News and Info - September 2013

Principal Notes

September 2013

Welcome Back!  We are back at it and Parker is fully operating.  We are especially happy to have students back in the building.  Faculty and staff have spent the last few weeks welcoming students back, and are really focusing on learning about how your children learn.  As we progress and learn as a school community, it is clear that our ability to engage your children in their learning is directly proportional to our ability to connect with your children.  So the past few weeks has been dedicated to teaching students about team expectations, organization, and students sharing about what they are working on, as well as setting goals for themselves.  The grade level teams are small learning communities, or small schools within the larger school community.  If you have questions about your child’s progress or about activities happening on-team, I would encourage you to contact your child’s team leader or me. 

We look forward to a great school year.

We welcome five new staff members to Parker Middle School

 

Jessica Brehaut will be teaching 8^th Grade Social Studies on the Olivo Team.  Ms. Brehaut has experience teaching in private and public schools, and most recently was teaching US and World History at Ludlow High School in Ludlow, Mass.  Ms. Brehaut completed her undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst receiving a BA in History and an M.Ed. in Education.  Jessica volunteered at Parker last spring for a number of days which has helped greatly in her transition to Parker.       

Special Education Teacher, Marti Neugarten comes to us from the Brookwood and Carroll Schools.  Mrs. Neugarten completed her undergraduate work at Boston University receiving a BA in Public Relations and an M.Ed. in Special Education from Lesley University.  Marti’s experience teaching reading and special education will be a great addition to our learning centers and language based programs.

Our new Assistant Principal, Brendan Norton is new to the AP Position but distinguished himself early in the interview process as a teacher leader, who has had great success working with students while teaching Social Studies and coaching hockey.  Mr. Norton completed his undergraduate degree at Assumption College receiving a BA in History, and his graduate work at Fitchburg State University receiving a M.Ed. in Education Leadership. 

We also welcome two exceptional paraeducators to the staff, Laurie Ward, an experienced paraeducator, who comes to us from Barrows Elementary School, and Katherine Anderson, a newly certified Social Studies teacher and who will be supporting classes as well as working in the eighth grade learning center. 

Additional HR News and Info: We were exceptionally fortunate this summer to be able to hire Adam Crook and Sandra Noack to cover two long term sub positions.  Mr. Crook has been in for Ms. Quackenbush and is teaching physical science in the sixth grade.  Ms. Quackenbush will be returning to the Goldstein (Upstairs) Team on Monday.  Mr. Crook will be here for the remainder of next week to support Ms. Q in her return.  Mrs. Noack has been in for Mrs. Fox and is teaching eighth grade Spanish.   Mrs. Fox welcomed her new son, Colin David Fox to the world on August 22^nd and is recovering well.  She is scheduled to return to Parker in mid-October. 

The Work

It has been a great start to the school year.  After completing our annual administrative retreat in August we are recharged and excited to start the work of teaching and learning at the middle level.  We have limited new initiatives at the school and district level this year, and are focusing resources and efforts on curriculum and assessment, technology integration, behavioral health, and safety planning. 

The “work” around curriculum and assessment includes supervision and evaluation, common assessments (or District Determined Measures) as well as preparation for the transition from MCAS to the new State PARCC Assessments. 

Technology integration includes the “Bring your Own Device” (BYOD) initiative where we are changing how we teach and support students in classes with technology. 

Our work this year in Behavioral Health or Systems of Support is a continuation of the collaborative community forums that took place three years ago.  Since that time we have formalized the health and wellness curriculum, including a new health course at the middle level, and have increased counseling and screening services for students who may be at risk.  The work in this space is most promising and acts as a guide for us to think and learn about supporting students by intervening early with academic, social/emotional and behavioral supports. 

Safety of students and Safety Planning continue to be our most important work.  We are examining and learning about safety planning with our professional organizations at the State and local levels and will be reviewing and refining how we complete our safety drills.  This brief overview of the “work” is just that, a brief overview, with more to follow.     

Principal Notes

By Doug Lyons

Teaching and Learning - “…Creating Work for an Audience Greater than One…”


“We at Parker have for the last several years been working on helping students make their work public. The theme we talk about and share with visiting teacher teams and administrators who come to Parker to find out about student engagement and how to help students use technology and media to display their work is “…producing work for an audience greater than one…” The reference, audience greater than one, refers to the “old school” version of kid’s writing papers or taking tests that only the classroom teacher would see. We have learned that when we change the audience for kids the level and creativity of their work increases dramatically. We have also learned that by using technology and media to allow students to share their work and get feedback, it improves their work product.”

