Message Board Link

This page is the link to the NELMS Discussion Groups on QuickTopic. Feel free to click a link that interests you and give it a try. If you would like to moderate a discussion please send an e-mail to Steve Nicholas.

QuickTopic Facilitator and Moderators

Dazed and Confused - New Educators' Roundtable

Topic Lead - Ms. Angela Fiandaca, M.Ed. - Guidance Counselor- Biddeford Middle School

Welcome all new staff members - Education Technicians, Guidance Counselors, Teachers from all grade levels, principals, and more! Post questions or concerns, fears and excitements. Let's start sharing, but most importantly supporting one another!

Help for the Helpers & The ABC's of Student Issues

Topic Lead - Ms. Angela Fiandaca, M.Ed. - Guidance Counselor- Biddeford Middle School

Welcome to all helpers in the education world! Your questions, concerns and topics of interest are all unique from others in the education setting. Let's start sharing and learning from one another by discussing Student Assistance Teams, guidance plans and other topics. Remember the first step to being a great helper is by supporting yourself! We hope this is a great place to start doing that! Join us!
As educators, we see students sometimes more than their parents/guardians do. We have a unique opportunity to help them, as well as be frustrated by concerns of how best to support them. Let's share ideas on how to encourage students to do their homework, explore various topics of concern such as self-harm, depression, ADHD, bullying and more. Share anonymous case studies by emailing the moderator your story without names and we'll re-post the story to hopefully gather feedback from peers. Let's start sharing!

School Nurse/Health Room

Topic Lead - Katie Wiater, RN - School Nurse - Herberg Middle School

"Welcome aboard! I'm looking forward to discussing the various health issues involved with student care in the school setting. I am a School Nurse at Herberg Middle School in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. This will mark my 20th year in School Nursing. Enormous changes have occurred during that time period and I continue to learn something new everyday! I've also learned, that for the most part, educators are dedicated, hard working individuals trying to make a difference in the lives of the students they teach. I applaud their devotion and wish to express my thanks for all they do!"

Student Voice In The Middle

Topic Lead - Bill Ivey - Middle School Dean - Stoneleigh-Burnham School

My name is Bill Ivey, and I am the Middle School Dean at Stoneleigh-Burnham School in Greenfield, MA. Among other things I do at SBS, I work with an advisory group, I teach a Humanities 7 course based on a democratic classroom model, I co-advise our student government group "MOCA," and I coordinate and volunteer in our Commnunity Service Program.

I believe very strongly that all communities work best when all voices are heard and when all members believe and trust in their own power, individually and collectively. I believe that it is doubly important to include student voices in middle schools, both for the immediate benefit to the school and for the longer-term benefit to society. I look forward to sharing ideas, strategies, questions, frustrations, successes and more as we here form a community and work to incorporate our students' voices into our schools.

Middle School Advisory Programs

Topic Lead - Kim Prause - Assistant Principal

Welcome to the NELMS "Middle School Advisory Programs" forum! I'm Kim Prause, an assistant principal in a small public middle/high school in New Hampshire. As other moderators have pointed out about their role, I'm not the expert here, just the facilitator.

I hope this can become a place for schools with advisory programs, as well as those considering implementing them, to exchange ideas, resources, successes and failures. Ideally, it will also be a place to post questions that stimulate discussion about the purpose, structure and outcomes of middle level advisory programs in general.

I look forward to a lively conversation!

Middle School Mathematics

Topic Lead - Sandra Stuart - Math Teacher

There are many questions regarding teaching Mathematics to Middle School students. Please feel free to mention any topic that concerns you about math in middle school.

As a beginning point, I use a multiplication table for area and reducing fractions. Do you have other ways to teach area or fractions? How might I use the basic multiplication chart in other ways?

Technology Integration

Topic Lead - Karen Olmstead - Technology Teacher

Welcome to the technology integration discussion. I am a 7th grade technology teacher in Plaistow NH and will be the facilitator for this discussion.

The school I work at is in the process of integrating technology into the core subject areas as much as possible. We are finding that there is a lot if information out there, but not a lot of discussion about what works and what doesn't. The purpose of this discussion is to have a place to share our stories, ideas, and problems and to provide a resource for those of you who are having problems and need help.

Please feel free to start new threads as needed and to contact me with any issues. I look forward to a meeting a lot of new people and sharing a lot of ideas.

Differentiated Instruction, Assessment, and Grading Group

Topic Lead - Rick Wormeli - Author and presenter

This discussion group was created as a follow-up to a two-day conference given by Rick Wormeli on Differentiated Instruction and Assessment. It provides a place to continue to discuss his ideas and how they apply to our own practice, to our schools, and to education in general.

Everyone is welcome, whether or not you attended the conference. Rick's books, Differentiation and Fair Is Not Always Equal (published by Stenhouse and available at http://www.nelms.org/bookstore.html) are excellent resources for this discussion.

Rick has very generously provided his handouts/slides from the D.I. conference. Due to the large size the handouts have been split into 3 pdfs. Thank you Rick!