A blog from the halls of J. T. Henley Middle School

Making a Difference Every Day

2011-02-07T08:04:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I updated the old blog post, and something happened at Henley last week that I felt really encapsulated what we try to do as educators. I walked into the office at the end of lunch duty on Friday to be surprised by two former students. These were kids that almost everyone in school knew, but sometimes not for the best reasons. They were each English language learners and they also had many other hurdles to get over, both inside and outside of school, in order to be successful. They each struggled to maintain positive behavior at school and to succeed academically. They were the kinds of kids that could push you to your limits sometimes, but that still found a spot in your heart because we all knew that at their core, they were good kids. When they moved out of the state last year, none of us thought that we were likely to see them again.

Needless to say, it was quite a surprise when they showed up in the office last Friday. It turns out their dad had some business that he needed to take care of in town, and that he was just here for the day. Even though their dad had a full plate of things to do last Friday, both of these students insisted that he bring them by Henley so that they could see three of their former teachers. Think about what that says about the relationship these three teachers developed with both of these kids. They are in town for one day, which was undoubtedly a busy one for their father, and could have easily never have given Henley a second thought. But these teachers touched their lives in such a remarkable way that they had to come by and say hello. That’s what it’s all about isn’t it? The reason we all got into this job in the first place? The reason we put in the extra time to make sure our students know that we care? It made my day to see how happy those students were to be back at Henley for just a little while to reconnect.

The thing that makes this story even better, is that I know that similar situations could take place with any one of our teachers here at Henley. Our ability to make an impact on students' lives is profound, and is not something that we should take lightly. We do make a difference each and every day with all of the children we work with. Most of the time, we never get to see just how much we mean to our students like we did last Friday, but just one experience like this one justifies all of the hours of work, the sleepless nights, and the time away from our own families that all of our teachers sacrifice for the students at Henley. I am proud to be a part of what we have going on here, and feel incredibly blessed to work with such a dedicated group of educators.

Snapshot of a great school

2010-12-01T12:05:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things to do in my role as principal at Henley Middle School is to visit our classrooms on a regular basis to see the incredible work our teachers and students engage in day in and day out. The work they do never ceases to amaze me. Here's just a sampling of what I saw as I visited seventh grade classrooms during our Orange 1 period today:

Students in Mrs. Insalaco's Math 7 class were making use of the ActivBoard and ActivResponse systems that she has in her classrooms. The active responders are gadgets that look a lot like a cellphone and allow students to send a text message answer to a problem that their teacher has created on the Activboard. Today's lesson focused on number sequence relationships and when I spoke with students about using technology such as the Activresponse system, they all raved about how much more engaging it was compared to the "old-fashioned way."

Mrs. Insalaco's class

Dow the hall in Ms. Price's math class, students were also studying number sequence relationships, but were going about it in a different way. Each of her students had a number of toothpicks in front of them at their desk and had been asked to begin building toothpick trains of triangles and recording how many additional toothpicks it took to create a new triangle. They were then asked to create a mathematical formula that showed the relationship between the number of toothpicks and the number of triangles. Again, kids were highly engaged and expressed to me how much they enjoyed a lesson that was set up with manipulative to engage them.

Ms. Price's class

Further down the hall in Mrs. Imbert's science class students were taking one of their first stabs at dissection by pulling apart owl pellets, finding the bones that were contained within them and attempting to identify the types of bones they found and from which type of animal they came. While there was a little bit of squeamishness from a couple of groups, it was clear that this was a lesson born for middle school kids. They loved the "gross" factor of the pellets and you could see their eyes light up when they discovered and identified a new bone.

Mrs. Imbert's class

Next door in Mrs. Kooken's science class students had just finished swabbing different objects around the school as part of their study of bacteria. They are hoping to grow some bacteria cultures from the swabs they collected to see just how many germs may be floating around places such as the bottom of the lost and found bin.

