on utilizing the Google platform. We
have added a Digital Literacy course for our 6
th grade students,
created a master schedule that allows for greater collaboration and planning
for teachers and we are in the midst of a three year plan to bring some High
School offerings to the middle level. The transformation of the middle level
experience for our students is underway!
In addition to program changes we have also transformed our Guidance
services at WGMS. We are excited to have a third
school counselor, Kathleen Weber, joining Crystal Best and Cindy Kurz on our Guidance
team. Kathleen has been at Camillus Middle School for the past 11 years in the
same role and brings a great deal of experience and enthusiasm to our building. Each of our
counselors is now assigned to a specific grade level and will loop with
students through their three years with us. This will not only allow our
counselors to continue to develop strong relationships with all of their
students over three years, it will also streamline our counselor’s ability to
work with grade level teachers to better support the needs of our students. This
year Cindy will be working with our 6
th grade students, Kathleen
with our 7
th graders, and Crystal with our 8
th graders.
The essential question associated with anything that we do must be “what is best for kids?” Our staff deserves all of the credit for
making these ideas come to life for our students! We are really excited to get the 2015-2016
school year started and even more excited that at the middle level we are truly
on the path to better preparing our students for their future.
Continued Success,
Steve Dunham
sdunham@westgenesee.org
@Sdunhamwgms
