Welcome Back!

I don't know about anyone else, but for me this summer just flew by - I can't believe I'm already writing my back-to-school post!  When trying to think of a word to describe the upcoming school year, the one that kept coming to mind was the word change.  There are several exciting changes that are happening this school year.  I'll use this post to run down some of the changes you and your child can expect this year.

Principal - Ms. Woulf has taken a new job and is moving on from DPMS this year.  Taking her place is the former Assistant Principal of Foxview Intermediate School, Mrs. Hartman.  I have known Mrs. Hartman for many years, as she was a school counselor at DPMS when I started teaching here 13 years ago.  Ms. Heatwole is continuing in her role as Assistant Principal.

Schedule - In English/Langauge Arts we are combining what used to be taught in two separate courses (Literature and Info) into one 80 minute course.  In addition we have expanded the amount of math instruction to 80 minutes a day.  All other courses are at 40 minutes.  For those of us teaching in the blocked courses (the 80 minute classes) one of our biggest challenges is going to be structuring the day so that we can keep student engagement and productivity high.

House Structure - Many of the houses in the 8th grade have switched up staff.  The Justice League has added Mr. Endries to our team.  The Avengers is a second 8th grade house and is now a team of six teachers, while the third 8th grade house, the X-Men, is a team of three.

This first week in class your students are being reminded of "The Redbird Way" of acting at DPMS - which is a part of the PBIS(Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports) program.  We have several reminder videos and brief lessons reinforcing the more detailed lessons that they received in 7th grade.

One quick note on keeping informed...our newly re-designed team website is now linked from the middle school home page - or you can access it by clicking HERE.  You will find information from each content area as well as a page that contains all the assignments from each course.  Note that several components are still under construction so check back often.

Again, I'd like to welcome everyone to the 2013-2014 school year and to the Justice League!  If you ever need to contact me, email will get the quickest response, but I do welcome a phone call as well.