Parent Newsletter
Nov. 12 - 16
Midterms go home Friday Nov. 16th
Midterm Week is here
- A look at the week ahead
- Understanding midterm and how to improve
- Tools to use at home to help students
o Canvas, Skyward, and OneNote
- Helping students maximize their efforts
- Teacher Feature
- STEM night
- Counselors Corner
Thanks for all that you do to support Jefferson Middle School!
Phil Cox, Principal
Chris Layton, Vice Principal
Jenifer Laurendine, Dean of Students
Thank you to our Veterans for their service!
Thank you Veterans
We want to take time to honor those who have served in our Armed Forces throughout their lives. We will spend time at school utilizing our lobby tv's and cafeteria tv to highlight the importance of honoring our veterans. We would like to extend our thank you to anyone in your family who has served and is a veteran. We appreciate their sacrifice, dedication and commitment to defending our nation.
In addition, we would like to recognize the JMS staff members who have served including:
Captain Brian Wilson
Sgt. Bill Byas
Second Lieutenant Nicholas Corrigan
We thank them for their service and dedication to help support our nation.
A look at the week ahead
Monday-12
B day
Environmental Club 2:45-4:00
Chess Club 2:45-3:45
Franco Lego League Team Meeting 2:45-4:30
Basketball vs. Soldier’s Memorial Middle School at Soldier’s MS
Boys JV 5:00, Girls V 6:00, Boys V 7:00
Tuesday-13
A day
Homework help for 5th/6th graders 7:00-7:30-Room 219 (Corrigan)
Library Club 2:45-3:45
Scott Lego League Team Meeting 2:45-4:30
Interact Club
Girls Basketball Practice 3:00-4:30
Homework help for 5th/6th graders 2:45-3:30-Room 319 (Martin)
Homework help for 7th/8th graders 2:45-3:30-Room 301 (Hondorf)
Wednesday-14
B day
SECME 7:00-Room 105
Cheer Practice 1:00-3:00
Girls Basketball Practice 3:00-4:30
Thursday-15
A day
Homework help for 5th/6th graders 7:00-7:30-Room 219 (Corrigan)
Interact Club
Math Club Practice 2:45-4:00-Room 203 (Tracey)
Homework help for 5th/6th graders 2:45-3:30-Room 319 (Martin)
Franco Lego League Team Meeting 2:45-4:30
Scott Lego League Team Meeting 2:45-4:30
Basketball vs. Norris Middle School at Norris MS
Boys JV 5:00, Girls V 6:00, Boys V 7:00
Friday-16
B day
Youth for Christ 7:00-JPAC
Fire Drill 1:00
Grade Reports distributed to students in 7th period
Girls Basketball Practice 3:00-4:30
Understanding the midterm and how to improve
1. Remember, the midterm is just an update for progress at that point in the nine weeks. It means that at this point, this is your grade. The goal is to help students get a better idea of their grade and work to improve their grade over the remainder of the nine weeks.
2. Most failing grades are because of failure to complete assignments. Talk to your student about effort and submitting every assignment. We will continue each week on our TVs and through the newsletter to emphasize how a 0 on an assignment carries a big impact on a grade.
3. Check Skyward for grades weekly. The midterm is simply students grades as recorded in Skyward at the 4.5 weeks mark. Check Canvas weekly to see what assignments, major tests, quizzes, projects etc. your student has upcoming.
4. Contact teachers and work to get feedback on how your student can work to improve their skills. What steps can they take at home? What routines can they have to immerse themselves into the learning process outside of school?
5. Spend time speaking to students about the importance of YET! Promote a growth mindset and work to help them understand Grit. The resources below are great reminders as to how important our effort can be in the learning process. As stated above, it is often the lack of submitting work that penalizes students. Often students who are failing do not submit any work. Keep in mind, teachers want and need the work as a way to assess, "do they understand?" To simply omit this step in the learning process is cheating yourself. Give it your best effort and if it's not perfect, learn from those mistakes.
6. Take advantage of your resources early and often. In many cases, we will have students ask "what can I do to help my grade?" two or three days before the nine weeks ends. Often the answer is, nothing! It is important for students to take advantage of resources and opportunities as they are given to them. For example, will the teacher allow for corrections on a test or quiz to earn more points? Does the teacher allow you to submit work late? Does the teacher offer help before school, during lunch or after school? Ask those questions and find out how you can empower yourself to improve.
