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Watauga Middle School

Watauga Middle School. Caroline Ayers, Jonathan Holt, Brooke Reed, and Chelsea Stone. Our Philosophy.

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Watauga Middle School

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  1. Watauga Middle School Caroline Ayers, Jonathan Holt, Brooke Reed, and Chelsea Stone

  2. Our Philosophy Adolescents are unique individuals with unique needs, and it is the responsibility of this school to meet these needs. We believe that every student has the potential to succeed, and we demand that they do so. Our curriculum is designed to be interesting, challenging, and relevant to all students. Engaging students has proven to create life long learning habits, lower drop out rates, and produce responsible citizens. Watauga Middle School strives to provide a physically, emotionally, and mentally safe environment for each student. All teachers at Watauga County Middle School will be experts on adolescent development and constantly communicate with one another to meet the needs of the school and students. Teachers will make the community their partner in order to provide a well-rounded educational experience.

  3. Why a 6-8 school? Watauga Middle School is a 6th through 8th grade school. We made this decision because between the ages of 11 and 15 children experience rapid development in all aspects of life. Students are mentally, physically, and socially developing into young adults, and this change requires a great deal of support, and a separate setting that fosters positive development.

  4. School Personnel • 1 Principal – Supports school philosophy and ensures its implementation throughout the school. • 1 Assistant Principal- Testing, records, checks on classroom & hallways, provides principal and teachers with support. • 1 SRO- Ensures a safe and crime free environment inside and outside of school grounds. • 2 Guidance Counselors-1for 8th 1 for 6th- split 7th in half - We expect the guidance counselors to be an advocate for each student in the school and know their students well. Counselors will be easily accessible and provide emotional support and guidance to students. • 1 Nurse- Students may walk into the nurse’s office at any time for any medical need. Nurse’s will provide the needed care ie drive to the hospital, tampon, band-aid, medical advice, snacks, etc

  5. School Personnel • 4 EC teachers – There will be an EC teacher for each grade in order to provide individual assistance as well as co-teach courses with “core” teachers. One extra EC teacher is needed in order to accompany high needs students to class, supervise their lunch, etc. • 2 Custodians- Custodians will be responsible for cleaning the school and contributing to the safe school environment that we have. • 1 Secretary- The secretary is responsible for meeting visitors in the office, answering the phone, makes announcements, and generally supervises the logistics of the school – students going and coming, parent pick up, classroom visitors, interns, etc. • 1 Bookkeeper- The bookkeeper is responsible for keeping, creating, and updating all school records. • 1 ESL teacher- The ESL teacher will provide support and instruction to students learning English as a second language. • 2 Librarians- We will have two librarians, one specializing in books, the other specializing in technology and fostering the learning of 21st century skills.

  6. Curriculum Total School Curriculum Watauga County Middle school is constantly striving to provide a relevant, challenging, integrative, and exploratory curriculum. Out goal is to guide these adolescents to knowledge, awareness, critical thinking, and life skills. Through teaming we are able to provide various co-curricular activities to our students.

  7. Curriculum Core Subjects Our first priority is “core” classes – Math, Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science. Core subject areas are fundamental in molding adolescents to be critical thinkers, life long learners, and informed citizens. We value all four “core” subjects equally here at Watauga Middle School, and aim to give students a well rounded education through interdisciplinary assignments and differentiated instruction.

  8. Curriculum Non-Core Subjects All students will be involved in PE, health, lifeskills, and computers. Each of these courses lasts 9 weeks. Students will also be allowed to choose an exploratory from the following list to be involved in each semester. Band ChorusArtSpanishFrenchGermanWoodworking/Shop Outdoor Skills HorticultureSports

  9. Teamwork Teaming allows the students to be apart of a learning community that is more intimate than simply the school community. Teaming allows students to be in a safe comfortable environment- sharing the same time and space with their teachers and peers. Our teams being smaller than average will only foster better learning and as Powell states in Introduction to Middle School “research indicates that teams with fewer than 90 students use desirable instructional practices most frequently.” Our 6th and 7th grade will be made of 2 teacher teams 8thgrade will be made of one 4 teacher team to allow the students the opportunity to switch classes every period. Switching classes and teachers for each subject is an important skill to learn before entering high school.

