Spotlight on Hortonville Middle School Fox West Academy!
The 2016-17 school year at Hortonville Middle School and Fox West Academy is well underway and many exciting programs and initiatives are taking place.
Teachers are taking leadership roles on various committees such as Professional Learning Leadership Team, Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (The Polar Bear Way), School Climate and Culture Committee, Literacy Team, School Crises (Safety Team), and Digital Learning Collaborative. Teachers on these committees meet regularly to develop goals and actions steps that directly impact students and staff. Shannon Everett leads the School Climate and Culture Committee. Everett stated, “Our number one purpose is to create the best environment for the students and staff. My involvement in this committee, and all other groups I am part of, gives me a voice and an opportunity to positively affect others’ lives. I became a teacher to make a difference in the lives of others, and being part of these committees allows me to do just that!”
In addition, teachers have volunteered to be members of the Grading and Assessment Cohort and Pilot. This committee has done a tremendous amount of work over the past two years building consensus around Ken O’Connor’s work on grading in preparation for the 2017-18 school year to standards based grading instead of traditional letter grades.
All teachers have participated in building a vision and developing collective commitments and goals for HMS/FWA. The last time the visioning process was completed was three years ago. Since that time HMS/FWA has welcomed nearly 15 new faculty members. Re-Visioning provided an opportunity for every faculty member to share their vision, which will result in a final vision everyone can support. Over the course of two years, professional development in the teaching of balanced literacy has been a focus for grades 6-8 English/Language Arts teachers. As a result, a consolidated 5-8 book room with over $20,000 in new genres and titles has been developed to assist the ELA teachers to effectively carry out balanced literacy in the classroom. In addition, there has been the establishment of classroom libraries for every 6-8 ELA teacher. This year the schedule was created to provide a two hour block of instruction of ELA for students. Nicole Roehlig, 8th grade ELA teacher said, “Being able to learn, discuss and brainstorm ideas to help our students be as successful as possible through our balanced literacy training has been very beneficial. The direction of teaching literacy has changed. Being able to move into the literacy blocks and combining reading and writing into one class makes sense”.
Also, many student events have been planned and implemented. FWA students have gone to Wolf Ridge Environmental Center and Washington DC. Students have participated in homecoming week activities, Unity and Bully Prevention Week activities, Fun Nights, Student led Veteran’s Day Program, E3 Student Group, Dewey’s Food Drive and many other SMAC (Students Making Activities Count) opportunities and events.
For the remainder of the 2016-17 school year, professional development and events include: Tier Two Training for the Polar Bear Way, blended learning, presentations at the state data leadership conference, the “Ataboy” band performance with a focus on the effects of bullying, and open gym opportunities for students.
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