So there's four classes from one period in one wing of the building selected at random at Henley Middle School. Highly engaged students being taught by incredibly gifted teachers equals lifelong learning. What makes this snapshot from today's classrooms even better, is that this could be any day, any period, any class, any grade level at Henley. What a fantastic place to send your children to every morning--a place where they will acquire all of the tools necessary for success in school and in life!

One Marking Period Down!

2010-11-08T11:30:00.000-08:00

Happy November, Hornets! We’ve certainly gotten off to a great start at Henley this year. I hope that you and your children had a great Halloween weekend, that your kids enjoyed their days off on November 1 and November 2, and that everyone is coming back to school this month ready to have tremendous success in our second marking period!

We have been quite busy during the first marking period at Henley, and it makes me so incredibly proud to be the Henley principal when I think of all of the great things our faculty and our students have done so far this year. We had a successful magazine drive fundraiser, the Henley parks and recreation basketball teams are all having great years, our teachers have been developing highly engaging lessons for all of their classes, back-to-school night and our parent conference nights gave us all a chance to make connections and build relationships with parents, kids had a ball at both our Halloween dance and our back-to-school dance, and many other wonderful events have been taking place here at Henley. A great way to stay on top of all of the positive Henley happenings is to follow us on Twitter (@henleyhornets). I try my best to keep the page updated with both school-wide events that are taking place and some tweets about the incredible work that is going on in some of our individual classrooms.

I’m hoping that as report cards make it home in the next few days that all of you will be happy with the progress that your child has made to date at Henley. If you have some concerns, however, now is the time to address them. If you feel that you need to set up a conference to discuss an issue with one or more of your child’s teachers, please contact our guidance department and Mrs. Childers will be happy to make an appointment for you. Both Jason Crutchfield, our assistant principal, and I are also happy to talk at any time if we can be of help in any way.

I can’t wait to see what the second marking period will bring for our students at Henley! As we head into the holiday season, I like to give thanks every day that I’ve been given the opportunity to be the principal of such an incredible school that is filled with amazing students and the best group of teachers I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. Keep up the great work, Hornets! It’s going to continue to be a year that will be one to remember!

Go Hornets!

Parent Conferences

2010-10-05T05:44:00.000-07:00

On October 7 and October 13 Henley will hold our fall parent conference nights from 4:30 until 8:00 each evening. October 7 has been designated for families with last names beginning with letters A-L and October 13 for families with last names beginning with letters M-Z. We want to provide some information on what you should expect when attending parent conferences. First, because of the number of students/parents that we typically have on these nights, we have to limit conference to a five to seven minute recap of your child’s progress to date. There are no sign up times to meet with individual teachers, and conferences are held on a first come/first served basis. We know that many parents desire a longer, more detailed conversation with teachers. If this is the case, please call our school counseling office to set up a time to meet. Also, we would like to make sure everyone is aware of the dinner break that we provide to our teachers on these nights. Each teacher is given thirty minutes of time away from conferences to have a dinner that is provided by our PATSO hospitality committee. From 5:30-6:00 on October 7, our social studies, science, exploratory and PE teachers will eat and will not be available for conferences. All other teachers will take their dinner break from 6:00-6:30. On October 13 the order for dinner will be flipped, with social studies, science, exploratory and PE teacher eating from 6:00-6:30 and all other teacher from 5:30-6:00. We ask that you please plan your visit accordingly.

After some suggestions in years past for changes to the way we structure our parent conferences, we brought the issue to our faculty and PATSO. We all agreed that there was no perfect way to manage conferences in a school this size and that we should continue to use our current set up. We are always looking for ways to improve and provide better service to our community members, so if you have some ideas you would like to offer about conferences, please contact the school. We look forward to seeing you at one of our conference nights!

Get Involved!!!

