Some Photography by Dr. Watson and Mrs. Kramer

The Hawk Eye

Produced by Mrs. Felts

Some Photography by Dr. Watson and Mrs. Kramer

“Eye” drawing by Abby Rusch

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PRINCIPAL NEWS

Mrs. Mary Kramer

At the end of the first week of school students were getting settled in and beginning to take on academic coursework, checking out library books and learning what it means to “Learn, Live & Lead the Hawk Way”. We’ve had many compliments from staff and parents indicating that students are excited about the new year and are ready to learn. Hiccups along the way have been minor (a missing bell at the beginning of 7th hour, a slightly garbled morning announcement), and everyone was truly understanding that a new office team means learning new ways of doing things. Overall, we’re very pleased with the start of the year.

Fast Forward ….. Well, it’s a sunny afternoon and we’re into the 6th week of school. Whew! We’ve made so much progress over this fall that it’s a challenge to fit it all into a short news column! Our teachers were introduced to the new state standards for teacher supervision, along with new state & building testing.

We hosted the Shawano High School Class Reunion of 1965 and hired new staff members who are teaching the classes of 2019, 2020 & 2021. Fall sports are in full swing and we recently implemented lunch time intramurals. We held a positive behavior assembly in conjunction with an outside carnival, and have begun a Facebook page where we post all the fantastic things going on in our district (by the way, it’s called “Shawano School District”… take a look!)

FROM THE DESK OF THE ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

Dr. Rod Watson

Respect at SCMS

It was immediately clear when the school year began that respect was an important focus for the PBIS Committee and for my role as associate principal. The majority of our referrals deal with respect issues and my conversations with staff quickly revealed that bullying, defiance towards teachers, and student conflict were the most common significant issues here last year. In my first few weeks on the job I observed that some of the students here could be quite cruel to each other and sometimes even to staff. We had students calling each other rude names, disrespecting each other’s property, and even picking on students with disabilities. However, I also observed the vast majority of students did not act in such ways and some of them even took the step to point out disrespectful behavior when they saw it.

Since our PBIS Committee chose respect as one of our three focuses (along with attendance and academic responsibility), I wanted to design a significant learning opportunity about respect for early in the year. I asked the students who had done something noticeably respectful, such as reporting a bullying situation, to meet and design an assembly. I asked the two guidance counselors here, Mrs. Rentmeester and Mrs. Jacoby, to help find respectful young people to include and to guide the students as they planned the assembly. Emily Watters (8th grade) and Jeremiah Moses (7th grade) were chosen to lead the group.

The group divided into subcommittees which met periodically throughout October to plan the assembly. One group wrote testimonials, one designed skits to perform for the school, another chose a video to show, and a fourth subcommittee decorated the gymnasium.

The students worked hard (although they did not find much of their motivation until the day before the assembly) and pulled it off. The assembly was a great success! The stories that were told by the students (two were read by Mrs. Candi Krueger from Safe Haven for confidentiality reasons) showed that words can be very hurtful and that you really need to put yourself in someone’s shoes before you pick on them for being different. The video, To This Day by Shane Koyczan, was a powerful reminder that the cruelty young people can show others for being overweight, having a birthmark, or having a disability, can leave emotional scars that may last a lifetime. The audience was asked to share their thoughts about the video and several students were able to share that they understood how important it is to accept people who are different because, as one young lady stated, “Being different is what makes people interesting.” The skits demonstrated how being mean to someone because of poor athletic skills, being someone who stands out in a crowd, or picking on someone in the hallway can be mean and can hurt someone. And Jeremiah’s concluding statement reminded the students that we can be victims of cruelty one day and perpetrators the next, so we have to be very careful to take care of the way we treat people.

After the Assembly the students had a chance to give feedback about the experience and to engage in two connected lessons about hurtful words and perspective. The students shared that they enjoyed the assembly, especially the video and the fact that it was student-led. One of the students wrote about making fun of someone who is different, “…you don’t know their background…so don’t judge them by the way they talk, dress, (their) height, appearance, weight, or who they hang out with because those words hurt.” Students were heard to be talking about respect throughout the day after the assembly. It was clear that the experience made a difference.