7. Use the picture below with your student to help motivate them to work on resolving their understanding of their school work. The steps below allow students to take reflection steps and learn and understand how to go through the learning process.
Homework Help
Homework Help
Students attending afternoon homework help will need to arrange their transportation from school according to the schedules below. Transportation must be pre arranged before staying for homework help after school.
5th/6th grade homework help
Mr. Corrigan and Mr. Martin will offer homework help on Tuesdays and Thursdays
AM session
7 am - 7:30 am for 5th and 6th graders in Mr. Corrigan's room in the 5th grade second floor wing
PM session
2:45 pm - 3:30 pm for 5th and 6th graders in Mr. Martin's room in the 5th grade third floor
7th/8th grade homework help
Mr. Hondorf will host afternoon homework help on Tuesdays
7th and 8th grade homework help will be on Tuesdays with Mr. Hondorf from 2:45 - 3:30
Tools to help students at home: Canvas, Skyward and OneNote
Often when get to the midterm we have parents who contact the school, teachers, school counseling office etc. and want to know, "how can I help my child?". This week in the parent newsletter we want to circle back around to three very important and significant tools utilized that will allow you to keep up with your child's grades, assignments and in many classes even the notes that are being taken for class. Take a few moments to check out the information about Canvas, Skyward, and OneNote below. In addition, take a moment to check out the videos and resources designed to help parents understand all of the tools in the digital toolbox to help students and parents. Our goal is to work through our newsletter each week with information to help you as parents know about all of the tools being used in your child's classes.
Let's start with Skyward......
Skyward (This is worth checking weekly)
Skyward -
For the 2018 - 2019 school year parents will be able to check out student grades in Skyward. Teachers will work to keep the grade book up to date weekly. This will help to have a better idea of student's progress weekly. Around 4.5 weeks into the nine weeks, students will get a midterm report sent home and at the end of the nine weeks.
Canvas (This is worth checking weekly. Also look at information below to learn more about how to set up Canvas to make it easier to monitor)
1. Canvas is the best place to find out information about what is going on in your child's class.
When we were students, someone may have asked us, "what did you learn in school today?" Sometimes we had an answer and sometimes we simply stated, "nothing", as a strategy to move on. However, our students today along with parents have access weekly as to what is being taught and the expectations for each week. It is a great idea and practice to log in or have your student log in once per week to look through their teachers Canvas pages. This will allow you to keep up with the following:
A. Dates of important assignments
B. Dates for quizzes and tests etc.
C. Important tools, resources including access to OneNote
Start the Canvas 10 Challenge at home
1. Ask your student to log in to Canvas
2. Take 10 minutes to review all of their classes
3. What assignments are due this week? When do they have tests? What resources are being provided by the teachers to help?
4. Design a calendar for students to look at in the house with these dates. It's a great organizational and life skill
Imagine being able to see the notes shared, discussed and provided for students in class. OneNote is being used by many of our teachers and they are literally sharing the daily lessons, notes, and information for students here. It is a great resource to keep up with what is going on in your student's particular classes.
Have you heard your student talk about OneNote? Have you wondered what it is and how it can be used? Check out the following information about OneNote and how it can help students stay organized, stay informed and have access to class information to be better prepared. The video below gives a great description as to all of the tools that can be utilized in a classroom through OneNote.
Remember the days of taking notes? Did you ever miss some items? What if you had access to them again after class? OneNote allows teachers to post notes to their Canvas page and allows for students to have access to information on their devices as it is being given to them. One goal of this is to allow students to have deep discussions, ask questions, and work to review as they learn content.
Check out the video resources both above and below to get a better idea and feel for how you can check with your student and their OneNote in order to get a better feel for materials from their classes. In addition, if you have questions you can contact Ms. Henderlight our Instructional Technology Coach to learn more about how you can engage with OneNote to help support student learning. Her email is hvhenderlight@ortn.edu
JMS Night at Zaxby's Nov. 27th 5 pm - 8 pm
Tired of turkey? Eat at Zaxby’s on Tuesday, November 27th, from 5-8. This PTO sponsored event will earn JMS 10% of sales during the designated time. Come out and enjoy a meal and support JMS!
