May 21, 2018

KARCHER STAFF BLOG

Karcher 2017-2018 School Calendar

Students of the week!!!!!!! 
(Running slide show) 

Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/KarcherMiddleSchool/


Article for the week!  

Do They Hear You?

John Hattie, Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey

To make sure students will accept and use feedback, integrate these three strategic moves into your instruction.

Feedback is powerful. In fact, research suggests that feedback can be one of the most effective instructional strategies for improving student performance and closing achievement gaps (Hattie, 2012). Unfortunately, although getting teachers to provide feedback is relatively easy, getting students to receive that feedback is complicated.

In our experience, students who actually receive feedback are usually willing to use it. Why doesn't this happen more often? One problem is bias—like all of us, students seek feedback that boosts their self-image. If feedback is vague and personal, they may selectively accept only positive comments ("Great job! You're so smart!") and defensively reject negative comments ("This paragraph is confusing, with some awkward sentences"). What's worse, neither of these kinds of "feedback" is actionable; they do nothing to inform the student about what he or she should do in the future.

It's not easy to break through the walls that everyone has about receiving feedback, but it's well worth the effort. Here are some approaches that can help ensure that your feedback will be received.

Establish Clear Success Criteria

We cannot overstate the importance of setting clear expectations for learning. To make the most of feedback, teachers and students must understand what success looks like. When students are able to compare their performance with a clearly understood criterion for success, they are more likely to accept and value the feedback the teacher provides to help them reach that goal.

For example, teacher Melanie Strauss wanted her world history students to understand the specific events that influenced the rise of the empires of Austria-Hungary, Great Britain, and Russia in the 18th century and to use this information to gain insight into world events today. From their work in the instructional unit so far, her students understood the concept of an empire. They had studied the empire building of these three countries, and they had compared international timelines to explore the idea that history happens simultaneously all over the world. Ms. Strauss began a new lesson by saying,

Remember the CNN Student News page from last week about Russia? The annexation of Crimea from Ukraine by the Russian Federation has its roots in the Russian Empire dating back to the 1780s. It's still relevant. When you know the history behind the development of a country, you can get a sense of what their citizens value and why. Your challenge is to identify and explain whystrong central governments dominated Europe by 1750. When you can answer this question, you'll be ready to figure out why relations between Austria-Hungary, Great Britain, and Russia changed as they fought for dominance.

In this introduction, the teacher communicated her learning intention, attempted to make the learning relevant for students, and provided a definition of success for the day. In the lesson that followed, her students worked in small "expert" groups to identify the changes for their assigned empire. Ms. Strauss had populated the online learning management system with several articles and websites about each country, as well as commentaries from historians about this time period. The students were tasked with reading and taking notes on several documents to examine how the countries changed geographically, politically, economically, and socially. Then they reconvened in home groups to compare similarities and differences among the three empires. Each home group proposed a hypothesis for why central governments rose to prominence at this time, citing evidence the students had first formulated in the expert groups.

During the discussions, Ms. Strauss offered feedback to the groups, helping students identify what additional information they would need to refine their ideas and writing. As she met with one group, she noticed that they had included little evidence in their draft. Rather than simply telling them to add more evidence, she said, "I'm thinking that your readers might disagree with one of your statements. How could you make it more convincing?"

Arturo immediately answered, "We should say where we got the information so they could check if they wanted." The students welcomed her feedback because it was delivered just when they needed it to reach their clearly understood success criterion.

Here's another example. Students in a 3rd grade class were writing opinion papers. They had studied a number of ways in which writers can use lead sentences to engage their readers. In the current lesson, their teacher wanted them to learn about writing for an audience. She said,

Today, you'll have a chance to write your lead three different ways so that you can determine the best way to start. You'll get a chance to talk with three different classmates about your leads so that they can tell you which ones they think work the best and why. Then the choice is yours. You'll know you are successful when you have selected a lead for your paper that captures your audience's attention, and when you can explain why you chose it.

Again, the teacher's clarity invited students into the lesson and opened the door for accepting and valuing feedback from others as students took ownership of their learning.

