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DAYLIGHTS
A
Newsletter from Gina Healy
Principal,
Day Middle
School |
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September
11, 2008 Volume 3, no.
1 |
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Quick
Links |
Day
Website
Newton
Public Schools
Website |
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Dear
Families,
Welcome
to the Day Middle
School Community! I have
always looked forward to September and the promise of a new
year. It's terrific to welcome new students to our school and
also to re-connect with students from last year. It's
amazing how much some students have changed over the
summer! The excitement of returning to school is also
often tinged with the uncertainty of new teachers,
classrooms, expectations, and friends. This year's
scheduling problems (see below) have presented some
challenges for us this week. But I am happy to
say that the faculty has taken students under their wing and
made them feel welcome and cared for. Although this
year's opening has not been as smooth as we would have
liked, I am confident that our students will have a
strong academic experience in a nurturing environment. I
wish everyone a successful 2008-2009 school
year! |
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We
have both a new schedule and new scheduling software, and
there have been some major glitches that we did not discover
until Labor Day weekend. The assistant principals,
guidance counselors, IT people, and I have been working
non-stop to resolve the issues, and we are making good
progress. I expect to have the problems ironed out by
the end of the week.
The
new schedule has many of the features of the former one (it is
a seven-period day in a five day cycle --Monday-Friday with
the same start and end times) but there are some notable
differences.
- It is new to
EVERYONE - faculty, administrators and students
- We begin the day
with the first period class (and not with homeroom.)
- The order of the
periods is different from the past.
- In 6th grade
world language meets four times/week
- Students in all
grades will have health
- We have fewer
slots for what used to be known as "electives", now called
extensions
- Each grade level
has a "Community" period built in
- 7th and 8th
grade extensions are scheduled at the same time, allowing
for some cross-grade classes
A
special note on "extensions." We are working to honor
student's first or second choice of extension (i.e. Acting,
Chorus, Latin, Write Way) and want all students to have at
least one opportunity for a class of their choosing.
However, as has been the case in the past, most students have
had a "Team Extension" (formerly Team Elective) in the second
of the two extension time slots. This will be the case
this year, as well. During team extension, students can
expect to work with their team teachers to extend the learning
in the regular classroom, to do independent reading, to get
extra help, etc.
On
Monday, September 15th, we will be starting the day with a
special homeroom to issue reprinted schedules to everyone, and
we will start fresh. I appreciate your patience and
forbearance as we cope with making the schedule work for
everyone.
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Professional
Development Early Release Day on Monday, September
22nd
The
first of six professional development days planned for
this year and the first is coming up soon! On Monday,
September 22nd, students will be dismissed at 11:30
a.m. Lunch will be
served.
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Survey Regarding
Activities for Middle Schoolers on Release
Days
A
message from Brenda Keegan, Ph.D., Deputy Superintendent and
Sharon DeCarlo, Executive Director of Instructional Programs
and BRIM Middle School Project
Manager:
Because
you responded so helpfully to our online survey last spring
about release times for professional development, we would
like to ask for your advice once again. Please use the link
below to respond to a new survey. We will use this information
to try to create safe and engaging programs for middle school
students on the six release afternoons this year on September
22, October 29, December 11, January 16, March 19, and May 6.
Incidentally,
we have ended last year's experiment with morning professional
development because over 700 of you responded to our survey
last spring and indicated a strong preference for afternoon
releases. We believe that this kind of exchange of useful
information will only make our programs for students
stronger.
Toward
that end, middle school teachers will be using all of the
professional development release time this year to plan
engaging interdisciplinary studies for your children. As we
look ahead to the challenges of the global society these
students will enter, it is clear that they need to be offered
more than just information in their classes - they must be
educated to use strong critical thinking skills and inventive
problem-solving strategies to move ahead in a more complex
world. Rarely are real life problems solved by scientists or
politicians working alone. Many different kinds of thinking -
from a variety of disciplines -- are required.
Last year on
release days, all of our middle school teachers received
training in interdisciplinary teaching from Harvard's Project
Zero staff. This summer, our curriculum coordinators worked
with pioneering teams of teachers from our middle school
English, History and Social Sciences, and Science Departments
to prepare several model units of interdisciplinary study for
grades 6, 7, and 8. Now it is time to get all of our middle
school teachers involved in developing more challenging and
intriguing projects for our students.
Meanwhile, we hope to
develop some positive activities to keep students occupied in
during those free hours when their teachers are working on the
new projects. Your answers to the questions that follow will
greatly aid us in that
effort. |
Day
Middle
School
is a great place for young adolescents to learn and
grow. Our faculty is second-to-none, and we offer a
program that challenges students in an environment where they
can feel safe and valued. I look forward to making this
year one of the best for our
students.
Gina
Healy
Principal,
Day Middle
School
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