I wrote this in September 2011 for the Parker Blog. At the time, the theme of making work public was based on the work of the Parker Instructional Leadership Team and author/teacher Ron Berger, An Ethic of Excellence: Building a Culture of Craftsmanship with Students. As we wrap up mid-year goal meetings with teachers and teams (January/February 2013), and look back at the progress we have made, we are most pleased, impressed and optimistic about the work students are creating and especially about the student and adult learning that has taken place since the paragraph above was written.

Curricular areas such as Art, Music and Chorus have influenced our core subjects of Math, Science, Foreign Language, English, and Social Studies and vise-versa. The enrichment or specialist classes (Art, Band and Chorus) where performance is a standard part of the curriculum is now common place in core subjects where students regularly need to demonstrate what they know through a variety of modes. Moreover, the Art, Band and Chorus classes have taken a page from core classes and are reading, writing, researching and developing ideas.

Art classes are making their work public using technology to showcase art and present artwork to the world through Artsonia.com. If you check out the site not only will you see art work for all of our students, you will see artists’ statements written by our student artists, where they use text to explain their thinking about the art they are creating. Additionally, you will see digital portfolios of work that have been visited and have received feedback from peers and other on-line audiences that encourage students and help them to refine their work.

As part of this process, teams have been working with students to craft objective, meaningful feedback. Rather than relying on non-descript terms like “good work” and “well done,” students are being challenged to thoughtfully comment on each other’s work and then use feedback to improve the final product. This approach emphasizes the value of the learning process and recognizes the significance of reflection and revision.




Jessica Squires has earned a Silver Key Award in this year’s Boston Globe Scholastic Art Awards for her drawing "Ephesus" (above). Jessica is an incredible young artist who truly deserves this recognition! Congratulations!! (see Jessica’s digital portfolio on Artsonia by clicking http://www.artsonia.com/artists/portfolio.asp?id=2541789&artid=22574097





By Christopher Balboni (see his digital portfolio on Artsonia by clicking http://www.artsonia.com/museum/art.asp?id=20034787

We continue to share what we are learning with visiting teams of teachers and administrators from other public schools as well as professors from colleges and universities. Our teachers have presented at the Blue Ribbon National Conference, the Learning Forward Annual Conference and the SRI Winter Meeting. The more we share, the more we grow and our expectations also grow, focusing more and more on what kids would be able to do if we – as teachers and administrators - continue to create opportunities that challenge and engage them in genuine ways. We are grateful to be in a public and professional community that fosters professional growth and learning; it makes all the difference.

Principal Notes 01/16

Welcome back, I hope you and your families enjoyed the holiday break. We have had a steady stream of Parker Alum home on college break who have been in to visit, as well as high school students who were back to visit teachers. It is always a highlight of our day to see Parker graduates back to visit who share how they “…miss the old place, especially the teachers…” It is good to see how well our former students are progressing. We often hear from our young college visitors that school is great, and that Reading has really prepared them very well for school. Meanwhile, teachers and students here are working hard to complete the second quarter. We will be sending out report cards on February 1st. In the coming months there is a lot happening, please keep an eye out for the Parent Weekly Preview sent out on Edline.

School Safety and Drills


In the coming months we will be reviewing our safety plans and our safety drill schedules with the district leadership, the Reading Police and Fire Departments. We will continue as we have in the past with fire, shelter-in-place and lock down drills throughout the spring. We completed a lock down drill on Monday which went quite well. As part of all drill process, we assess and debrief the exercise with the schools Resource Officer, Corey Santasky and teachers here in the building. In light of all that has recently transpired in Newtown, CT. we are pleased that we have safety plans that are comprehensive and most importantly, district leaders who are committed to continually assessing and improving how we keep students safe. More to follow on this topic…

Grade 5 and Grade 8 - Transitions

With the end of second quarter, this starts the second semester and transition planning for grades five and eight. We are planning spring parent meetings with Eaton, Barrows, Killam and Birch Meadow Elementary Schools. In addition, to the spring meetings at each elementary school, we will also have a grade five parent night here at Parker where the sixth grade teachers, our school psychologists and the administrators talk about academic programs, extra curricular activities and academic support for our incoming fifth graders. Class sizes in our sixth grade next year look to be 26:1 at each middle school. We will be communicating meeting dates and locations at the beginning of February.

