Staff Websites

Did you realize many staff members in our district have their own websites or blogs like I have?  It is very easy to find them if you log onto our West Marshall website www.w-marshall.k12.ia.us and click on the Contact Us link.  There you will find a listing of all the district staff members starting with the high school.  To the right of many of the names is website listed.  All you have to do is click on that link, and you will be instantly taken to that person's website.  It is really pretty amazing how many of us have our own site.  I know there are way more this year than last, me included.  I took some time this Wednesday morning while drinking some coffee on the day before Thanksgiving, our day off, to peruse some staff members' websites.  Good Stuff!  So, take some time to look through some of these, especially if you have a day off and some good coffee and holiday music playing in the background.

Happy Thanksgiving to You and Yours!
Jeff Barry

Staff In-Service, November 16, '011

Our in-service yesterday was split into two parts for many of the staff members here at West Marshall.  The 6 - 9 teachers met in the middle school lab for a MAP presentation by Dixie Forcht, the K-12 librarian and curriculum director at East Marshall.  Dixie first did a spot check on what staff members already knew about MAP testing and the NWEA website; then she answered questions staff may have.  After that, everyone logged into the MAP website and were shown what links help teachers find the data and then how to look at that data to use it to help students.

While the 6-9 staff were meeting, the elementary staff had their PLC meetings, and the other high school teachers had a meeting with Mr. Henrich.  Then, at 2:45, the 2 - 5 staff had their hour and  fifteen minute session with Dixie while the other staff members had their PLC meetings.  Hopefully, this was a productive afternoon.

Our next 1:00 in-service will be on December 7.  The tentative plans for that afternoon will be to have like-subject teachers of math, reading, and science collaborate on the NWEA website and the MAP data.  We will also have PLC meetings, and we may have teachers take some time to research educational websites.

Until next time, this is Jeff Barry signing off.

Newsletter Piece

 

“HowNice It Is!”

Jeff Barry, Middle School Principal

I wonder about our students, especially our eighth graders. Do they appreciate the honor of being the first eighth grade class to attend our new middle school? They may not now, but I would hope they will one day. I'll bet the ninth graders would like to say they were here first. I still feel bad they missed the new school by one year. Many of them have been over to see it, though, and quite a few come over here to their art class. I wonder about the staff; do they truly appreciate where they are now working? Yes, I think they do. And then there is the office staff – my administrative assistant, Lorrie Riese, our counselor, Patti Edler, and me, the first principal here at WMMS. We all three have to pinch ourselves sometimes, realizing where we used to work for many years and where we work now. We are blessed.

One very good question has been posed by several people, asking if I can tell a difference in the students' behavior and/or school work. My answer: “Kids will be kids, and for some reason, kids will be ornery – not that I ever was!” I have also answered that our students respected the old middle school and are expected to do the same in the new, and they do. As far as school work, they are expected to do their best, and our staff expects our students to work hard and learn. That is happening. We just completed our fall Measurements of Academic Progress tests, and I am proud to say our 200 sixth-eighth graders did well with nearly 90 % meeting the goals for reading and math or showing a year's growth from last fall's tests. Also, we had only four students fail a first quarter core class, the lowest number on record! Soon, we will be preparing our students for the state test for which we are most scrutinized, the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. We will expect our students to do just as well as they did last year – and hopefully even a little better.

I have been honored and humbled to be the first principal of such an awesome new building in such a progressive school district. Over the past few months, it has been fun and rewarding to give many tours. Talk about feeling proud! If you have not been in to see our school, or you have kids and/or grandkids who have moved away and and are back and want to see it, just give me a call at 483-2165, and we will set something up. This is “our” school, and we should all be proud.