*** This article will continue next week!

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Kudos

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• Kudos to Kurt Rummler and Jodi Borchart for your efforts and time with our Safety Patrol students in the Dells last week!  Also... our 7th graders did a great job with safety patrol in your absence here at Karcher!  They were trained well!    
• Kudos as well to Barb Berezowitz, Andrea Hancock, and the 7th grade team for creating a great experience for our students a the Zoo!  
• Thank you to Mike Jones, Andrea Hancock, Marian Hancock, and our special education department for your efforts last week to finalize more for our schedule next year.  
• Kudos to our ELA team:  Jenny Geyso, Kurt Rummler, Alyssa Riggs, Kelly Fulton, Ellen Murphy, and Kailee Smith for your work within the UOS Reading training this past week - it was a great day of learning.  
• Kudos to Brad Ferstenou and Stephanie Rummler for your set up and work with our students to determine our new student council officers for next year!  Congrats to:  
• Secretary - Bayli Ketelsen
• Treasurer - Bella Stoughton
• Vice President - Samantha Wuori 
• President - Jake Christiansen  
• Kudos on a great end to the track season to our coaches and students!  We had over 180 students involved!!! Awesome!  
• Briana Varnes will be joining our team next year within our special education team!  She will be co-teaching in 8th grade and assisting with our ID students as well!  Briana comes to us from the Randall Consolidated School District and has a Bachelors of Arts with a double major in K-8 Elementary education and K-12 Cross-Categorical Special Education!   
• Check out our final data for our Reading MAP scores for the year!  We surpassed our goals in both 7th and 8th grade!  This was some significant growth for our students!!!  Kudos to all of you as it takes a team that is determined to infuse and focus on reading and our SQIDPAC strategies to make this happen!  Awesome job!!!

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Information/Reminders...

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• Social Studies... it is your week to have students email their parents/guardians.  
• The high school AP testing has ended so the use of the 3rd floor is available again - thank you for assisting with the noise levels and for adjusting throughout the last two weeks to make AP HS testing possible here at Karcher.  
• Monday, May 21 - Extended Advisory Week 
• Monday all 8th graders will be participating in a class picture outside.  Please bring your advisories to the track after you take attendance and go over the announcements.  Students will be taking a picture in the shape of a 22.  Hive will make up one 2 and Silver will make up the other 2.  
• For the rest of the week the advisory lessons/activities are online through the advisory page.  
• Just a reminder to think of an activity with your elementary students that could be transferred inside in case there is bad weather.  
• Monday, May 21 - Start of Language Arts MAP testing within our ELA classes.  
• There are five 7th grade students that will be taking the iReady assessments instead of the MAP.  We will be pulling them during their ELA classes to test within iReady.  
• Monday, May 21 - BLT Meeting from 2:40 - 3:30 in the conference room!
• Wednesday, May 23 - Essential Skills PLC 
• Friday, May 25 - Cooper/Waller Visit, therefore, we will be utilizing an afternoon assembly schedule.  

Looking ahead:  

• No school on Monday, May 28!  
• Tuesday, May 29 & 30 
• Karcher Character Assemblies!  
• Please make sure you have your student choices taken care of - the awards are sitting by your mailboxes.  Each staff member should chose two students and write a brief reason for why they are the student of your choice. 
• The assemblies will be held in the gym!  
• Tuesday, May 29
• Orchestra/Band Concert 
• Orchestra at 6:15 
• Band 7:30  
• Wednesday, May 30 
• 8th grade Holocaust Field Trip 
• Thursday, May 31 - Day in the Middle 
• Friday, June 1 - NJHS field trip to Madison 

Pictures from this past week!
7th grade Zoo trip!

Partners 2 presentation to our 8th graders focusing on assisting with the transition to the high school.  

Students in Ms. Weis's class participating in a Flame Lab to determine unknown chemicals.  

7th grade student council speeches!

May 14, 2018

KARCHER STAFF BLOG

Karcher 2017-2018 School Calendar

Students of the week!!!!!!! 
(Running slide show) 

Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/KarcherMiddleSchool/


Article... 