The eighth grade will start the high school course selection process in February. They are putting the finishing touches on the 2013-2014 RMHS Course Selection Catalog. We will be posting more information to Edline as we receive it from the high school. Eighth grade parents should mark their calendar for Future Freshman Night for students and parents, January 30th at 7:00 p.m. at the RMHS Fine and Performing Arts Center.

Thank you to the Parker – PTO for the Technology Donation


The Parker PTO has for two years in a row donated five thousand dollars annually to support instructional technology. This year, we have added iPad sets to grades six, seven and eight. In grade six, English Language Arts teachers Ms. Pelletier and Ms. Merrill have incorporated iPads into guided reading groups. In grade seven, Science teacher, Mr. Barnett and Social Studies teacher Mr. Twomey have partnered to use their iPads to create videos for the Amazon Idol Projects and in Science students will be getting an opportunity to dissect a virtual frog, which may make the old school actual frog dissection obsolete over time. We also think it will make the dissection activity considerably less dramatic. In grade 8, Math teachers, Mr. Cormier and Ms. Webster have just started using their iPad sets in math classes. This new technology promises to help students in creating and learning in ELA, Math, Science and Social Studies. Special thanks to our PTO President, Christine Hylan for her energy and unwavering commitment to our school community and the continued growth of instructional technology to support student learning. Thank you!

Middle School Student Leader, Caroline Corwin Represents Reading at Project 351

Project 351 celebrates the ethic of service, youth leadership, the mosaic of our Commonwealth, and the power of community to uplift and unite. Project 351 is an independent non-profit fully staffed by volunteers with expertise in community service, youth engagement, and the non-profit sector. Project 351 is made possible by strong partnerships with educators, non-profit organizations, the Project 351 Alumni Leadership Council, citizen volunteers, and the kind support of parents and families.

On January 26, 2013, Honorary Chair Governor Patrick will launch our third class of Ambassadors at the State House. Core components of the day include a Town Meeting, high impact service across Boston, service learning, and a closing celebration with the Governor. Ambassadors will gain inspiration, enrichment, and new friendships with peers from across the Commonwealth. At the heart of Project 351 is the dedication and compassion of our Ambassadors. Youth are selected for their exemplary ethic of service and their values of humility, compassion, commitment, kindness, and service and their values of humility, compassion, commitment, kindness, and generosity of spirit. This year we are pleased to send eighth grade, student leader, Caroline Corwin to represent Reading. Special thanks to the eight grade teachers for assisting with this well-deserved nomination.

Please Welcome our new teachers to Parker Middle School

Our new teachers are:

Daniel Shanahan, Grade 7 Health at Parker and Coolidge – Costa and Martinson Teams For the past four years Dan has worked as a K-6 PE/Wellness Teacher in Boxborough, MA M. Ed. in Educational Administration from AIC and an undergraduate degree from the University of Maine in Kinesiology Physical Education

Sarah Gilbert, Grade 8 Earth and Space Science – James Team – Room 212 Program Director for Dynamy, Inc. an experiential gap year program for 17-22 year olds. Experience teaching grades 5-7 in Detroit, MI at Michigan Technical Academy and Marilyn F. Lundy Academy. M. Ed. from the University of Michigan and an undergraduate degree from SUNY Syracuse in Forest Ecosystem Science

Noreen Rogers, Grade 8 Spanish – Olivo Team – Room 210 Experience teaching Spanish to grades 7-8 at Athens Middle School in Athens, Ohio and has spent this past year at BC completing her graduate work. MAT from Boston College in Hispanic Studies, completed a double major in Spanish Education and English Education with a minor in English degree from Ohio University.

Amanda Tetreault, Grade 8 French – Olivo Team – Room 210 Last year Amanda was the French teacher at Wilmington Middle School. Completed her undergraduate degree in French, with a minor in Middle School Education and is half way through the Master’s program at Merrimack College.

