Inner Balance
February 2020
Exciting upcoming events at Dawson Middle School to look out for!
Course Selection Process
CISD Parent University
HOPE Week
Course Selection Information
7th to 8th Grade Course Request Dates
Monday, February 3: Students will view a course request tutorials through the DMS Students Canvas page. They will receive and begin working on a practice Course Request Form.
Wednesday, February 5: Students will receive the YELLOW Course Request card from their Language Arts teacher. This is the card that must be submitted by February 21st.
Wednesday, February 5:Parent Q&A Session with the Counselors at 12:00 in the Gym and 5:00 in the Library
Wednesday, February 19:Parents can receive help with the online course request process in our computer labs with guidance from the counselors. We will be available from 12:00 - 1:00 and again from 5:00 - 6:00
**Friday, February 21:Yellow course request cards DUE to 7th Grade Language Arts teachers. Online course requests MUST be submitted PRIOR TO returning the form.
8th to 9th Grade Course Request Dates
Thursday, January 30:Presentations by high school counselors during Advisory.
Thursday, February 4:High school counselors will visit all Math classes to explain course request process
Wednesday, February 5:Meeting for parents of current 8th graders in CHS Cafeteria
Friday, February 7:8th Grade parent Q&A session in CHS Lecture Hall (no new information will be presented)
Tuesday, February 11:High school counselors will visit all Math classes to work through course request process
Monday, February 17 - Thursday, February 27:Course request will be open in Skyward
Tuesday, April 23 - Monday, April 27: Arena Scheduling open for 8th Grade Students
Click here to learn more about taking the Media Pathway in high school!
If you are interested in taking PAP Art I in 9th grade, click here to view portfolio requirements. Portfolios are due April 26, 2020 to Christine.Roberts@southlakecarroll.edu.
If you have any questions regarding course requests, please visit the Course Request page in the Counselors Corner on the DMS Webpage.
CISD Parent University
Click HERE to register for Parent University, and click HERE to learn more about CISD's Resiliency Project
HOPE Week - February 18-21
HOPE Squad members are currently hard at work coming up with ideas on how to make HOPE week a week to remember. More information will be posted to the DMS Canvas page closer to the start of HOPE Week.
Career Day 2020
Fostering Creativity in Teens
The potential to foster creativity in teens is tremendous! Their interest in topics that they view as valuable is at an all-time high as well. Adolescents are capable of problem solving in creative ways that will drive their own discoveries, and their skills allow them to identify nuances and possibilities.
Make learning hard enough to be challenging (so that your child will not be bored, and so they will see the value in investing their time), but easy enough to avoid total frustration. For teens, feeling “not smart” is an instant turn off to learning. Allow manageable frustration around learning.
Ways to Help Students Embrace Diversity
In typical educational and social settings, students tend to show classic in-group/out-group behaviors. In general, most students are comfortable interacting with people, behaviors, and ideas that they are familiar with, and react with fear and apprehension when faced with the unfamiliar. Culturally responsive instruction can help you show your students that differences in viewpoint and culture are meant to be cherished and appreciated, not judged and feared.
1. Build a culture of learning from one another rather than a culture of passing judgment on differences in values and beliefs. For instance, providing students with an opportunity to share stories of their home life, such as family holiday practices, provides fellow students with a window into their peer’s cultural traditions.
2. Teach your students about multicultural role models. This demonstrates that people of all genders, ethnicities, and appearances can have a positive influence on the world and deserve to be respected and emulated.
If students are taught about the contributions that people of various ethnicities, genders, and creeds have made to a variety of different artistic, scientific, and political fields, then they’re more likely to respect and value diverse culture backgrounds as a whole.
3. Craft the right environment for culturally responsive learning.
These added touches might seem innocuous, but they go a long way in helping students absorb the rich diversity that surrounds them, both in the classroom and in the world outside the school walls. Such touches will help promote an environment in which students from diverse backgrounds feel more comfortable being themselves and will help insulate students from the cultural and ethnic stereotypes that pervade television and other mass media outlets.
4. Teach students to embrace their own culture and heritage. Another important goal of culturally responsive education is to teach students to respect and appreciate their own culture and heritage. Providing opportunities for students to investigate unique facets of their community is one effective way to help students gain a greater appreciation for their own culture. Having students interview family members about cultural practices and traditions or write about important learning experiences that the student has experienced in his home community are just two of the many ways that students can explore their heritage.
Placing ethnically diverse students in a situation that emphasizes the strong points of their culture’s preferred means of learning may help provide them with a greater sense of self-efficacy and achievement.
Click on the link for more information on Carroll ISD's District Diversity Council: https://www.southlakecarroll.edu/Page/2883
What does it mean to have a certified HeartMath Coach at Dawson Middle School?
Your Counselor's can help your child boost resilience, composure and clarity!
The HeartMath Building Personal Resilience™ program is a focused and practical program, combining personalized coaching with scientifically validated tools to help your child self-regulate their body’s response to stress and build resilience. They will learn life-long skills you can use any time to increase well-being, personal and academic performance and quality of life experience.
Be sure to contact your child's grade level counselor for more details!
DMS Counselos
Amy Hurlburt
7th grade Counselor
amy.hurlburt@southlakecarroll.edu
Katrina Tatum
8th grade Counselor
katrina.tatum@suthlakecarroll.edu
Lauren Canafax
Intervention Counselor
lauren.canafax@southlakecarroll.edu
Website: https://www.southlakecarroll.edu/domain/812
Location: 400 South Kimball Avenue, Southlake, TX, USA
Phone: 817-949-5500
Twitter: @DMScounselors