Help Us Make the 9th Grade Transition

Kathleen Cushman

No one knows better than students themselves what they need from teachers as they move into high school.

By the time students hit 8th grade, the transition to 9th grade looms large. Middle school teachers are talking more urgently about the need to prepare for high school. Friends and siblings already in high school are warning that everything is about to change, big-time. The 8th graders worry about their social world turning upside down as they move from the top to the bottom of the grade-level pecking order.

In conducting research for a new book that brings middle school students' voices to the fore, I spoke with 16 students from Indianapolis, Indiana, just a few weeks after they started 9th grade at two large comprehensive high schools. They were just beginning to find their way in their respective schools and were still filled with the sense that they were exploring new territory.

These young teenagers made it clear that 9th grade marked the beginning of a new, high-stakes period of their lives. Out in the real world, people had been telling them, it would really matter how they behaved and whether they succeeded in high school:

When you get to 9th grade, there's no more playing. You got to get about your work. You gotta find a study habit. You gotta do the right thing. Because after 9th grade, that determines where you're gonna be in life. How you gonna get paid, and how you gonna get treated—upper-class, lower-class. High school is going to follow you throughout your whole life. (Brian)

Kids had heard that in the social world of high school, the stakes were equally high. Even though they were eager to start, they also wondered whether they would be able to handle the new demands, fit in, and stay out of trouble.

As these students talked about what helped them most, they suggested how teachers might prepare middle school students for the high school transition and ease its difficulties in the crucial 9th grade year. The 9th graders pointed out that addressing the issues of transition early on—and continuing support through 9th grade—could bolster students' confidence and performance.

What They Worry About

When they are imagining themselves in high school, kids draw on a vast storehouse of lore passed on from students who have gone before them. Fed by the rumor mill (and sometimes also by teachers' warnings), their worries fall into several categories.

High school will be huge and confusing. Unless they are headed for a small high school, kids imagine an overwhelming scene. In a crowded school short on human and financial resources, the prospect grows even scarier:

All my buddies told me that high school was going to be a zoo, people running around, nobody going to class. Up on every corner, people just standing there like lightposts, with no worry about getting an education. It's so big here, there's like 2,000 kids. I'm thinking, “How they gonna manage it?” (Brian)

The work will be harder, and there will be more of it. With more classes and more at stake in each one, students know that high school will probably make new demands on them. They worry about losing their freedom to hang out with friends:

They expect you to do, like, six hours of homework a night, 'cause each class will give you an hour's worth of homework. And I'm on the phone three hours after I get home, talking to my friends. (Rachell)

Older students will haze and bully the new ones. Exaggerated or not, stories circulate about how students in upper high school grades pick on and humiliate the new 9th graders. Shy, physically underdeveloped, or otherwise vulnerable kids worry especially:

My brother said that they have a certain day that they throw the freshmen and some sophomores in trashcans or in the creek, lock them out of their classrooms, hit them, pick on them. (Ashley)

When Reality Sets In

It doesn't take long, however, for new 9th graders to figure out which of their fears will actually come true. Only a few weeks after the start of high school, they describe their transition in more realistic terms.

High school gives you a fresh start. Not everyone knows your past when you arrive in 9th grade, so students sometimes take advantage of this to change their image, either academically or socially:

Once you get to 9th grade, you don't want everybody to think that you're a goofy or silly person. So you try to become more mature so everybody will give you more respect. They do give you a second chance. Last year, I wasn't that good in school, but right now, I'm doing pretty good. (Geoffery)

Guarding against social stigma also involves careful calculations about personal appearance. As in middle school, high school students sort themselves into cliques marked by clothing style and body decoration:

I see that a lot of people are cliqued off—maybe not purposely, but just by the way everybody's dressed. People who call themselves “alternative,” they're all with the purple hair and the whatnot. Or “ghetto,” where your shoes cost more than the rent. (Heather)

But 9th graders also notice that their high school peers cross those subgroups more than the middle school scene permitted:

Back in middle school, everybody wanted to be like everybody else. If you weren't like that, you got picked on. But now, you can do your own thing, and everybody's your friend. A lot of my friends in the beginning of this year were scary goth punk people. But now, I'm like a preppy person. (Rachell)

Classes build on work done in middle school. Students start 9th grade anxious that the academic work will be much harder than before. When their teachers build new material on their prior knowledge and skills, students regain confidence that they can do well:

I thought that with getting us ready for all the tests, we were going to have a hard time with math and language arts. But first [teachers] just review what you learned last year. Then they might add something that will help make it easier, like an easier method of doing fractions. (Geoffery)

High school teachers have less time for individual students. If they are responsible for the typical high school load of more than 120 students, teachers usually have little time to give 9th graders the individual attention they may have received in middle school. This can come as a shock, especially to students who struggle to keep up:

There's so many of us, it's hard for the teachers to get to know you. Kids expect that they're gonna get special help, like they did in middle school. But if you're really quiet, then teachers don't care. (Heather)

Teachers cut you less slack when you mess up. The workload escalates in 9th grade, so it's easy for students to fall behind:

Before, I could do one homework paper a night and still get an A. In 9th grade, there are more classes, and each class gives you double what you got in middle school. I can't get it all done. (Rachell)

Busy high school teachers often deal out matter-of-fact consequences for poor behavior, and students may have some difficulty adjusting to the harsher regime. Especially at a large high school organized in conventional ways, students may be on their way to detention or worse, with no questions asked:

[Students] are already realizing that school ain't a joke. You get a couple chances, then you're expelled. After that, that's when dropout comes. (Brian)

Your decisions have longer-lasting effects. As they mingle with older students in the larger universe of high school, 9th graders start to make more immediate connections between choices and consequences:

I thought I wouldn't survive high school, 'cause all you do is work and study. I thought maybe I wouldn't even go to class, I'd drop out. But now it don't seem that hard. When you start studying, you ain't got to worry about going out in the streets and getting into all types of stuff. (Nyesha)

As they try out new work and new ways, 9th graders gradually develop identities that may well continue through high school and beyond:

When I was in middle school, I felt like I was big. Kids felt like they gotta put on a front, try to do what the crowd do, be popular and cool. That's all middle school is about. But now that I'm in 9th grade, it's just, “Quit being childish, and be yourself.” Everybody's starting to understand and get a better perspective. You have to strive to do your work, pass your class, graduate, go to college, marry a girl who's going to be something, have kids later on...live. (Brian)

Helping Students Make the Transition

Looking back after the first month of high school, these 9th graders offered four suggestions for how teachers can help middle school students make a successful transition.

Connect us up regularly with high school students. Teachers can talk about 9th grade all they want, but kids prefer to hear it straight from the source:

I don't think that middle school students particularly listen to teachers' advice. But maybe they'd listen to high schoolers and feel better about what to expect at high school. Once I got into 6th grade, they had us write letters to 5th graders about what to expect. So maybe high school students could write letters to middle school students. (Heather)

Bringing 7th and 8th graders into contact with students who are already succeeding in high school gives them a useful perspective on why they should bother to work hard and master skills in the middle grades:

We could pick a middle school class to go back and visit, like one of our favorite teachers. I would tell students the truth about what high school is like—that it's really nothing to worry about; you just need to work hard and be yourself. (Ashley)

Support us in developing skills and strategies for high school success. Teachers can start giving students new responsibilities, such as facilitating a class group, organizing an event, mentoring younger students, or mediating conflicts. At the same time, adults should provide the support that students need to succeed in their new tasks:

We're starting to turn into adults, so we're not really sure what's expected. Maybe the schools can make middle school more mature, closer to high school, so it won't be that big of a change. (Geoffery)

Middle school students who participate in support programs start to develop attitudes that they will rely on later, when they face the challenges of high school:

Our school established the Pink Ladies, for girls in 7th and 8th grade. Every Tuesday and Thursday, you meet with a speaker talking about the different things you can experience in your personal life. We also talk about what you can and cannot do to move forward in your life. (Nyesha)