2010-09-09T08:09:00.000-07:00

The start of the school year is a great time for both new and returning students to get involved in the many activities that are taking place at Henley. Here's a sampling of some ways kids can get involved:

The Outdoor/Environmental Club--Stop by the library to pick up more information. This club takes multiple trips throughout the year and also leads the school in our recycling and environmental efforts. The first hike is next Friday, so make sure you get information soon!
Math Counts--For those of you who love a challenging math problem--this is the place for you! Pick up information from Mrs. Merrill if you would like to take part in this activity.
Destination Imagination--An informational meeting will take place on September 20 for any student interested in becoming part of a DI team. Henley's teams have been quite successful in the past, and students love the challenges that DI presents them. See Mrs. Merrill for more information!
ETB49--This is our morning enrichment program that offers a number of activities for our students. See Mrs. Pehanick for more information

I think that at Henley, we've got something for just about everyone. I strongly believe that students who are involved in activities such as these turn into some of our most well-rounded students. Take a chance and get involved today!!!

AYP

2010-09-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

Many of you have heard that this year Henley, and a number of other county and state middle schools, fell short in our goal of achieving something called "Adequate Yearly Progress" or AYP. When people hear this, most immediately think that there must be some big problems with the school system or with a particular school if they can't make the grade that the Federal Department of Education has set for them. So let me share some data on Henley's AYP performance (most of which is measured via SOL testing results). This year Henley had 96% of our students pass their reading tests, 95% passed their math tests, 95% passed writing, 93% passed history and 96% passed science. Hardly what I would consider failing scores, yet we did not make AYP. Why is that you ask? In order for a school to be considered to have made AYP, the school must meet twenty-nine different student achievement benchmarks. This year, we had too few special education students pass their reading tests to make AYP. We were close, but not quite close enough. So--is Henley a failing school because it did not make AYP last year? Absolutely not. Our overall academic performance clearly places us among the highest achieving middle schools in the state of Virginia. Do we have some more work to do to get even better? You bet, and this is always going to be the case even if we achieve 100% SOL pass rates. Every morning you send your children to an amazing school with a staff who's dedication to student achievement and learning is unparalleled. Don't let the failure to make AYP fool you--Henley is a top tier school that will keep getting better every year.

Reflections on the first day

2010-08-26T12:05:00.000-07:00

I always love the first day of school. There is such a sense of excitement and promise about what the year will bring to us. Students show up with new supplies and positive attitudes, ready to meet their new teachers and to reconnect with old friends.

One thing that really stands out to me at the beginning of each year at Henley is this--our students love being here. Now, they may have told you differently as summer drew to a close and the first day of school approached. They may have complained that they didn't want to come back to homework and bell schedules and report cards. They may have put on a good front by pretending to not like coming back, but deep down, I know they were looking forward to it. To see students reestablish relationships with their friends who they may not have seen since the spring was exciting. As I watched their faces when they met their new teachers and they learned just how engaging their classes were going to be this year, I could tell that they felt at home at Henley. When I watched the absolute elation of our new sixth graders when they finally succeeded in opening their lockers after a few failed attempts, I knew they wanted to be here. When I heard the cacophony of the lunch room as students renewed their friendships and reached out to make friends with new students, I knew that everyone felt like they had come home to Henley.

So, moms and dads, don't let them fool you Kids may complain that they don't want to go to school, that the work is too hard, that they would rather be doing something else, but I can tell you first hand (and would invite any and all of you to come see it for yourself) that kids love Henley. It's a testament to our staff, our school division, and to you as parents that your children see the value of what we do at Henley each day, and appreciate all of the opportunities before them.

It is certainly going to be a great year.

The blog is back!

2010-08-03T08:16:00.001-07:00

Hello, Hornets! I'm pleased to announce that this year, after a far too long hiatus, that my Henley Middle School blog is making a comeback. I hope to use this blog to keep you updated about what is happening at Henley and all of the wonderful experiences your children are having in their classrooms. My goal is to have a new post at least once every two weeks. If you've got any ideas for topics that you think the Henley community would like to hear about, please e-mail me at pmclaughlin@k12albemarle.org. I'm excited to be taking this opportunity to again connect with parents, students, teachers and community members using the technology that our children have come to expect in their classrooms. Here's to a great year and go Hornets!!!