New School Proposal – Fannie Lou Hamer Middle School
Dear Reader,
The following proposal speaks to four areas of learning that we believe to be most important:
- Literacy
- Numeracy
- Critical thinking
- Personal & Social Responsibility
These are not accidental choices brought on by the latest trends in education. These are choices born of years of experience working with youth in the South Bronx. Students have come to us lacking in basic skills and work habits. It is our mission to hold students to high expectations so they can develop these skills in literacy and numeracy as well as be able to think critically and act compassionately to build a better world. Through personalized support in the process of learning, we believe that every student can meet that challenge successfully.
This is our mission. It is repeated throughout this proposal in an intentional manner because have seen it work – in both our current sixth grade and in Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School for the past ten years. We do this by creating engaging project-based curriculum, by structuring the school to know students well, and by holding students to high standards through the portfolio process. These are the structures that allow personalized learning and high expectations to take place.
There is one area that we may need to look at to add even more coherence. We have realized that while our 6th grade has received intensive attention, it might strengthen the program to begin with a fifth grade. This would allow the first set of students to stay with their teachers for two years. It would allow the 6th graders to act as role models for entering students. While this is not necessary for us to become a school, it is an idea we would like to share with the Office of New School Development and Support as a possible addition to this new school proposal.
Thank you for considering the ideas in our proposal.
Sincerely,
The Fannie Lou Hamer Middle School Planning Team
Letter To Families
Dear Families,
Welcome to Fannie Lou Hamer Middle School. We are a new middle school that first opened its doors to sixth graders in the Fall of 2004 and will serve 250 students in grade 6 through 8 by September 2006. We are located on the fifth floor of 1001 Jennings Street, right next door to Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School.
Our School
At Fannie Lou Hamer, our aim is to prepare students for a meaningful life where each can work effectively, think critically and act compassionately to build a better world. With small class size and longer blocks of class time, teachers can get to know students well and individualize learning to fit the child. Parents are kept informed about their child’s progress via the phone, letters sent home, and of course, parent teacher conferences.
At Fannie Lou Hamer, parents can rest assured that the school is a safe place. We may have conflicts, but our goal is for every member of our community to learn how to resolve those conflicts peacefully. We look forward to each student becoming a good listener. We want students to know that everyone has a point of view that needs respect.
Our literacy-based curriculum is infused with the critical thinking skills needed for students to be successful in the 21st Century. We have high expectations of all our students. We don’t believe any single test can show how much a student knows. To graduate from FLH, all students are expected demonstrate their literacy, their critical thinking and their sense of social responsibility to the FLH community through projects and portfolios.
Connections to Our Community
Our work with community groups and Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School has enriched the resources we have been able to provide our students and our families.
Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club provides an extensive 21st Century after-school program including dance, journalism, sports, computer club and tutoring. Gloria Wise works with our students during the school day to provide enrichment activities and leadership training. This is a connection that supports your child beyond the school day.
Mothers on the Move is an organization of parents and community residents who work with FLH to promote communication between school and parents. MOM enabled FLH to establish a home visit program designed to help parents and teachers come together to improve communication and help every student become a success.
The Bronx River Alliance supports FLH in making our local environment a part of our curriculum. BRA support makes the Bronx River environment a hands-on science laboratory in our own backyard for all our students to explore.
Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School works with our students to help prepare them for the challenges of high school and the world beyond. High School students are reading buddies and the Key Club organizes parties for Middle School students. We also use the High School for gym and after-school activities. Our students are included in the High School College Fair. The High School is here today as a model for the Middle School and there tomorrow as the next step in your child’s education.
Our Expectations
At Fannie Lou Hamer Middle School we believe in high expectations for every child, coupled with high levels of support. Our promise to you is that every student will become a critical thinker able to express his/her idea about the world.
Come visit our student-centered classrooms and see how our vision of education allows each child to achieve and grow.
Sincerely,
The Staff at Fannie Lou Hamer Middle School
Job Description and
Sample Teacher Weekly Schedule
Overview and Questions for Teaching Candidates
Our Mission
At FLH our mission is to prepare students for a meaningful life where each can work effectively, think critically and act compassionately to build a better world. Our curriculum focuses on three key areas: helping our students to show literacy and numeracy across the curriculum, stressing critical thinking skills, and instilling the ability to act responsibly and independently as students. Students graduate from FLH when they can demonstrate ability an appropriate level of mastery in all three areas.
Are you able to create a literacy-rich environment in your classroom? How do you use critical thinking to promote learning? How do you support learners to become more independent?