Help us make strong and mutually respectful connections with adults. When teachers respond with empathy and respect to students' efforts, struggles, and worries, it can have a big effect on attitudes and behavior as students move on to high school:

Eighth grade teachers try to scare students about high school, and then we come in really nervous. I don't think they should loosely say, “Oh, it's nothing.” But they should tell us, “You're going to have a lot more work to do, and it's probably going to be a little harder.” And not to be afraid, but not careless, either. (Heather)

Situations in which young people and adults work together doing things that matter create a context in which mutual respect grows. These include such activities as service projects, school publications or events, and discussion groups on important issues:

When kids hang around kids, without adult supervision, they're going to act immature. But if you got the right adult there, showing the right way to be more mature, who's going to act childish? (Brian)

Provide bridge experiences in the summer after 8th grade. New 9th graders have a big advantage if they can start high school with some of their pressing worries put to rest. Being able to find their way around the campus, recognizing familiar faces in the crowd, and getting a jump start in the academic arena—all these can ease the newcomer's anxiety and make a successful transition more likely.

Training for an athletic team in the summer before high school offers many students this advantage. Even if team members have not yet been chosen, going to practices enables the younger students to get to know older students in an atmosphere of structure, discipline, and high expectations:

In football practice, you get to know the upperclassmen better, before they put a label on you to say they don't like you. You get to talk to 'em, get to know their personality. (Christopher)

If adults present summer school as a chance to get a head start and make friends—and not as punishment for failure—kids are more receptive to the idea. It becomes even more of an advantage when the summer school takes place on the high school campus. Also, kids may find that summer school equips them with academic grounding for their schoolwork in the fall:

They was teaching us stuff that was above us. But it was getting us ready before it comes. They was treating you like you was in high school. (Nyesha)

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Kudos

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• Kudos to Mike Jones, Donna Sturdevant, Kurt Rummler, Eric Sulik, Kelly Fulton, Wendy Zeman, Cynthia Orzula, and Ryan Heft for coming to support our last FNL!  We had 140 students in attendance!  Thank you Mike Jones and Donna Sturdevant for your all of your time and efforts throughout the year for FNL!  
• Kudos to Marian Hancock for assisting with the completion of MAP testing last week for Reading.  As we progress forward students will be asked to come to the library to complete their testing, please assist by ensuring the students report so that we can complete MAP testing for each assessment. 
• Thank you to Amanda Thate, Alyssa Riggs, and Donna Sturdevant for your assistance with interviews, we will be continuing with one additional interview on Monday afternoon for the special education position.  Thank you to Jack Schmidt for filling in as admin on Friday to assist as well!  And to Eric Sulik for the use of his classroom on Friday and Monday for the interviews!  

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Information/Reminders...

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• Science... it is your week to have students email their parents/guardians of all the happenings in science over the past 5 weeks!  
• It is Math MAP testing this week!  Please continue to keep the noise levels down in your classrooms and hallways for a positive testing environment.  
• 3rd floor... this week there will still be high school AP testing taking place on the 3rd floor throughout the entire week.  
• Continue to assist with the noise volume of our students as they pass the 3rd floor hallways.  
• Monday, May 14 - Partners 2 will be coming to speak with our 8th grade students about their transition to the high school during extended advisory.  
• Please bring your students to the GYM right after you take attendance and read the announcements.  We are asking that staff stay with your advisories to assist with supervision.
• Monday, May 14 - Due to the additional special education interviews the special education aide meeting after school has been canceled.  
• Tuesday, May 15 - ELA teachers UOS Reading Training at Dyer.  
• Please bring your grade level kits along with some of your trade pack books as well!  
• This will start at 8:00 and run until 2:00.  
• Wednesday, May 16 - Essential Skills PLC.  
• Essential Skills survey will be shared with you right before PLC - please complete this survey as a PLC team during this PLC time.  
• Thursday, May 17 - Half Day with afternoon inservice from 1:00 - 3:00.  
• You will have the whole two hours to work on the following three things within your own rooms:  
• CALL Survey (I will send it to you that afternoon) 
• Your SLOs 
• Your PPGs
• And for those on your evaluation year you can use this time to also add artifacts to domains 1 and 4.  
• Thursday, May 17-18 - Safety Patrol Field trip to the Dells!  
• Friday, May 18 - 7th grade Zoo field trip!  

