Putting Ideas Into Action

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

Transforming The Middle Level Experience

Last night we had the opportunity to meet with the parents of our incoming 6^th grade students. Many of them have had older children come through our doors, but the majority of them were first-time parents to the middle school. Some of them are just as nervous about making the transition to the “Wonder Years” as their children are. Hopefully after last night they are a little less nervous and excited about the experiences and opportunities that await their children as we prepare them for their future.

A focus of our presentation was on everything that is right about education today and where we are going. When you block out the negativity surrounding Teacher and Principal Evaluation and State Assessments and focus on what matters most – the daily instruction and learning experiences of our children – you realize that this is the most exciting time in education probably in the last 50+ years. There is a transformation that has been underway and continues to build momentum in classrooms and schools throughout our district, State and country. The transformation originates from teachers and leaders willing to make decisions and present a vision for what schools can be that strays from what ‘school’ has been for the last 100 years. There isn’t a master plan coming from someone in Albany or Washington. As it has throughout history, meaningful change comes from groups of passionate, dedicated individuals who roll up their sleeves in the trenches day after day and get it done. The transformation of middle level education at West Genesee is underway and you could see the excitement on the faces of our 6^th grade parents last night as we walked them through our vision.

 The transformation really starts with us looking at WHAT we teach and HOW we teach in 6^th grade. We have created some flexibility within the schedule to allow teachers to work more collaboratively in instructional planning, helping us break out of our content silos and allowing teachers to move and group students based on what they need, when they need it, rather than trying to meet needs within the constraints and limitations of the traditional schedule. Authentic literacy and opportunities to read and write will be a larger part of each school day; there is nothing more important than building in time to read and write throughout the day. Our teachers have already started receiving professional development around Project Based Learning and are designing meaningful and engaging learning experiences for students that will challenge and engage them in ways that they have not experienced. In addition, we are changing some of our courses at the middle level and offering electives to meet the needs of our students today.

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.

The most dangerous phrase in the world is “we have always done it that way.”  We are fortunate at West Genesee to be surrounded by passionate, creative individuals who are willing to think differently about how we do things, to try new things and to make decisions based on what is right for kids.  

As the world continues to change at an ever increasing rate, we need the courage to think about doing things differently. Here we go.

Continued Success,

Steve Dunham

sdunham@westgenesee.org

@Sdunhamwgms

March Madness 2015

Looking out the window of the main office at the 7 foot snowbank occupying most of the view it doesn’t look or feel much like March, but according to the calendar it is. And with the arrival of March comes an incredibly fast, exciting and very memorable time of the school year. I want to highlight three large events that are taking place at WGMS in the month of March.

 

Battle of the Books

This month we are kicking off our first ever Battle of the Books at West Genesee Middle school. During the months of March, April and May, 61 students at WGMS will be participating in our inaugural 'Battle of the Books' competition. This year's theme is "Journeys," with the first phase of 8 novels focusing on stories in which the main character(s) experiences a journey of discovery. Sixteen teams will compete in the preliminaries of 2 matches per team; then 12 teams will enter the playoffs, with the top 8 scoring teams entering an "Extraordinary Eight" competition. The top four teams will then compete in a "Final Four" playoff on an evening in May with spectators and a lot of fun and excitement. The “Final Four” battle will be based on 3 biographical works. A big thank you to our librarian, Jan Chemotti (@jtchemotti), for all of her hard work and leadership in making the Battle of the Books a reality at WGMS. This is great example of our ongoing efforts at continuing to offer new and exciting opportunities for our students.  

The list of books is available on our WGMS Library page. Check them out and see what our students are reading. Better yet, read them yourself!

http://www.westgenesee.org/PDFs/Libraries/WGMS_Battle%20list_1%20page.pdf

 

St. Baldrick’s

On March 20^th WGMS is hosting our second St. Baldrick’s event in an effort to raise awareness and money to fight childhood cancer. This was a student initiated effort last year which began with some simple conversations and quickly evolved into a terrific community building event at WGMS. This year eleven of our staff members (yes, I’m one of them!) will be going bald in front of our students at different times throughout the day. We have had a lot of fun growing our hair for the last few months, trying out various hair products, experimenting with different hairstyles and we are really looking forward to having it all shaved off. Keep calm and go bald!

 

Here is the link to our event: https://www.stbaldricks.org/events/WestGenesee2015

 

 

Talent Show

On March 26 at 6:00 p.m., 27 students will perform in 20 acts in the 5th Annual West Genesee Middle "These 'Cats Have Talent" show. Singers, dancers, and pianists will bring their best artistic talent to our cafeteria in a celebration of music and performance. Tickets are $5.00 and the entertainment is well worth the price of admission. We hope you can come out and see some of the amazing and talented students we have.

 

It's a great month to be a Wildcat! Thank you for your continued support of our students and staff.

 

Continued Success,

Steve Dunham

sdunham@westgenesee.org

@Sdunhamwgms