Is it all worth it? To be #thatschool for #everystudent...

Winfield Middle School Parent Blog

Is it worth it?

Tell me it’s not worth it when a great group of students arrive enthused to learn, hang out with friends, participate in learning activities, have lunch and even sing Happy Birthday!  This PANORAMA photo of what lunch looks like at the Middle School shows students acting like the young men and women they truly are and can be!  

Thank you.

#everystudent

#everyminute

#everyday

#panorama

#confidence

#invictus

#thatschool

#thatstaff

#onthemap

INVICTUS

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll.

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

The author, Henley, lost his foot and part of his leg to illness yet he still carried this positive and overcoming outlook on his life. He was NOT afraid, as clearly evidenced by this writing.  

Special Shout out to those parents who attended the special presentation by St. Charles County Cyber Crimes Task force and WInfield Alumni, Sgt Bosley!

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Middle School Schedule:

Tuesday - April 12th

• Track Meet at Fulton at 4:00
• Board of Education Meeting at 6:30 - new members sworn in

Thursday - April 14th

• Teachers participating in a committee to improve behavior meet regularly in a PBiS meeting.  We address the frequency, behaviors, and possible interventions for each students struggling to manage their own behaviors.
• Track Meet at Montgomery County at 4:00

Friday - April 15th

• Tax Day (Extended to April 18th this year.)
• Assembly - Ac Lab Challenge and Spring Sports
• An educational consultant, Myra Collins will return to the district to observe, collaborate with teachers and give feedback with MATH departments in each building.
• Middle School DodgeBall Tournament - Teams forming now for the annual event

Upcoming/Ongoing at the Middle School

Block Schedule

To align with the High School, the Middle School will follow a modified block schedule. This schedule will closely align with the bell schedule at the High School bells; this allows us to accommodate our traveling teachers.  In addition, a block schedule allows teachers to prepare an authentic final exam that sufficiently addresses core standards for each course. Generally, even numbered classes (periods 2, 4, 6 and 8) will alternate each day with odd numbered classes (periods 1, 3, 5 and 7).

MAP TESTING

Winfield Middle School will host their MAP tests on May 5th and6th, and again on May 10th and 11th.  PLEASE HELP US BY ENSURING OUR STUDENTS ARE HERE, WELL RESTED, FED AND READY TO TEST.  Their efforts on this test actually form the basis of our district standings.  Any support, help and encouragement would be throughly appreciated.

SUMMER SCHOOL

This year, we will be inviting students to summer school based on attendance and achievement in MATH and ELA. Candidate lists are being compiled right now. If you would like for your student to be considered as a candidate, please contact our office.   The dates for summer school are June 1 - 28 at the High School, from 8:00 am - 3:30 pm Monday through Friday.

SUMMER ACADEMY

Another transition program we sponsor helps to orient and ease students into the High School routine. This program is called the SUMMER ACADEMY. Eighth Grade candidates will be selected, invited and hosted to participate in this outstanding, acclaimed program. Activities at the High School build connections, relationships and prepare the students with a boost and head start as they transition to the complex world of high school. FACT: a student with a poor freshmen year is far more likely to drop out and never recover from the setback of the credit system. High school students must earn over 22 high school credits to graduate. Successful completion of the SUMMER ACADEMY starts students off on the right foot with their first .5 credit, before they even enter school in August!

4/22 City Museum - Reading Counts Award Winners

4/29 National Junior Honor Society Induction

5/4 Spencer Library - Meet the Author

5/5 MAP Testing - Middle School

5/6 MAP Testing - Middle School

5/9 MAP Testing - Middle School

5/10 MAP Testing - Middle School

5/11 MAP Testing - Middle School

5/12 Six Flags  - Leadership Students

5/16 Field Day  -  ALL Middle School students

5/18 Chris’s Cakes for Attendance and Student of the Month

5/19 8th Grade BBQ & Walk-Out (8th grade graduation)

5/20 Teacher Checkout

Teacher PD - Summer Stipend Days

Discipline Numbers

We are observing  intriguing discipline numbers this month.  As a school community,  we continue to address the little stuff in order to minimize the big stuff.  It’s obvious we are heading into the end of the academic year and we need to finish strong.  It is better to maintain and support the established behavior standards, than to quit early and not finish as strong as we started.  

Rich Hill  The staff and faculty of Winfield Middle School have been in a discussion about the effects of poverty and socio-economic status on academic achievement levels. Part of our discussion is informed by the award-winning film, Rich Hill. Presented as a stream of consciousness observation, the film traces a year in the life of three young men from Rich Hill, Missouri being raised in poverty. After watching this powerful film, the staff needed to pause and   rejuvenate ourselves. “Invictus” was our response. Interestingly, the man who wrote that poem lost his foot and part of his leg to an illness, yet he persisted into success!

eValuate Data

Cycle A

Cycle B

Middle School Character Words of the Month

January  Integrity - Doing the right thing, even when nobody's watching.

February  Consideration - Careful thought over time, not rushing into things, going slow and breathing.

March Empathy - Seeing the world through another’s eyes.

April   Confidence - The assurance that you accomplish the task before you.

Note the way our building-wide vocabulary lessons focus on the needs of our students.

Conclusion

Movie Review: Rich Hill - watching this film provided for me a stream of consciousness recording of these three young men.  A few things happened in my mind and thought processes:

1. I saw many of the same behaviors, people and characteristics that I see here.  (It seems like just the names were changed.)
2. The three central characters were trapped in a cyclic pattern that was nearly impossible for them to leave without external support. (That could be us.)
3. The people in the school there look much like the people in the school here. (The principal in Rich Hill had thinning hair and a silver goatee, and gave a rehearsed speech to a student, the Division of Family Services was a constant presence in discussion and life, families choosing a geographic fix to solve their problems, families believing things were always better before, in the past.)
4. Motivation comes through the relationships. (These students tended to drive and push farther and farther away the people who  could best help them. , They built  walls, acted out and did the ONLY thing they knew to do.  Ultimately, THEY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS!)
5. We must deliberately remind ourselves who we are, what we do, and our purpose in this place.

Winfield Middle School wants to be #thatstaff of #thatschool that earns a spot #onthemap.  To accomplish this, we act as a team with great confidence and compassion. We offer to add variety, interest and enthusiasm to the lives of our students and arrive every day ready to make a difference in every student connection we make.  We thoroughly enjoy making those contributions to their lives even though they often times still don’t understand how to say it the way we like to hear it.  Regardless, we keep up the GREAT work--in the halls, in the classes, on the buses, in the cafeteria and library, and even the school office.  

Humbled, honored and at your service,

Tom McCracken

Winfield Middle School
April 11th, 2016
041116