Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Integrated Field Review Coming To PAML!

Integrated Field Review Coming To PAML!


Dear Parents and Guardians,

Our PAML and other schools in the LSSU will welcome teams of visiting educators from other school districts and the Vermont Agency of Education this Monday, 26 October. Through a process called IFR (Integrated Field Review) these trained teams will visit classes, observe in multiple school settings, and interview adults and students in our school.  
Some students will be selected to be interviewed and/or serve as tour guides during this visit.  

I will facilitate the process and the schedule.  I trust that your child will enjoy the experience and there will be minimal interruption to his/her learning on Monday.  If you have any questions, please contact me at 888-1402 or karen.weeks@lssuvt.org

Thank you.

Karen Weeks

Monday, October 19, 2015

Student-Led Conferences


I want to let you know (or remind you of) the practice at PAML for Student-Led Parent Conferences. Each student this year will create a portfolio/Personal Learning Plan (PLP) to showcase their work. At the start of the year they are creating personal and academic goals and making plans as to how they will meet their goals.  Throughout the year they will be collecting evidence to assess how they are doing toward meeting their goals, reflecting on their growth, conferencing with their teachers and documenting their progress in their portfolios.
They will be sharing the portfolios with families at the Student-Led Conferences.  The purpose of student-led conferences is to put the students in charge of sharing their learning and to help them take personal responsibility for their performance.  This means you will need to bring your student with you on Thursday, October 22nd, 2015.  If you are unable to attend, you can send a family member or close friend with your child so they have an opportunity to share their work.
In the traditional parent-teacher conference, students are often “third parties” to hearing about their progress.  Of course teachers and parents play a vital role in students’ education, but students must also take an active role in this area to maximize their potential for success and student-led parent conferences have proven to be a successful way for students to take the lead.
There are three components to the student-led conference: preparing, conferencing, and after-conference review.  All three elements require the students to reflect and evaluate their own progress and determine what they can do next to be successful.  In preparing for a student-led conference, students see how their strengths, weaknesses and behavior can affect them as learners, thus allowing them to take more responsibility for, and control over, their achievement in school.  Student-led conferences are an experience that can improve the communication patterns of both students and parents.  Parents listen to their students, encourage growth and discuss with them solutions to specific problems.  These conferences help build organization and self-confidence for the students.
The teacher will circulate and be present for specific questions on issues that the students may not be able to answer. Of course, if after the student-led conference, should a parent desire a time to meet with the teacher, please speak with your students’ home team teacher.  It was our experience last year and in many schools across the country that students are able to share effectively and answer many questions about their learning in student-led conferences.
Please call the school to sign up for these exciting Student-Led Parent Conferences on Thursday, October 22nd, 2015, and don’t forget to bring your student with you!


Thanks for all that you do for the PAML community!


Karen Weeks


HINTS FOR PARENTS FOR STUDENT-LED CONFERENCES:
  • Express positive interest and anticipation about the upcoming conference.
  • Listen and respond to the student.
  • Express pride in growth and progress.
  • Ask questions.
  • Be positive, offering to help in areas where improvement is needed.
  • Recognize that students need to develop independence in communicating progress – the teacher will be there to facilitate and answer specific questions but will not take charge of the conference.  There may be two conferences happening at the same time - the teacher will be in the background.


POSSIBLE QUESTIONS TO ASK DURING THE STUDENT-LED CONFERENCE:

  • Can you explain this to me?
  • How did you come up with this idea?
  • How have you grown in this area?
  • How can you improve in this area?
  • How can we help you at home?
  • What was important to you about this?
  • If you could do this work over again, how would you change it?
  • Have you thought about future goals?

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Open House Oct. 2015


The Open House was a big success! We had a tremendous turnout of families and for that we are thankful. Great conversations occurred with families and students as well with teachers.  Community Resources were available in the gym and lots of parents stopped in for information about Parent Portal!  If you haven't received your Parent Portal information yet, please stop in and see Mrs. Curtis.

I've included a photo of some artwork as well as a couple of shots of the wonderful international food that was served! 






Monday, October 5, 2015

Communication

Dear PAML Families,                                                                        

As we move forward in this 2015-16 school year, we are continually working on ways to improve communication with our PAML community.   I would like to share with you the many ways in which you can expect to hear from the school and, also, ways in which you can be in touch with the school.

Quarterly:  You will receive a report card in the USPS mail.  In this mailing there may be additional information that comes home.

Monthly:  This year your student will receive a paper menu and a list of upcoming events - this is sent home the last week of the month for the next month.

PAML Website:  Our PAML Calendar lists sports games as well as events, notice of vacation time, etc. located at http://www.morrisville.org/PAML/PAML_home.asp.  I highly suggest you always start here to connect to the individual grade level websites as there may be whole school information located on this site.

This Blog: If you are reading this, you have already found it!  Sign in with your e-mail to the right, and you will receive e-mail notices when the blog is updated!

Grade Level Websites: Each grade website has information about classes, homework and units of study.  They are useful and friendly to viewers.  Remember - always start from the PAML website as mentioned above.  If your student misses school, homework can be found here.

Progress Reports: These are either handed to your student bi-weekly or your student has a process to share these with you on the dates listed in the PAML Student Handbook & Calendar you received at the start of school.  Remember, you can always access the PowerSchool Portal from our website at any time for academic and behavioral checks of how your student is doing.  If you do not have the user name and password for this, please be in touch with Linny Curtis at 888-1401.

Calling PAML:  Our hope is that, between the hours of 7:30am and 4:00pm, you will reach a live person.  Should the line be busy during these hours, you may leave a voice mail message in the general mailbox, and your call will be addressed promptly or forwarded to the appropriate person. 

Thanks for all you do for the PAML community!