BMS ENews
News and Notes From Berlin Middle School 10/17/14
Chock-full of Essential Elements
I was fortunate to have been able to attend the New York State Middle School Annual Conference. Day one was full of presentation facilitated by John Harmon, Andrew Chen, and a group of teachers that are working hard on cross-disciplinary project-based learning, day two was reserved for additional workshops regarding Common Core, Co-teaching, PBIS, flipped-learning, anti-bullying, etc. During the conference, I put out an email to our BMS teachers and asked if anyone would like to attend next year. I'd like to be able to send a small team of about 3-5 teachers to represent Berlin Middle School next year. If you are interested, let me know.
The gist of the conference was how can the New York State Essential Elements for a standards-focused middle level program help guide what we do. You are all doing great things individually, in teams, departments, and/or as collegial supporters to really bring BMS forward and I am proud to have you here and passionate about the great work you do for our kids. It's great that we, as a middle school, have a guiding regulation in New York State law that's designed to help us implement what works with middle level kids.
The seven Essential Elements are:
- A philosophy and mission that reflect the intellectual and developmental needs and characteristics of young adolescents.
- An educational program that is comprehensive, challenging, purposeful, integrated, relevant, and standards-based.
- An organization and structure that support both academic excellence and personal development.
- Classroom instruction appropriate to the needs and characteristics of young adolescents provided by skilled and knowledgeable teachers.
- Strong educational leadership and a building administration that encourage, facilitate, and sustain involvement, participation, and leadership.
- A network of academic and personal support available for all students.
- Professional learning and staff development for all staff that are ongoing, planned, purposeful, and collaboratively developed.
As we continue to discuss the Essential Elements and how we can streamline "initiative overload", as a fellow principal who works in another Capital District school puts it, the focus remains clear: that we must continue to hire and train great people and implement high-quality practices and programs. Our kids deserve it; we deserve it.
Looking forward to continuing the good work with you and the Essential Elements.
Jason M. Breh
Principal
Berlin Middle School
7th Graders Engage in Environmental Science Activities at Grafton Lakes State Park.
On October 1st, Seventh grade students travelled to Grafton Lakes State Park and participated in a variety of environmental activities; these activities focused on ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies standards as well as helping guide them in their understanding of how care and concern for the environment can lead to careers in science.
Students used dichotomous keys for identifying local trees and leaves, learned map skills to understand terrain and hiked to locations.
At the careers station, employees discussed careers and job responsibilities in the State park system. Students debated environmental issues and discussed how they would plan park usage for the future with the Park Naturalist. Students also looked at nature up-close and wrote poetry in perspective. Students enjoyed meeting new people, working together, and being outdoors.
Thank you to Mrs. Vanderhoef and others for making this trip possible.
Teacher Observations are Under Way
Probationary teachers are currently in the process of setting-up appointments for pre-conferences, observations, and post-conferences. For them, the first deadline is October 15th. For tenured teachers the deadline is December 15th. If you are a tenured teacher and would like to start the process now, you may. With everyone, please establish your observation date and pre-conference with Monica.
Amendment: My goal for tenured teachers is to have all observations completed by December 1st! (the deadline is December 15th). Review the checklist I gave each of you during the Supervisee meeting in September and begin the process of establishing your pre-conferences NOW!
Code of Conduct Reminders
1. As a gentle reminder students may only be sent to the office for Category 2 and 3 behavior. When completing referrals please indicate that from the drop down menu.
2. Regarding tardiness: office disciplinary referrals should be generated on the third offense and indicate the dates of the student's tardiness. When I receive the referral I will mark that you have spoken with the student and that you have generated a referral. Call home when students are tardy. The referral will go home. For additional tardiness, complete an ODR. I will speak with the student, call home, and dispose a detention.
3. Being unsafe while at school, if intentional, may be a Category 3 offense and the student will usually serve multiple periods in ISS. Since this is Category 3, complete an ODR. I will call home and complete the disposition accordingly.
4. Since some of these practices may be new for you, if you have questions, let me know. We must ensure the use of clean data; the cleaner the data the better I am able to dispose consequences accurately and fairly.
Faculty Meeting
The agenda will pertain to every middle school teacher.
1) Essential Elements Guiding Task
2) Department-wide Goals - Needs and Expectations
3) Castle Learning - Needs and Expectations
4) PBIS - Upcoming Event
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2014, 02:15 PM
Room 110
Jason M. Breh, Principal - Berlin Middle School
Email: jbreh@berlincentral.org
Website: www.berlincentral.org
Location: 17400 NY-22, NY, United States
Phone: (518)658-2515
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Berlin-Middle-School/356992697661213
Twitter: @bmsmountaineers