Friday, March 31, 2017

Friday, March 31st, 2017

PAML SPRING CONCERT:  Wednesday, April 12th, 6:30pm in the gymnasium.

YOUTH RISK BEHAVIOR SURVEY STUDENT PRESENTATION:  On Wednesday, April 12th, at 5:30pm in the PA Library, Peter Hathaway and his YRBS students invite you for pizza and a discussion of the 2015 YRBS student survey results.  For more information, please contact Peter Hathaway at 888-4600.

VERMONT TECH BRIDGE BUILDING COMPETITION:  Mr. Weiss will be taking four 6th grade students to VTC in Randolph on Thursday, April 13th, to compete in this unique competition.  Students will depart PAML at 7:30am and return at approximately 2:00pm.    Students should bring snacks.  Lunch will be provided.  If you would like to read more information about this bridge building competition, please click on this link:  http://www.vtc.edu/academics/high-school-students/bridge-building-competition

QUARTER 3 ENDS:  Wednesday, April 5th

QUARTER 4 STARTS:  Thursday, April 6th

PROGRESS REPORTS:  Friday, April 7th

PLAN AHEAD!  PAML Spring Recess is April 17th-21st - no school for students!  Students will return to school on Monday, April 24th.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Act 46 Update - March 22, 2017

Since 2009, Stowe, Morristown, and Elmore have been studying various forms of governance options through four formal committee processes, including two 706b studies, the most recent of which resulted in a successful merger between Elmore and Morristown in 2016. Discussions between Stowe and Elmore-Morristown Unified Union around Act 46 began more than 19 months ago, and the two districts jointly agreed to pursue an Alternative Structure in the spring of 2016. Since that time, board members have been working with the administration to conduct a comprehensive self-evaluation—the basis of the proposal. The March 22, 2017 meeting continued board analysis of the required data, including a deep dive into enrollment and demographic trends. The boards also requested that the administration provide options for outside consultation and associated costs.

The boards expect to complete data analysis and a first draft this spring, at which point input will be solicited from 1) legal review (to coincide with the end of the legislative session when rules and changes to the law will be final), 2) the community, and 3) preliminary review with the Agency of Education. Once that input has been incorporated, the boards expect to ratify the proposal and submit to the Secretary of Education by November 2017.

At the state level, board members are closely watching the progressions of Rule 3400, pertaining to the proposal for Alternative Structures, and S.122, an act relating to increasing flexibility for school district mergers.


The next joint meeting of Elmore-Morristown Unified Union and Stowe to continue the self-evaluation work will take place on April 26, 2017. The agenda and location will be posted closer to the meeting date; however, a general work plan can be found at www.lamoillesouthsu.org.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Thursday, March 23rd, 2017

SPRING SPORTS MEETING:  The mandatory PAML Spring Sports Meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 28th, at 5:30pm in the PA Auditorium.  Spring Sports:  Track for grades 6-7-8 and golf.

CAMP KEEWAYDIN PARENT INFORMATION MEETING:  Join the teachers to learn about the Annual 5th Grade Camp Keewaydin experience on Thursday, March 30th, 5:30pm in the PA Auditorium. Students are encouraged to attend!  Please Note: This meeting was previously published to start at 6:00pm but will now begin at 5:30pm.

QUARTER 3 ENDS:  Wednesday, April 5th

PAML DANCE:  Friday, March 31st, 7:00-9:30pm in the PA Cafeteria.  When dropping off your student(s) for the PAML Dance please let the dance chaperones know if your student(s) has/have permission to leave the dance by themselves at 9:30pm when students are released to go home.  Should you need to pick up your student(s) before the dance ends at 9:30pm, please come to the cafeteria/dance entrance and speak to a chaperone who will retrieve your student(s).

QUARTER 4 STARTS:  Thursday, April 6th

PROGRESS REPORTS:  Friday, April 7th

YOUTH RISK BEHAVIOR SURVEY STUDENT PRESENTATION:  On Wednesday, April 12th, at 5:30pm in the PA Library, Peter Hathaway and his YRBS students invite you for pizza and a discussion of the 2015 YRBS student survey results.  PAML students have analyzed the survey and have identified strengths and concerns, and would like to discuss their action plan with parents and the community.  For more information, please contact Peter Hathaway at 888-4600.

PAML SPRING CONCERT:  Wednesday, April 12th, 6:30pm in the gymnasium.


Wednesday, March 22, 2017

EMMU Title I Meeting - 3-24-17 at 12:00

We invite you to attend our annual Title I meeting on March 24, 2017 at 12:00 in the PAHS Auditorium.  We will share information about all of our schools' improvement efforts and the use of Title I funds to support these efforts. 

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Peer collaboration on Personal Learning Plans (PLP)

Peoples Academy Middle Level and Stowe Middle School recently highlighted on the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education's Blog: READ ALL ABOUT IT!
Peers partner on portfolios
peer collaboration on PLPsStudents at two Vermont schools have begun working together as “Portfolio Partners” to curate evidence, reflect on their growth, and prepare to share their learning with a wider audience.
Here’s how it works.

