RMS 2008-2009

Protected: Week of 02.26.07

Protected: Week of 02.19.07

Mid-Year Thoughts

Throughout the year we have had many discussions concerning continual school improvement and what we can do to help our students at RMS. As I reflect on future endeavors, I would like to offer, what I feel are practical and sensible approaches to improving the learning environment for young adolescents. These include making sure students have more personal contact and closer relationships with a consistent set of adults in the school by working in communities of learning. It is my hope that the future will hold an Advisor / Advisee program that will help facilitate this need. The program will rotate throughout the school day on an alternating 30-minute timeslot, once per six days-school week. Students will meet with their advisor to interact on issues that deal with middle school education and the affective domain of early adolescence. A second focus must emphasize a core academic program in which adolescents are taught to think critically in subjects that have been integrated across several disciplines. Thematic or integrated problem-based learning activities stimulate interest, provide connections to concepts and skills, and allow students and teachers to explore topics in depth. It is my hope that our school will continue to engage students intellectually through problem solving, team activities, and programs in which all students gain an understanding of aesthetics as they apply to realm of the arts. We need to provide students with the opportunity to engage in supervised service-oriented projects and build school-community relations, as well as develop programs that promote temperance, health and appropriate fitness in and out of school. In view of the high stakes in teaching young adolescents who will enter adulthood at the midst of this new century, one of the most important priorities for our middle school should be to enfranchise each member of the educational community to help each and every student develop a sense of individual efficacy and self-worth. We must take deliberate steps to help adolescents feel that they belong and are wanted in our school community. We must strive to improve the social and academic quality of the middle school environment for all students. If you have noticed, my letterhead has a motto engraved on the paper. It reads Academics, Arts and Athletics Working for Excellence. It is with this motto in mind that I ask our entire educational community to embrace the future of our students and cherish the moments we have been given with each member of the school family.

Finally, we need to address the ever changing, rapidly developing world of technology. Although the district has made a concerted effort to focus on the realm of technology, it is only with the same fortitude that we will ignite the new inventors, scientists, and explorers of the future. Access to learning must occur on a continual basis, beyond the school day. Today’s world requires the future citizens to be literate in language, math, science, the arts, and technology. No longer can we bury our heads in the sand unless we are willing to be swallowed up by the sand itself and find no place in the world around us.

Without doubt we have the potential to help our students achieve and excel through our commitment to learning, habits of mind, work ethic, citizenship, and caring for the local and global community. Keep your eyes fixed on the future…for our students have but one journey through our school. Thank you for your continued commitment to self and school improvement.

Educationally,

Mark Majeski
Principal

Protected: Week of 02.12.07

Protected: Week of 02.05.07