In-service on September 27

Tomorrow, the West Marshall School District will be having its second in-service since school has started.  There will be technology discussions with Randy Baker, our technology coordinator.  There will also be time for PLC teams to meet.  Now that we are past our midterm point of the first quarter, data can be contemplated.  The MAP tests will be starting this week for Grades 2 - 9, so discussions will center around that preparation and data collection, too. 

I am also going to have my first Curricular Team meeting.  This committee consists of Natalie Burroughs, Tara Pfantz, Aaron Burdorf, Peggy Hotopp, Denise Coberly, Troy Clark, Dana Craven, Matt Jacobs, and Me.  This team has been developed to take a close look at the status of our current curriculum and how it compares to the Common Core curriculum.  There is a cross-section of curricular experts who will not only inspect their own subject area but also others that are taught in our district.  The hope is for this team to meet a minimum of once a month and then share out to PLC groups in between our meetings.

September 13 In-Service

This Tuesday was a 1:00 out here at West Marshall.  Our entire staff of 72 teachers met in the h.s. library at 1:15.  Our first presenter was Lara Steward, who is a health specialist.  Lara showed a video with some interesting, and kind of scary, facts about the health of our general population today.  She also shared a hand-out that showed how much sugar is in certain daily foods most of us eat.  There is no doubt the average "Joe" and "Jill" are not as healthy as they should be, mainly because of eating the wrong foods or too much food, as well as not getting enough exercise.  I hope Lara's 45 minute presentation opened some eyes and prompts some of us, me included, to live healthier lives.

After Lara' presentation, we had our PLC team leaders discuss how the PLC process is going thus far and discussed several more slides from our original power-point.  As some folks pointed out, we at West Marshall are in the infancy stages of this process.  We have really just begun, and now as we near our midterm point of our first quarter, there is data to interpret with goals to be made.  After this whole group meeting, the teams had an opportunity to meet.  PLCs are all about collaboration, and as teachers become more and more busy, it is difficult to find time to meet.  That is exactly why we administrators have provided more in-service days, so time is allotted for PLC teams to meet at least twice a week.

Measurements of Academic Progress (MAP):  This test is the second assessment we do that is reported to the state, and students are tested in the fall and spring.  The other state assessment we do, of course, is the ITBS.  For the MAP test, our 2-9 students are tested in mathematics and reading, and our ninth graders take the science test, too.  The testing window is September 26 to October 15.  This online testing is not timed, and the beauty of it is, students know immediately how they did on the tests.  Speaking for all of our staff and principals, I hope our students do well. 

District Leadership Team

Our West Marshall DLT Members:  Mr. Sellers, Mr. Henrich, Myself, Mrs. deNeui, Mr. Weig, Mrs. Dee, Mrs. Edler, Mrs. Keigan, Ms. Schleihs, Mrs. Barber, Mr. Voss, Miss Ubben, and Heather Gould, an AEA representative.  This committee is mandated by the State Department and is required to meet monthly.  The purpose of this committee, with representation from all four buildings, is to oversee K-12 curriculum and assessments, in-service plans, the Professional Learning process, and to provide input and feedback from other staff members.  At our first meeting on Wednesday, September 7, we discussed PLC teams, MAP testing, upcoming trainings, and the plans for our September 13 in-service.  Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, October 14.

New Middle School

Thanks to Jamie and Aaron Burdorf and the pictures they took of our beautiful school, I have added them to this blog.  They are at the bottom, so scroll down and check them out.  We are so very fortunate to be in this new school - especially on the 90 degree days.  Sorry, high schoolers!

The PLC Process

    Starting Professional Learning Communities this school year will be a process, not an initiative.  Each team will be its own team and will develop its own identity over time. 
    Our team leaders met this morning to discuss how the PLC meetings went on Aug. 25.  Most leaders gave positive reports but not all.  I really do not think it is realistic for all teams to be up and running smoothly yet.  The teams have only met twice, and although the members may know each other, they may not know each other that well yet.  Teams will need time to develop a trust factor with each other in order to feel comfortable and to be able to truly collaborate.  That is really what PLCs are all about; it is a process of collaboration.

The Team Leaders:
Abby Ubben               Natalie Burroughs                Brian Weig
Mindy Jensen              Tammy Keigan                    Julie Gray
Lora Aikin                   Stephen Adams                   Paul deNeui
Rebecca DeWild          Jamie Dee                           Mike Fisher
Melia Thompson

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.