PTO News
Mark Your Calendars: Tuesday, November 27 JMS will hold a Zaxby’s Spirit Night. 10% of sales between 5 - 8 pm will benefit JMS so come enjoy a night off from cooking dinner while helping our school!
Fundraiser Spotlight: Are you curious about how your fundraiser dollars are being used? Each week, the PTO section of this newsletter will feature a different department or classroom from JMS that was helped with money from our annual direct drive fundraiser! This week the spotlight is on the Mrs. McMahon’s classroom. Flexible seating options are showing up in classrooms more than ever. Mrs. McMahon requested a standing desk to help students who become tired, fidgety or just need a change of position. Thanks to the PTO fundraiser proceeds, we were able to purchase a standing desk for her classroom and students are already benefiting from this new desk option. Thank you JMS families!
If you have questions about how you can get involved with PTO at JMS, please contact Sandy Pelletier sandy@issi.net
Ms. Hensley - 6th Grade English Language Arts
Mr. Murphy - 7th Grade Science
Ms. Spieth - Spanish
Teacher Feature
I grew up in West Tennessee. I am an alumna of the University of Tennessee at Martin. I began my career teaching in Shelby County Schools outside of Memphis. I taught there for five years. After marrying, we moved to East Tennessee. I have been in Oak Ridge Schools ever since first teaching at Linden Elementary and then Jefferson. This is my 35th year of teaching, and I could not imagine doing anything else.
I chose to be a teacher because it combined my love of working with kids and my desire to make a difference in people’s lives. My first grade teacher, Ms. Holder, was strict but caring. I adored her and have tried to live up to her model as a teacher.
I guess you could say that currently my hobby is watching my son play football and wrestle. Most Friday nights in the fall, I am on a football field, and weekends during the winter are spent at wrestling tournaments. However, I do love to read historical fiction and am a huge UT fan.
As an English Language Arts teacher, I really enjoy teaching writing. When I was in school, no one ever taught us HOW to write. I struggled with it. When I became a teacher, I looked for strategies to take the guesswork out of writing. I wanted my students to feel comfortable writing and to enjoy putting their thoughts on paper.
The best advice I can give my students is to never stop trying. I have a quote in my classroom, “The level of your commitment is measured by what it takes to stop you.” It is something a past pastor used to refer to often. It struck with me as a mantra that could be used to inspire my students. I am a firm believer that you can overcome obstacles that stand in your way. I teach my students that we all have “something” to deal with that can either stop you from reaching a goal or make you stronger. Helping students learn how to ask for the help they need, to keep trying even when the work is difficult, and to have confidence in their own abilities is my daily challenge. I want students to leave my class knowing that I am on their side and am excited about their accomplishments today, tomorrow, and in the years to come.
Michael Murphy
Both parents inspired me to be a teacher. My mother taught at both Glenwood and Jefferson. My father was on the Oak Ridge school board for 12 years. Through both parents, I learned the value of education.I enjoy sports and being outdoors. I like to jog, swim, and hike. Lifelong learning is important because our world is constantly changing. Continuing to learn helps one to adapt to a changing world.
I loved middle school. I actually attended Jefferson Junior High School in the mid-70s. Junior high consisted of grades 7 – 9. The biggest challenge that I faced was peer pressure. I have always loved sports. I had good friends that were also involved in sports. Some of these friends started to experiment with smoking, drugs, and alcohol during junior high. I knew that a successful person and athlete could not pick up those negative habits. It was tough to cut some longtime friendships due to bad choices that these friends continued to make.
The best advice that I could give anyone is to simply work hard. Too many people look for shortcuts. There is no substitute for hard work.
Jennifer Spieth
My name is Jennifer Spieth, and this is my twentieth year teaching Spanish. I taught Spanish for eleven years at Lenoir City High School. With the birth of my daughter, I left teaching at LCHS to be a full-time mother at home, but I continued teaching part-time at Pellissippi State until I came to Jefferson Middle School in April 2017. The best advice I could give my students at JMS is never to stop trying, even when things get hard. We only get stronger by doing hard things and learning to persevere.