Julie Passeri, Grade 6 ELA – Merrill Team – Room 219 Several years’ experience coaching soccer and teaching seventh grade ELA in Rockport and Marblehead. MAT and undergraduate degrees from Union College, Schenectady, N.Y. in Art History and English

Megan Kiser, Grade 6 ELA – Walsh Team – Room 119 Experience working as a Site Coordinator and Outdoor Educator for Nature’s Classroom in Becket and Charlton, MA. Completed her student teaching and Field Work at Kennedy, and High Rock Middle School in Natick and Needham, MA. M. Ed. from Lesley University, completed her undergraduate degree in English with a minor in Psychology at the University of Missouri - Columbia

Andrea Baer has been an inclusion specialist and an elementary teacher in Lawrence for the past 15 years. Andrea holds an undergraduate degree in Elementary and Special Education from Providence College and a graduate degree from Lesley University in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus in Literacy. We feel very fortunate to have such a talented group join the Parker Community.

Back to School at Parker - 08/29

Students arrive promptly before the bell rings for day 1

There are few things better than 8th grade lunch...

Principal Notes - April 2012

Spring and the Start of the Fourth Quarter

We were fooled, for a moment into thinking that we would skip spring and jump right into summer with the warm weather earlier in the month. In the last few weeks things have gotten back to normal with cooler temps and the changing of sports seasons for our students. The spring stretch, that is the six-week period between February vacation and the start of April vacation, is packed. Teachers and students have been working hard to complete the English Language Arts MCAS, as well as final assignments to be included in the third quarter grades. Report cards for the third quarter were posted to Edline (http://www.edline.net/pages/Walter_S_Parker_Middle_School) on Thursday, April 5th. We end this week with a highlight of the year for teachers and administrators with the “The Blueprint for Educational Excellence National Institute” held here in Reading. This Institute is an opportunity for the teachers and administrators from Reading and around the country to share and learn about best practices in education from one another. I am pleased to report that several teacher teams will be presenting from Parker at this year’s conference. In our next newsletter, I will be posting more information about what we are learning and how we will use this information to improve our school and our professional practice.

Understanding Disabilities and Travis Roy

Understanding Disabilities continues to be an amazing resource for us at the middle level, bringing speakers that really help students and adults learn more and make sense of the world around us. In the last few years, Understanding Disabilities has been able to secure State and National presenters that have included, Autism Spokesperson, Gianna Hitsos, Endurance Swimmer and Downs Spokesperson, Karen Gaffney, and Author Shonda Shilling. Each presenter left us thinking about how we treat others, how we live and what we can do to make a difference in our school and our community.

On March 28th, former Boston University hockey player, Travis Roy spoke to our students and staff at Parker. Travis was tragically paralyzed in an accident while playing hockey for Boston University. He was skating into the corner, which he had done thousands of time before and accidentally fell and hit his head on the dasher. His book “Eleven Seconds” chronicles his experience and his life after the accident. Today he travels around speaking to communities and schools about his experiences.

Travis shared his story about telling his parents in their living room about his goals that he wrote in middle school. He shared with our students that his parents listened intently, as he read goal after goal that only focused on hockey achievements. Finally, his parents spoke up and told Travis that if he didn’t get good grades that he would not be able to fulfill the goals he had written. So reluctantly, up-stairs Travis marched to re-write his goals that included academic and life goals that guided him to be one of Boston Universities top hockey recruits in 1995. Travis encouraged students to write their goals down, to pay attention to them and to work steadily toward what they would like to achieve. He shared that it is about hard work and having the courage to adapt to challenges and circumstances to be successful and happy.


Student Ambassadors, Alanna G. and Julia D. introduce Travis Roy.


Student Leaders Ryan M., Jay G. and Pat D. had an opportunity to visit with Travis before his presentation.

Travis’ honesty, his kind demeanor, coupled with his measured, deliberate speech allowed students to really focus on his words and his message that emphasize the importance of love and relationships. In the question and answer session, students asked, would you play hockey again if you had the opportunity? He answered absolutely; he would love to have the opportunity. He also assured students that he believes hockey is a very safe sport and his accident was just that, an accident. Students also asked, if you could walk again what would be the first thing you would do? Travis paused for a moment and answered “…I would hug my mom! You see when you are in a wheel chair those are the things that you really miss…” It was a great day at Parker and a privilege to have the opportunity to hear such wonderful messages. Thank you to Ruth Clogston and Understanding Disabilities for arranging this presentation.