Portfolio Assessment
All students demonstrate their learning through the portfolio. In Sixth Grade, the focus is on “Responsibility and Independence”. Students reflect on their progress since September in a January process piece. By June, students create a portfolio that shows how they’ve met their goals as a “responsible, independent learner” and present these and their next steps for success in 7th grade. The 7th Grade portfolio focuses on Literacy, Numeracy and Critical Thinking across the curriculum. Students collect their best work that demonstrates their learning in these areas in January. After receiving feedback, students work on deepening those skills and show off their progress in their June portfolio in an oral presentation with their family. The 8th Grade Graduation Portfolio asks students to combine their learning over time where they demonstrate social responsibility and critical thinking through literacy and numeracy. This portfolio is a culmination of learning that will be presented to members of the community, families, staff and students in a public performance required for graduation. It is the role of the teacher to scaffold curriculum to support each part of the portfolio process. Teachers also act as “advisors” to support students in organizing, revising and presenting their portfolio work.
Have you worked with portfolios before? Are you able to create curriculum to support the portfolio process? As a teacher? As an advisor?
Collaboration
In order to fulfill our mission and philosophy, we believe that staff members must participate in the governance of the school, must collaborate to plan project-based curricula, and must take responsibility for their own staff development as well as the staff development of their peers. Staff members must be prepared to teach interdisciplinary courses with an emphasis on the need to be a generalist rather than a narrow specialist. Every staff member must accept the responsibility of teaching an “advisory” and of serving multiple roles in that capacity, including direct and continuous contact with student families. We also believe that, like our students, we all must work cooperatively and that assessment for staff should be performance-based. We expect that the success of our school is dependent on the implementation of these principles and that we need to hire staff who subscribe to these principles.
Are you able to facilitate your own development as a teacher? Can you give critical feedback to others? Do you have experience working collaboratively with other teachers? With families?
Responsibilities of a Staff-Run School
Because we are a staff-run school, we need many meetings to sit and discuss the best way to run our school. These meetings are vital to our school because they help new teachers understand the vision of FLH. Below are some of the types of meetings you can expect as a staff member at FLH.
Meetings beyond the regular school day/year: Teachers begin meeting the week prior to Labor Day, including a two-day out of-town retreat and two days of in-city planning. We may also schedule retreats throughout the school year. Full staff meetings occur every Monday afternoon for staff development or governance. Other committee meetings (Personnel, Advisory & Planning) also meet before or after school hours. Graduation Committee meetings may also be scheduled outside the school day. Every summer, committees and curriculum teams meet to plan as well.
Meetings during the school day/year: Every staff member is part of a curriculum team as well as a part of a division of students (6th, 7th or 8th). Staff members have weekly meetings to discuss common curriculum and common concerns. In addition, we work with each other during the school day to support our practice. This might mean visiting another class during a free block or discussing pedagogy over an extended lunch. Because every staff member is an advisor, meetings with parents are scheduled during family conference week. Impromptu family conferences also occur throughout the year.
Are you committed to the idea of a staff-run school? Do you see yourself as willing to do the work to create a community of learners?
Requirements for Middle School Teaching Candidates
- Appropriate Certification
- Ability to scaffolding curriculum for literacy, math and critical thinking
- Understanding of how to develop independent learners
- Experience with Project-based learning/Portfolios
- Ability to plan and scaffold for heterogenous classroom
- Experience with Advisory/Family Collaboration
- Experience working with teams/collaborative setting/staff-run school
- Commitment to own professional growth
- Understanding of conflict resolution
What do you bring to the FLH learning community? Do your experiences prepare you for work at FLH?
Feel Free to Answer and Ask Questions While You Visit Fannie Lou Hamer!
The Personnel Committee
Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom Middle School
Teacher Schedules*
Fannie Lou Hamer Middle School
6th Grade
Time / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday
8:00-8:30 / Teacher Prep Time
8:30-9:00 / Literacy and Math Blocks / Literacy and Math Blocks / Literacy and Math Blocks / Literacy and Math Blocks / Literacy and Math Blocks
9:00-9:30
9:30-10:00
10:00-10:30
10:30-11:00
11:00-11:30 / Advisory / Advisory / Advisory
11:30-12:00
12:00-12:30 / Common Lunch and Common Prep Time for all teachers, 6th grade curriculum meetings throughout the week.