When I was in middle school, my biggest challenge was learning math. I had come out of 5th grade not understanding 5th grade math concepts. However, in the 6th grade I had Mrs. Day for a math teacher. She was wonderful and worked with me to help me understand the concepts with which I struggled. Working with her and really concentrating on the concepts she presented helped me to overcome my “math” challenge. In addition, Mrs. Day is one of the reasons I became a teacher. She did not simply look at me and see a student who “couldn’t succeed in math.” She looked at me and saw someone that had potential. By the time I finished math in the 7th grade, my 7th grade math teacher recommended me to take Eighth Grade Algebra I, something I would not have been able to do if I had not persevered in 6th grade math with Mrs. Day’s help.
My hobbies are crocheting, cooking, baking, singing, playing the piano and guitar, reading, and writing. Reading and writing are gateway skills that help me continue to be a lifelong learner. I believe that being a lifelong learner is important because to survive today we have to be able to learn new things and fit them into the new situations in which we might find ourselves. I hope that all of my students will come to love learning as much as, if not more than, I do.
Using Canvas
Understanding OneNote
Digital Tools to help Support Students
Helping students maximize their efforts
Step 1: Create Goals for yourself
Create a goal and make it one you know will challenge YOU. It's YOUR goal, not your friends goal. Make it personal, share it with a friend, your parents or keep it to yourself, but make a goal.
Example: "I won't make less than a B this nine weeks" or "I won't have any missing assignments this nine weeks" etc.
STEP 2: GIVING YOUR BEST EFFORT CONTINUOUSLY
You have your goals, now it's time to achieve. It will take work, true hard work and it will take time to continuously work to reach your goals. This is Grit! A continuous pursuit of your goals and constantly adjusting to new goals once you reach your first goal.
What does "Best Effort" look like?
1. For no reason, should you allow yourself to NOT submit any assignment. You should care more about yourself, your grade, your success, and your goals than to have a ZERO in your academic progress.
2. You should try EVERY SINGLE PROBLEM, QUESTION etc. EVERY SINGLE TIME! You may fail, but remember to FAIL is to have a "First Attempt In Learning"
3. Don't use Excuses because you fear Failure. Take a chance and have a "First Attempt In Learning". This means you have to try, you have to ask questions, you have to take responsibility.
STEP 3: TAKE RESPONSIBILITY
In order for YOU to achieve, YOU have to start with taking responsibility. Here are a few tips to get you started:
1. If you have a zero for an assignment YOU never turned in, it's on you! Not your teacher, not your device, not Canvas, not your laptop.....You have to begin to focus on you. What can you do to submit that assignment? How can YOU remind yourself? Can I write it in my planner? Can I check my Canvas Calendar?
2. Ask for help, it's okay, you will probably find something someday you will need help with. Who do you ask?
- Your teachers
- Your parents
- Your friends who you KNOW understand the topic
- Find Educational resources to help you understand
- Communicate what you don't understand
- If you don't understand or you have a question, take the time to find an answer. This is a part of Growth Mindset
3. When you FAIL (First Attempt In Learning)....figure out why and try it again! If you have a teacher who allows you to make corrections, DO IT! Don't dwell on how "your teacher didn't teach it the way you like it!" or talk about "how it's someone else's fault you didn't prepare or study". Roll up your sleeves, study your mistakes, put in effort to make corrections, ask questions, seek answers and give it another try. GRIT! Never Quit!
Implementing Student Safety Features–Office 365 and Google
Oak Ridge Schools have partnered with Gaggle to provide features that will help keep our students safe while using district Office 365/OneDrive and Google Drive sites. Oak Ridge Schools will use Gaggle Safety Management to further promote student and educator productivity in a safe and controlled educational environment.
Gaggle Safety Management combines our district technology with expert safety representatives who continuously review content by identifying inappropriate words and images in Office and Google products used for educational purposes. Trained professionals then apply consistent, school- or district-approved policies for positive intervention, alerting school officials if there are imminent threats to student safety.
Gaggle Safety Management services will be used in the near future for students in grades 5-12 as part of the Oak Ridge Schools’ Access Oak Ridge digital technology initiative. Our district administration is pleased that such programs are available to monitor and provide another layer of internet safety for our students.