  10. Scheduling There is no better scheduling option for the middle school concept than flexible block scheduling. Block scheduling allows teams the opportunity to tweak and change the schedule, when needed, in order to incorporate certain activities, lessons, etc. Middle school students would not enjoy being on the same exact schedule every day for 185 days, and the flexible block scheduling allows teams to switch things up so that students remain engaged as much as possible. Once every 9 weeks students will have a “Half-Day” of school where students will be dismissed at 12:15 and staff will participate in work shops

  11. Schedules 6thGrade 7thGrade

  12. Schedules 8th Grade

  13. Schedules Half-Day All Grades Lunches

  14. Advisory Advisory is an every day program at Watauga Middle School Through the fraternal atmosphere that can be developed within small groups such as advisories, educators have their best chance to successfully respond to many of those needs in a complex, often confusing contemporary culture. (Stevenson,315) The National Middle School Association states the following as essential attributes to a successful middle school: • Challenging: ensuring that every student learns and every member of the learning community is held to high expectations. • Equitable: advocating for and ensuring every student’s right to learn and providing appropriately challenging and relevant learning opportunities for every student.

  15. Advisory Curriculum for 6th Grade • Hygiene/puberty • Adapting to middle school policies and procedures • Social skills • Relevant social issues • Time management Curriculum for 7th Grade • D.A.R.E. • Peer relations (Drama, fighting, bullying, dating, etc.) • Time management • Basic life skills (Writing checks, phone etiquette, manners, etc.) • Exploring character traits • Hygiene • Sex education

  16. Advisory Curriculum for 8th Grade • Substance abuse education (Alcohol, drugs, and tobacco) • Life skills (Money management, code switching, etc.) • Hygiene • Time management • Getting prepared for high school (Socially, academically, mentally) • Sex education

  17. Instructional Strategies Watauga Middle School plans to use the 9 instructional strategy categories listed in Introduction to Middle School. • -Identifying similarities and differences • -Summarizing and note taking • -Reinforcing effort and providing recognition • -Homework and practice • -Nonlinguistic representations • -Cooperative learning • -Setting objectives and providing feedback • -Generating and testing hypothesis • -Cues, questions, and advance organizers We know that students do not enjoy boredom and monotony, so we feel it is important to spice up teaching and learning by using a wide variety of instructional strategies. By having a wide variety of strategies teachers can differentiate lesson plans in many ways, providing a far more engaging lesson to students.

  18. Grouping Practices Turning Points 2000 states that “classes should include students of diverse needs, achievement levels, interests, and learning styles, and instruction should be differentiated to take advantage of the diversity, not ignore it.” We believe that all students have something to offer and rigid tracking takes away from being able to achieve cooperative learning with between students. We recognize the value in both heterogeneous and homogenous grouping, and we plan to use both grouping methods. Variety, differentiation, and diversity are at the center of our grouping practices.

  19. Exceptional & Advanced Learners For students who achieve at or above the 90th percentile on their EOG test and/or a teacher recommendation, Watauga County Middle School provides math and language arts Academically and Intellectually Gifted courses. These students will report to the AIG math or ELA teacher during their scheduled math or ELA time. The AIG program simply strives to provide advanced students with material that is challenging and relevant to them.

  20. Family & Community Contribution to Student Learning Opportunities We believe that it is vital for teachers, students, family, and community to all work together to maximize the success of each student at our school. Middle school students tend to push away from their parents, but Watauga County Middle School urges parents to STAY INVOLVED, and here are some ways to do so! -Parent Teacher Conferences -Your students classroom Facebook page- each teacher has created a Facebook page for each of their classes, this Facebook page provided some similar information to that found on the school website, but is also a convenient way to keep in contact with other parents, students, teachers, etc. -School Website- each teacher has their own page/profile on the school website- lesson plans, homework, grades, announcements, make up work (sick students), etc is posted on teacher’s profiles on a daily basis

  21. Family & Community Contribution to Student Learning Opportunities -OHEM-OPEN HOUSE EVERY MONTH- Watauga County Middle School will have an open house to parents, family, and the community once a month. Open house is a monthly opportunity to go to school to talk to teachers, see your student’s work, keep connected with the community and school, etc. -Homework Helper- homework helper is after school Monday – Thursday from 3 to 4. Students in this program are provided a snack after school, then allowed to choose what teacher they will spend the hour with. This hour is used to help students with any school work they are struggling with, and to simply provide a calm place to focus.

  22. Family & Community Contribution to Overall Success of the School -Parent Supervision on special events such as dances, fields trips, field days, school functions, etc -Fund Raising -Parent Teacher Student Organization -OPEN HOUSE EVERY MONTH -Volunteering in classrooms

  23. Watauga Middle School “We want to be the best for our students, staff, family, and community.”

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