The WM Curriculum Blog Begins!

Hi, I am Jeff Barry, not only the middle school principal at West Marshall, but also the curriculum director, as well.  In all reality, we three principals, and Mr. Sellers, our superintendent, all work together collaboratively on curriculum.  I will just have the new title, taking over for Chris deNeui.  She will be a tough act to follow, but I will do my best.

There are many reasons why this is going to be a very exciting year in education at West Marshall.  For one thing, we have a brand new middle school housing our sixth through eighth graders.  I have the honor of being the first principal in this building.  Another great thing is the old middle school has been renovated and now has fourth graders on the first floor and fifth graders on the second.  The third floor, after being cleaned up, will be used for storage for now, and hopefully one day we will need that floor for students.

One other exciting change for this school year will be the beginning of our Professional Learning Communities.  Twelve of us were fortunate to attend a three-day conference in St. Charles, MO, this past June.  This conference was informative and thought-provoking and really fired us up to begin this process this fall.  As one of the speakers stated, "This educational acronym, PLC, should be called Common Sense because it only makes sense to allow more time for teacher collaboration."  Teachers can never have too much time for collaboration to devise and create and brainstorm ways to help students learn more effectively.

Yes, folks, this is my first blog on the WM Curriculum Blog.  I have never done a blog before, so I admit I feel a little nervous, excited, and anxious to see how it goes.  I have already asked for much help from Aaron Burdorf and Erryn O'Conner and will bug them much more, I am sure.  My hope is this curriculum blog will be a living, breathing document with lots of good stuff about curriculum and collaboration and just plain great educational stuff!  Please read along, make comments when you can, and just come along for the ride.