Why peer partnering?

Robyn Alvin, an educator at Stowe Middle School, in Stowe VT, shares why she feels so strongly about creating time for peer-to-peer connections:
“While students get feedback from their teachers whether they want it or not, they naturally and consistently look for feedback from their peers. When we as their teachers, organize the structure of lessons to allow for, and expect, collaboration between our students, they will naturally be more engaged.
As the REAL Framework supports: “…when students are strongly engaged they are successfully involved in tasks of high intellectual quality and they have passionate positive feelings about these tasks”.
We want our students to be engaged and fluent in high order skills like analyzing and synthesising, so why not utilize their interest in working directly with peers?”

What peer partnering looks like

peer collaboration on PLPs
Portfolio partners at Peoples Academy Middle Level working on their PLP portfolios.
At Peoples Academy Middle Level, in Morrisville VT, 7th and 8th grade students work  together as “Portfolio Partners” to prepare for their upcoming Portfolio Fair. Partner pairs help each other select and upload photos of original artwork, and provide feedback on each others’ reflective writing.

PAML’s 7th & 8th Grade PLP portfolio requirements:

  • All students goals are written in SMART goals format;
  • Each portfolio must end up with a completed About Me, Goals, and Reflections section;
  • Each goal must have one reflection per week (equaling 4 reflections per goal);
  • The portfolio should reflect PAML’s Scholarly Habits guidelines;
  • The portfolio should show evidence of Reflective Writing.
In addition to teacher conferencing and classroom opportunities, students at Peoples Academy have time during their flexible Friday schedule to work with a peer.
Partners review each other’s progress from the week, and give each other feedback, tips, and technology help. Partners also use a learning scale to measure their Scholarly Habit of persistence throughout these four weeks. Prior to the Portfolio Fair, partners will be given time to practice their portfolio presentation skills with each other and become proficient with their presentation before they go “live”.

How else can peer partnering work?

Honoring students as partners in this work is not limited to Peoples Academy. Another school in the district, Stowe Middle School, provides their students many guided opportunities to give each other feedback.
One example is their student-led assemblies where a committee of 6th grade students, led by their teacher, select exemplary PLPs and invite the creators to present to the entire middle level.
peer collaboration on PLPs
6th grade students at Stowe Middle School listen as one of their peers explains how he assembled his PLP.

What can peer partnering look like between schools?

Stowe Middle and Peoples Academy teachers are now in the initial stages of collaboration to make cross-school peer-to-peer partnerships happen.
Google Hangout makes it possible for peer teachers at different schools to partner around this important work.
Building on the success of past experiments connecting students outside the classroom walls to provide peer feedback, representatives from each school’s leadership team met to coordinate peer-to-peer connections. They did so using Google Hangouts, the same technology their students will be using.

How it works:

  • The two schools start students with icebreaker activities via Google Hangout.
  • After that, teachers identify student partnerships based on common interests.
  • Student partners provide each other with formative feedback on their portfolios prior to presentation. They also have the opportunity to attend each others’ Portfolio Presentation days. Nothing makes a lesson more real than in-person experience!

What structures this work?

The two schools are tapping into a district-wide Proficiency-Based Learning initiative by sharing a common set of learning targets for both scholarly habits and transferable skills. This will focus the work and provide a common language for reflection.
Peoples Academy is using this scale on evaluating transferable skills:
peer collaboration on PLPs
And Stowe brought their Mission Related Goals menu:
peer collaboration on PLPs

Where can peer partnering lead?

I sat in on a peer partnering session at Peoples Academy, circulating the room, checking in on partner progress. One student, Kate, had her  iPad browser open to the definition of the word turbulent. Curious, I asked about the word and what made her interested in its definition.
Kate shared she had clicked on her My Future tab and was reminded of her results from the Meyers Briggs survey she took last year as a 7th grader. She wanted to understand better why the results showed her as 80% turbulent. She was a combination of curious and self-reflective as she tried to make sense of this data she hadn’t visited in over a year.
Kate suggested to her teacher that the class taking the survey again, even though it was time consuming, to see if and how she and her classmates had changed. Her teacher agreed the time spent on the survey would be well worth it since the results provide a window into ways to explore growth and change over time.
“Learning-edge cultures create a hunger for, rather than a dread of, assessment and feedback. This happens when assessment and feedback is challenging and supportive, connecting with the students’ understanding of where they are trying to go and why—and what will help them to get there.” The Learning Edge

How do you create opportunities to tap into the power of peer feedback?

Monday, March 20, 2017

Monday, March 20th, 2017


PAML SPRING SPORTS MEETING:  The mandatory PAML Spring Sports Meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 28th, at 5:30pm in the PA Auditorium.  Spring sports to sign up for:  Track for grades 6-7-8 and Golf.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Friday, March 17th, 2017

8TH GRADE ODWP TESTING ADMINISTRATION:  The On Demand Writing Prompt (ODWP) test will be administered to all 8th grade students on Monday, March 20th.