We understand that learning to be a respectful person is a lifelong journey and that one assembly and two classroom lessons will not make a significant difference immediately. We are trying to give students the tools and insight they need as they decide what kind of young women and men they want to become. We will be patient with them as they sometimes slip on this journey, but we will be consistent as we reinforce the idea that we expect students at SCMS to be respectful of themselves, each other, and staff. I am proud of the progress we have made towards this goal.

(More pictures from assembly at end of newspaper)

Engaging Students in Higher-Level Thinking

By Rod Watson

If you want to make an educator groan, tell him or her how much you hate school. When students say this, or even when adults say this about their past experience, it can be quite upsetting. School is our passion. We love school, which is why we never left even after people stopped making us go. It is hard for most educators to understand why students find school to be ‘boring’, or ‘lame’, or ‘stupid’. We don’t get it when kids aren’t as into experiments or sports or the Constitution as we are. But hard as it may be to understand, we do hear it quite often.

There are many reasons why young people may lose their passion for learning, but one of them is that much of what they do in school is not learning, at least not the type that kids want to do. We spend a lot of time in school reviewing, practicing, observing. Students engage in taking notes, filling out worksheets, and listening to the teacher talk. These are not usually the types of lessons that students bring up when they mention the things they enjoy doing the most, although they are important. When students discuss their favorite lessons, they talk about the times they got to get investigate something interesting, engage in an important conversation, get their hands dirty, they get excited again about learning. And this usually involves higher-level thinking.

When we say “higher-level thinking”, we are not necessarily referring to a level of rigor but to a type of cognitive engagement. The levels of learning, as identified by Bloom’s Taxonomy, go from remembering at the lowest level, through understanding, applying, analyzing, and finally to evaluating and creating at the highest level. A learning task can ask students to engage in many of these levels at once, but often students are asked to stay near the bottom as they remember information the teacher gave them, understand concepts, or apply processes and principles. Learning tasks that ask students to analyze, evaluate, or create are more challenging, but also more exciting and meaningful. These are the lessons that get young people excited about learning while helping them to develop habits of mind that they can use throughout their lives.

Teachers at SCMS focus on higher-level learning tasks whenever they can. Although lessons that require students to memorize or apply information are still necessary, we try hard to engage our young people in the types of task that challenge them cognitively. Mr. Dan O’Connell, for instance, is not satisfied with having his orchestra students simply remember music or even to apply his instruction to their playing; He asks his students to evaluate their own performances and has even tried having them evaluate famous compositions. He encourages students to create their own music, although that is difficult while they are still learning how to play their instruments. It is not easy to design lesson plans which ask students to engage in the highest levels of learning while acknowledging that there is still information that students need to remember, understand, and apply, but our teachers are doing their best to accomplish it.

An excellent example of this type of lesson was observed in Mrs. Mary Jo Pugh’s science class this past week. Mrs. Pugh began by explaining some information that the students needed to know and remember about heat and thermal protection. She explained terms such as conduction, convection, and radiation. Then she showed a video explaining how challenging it is to protect spacecraft from the heat of the Earth’s atmosphere (up to 3000 degrees Fahrenheit) while also considering the cold of the vacuum of space (-250 degrees). She then tasked the students withcreating a thermal protection shield for a simple tool shehad put together. Awooden dowel was glued to a metal bolt with a nut and washer at the end. The students were told to create a heat shield that would protect the glue from melting for as long as possible. They were given a piece of tinfoil and a small metal screen and set to work in partners. The students jumped into the lesson, which engaged them on many levels at once. They discussed how the material would react to the heat of the blow torch, using information they had gained from class. They sketched ideas and designed their own thermal protection system. The next day the shields were tested and the winners were announced. The winning design managed to funnel the flames away from the metal bolt while providing a path for the convection heat to rise.

The lesson was very popular. Students were heard to be discussing it in the lunchroom and after school. One student approached me in front of the school on the way home to explain why he and his partner won when Mr. Ralph Beversdorf’s class did the same assignment a week later. It is fair to say that when students who were engaged in this lesson went home and their parents asked, “What did you learn in school today?”, they did not reply with the usual, “Nothin’.” They were excited about learning.