Pictures from this past week!
Final FNL of the 2017-2018 school year!

May 7, 2018

 KARCHER STAFF BLOG

Karcher 2017-2018 School Calendar

Students of the week!!!!!!! 
(Running slide show) 

Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/KarcherMiddleSchool/

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Kudos

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• Kudos to all of our teachers for everything you do day in and day out for our students, school, and district.  Being an educator is such a rewarding yet demanding job all at the same time.  I know you all work tireless, long hours for our students, our school, and our district.  Be proud of what you do on a daily basis as I know I am proud of each and every one of you! I truly believe that it is an educator that creates a ripple for everything else in this world!  We have great students, we have a great staff, and we have a great school!  Happy Teacher Appreciation Day (in my book week!)  Thank you all for everything you do day in and day out... you are amazing!
• Thank a teacher video :)
• Kudos to Steve Berezowitz for your work putting together the 8th grade Gateway experience this past Friday!  Awesome to get our students exposure to college and career opportunities!  
• Kudos to Rod Stoughton, Stacy Stoughton, and all the parent/guardian chaperones on a great first trip to Cleveland, OH! This was the first time Rod has planned this trip and to have 70 students attend is awesome!  From the pictures, posted on Facebook, the trip looks like it was a great time!  Thank you Rod for setting this experience up for our students!  

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Information/Reminders...

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• May 7 - May 18 - 3rd Floor High School AP Testing 
• The entire 3rd floor will be occupied by our high school students for AP testing.  As a district this was a great location to utilize for testing as it is quiet and meets the strict guidelines for the testing environments.  
• Therefore, you cannot reserve or have students utilize the hallways, auditorium, or classrooms on the 3rd floor throughout these two weeks.  
• High school staff and testing proctors will be on school grounds as well as the high school students.  If any were needing assistance with where AP testing is taking place please assist them with getting to the 3rd floor.  They are using basically all the rooms aligned with the 21st Century Lab and the auditorium as a "waiting room".  
• Monday, May 7 - To celebrate Teacher Appreciation Day... well... week... there will be donuts, muffins, and coffee from The Coffee House in the main office for everyone right away Monday morning!  
• Monday, May 7 - 8th grade Summer Survivor students will have an assembly in the gym to hear about Summer Survivor from staff at the high school until about 8:24.    
• Please dismiss students right way after taking attendance and reading the announcements to the GYM.  
• This week is math's week to have students email their parents/guardians about the happenings in math over the past 5 weeks!
• Monday, May 7 & 8 - Reading MAP assessment during science this week.  
• Please be cognizant of the noise level in the hallways to assist with a quality testing environment for our students.  
• Monday, May 7 - Secondary Curriculum Committee meeting @ 3:30 - 5:00 in our Karcher library.  
• Tuesday, May 8 - Officially Teacher Appreciation Day!  
• There will be subs and chips for everyone to enjoy throughout both lunches from Subway!  
• Wednesday, May 9 - Essential Skills PLC 
• Thursday, May 10 - Still celebrating teacher appreciation day... well... week!  
• For lunch on Thursday all staff are welcome to enjoy a taco bar!  There will be beef and chicken as the meat options with all the fixings that go along with tacos!  
• Thursday, May 10 - 8th grade recognition parent meeting @ 7:00pm in the Karcher library.  
• I will be meeting with the committee to finalize their ideas and assist with any last minute needs.  If anyone asks about it those that missed the first meeting can still come and attend!  
• Friday, May 11 - Last FNL of the 2017-2018 school year from 6:00 - 8:00pm.  
• We are still looking for staff to assist with FNL!  If you are able and willing please let Mike Jones and Donna Sturdevant know!  

Pictures from this past week!
Cleveland Trip!

8th grade trip to Gateway!