12:30-1:00
1:00-1:30 / Project
Time / Project
Time / Project
Time / Project
Time / Staff Development
1:30-2:00
2:00-2:30 / Art-Group A / Art-Group B
Phys Ed– Group A / Art –Group C
Phys Ed – Group B / Phys Ed – Group C
2:30-3:00
3:00-4:30 / Staff Develop-
ment / After School Tutoring
Daily Schedule of Classes
Fannie Lou Hamer Middle School
7th & 8th Grade
Time / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday
8:00-8:30 / Teacher Prep Time
8:30-9:00 / Humanities and Math/Science Block 1 / Humanties and Math/Science Block 2 / Humanities and Math/Science Block 1 / Humanities and Math/Science Block 2 / Humanities and Math/Science Block 1
9:00-9:30
9:30-10:00
10:00-10:30 / Humanties and M/S Block 2 / Small Group
Tutorials / Hmanities and M/S Block 2 / Small Group
Tutorials / Humanities and Math/Sci Bl 2
10:30-11:00
11:00-11:30 / Advisory / Advisory
11:30-12:00 / Advisory / Advisory / Advisory
12:00-12:30 / Common Lunch and Common Prep Time for all teachers – 7th & 8th Grade Division meetings once a week
12:30-1:00
1:00-1:30 / Choice Classes / Hum.
Team
Meets / M/S Bl 1 / Choice Classes / Hum
Bl 1 / M/S Team
Meets / Choice Classes
1:30-2:00
2:00-2:30
2:30-3:00
3:00-4:30 / Staff Develop-
ment / After School Tutoring
*These schedules are not normally included in our literature for teaching candidates, however it seemed clear from the questions asked, they were needed for this proposal.
Student Handbook
Student Handbook
Our Purpose
At Fannie Lou Hamer, our mission is to prepare students for a meaningful life where each can work effectively, think critically and act compassionately to build a better world. Our curriculum focuses on three key areas: helping our students to show literacy and math skills across the curriculum, developing critical thinking skills, and encouraging the ability to act responsibly and independently as students. Students graduate from FLH when they can demonstrate those abilities in all three areas.
How We Assess Students
We evaluate student progress by asking students to create something that shows they understand what has been taught. We do give all the required tests from the City and State, but we don’t rely on multiple-choice tests to tell us everything a student can do. We’ve learned that students like to show off their skills in literacy and math as well as critical thinking in genuine projects. We call this showing off “exhibitions” and these exhibitions give students the skills they need to both pass tests and be successful in the larger world. This kind of student evaluation is often called performance assessment or portfolios. At every grade level, students are expected to complete a certain part of their portfolio in order to progress. We involve the whole family in supporting students. With phone calls home and family conferences, teachers, parents and students are able to consistently discuss progress and goals.
Sixth Grade Core Curriculum
The 6th grade Core Curriculum emphasizes critical thinking through literacy and math skills. Literacy (reading, writing, listening and speaking) and Math (calculation, data collection and problem-solving) are the foundation of everything we do. Students need both in order to think critically about the world around them. At Fannie Lou Hamer, students have extended blocks of literacy and math. In addition, the 6th grade year focuses on what “habits of work” make for a successful student. In Sixth Grade, the focus is on “Responsibility and Independence”. Students reflect on their progress since September in a January process piece. By June, students create a portfolio that shows how they’ve met their goals as a “responsible, independent learner” and present these and their next steps for success in 7th grade.
Seventh & Eighth Grade – Literacy & Math Across the Content Areas
In 7th and 8th grade, the curriculum is organized around two classes: Humanities (History, Social Studies, and Literature) and Math/Science. Each class is based around a theme and an “essential question” to guide it. For example, a Humanities curriculum theme might be “The Peopling of America and its essential question is “Who is an American?” Once again, curriculum is driven by critical thinking skills as well as literacy and math. Projects require students to use their knowledge from history, literature, math and science.
The 7th Grade portfolio focuses on Literacy, Math and Critical Thinking across the curriculum. Students collect their best work that demonstrates their learning in these areas in January. After receiving feedback, students work on deepening these skills and show off their progress in their June portfolio in an oral presentation with their family. The 8th Grade Graduation Portfolio asks students to combine their learning over time to demonstrate their social responsibility and critical thinking skills through literacy and math. This is the final portfolio of learning that will be presented to members of the community, families, staff and students in a public performance required for graduation.
How We Help Every Learner Learn
At FLH, we have high expectations of every learner. Our setting is an inclusion model, where all students – general education, special education, and English language learners – participate in all parts of our school life. We offer additional support through small class size, advisory program, in-school tutorials, and after school homework help. With smaller class sizes and longer blocks of time, teachers get to know every student well. This allows teachers to help students find their own way of learning and use it to learn more deeply.