From the Principal...Steve Morrill
Upcoming Non-Attendance Days
Just a reminder that schools will be closed next Tuesday, November 3rd for the Election Day holiday. Looking ahead, students will not be in attendance on Monday, November 9th, as this is designated a remote planning day for teachers.
Daylight Saving Time
Daylight saving time ends this Sunday, November 1, 2020, at 2:00 A.M. On Saturday night, make sure to set your clocks back one hour (i.e., gaining one hour) to “fall back.”
Professional Learning = Student Learning
As parents we are conditioned to focus on the tests or assessments that our kids take and the grades at the end each quarter or semester. I’m guilty as well. Just this week I reached out to both of my boys who are in college and after pleasantries, I immediately asked them what their exam averages were in their classes for the fall semester. After a brief conversation, I had to remind them, and myself, that there is more to learning than the “final test.” It is important to know that there are two types of assessments: Formative and Summative. Typically, people think of test scores as summative assessments. However, tests can also fall under the category of formative assessments. These assessments are used to monitor student progress “during the learning” and are, in most cases, more important than summative assessments. The “heavy lifting” of learning really occurs when deficits are identified through formative assessments and gaps are closed before the next “test.” Focusing on only the summative, can lead to “cramming” for tests and forgetting information quickly after the evaluation. Whereas, focusing on the formatives typically leads to incremental, forward progress. A basic analogy would be to say a formative assessment is like “preparing a meal and adjusting the various ingredients along the way”, and a summative assessment would be “what happens when you eat that meal.”
Students are formatively assessed on a regular basis so that feedback can be provided, allowing them the opportunity to make improvements. An example of a summative assessment would be an “end of unit” test, or standardized test such as the IAR assessment students take in the spring and once complete, students have no opportunity to improve the test score.
Over the past several weeks our professional learning communities (content teams) have been working with district specialists to analyze and process our students’ i-Ready diagnostic results from this assessment they took. As families, you received your student’s i-Ready diagnostic results recently. At school, teachers noted student gaps, identified areas of focus, and began making changes to instructional approaches and design in order to be responsive to the students in their classes.
This is an example of teachers and PLC teams evaluating student “formative assessments” in order to make real time changes to their instructional approaches in order to better meet individual student needs or gaps specific students may have.
Our middle school schedule allows our teachers who facilitate the same content to come together regularly to learn, to reflect on instructional approaches, and evaluate student data so that we can be responsive to our middle schoolers resulting in a positive, rich learning experience. Maybe you could allow your middle schooler to make a meal this weekend, which the whole family can assess at the dinner table.
Enjoy the Fall weekend!
~ Steve
Intramural Boys Basketball
Thompson will be offering boys basketball for 7th and 8th graders beginning on November 16th for 'A' students and November 17th for 'B' students. Following the IDPH sports safety guidelines, basketball will have no contact practices and training only. Masks will be worn at all times and there will be no scrimmaging.
All students who want to attend must have a current physical and an Agreement to Participate in Interscholastic Sports form on file with the front office before attending any session. Students are encouraged to attend a Google Meet with the coaches next week and join the Google Classroom The cost to participate is $120 and will be billed through PushCoin. All of the forms and sign up information is located in the link below.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12uKAX7PMsFfDixvA6W9lvTf0tHm9S-ZPLRhNhnUdY0A/edit
Fall Non-Attendance Days for Students
November 3 - Election Day - NEW THIS YEAR!
November 9 - Remote Learning Planning Day for Staff
November 23-27- Thanksgiving Break
Thompson Middle School
Mrs. Michelle Dague - Assistant Principal
Mr. Shane Darnell - Assistant Principal
Mrs. Danielle Moeller - Student Support Coordinator
Mr. Sam Pasholk - Student Support Coordinator