Engaging students in higher-level learning is a daily challenge. There is a lot of content that we must cover in order to prepare students for the next class, for their standardized tests, and for life. But when we make time for lessons of this nature and execute them well, we provide our students with meaningful educational opportunities that can reignite their passion for learning. It may not be easy, but when we do it well we are far less likely to hear students complain about how much they dislike school. Instead we’ll hear the buzz of learning associated with a true learning environment.And that makes it all worthwhile.

Grief & Loss Group Counseling Offered at SCMS

SCMS is offering a Grief and Loss Group counseling group. The group will start onNov. 17thand will be led by Mrs. Jacoby, one of the school counselors.Discussions and activities will allow students to share experiences, feelings, and learn new skills. Thegroup will meet once per week for six weeks. We will make every effort to minimize absences from core classes. However, each student is responsible for obtaining and completing any missed work in the event that a class is missed.

In order to create a safe atmosphere, the basic ground rule in all groups is one of strict confidentiality. Students may share with their parents what they talked about and did in group. However, they may not disclose information about the other group members including their name or anything they share.

If you are interested in having your child participate in this group,please contact Mrs. Jacoby at 526-2192 (ext. 3104) .

Athletics at SCMS

Mrs. Bartz

Middle School Athletic Director

Now starting their seasonisBoys Basketball. The schedules can be found on the Middle School webpage.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON GRADES

Grade checks for Athletics:

There has been some confusion about how grades are checked for students participating in athletics.

Grades are checked every other week. If a student has an F in any subject, then they are out of competition for at least a week. TheFridayin between grade checks is for the students who had an F and were out of competition for that week. If the F is gone for their grades, then they will be able to compete the next week. If the F is not gone, then they will not be competing for another week.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact Mrs. Bartz at ext. 3113.

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Fall sports have now completed their seasons. Here is a round-up from the coaches and pictures of the teams can be found in the picture section of the newsletter.

FOOTBALL

Coach Methner – Football Season End

The Shawano Hawk's Middle School Football Team had a great season! Though we faced some tough schools, each player made strides in terms of fundamental football and learning how to be a positive team member. Many players got to try out multiple positions on both offense and defense. Over time, they will work with coaches to choose positions that best suit their interests and strengths. We are all looking forward to next season! Go Hawks!

VOLLEYBALL

Coach Beck – 7th gr Volleyball Season End

The seventh grade girls started out their volleyball season the second day of school with thirty girls learning the basics of volleyball. Not only figuring out the basic rules for most, they had to learn how to bump, set, and spike. Most of the girls started out using an underhand serve but finished the season with powerful overhand serves through tons of practice and determination. Every day they would work diligently on their serving to prove that hard work and perseverance pays off. Both teams improved dramatically over the season winning many matches, several in very close situations. It was an enjoyable season that seemed to end too quickly! Thanks for the great season and representing SCMS by Living, Learning, and Leading the Hawk Way!

Coach Bromeisl – 8thgr Volleyball Season End

The 8th grade girls volleyball team had a very good year. Team Red finished with a winning record of 6-4, beating teams from Oconto Falls (x2), New London, Freedom (x2), and Clintonville. Team Black also finished with a winning record of 6-4, defeating teams from Seymour, New London, Hortonville, Freedom (x2), and Clintonville. Great season, ladies! Best of luck in high school.

CROSS COUNTRY

Coach Hodkiewicz – Cross Country Season End

Shawano Middle School Cross Country team had a great season. We finished the year with 45 runners competing in all of the meets. They worked very hard this year and all improved their times, most setting a personal best time at the final meet. Some of our runners improved as much as four minutes in a 1.75 mile race, which is outstanding. Several of our runners received medals for finishing in the top 10 out of as many as 200 runners. Our ladies team received 2nd place (and a trophy) in two of our meets. Coach Hodkiewicz and Coach Smurawa are very proud of the Shawano Middle School Cross Country team. They wish the 8th graders good luck as they move on to high school next year and are looking forward to seeing the 6th and 7th graders make even more improvements.

Teacher Notes

Mr. Zoll – Phy Ed

We have completed two mini units in Physical Education, indoor soccer and flicker ball. Ask your student how these games incorporate cardiovascular fitness. Your student has also completed a second PACER test. The PACER test is a multi-level shuttle run that gets progressively more difficult. Ask your student how much he/she has improved over the last six weeks. Just around the corner is our first sport and skill unit, volleyball.