John Adams Middle School
Jaguar Journal
September 3, 2019
Our mission is to inspire, challenge, and empower all students with the knowledge and skills required to reach their full potential, to contribute to future generations, and to become involved members of a global community.
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If the social and emotional needs of the school community are met, then our students will leave John Adams better prepared to meet the expectations in core academics and life skills by being a success ready individual who has created an action plan to be equipped to positively contribute to high school society.
Piglet: “How do you spell love?”
Pooh: “You don’t spell it, you feel it.”
WELCOME --- New Staff to John Adams
6th grade- Jessica Spahn
6th grade- James Grota
6th grade- Spencer Lautenschlager
Success Coach- Lance Dahl
Instructional Coach- Corey Lee
Spec. Ed Coach- Jennifer Ireland
EBD Teacher- Sam Bastyr
Setting 3- David Freese
Setting 3- Chelsey Wierschem
Sped Resource- Hannah Orlowski
Social Worker- Stephanie Smoot
Phy Ed- Brett Carroll
Counselor- Aaron Bakke
Science 7/8- Kirstin Lawstuen
Spanish 7/8- Cristi Satterstrom
Sped Case Facilitator- Kelli Yonkovich
DCD SP- Kadie Jorgensen
OASIS Teacher- Matthew Bitz
Business- Joseph Sosinski
PLTW- Jeffery Ubinger
LTS-6th Grade- Scott Smith
Music- Joshua Jacobo
Associate Principal- Martine Haglund
DCD-MM para- Charles Tiesketter
Setting 3 para- Lisa Guse
Hallway para- Laurie McPeak
Hallway para- Melissa Crane
OASIS para- Jenna Simpson
DCD-SP 1:1 para- Sidney Miller
TBI 1:1 para- Paul Kreger
Sped para- Elizabeth Ruffalo
DCD-MM para- Brianna Ruth
MHP Setting 3- Katelyn Sullivan
MHP Setting 3- Kerry Goihl
Principal- Brant Goetz
Jaguar Staff Spawtlight
David Freese
I was born in Mankato, MN and given up for adoption. I was adopted by my parents, John and Nancy. I have one younger sister, Jenni, who is also adopted. She lives in Woodbury, MN and works for a medical company. My dad completed some technical schooling and sold semi trucks for a company in Southern MN. My mom did in-home daycare until I was in the 4th grade. She then worked as the secretary for Quarry Hill Nature Center for 20+ years. She is retired, but still does the bookkeeping for Quarry Hill as she doesn’t want anyone to mess it up. My dad is also retired, but has filled his time running the clubhouse at Piper Hills golf course in Plainview, MN.
After graduating from high school, I attended RCTC and took a variety of classes. After a year and a half, I transferred to the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and majored in psychology. I enjoyed the classes, but it wasn’t the right career path for me. I transferred to Winona State University and majored in K-12 Physical Education. After graduating, I attempted to find a job as a PE teacher. I applied for and accepted a position with RPS as a paraprofessional in the Setting III EBD classroom at Kellogg Middle School. It was there that I fell in love with the students that are often labeled as “naughty”, “bad”, or “those kids”. I returned to school and obtained my K-12 EBD teaching licensure from Augsburg College. I worked at Burr Oak as a paraprofessional, which was the Setting 4 program for Rochester. After student teaching, I applied for and accepted a teaching position at New Dominion School (NDS) in Austin, MN. NDS is on the campus of Gerard Academy, a residential treatment facility. In my 12 years at NDS, I taught social skills curriculum (3 years), taught the Read 180 class (8 years), and worked in a variety of classrooms last year.
My wife, Theresa, works for the Mayo Clinic and creates the online eLearnings. We have four children, Kyle is 23 (he just graduated from NDSU and accepted a job in Minnetonka for a tech company), Allicia is 18 (she is a freshman at Winona State University and majoring in nursing), Ava is 10 (she will be attending Bamber Valley as a 5th grader) and Gavin is 8 (he will be attending Bamber Valley as a 2nd grader).
I am finishing up my Masters degree through St. Mary’s University in the area of Educational Leadership. I will also be starting my Ed. S. degree through St. Mary’s University to obtain my K-12 principal license.
I am looking forward to working at John Adams Middle School. I will be working in the Setting III classroom with the 8th grade students. If you have questions or concerns with the behaviors of students within your classrooms, please seek me out as I believe I have a wealth of knowledge in the area of behavior.
10 Things That Make Kids Happier (Power of Positivity)
Give them plenty of play time.
Take argument and heavy discussions else where.
Don't compare them to others.
Teach the benefits of negative emotions.
Acknowledge their efforts.
Value family traditions.
Let them take chances.
Give them a sense of (individual) responsibility.
Create happy memories.
Be HAPPY yourself!
20 Tips to Help De-escalate Interactions with Anxious or Defiant Students
6 Strategies for Building Better Student Relationships
The Five Relationships That Characterize Great Schools (Education Week, 2017)
Student and Student: Students know each other and work together.
Adult to Student: Students are known well by one or more student.
Adult to Adult: “The nature of relationships among the adults within a school has a greater influence on the character and quality of that school and on student accomplishment than anything else.”
School and Community: Community is a resource for the school.
School and Home: Does the school understand the homes of the students?