Gaggle has been a provider of student online safety learning solutions for the K-12 market since 1999. The company’s focus on protecting students allows parents and educators to have the confidence their learners can take advantage of current technology for communication and collaboration in a secure environment. To learn more about Gaggle, visit http://www.gaggle.net.
STEM Night
If you have any resources or you work for a group that may want to be a part of the STEM night, please contact either of our STEM coaches Callie Painter at clpainter@ortn.edu or Alex Goldberg at agoldberg@ortn.edu.
We will keep reminding everyone of this date as we hope to have a HUGE turnout!
There is an alternate date in case of inclement weather that will be set for Feb. 21st
STEM Job of the Week
Statistician
Statisticians practice the science of using data to make decisions. They decide what data they need and how to collect it, design experiments, collect data, analyze and interpret the data, and then report conclusions. And unlike most professions, statistics can be applied to a vast number of fields or issues, like the environment, public safety, health care and sports. As the famous mathematician and statistician John Tukey once told a colleague, "The best thing about being a statistician is that you get to play in everyone's backyard."
Devan Mehrotra, executive director of the biostatistics department at Merck Research Laboratories, says, "I absolutely fell in love with statistics. Any real-world problem almost always is going to require some data to be analyzed and interpreted, generating value-added solutions by using statistics."
Going forward, Mehrotra sees statisticians working closely with collaborators from the biomedical, computer, environmental, genetics and social sciences, as well as contributing to quantitative solutions involving human rights and counterterrorism. "Statistics is one of oldest professions in the world, it dates back to the 1700s. There's a tremendous history ... and now more exciting opportunities. It has never been a better time to be a statistician," Mehrotra says.
While some may confuse statisticians with the growing data scientist profession, the fields have some key differences. Statistics is just one component of data science. Data scientists should have a basic working knowledge of statistics. However, data scientists tend to focus more on software programming and machine learning than statisticians. Data scientists may serve as the lead software engineering coordinator at companies with smaller data science teams. Data scientists should possess the skills to log data, which is not necessarily expected of statisticians.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects this field to grow at a very fast rate of more than 33 percent from 2016 to 2026, resulting in 12,400 new jobs. Increasingly, industries and organizations will demand the use of statistical analyses to help them make informed decisions.
- $80,500 Median Salary
Source-US News and World Report
Counselors Corner
Good Evening from the Counseling Office!!! This week we will focus on Worldwide Kindness Day on Tuesday, November 13th. Everyone is to express their kindness on Tuesday by wearing a shirt, sweatshirt or pin. There are many things you can do on this day to get into the rhythm of making yourself and others feel good about themselves. Here are a few things students, parents and teachers can do on this special day.
WORLD KINDNESS DAY ACTIVITIES
1. Commit at least three random acts of kindness today
Give compliments. Smile at strangers. Hold a door open. Give up your seat on a crowded train. Do at least three random acts and see what magic follows!
2. Give extra and (extra-long) hugs today
Kindness and connection go hand-in-hand. Take a few extra minutes to hug your loved ones and friends today. They'll wonder what got into you, but after the first 10 seconds of they hug, we promise they're going to melt.
3. Write a love poem to yourself and read it out loud
We're serious about you being kind to yourself, today, too. Write a short (or long) poem highlighting the things you appreciate about yourself and your life. Read it out loud to yourself, in front of a mirror. You may just fall in love!
4. Share kindness on your social media
#WorldKindnessDay is real. Share quotes and inspiring pictures on your feed on Nov. 13 and let the internet help spread some love.
WHY WE LOVE WORLD KINDNESS DAY
A. It reminds us that doing for others is actually fun
Most of us are so focused on our goals and where we need to go, we rarely take a moment to do something for others. Just. Because. Doing something nice for others, without an agenda, simply feels good.
B. It offers an excuse to get creative
Everyone likes a good practical joke—but what about a cool 'random act of kindness'? Flash mob at the busy intersection, anybody? Closing the office 30 minutes early? Office dance break at lunchtime? The possibilities are endless.
C. You can take a minute to be kind to yourself today
A lot of kindness is seen in how we treat others. But what if we asked how kind we were being to ourselves? Take a break today to appreciate who and what you are in the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLmTqUvVdEU