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New England League of Middle Schools 460 Boston Street, Suite 4 Topsfield, MA 01983 Tel: (978) 887-6263 Fax: (978) 887-6504 Email: nelms@nelms.org |
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June 11, 2009 |
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The NELMS Board of Directors has appointed Robert Spear, the former NELMS Executive Director, to remain in his position, on a half time basis, at least through January 2010. Dr. Spear announced his retirement a year ago. Appointing him as the “acting Executive Director” will allow the organization to continue the search for a new Executive Director to replace Dr Spear. Mary Childress, the Board of Directors’ Chair, stated "The Board is pleased to have Bob continue to serve the league in this new capacity and assist NELMS in our transition to a new executive director." Bob Spear stated "I look forward to continuing to serve NELMS and have some more time for family and friends. I see this as a good solution to a difficult situation." On a Personal note: A sincere thank you to Nancy Barry and the NELMS staff who planned this event and to all those that became a part of this special memory. I sincerely thank each and every one of you.
UPDATE: Student Led Conferences Professional Activity Review and Update The NELMS Annual Conference in April was again wonderful. Over 1,200 people were in attendance in Providence. The high energy level and quality of sessions continued to be of high quality. Keynote speakers, half-day sessions and over 120 workshops helped middle level professionals gain insight, learn from each other and presenters, and take back to their schools important information to improve learning for our young adolescents. Summer Institutes and Courses are being planned for July 21, 22, & 23 at the famous Margate Resort on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee. The seven, session strands being offered and renewal is the heart of this experience. If you only attend one professional event or take one course this summer, this is it! Attend as school teams, teams, and/or individuals. Key benefits are: Topic: Personalization of Learning Topic: Formative Assessment Topic: Quality Teams and Teaming Institute Topic: Active Learning Classroom: Everyone's Invited Institute Leadership Institute: Designed for Schools, Teams, Aspiring Leaders, and District Leaders Differentiated Instruction: From Planning to Practice Institute Young Adolescent Learners Institute June Book Sale – Now in Progress As you close school for the summer, NELMS is preparing to reduce our inventory. Summer reading has never been easier or more affordable. Normally our books are a minimum 10% up to 75% off! Here is a terrific quote from Robert Marzano in his Vision Document. He states that; “if schools had to be held accountable for all the standards listed in the state standards in all content areas, schools and districts would have to increase their school year by 70%...for a school district with 180 days that is an increase of 126 days.” Interesting statistic to use when talking to people that can make a real impact! Troubled Times–Helping Teens & Parents This timely resource created by the National Association of School Psychologists and adapted by the Teachers and Families web community, recognizes that for students "tough economic times can be as distant as a television news story or as close as an unemployed parent or leaving the home they know." Included are methods for spotting signs of stress, ideas about easing children's fears, and, in particular, "what teachers and schools can do. "One important piece of academic Scientists Science classes should engage students, not bore them Visual Arts As Authentic Learning In Some Schools, iPods Are Required Listening By Sylwia Kapuscinski for The New York Times (edited) The Union City district will give out 300 iPods at its schools as part of a $130,000 experiment in one of "More news and information about New Jersey." New Jersey’s poorest urban school systems. The effort has spurred a handful of other districts in the state, including the ones in Perth Amboy and South Brunswick, to start their own iPod programs in the last year, and the project has drawn the attention of educators from Westchester County to Monrovia, Calif. The spread of iPods into classrooms comes at a time when many school districts across the country have outlawed the portable players from their buildings — along with cell phones and DVD players — because they pose a distraction, or worse, to students. In some cases, students have been caught cheating on tests by loading answers, mathematical formulas and notes onto their iPods. But some schools are rethinking the iPod bans as they try to co-opt the devices for educational purposes. Last month, the Perth Amboy district bought 40 iPods for students to use in bilingual classes that are modeled after those in Union City. In South Brunswick, 20 iPods were used last spring in French and Spanish classes. And in North Plainfield, N.J., the district has supplied iPods to science teachers to illustrate chemistry concepts, and it is considering allowing students in those classes to use iPods that they have brought from home. “It’s an innovation,” said Frank Belluscio, a spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association, which selected Union City educators to speak about the iPod classes at the group’s annual conference in Atlantic City. “Most people think of the iPod as just entertainment.” At José Martí, the silver iPods, with built-in video screens, cost about $250 each and are passed out at the beginning of class along with headsets and Spanish-to-English dictionaries. The iPods are collected at the end of class, and school officials said that none have disappeared or been broken. In one recent class, eighth-grade students mouthed the words to the rock song “Hey There Delilah” by the Plain White T’s as they played the tune on the iPods over and over again. The braver ones sang out loud. “It speaks to me,” said Stephanie Rojas, 13, who moved here last year from Puerto Rico and now prefers to sing in English. “I take a long time in the shower because I’m singing, and my brothers are like, ‘Hurry up!’. Pedro Noguera, a sociology professor at New York University who studies urban schools, said that more districts were using new technologies like iPods to connect with students. For instance, he said, teachers have designed video games around history lessons and assigned students to re-enact novels and plays on YouTube. “You know the No. 1 complaint about school is that it’s boring because the traditional way it’s taught relies on passive learning,” Mr. Noguera said. “It’s not interactive enough.” Here in Union City, the iPods are a splurge for many of the immigrant families who live in this densely packed urban center, once known for its embroidery factories. About 94 percent of the district’s 11,000 students qualify for free or reduced lunches. Grace Poli, a media specialist at José Martí, said that she approached district officials about buying 23 iPods for an after-school bilingual program in 2004 after being struck by students’ passion for them. Spanish-speaking students seemed bored by their English-language textbooks, she said, which they found outdated and irrelevant. The program became so popular that it was added to the regular school schedule the following year, and in 2006, Ms. Poli received 60 more iPods. Last May, the district decided to buy 300 iPods to expand the program to other schools this fall. Ms. Poli scoured the music charts for songs that appealed to students, compiling an eclectic mix of tunes by Shania Twain, Barry White, U2 and the Black Eyed Peas. She downloaded their songs to the iPods and typed out the lyrics. Then she deleted all the nouns — and in turn, the verbs and adjectives — forcing the students to fill in the missing words and learn their meaning. In class, they sing or recite the completed lyrics back to her. “A lot of our bilingual kids are very shy, and they feel like outsiders,” said Ms. Poli, whose parents immigrated from Ecuador. “You have kids who never said a word in English, and now they’re singing Black Eyed Peas. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it.” Ms. Poli has also downloaded audio books, including the Harry Potter series, and added recording devices to the iPods so that students can listen to their pronunciation as they read poetry or talk with one another. While the iPods have been used mainly in bilingual classes, the district plans to try them with students who have learning disabilities and behavioral problems as part of the program’s expansion, which is set to begin next month. Last year, Ms. Poli helped an alternative education class create podcasts of test-taking tips that were shared with the entire school. Ms. Poli said her Spanish-speaking students — known around the school as Pod People — have been able to move out of bilingual classes after just a year of using the digital devices, compared with an average of four to six years for most bilingual students. Dianelis Cano, 13, who moved here from Cuba less than two years ago, said that she had learned so much English that her mother, a saleswoman in a clothing store, bought her an iPod over the summer as a reward for good grades. Dianelis loads her own songs onto the iPod to practice English outside school, though she also includes Spanish music. “I’m going to check your iPod to make sure there is English music there,” Ms. Poli teased her. “I’m going to make home visits.”
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