EARLY STUDENT DISMISSAL:  Thursday, March 23rd, for teacher in-service.

STUDENT-LED PARENT CONFERENCES:  Friday, March 24th, 8:00am-4:00pm.  Conference appointments are 20 minutes each.  Please call Ms. Merriam at 888-1401 to schedule a conference with your student’s TA.

CAMP KEEWAYDIN PARENT INFORMATION MEETING:  Thursday, March 30th, 5:30pm in the PA Auditorium.  Please Note: This meeting was previously published to start at 6:00pm but will now begin at 5:30pm.

QUARTER 3 ENDS:  Friday, March 31st

PAML DANCE FOR GRADES 6-7-8:  Friday, March 31st, 7:00-9:30pm in the PA Cafeteria.

RESILIENCE - THE BIOLOGY OF STRESS AND THE SCIENCE OF HOPE:  Community screening of this important film will be presented at the following locations.  Read more about it here
  • March 21st - Hazen Union High School
  • March 29th - Johnson State College
  • April 3rd -  GMTCC

QUARTER 4 STARTS:  April 3rd

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

PAML Student Led Conferences

We are excited to be holding our Student Led Conferences on Friday, March 24th!  This means that the students will be reviewing their goals with their parents and showing evidence towards progress on these goals.  Call 888-1402 to schedule your conference with Stacey!  Plan on attending with your student.


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"Student-led conferences represent a highly effective way to communicate directly and authentically with parents.  When students direct the reporting process, information is communicated in a form everyone can understand and use.  Reviewing the portfolio during the conference becomes a learning experience for everyone involved.  As such, student-led conferences are an especially important part of the comprehensive reporting system” (Guskey & Bailey).

Monday, March 13, 2017

Community College of Vermont Access day

8th graders at CCV last week!
Here's a photo of 8th graders from Team Apollo enjoying pizza after attending Access Day at CCV.  They learned about how they can take college courses at any Vermont college for FREE in high school including online options.  They also attended real college classes; one in Statistics (where we compared the colors in  M&M's packages to advertised colors) and another class in Business where some students were interviewed by Hannaford's Human Resources Director!  (They were hired!).  The students played Bingo with terms and questions about CCV and 10 lucky winners received headphones as prizes.

We were impressed as to how well the students represented PAML. Thanks Ms. Dambach for taking the students on this trip.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Friday, March 10th, 2017

RESILIENCE - THE BIOLOGY OF STRESS AND THE SCIENCE OF HOPE:  Community screening of this important film will be presented at the following locations.  Read more about it here
  • March 21st - Hazen Union High School
  • March 29th - Johnson State College
  • April 3rd -  GMTCC

ODWP TESTING ADMINISTRATION:  The On Demand Writing Prompt (ODWP) test will be administered to all middle level students on Tuesday, March 14th.

A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE:  Jeff Boudreau will be taking a small group of middle level students from PAML’s A World of Difference student group to Champlain College on Wednesday, March 15th, to attend the ‘Beyond Bullying: Creating a Culture of Respect in Learning Communities’ conference.  A continental breakfast and lunch will be provided.  Students will depart by bus from PAML at 7:00am and will return to PAML at approximately 4:30pm; parents/guardians will be responsible for student pick-up.   

8TH GRADE TEAM APOLLO FIELD TRIP TO STOWE MOUNTAIN RESORT:  Maura Kelly will be taking the 8th grade Team Apollo on a field trip to Stowe Mountain Resort on Thursday, March 16th.  Students will depart by bus from PAML at 9:40am and return at approximately 1:15pm.  This field trip encompasses a part of students’ study in their humanities class of the Great Depression and the New Deal.  Students will be meeting with the ski patrol historian who will be discussing the impact the Civilian Conservation Corps had on the development of the first ski trails at Stowe.  Students will also view a presentation, observe historical photographs and take a ride on the gondola.  Please have your student dress appropriately (i.e., winter coat, hat, mittens, boots, waterproof shoes).

PROGRESS REPORTS:  March 17th

EARLY STUDENT DISMISSAL:  Thursday, March 23rd, for teacher in-service.

STUDENT-LED PARENT CONFERENCES:  Friday, March 24th, 8:00am-4:00pm.  Conference appointments are 20 minutes each.  Please call Ms. Merriam at 888-1401 to schedule a conference with your student’s TA.

CAMP KEEWAYDIN PARENT INFORMATION MEETING:  Thursday, March 30th, 5:30pm in the PA Auditorium.  Please Note: This meeting was previously published to start at 6:00pm but will now begin at 5:30pm.

QUARTER 3 ENDS:  Friday, March 31st

PAML DANCE:  Friday, March 31st, 7:00-9:30pm in the PA Cafeteria.