Weekly Spartan Blog: September 15-19, 2014

Spartan PRIDE

Supporting our school community core values.

Coming Events:

• 6th Grade Parent Math Night:  Monday, September 15th from 6-7:30 p.m. in the sixth grade hall classrooms at SMS.
• Parents and Partners:  Monday, September 22nd from 6-7 p.m. in the SMS Library
• Marching Band: BHSU Parade, Sat, September 20, 10am – 12pm

Creating a culture of respect and excellence:

We have completed our beginning of the year classroom lessons.  The administrator/Guidance Counselor team at SMS schedule 30-45 minutes with every student to accomplish the following goals: 

1. Establish a shared understanding of your right to a positive school experience
2. Define our responsibility in making this year a success.
3. Introduce Expect Respect curriculum and toolbox

The lesson included a discussion about the  rights of every student identified in the United States Constitution and the laws and school policies. Students were able to develop an understanding of the rights and responsibilities within democratic form of government.  We explore the need to balance the protection of our rights with the responsibilities of citizenship in our school community and country.  

After a review of school expectations, policies related to harassment and bullying, we introduce and practiced the language and tools associated with our Expect Respect Curriculum.  The Expect Respect protocol identifies the roles of people in disrespectful social interactions.  The recipient is the person receiving the disrespectful behavior, the perpetrator is the person giving the disrespectful behavior and the bystander is the observer.  It is important for student know what role they each play and how to communicate effectively in social situations that involve behavior that is not respectful or appropriate.  

Within the Expect Respect Curriculum, the staff has worked with student leaders to develop a "STOP" phrase.  The phrase is shared with all students and serves as the message to the perpetrator to stop the disrespectful behavior.   The phrase agreed upon by students was simply, "stop."  A palm out hand gesture may accompany the words.  In the class meetings with students, we modeled the action and discuss scenarios where this might play out. 

The goals is to empower the bystander and the recipient by providing tools and confidence to get the behavior to stop.  The person being disrespectful fully understands that "stop" means stop.  If they cooperate with the  request, no further action is needed.  If they don't, it will be important that the bystander and/or the recipient inform an adult.

We challenge our students to be the change they desire.  We ended the session with the following video.  Students have responded well to this point.  We will continue with additional lessons and school-wide activities throughout the year.  On December 1 and 2 we are planning for an activity call Day of Understanding.  The activity will take place over two days.  The focus will be on developing student leaders and engaging students in small group activities.   One of our goals is for students to develop a sense of responsibility to each other within our school community.  I will share more about this in future blog post.  Check out the powerful video utilized in our first respect lesson with students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyCDs5FfRw8  

Spearfish Middle School

Weekly Faculty Bulletin

September 15-19, 2014

“Empowering all students to succeed in a changing world.”

• Preparedness  • Respect  • Integrity  • Determination  • Excellence    

 

1)       FLEX Block 1 Registration :  (Sept. 15-19)  Flex block begins on September 29

-Student will register by going to the registration link on Mr. Baier’s home page.

Student Registration:  A web link to a Google form registration document on my web page.  You'll have to schedule time in the labs/mobile labs to get all students registered beginning Monday, September 15th and ending Friday, September 19.

-

2)       Newspapers in Education:  Each Core Classroom in each grade level will receive 5 papers for “Read on Wednesday” once per week.  You can pick up your papers on Wednesday morning from the Lounge. 

3)       Constitution Day, Wednesday, Sept. 17  (Discuss how teams will observe this day in the classroom)

4)       Celebrate Student August/September Birthdays, Wednesday, Sept. 17 at lunch

Upcoming Activities September 22               Parents as Partners, 6-7 p.m. in the SMS Library September 24               7th Grade Orienteering Field Trip September 26:              Professional Development Day for teachers, No School October 1                     1:00 p.m. Early Release           October 1                     BLT Meeting in the conference room, 3:20-4:00 p.m. October 2                     Staff Meeting, 7:30 a.m. in the library October 7                     Team Leader Meeting, 7:30 a.m. in the conference room October 8                     PBIS Team Meeting, 7:30 a.m. in the conference room October 6-10:              Homecoming Week & and Dress Up Days! …a staff favorite. October 10                   Homecoming Pep Rally (Full class periods and No Flex Oct 15                          Parent Teacher Conferences 3:45 – 7:00 p.m. October 17                   Scholastic Book Fair at SMS October 20                   Parents as Partners, SMS Library (Time to be determined)  Children need models rather than critics.                                                                            -Joseph Joubert