Off to a great start!

The day I've been waiting for since May finally arrived this past Wednesday--the return of the Henley Hornets! The opening of this school year has truly been wonderful. For the first time in my career as an educator, I got to see what sixth graders looked like as they came to middle school for the first time. I know that, even though they may not admit it, that this week was a stressful one for them. It's the first time they have a locker, the first time they have some control over what they get to order in the cafeteria, the first time they have to scour the halls looking for an elective class. Even through all of these stressors, they made it through with flying colors.

Our seventh grade students also had many new experiences as they returned for the year. For the first time, they are allowed outside of the "sixth grade hall." They're mingling with their eighth grade counterparts and are finding out that they have a little bit more freedom than when they were the newbies to the school. They are out of the sixth grade elective rotation and have a little bit more of a voice in the classes that they are taking with us. I noticed several seventh graders last week who went out of their way to help some of the new students at the school. I know that they remember what those first few days were like last year, and I appreciate the fact that they are willing to lend a hand to those in need.

And of course, there's our eighth graders, the Henley Middle School class of 2008. They have finally arrived, are finally able to "rule the school" as so many of them have told me. In my short time here, I've seen that the level of excitement our eighth graders have surpasses all of our other students. In their last year at Henley, they know that I expect great things from them. They know that the world of high school is just 365 days away, and that, before they know it, they will once again be the newcomers. My experience with this class so far has been exceptional, and I know that they will make me proud.

With that said, however, I think it is important that our students understand that one of the most important messages I am trying to send to them this year is that we cannot view ourselves as separate from each other because of our age or our grade level. We are the Henley Hornets, and we rise and we fall together as a team. When we see others who are excelling, we need to learn from their success. When we see those around us who are struggling, we need to take the time to help them up. We are the Henley Hornets, something that we will remember forever, and something that we should not take lightly. Together, great things will happen for us this year.

Week one is over and it was a rousing success. I know that the rest of the year is going to provide us with opportunities to grow together as a team and to reach new heights at Henley Middle School. I can't wait to see what 2007-2008 will bring.

Go Hornets!

The coutdown has begun!

The Henley faculty returned this week to continue preparations for the 2007-2008 school year. The level of energy that I'm feeling from this staff is truly phenomenal! There is no doubt that this week is one of the most hectic, stressful and exciting times for everyone involved in public education. We're all sprinting toward Wednesday morning trying to get our rooms ready, to meet new faculty members and to get our minds out of summer mode and back into school mode. The dedication of the teachers at Henley is clear in every aspect of what they are doing to prepare for a great year.

Our teachers this week have been focusing on a number of different areas. One of the big areas of focus for everyone this year is how we are going to take some of the theories behind the concept of professional learning communities and put them into action. We have had many discussions about the conference I attended with Rick and Becky DuFour and we are quickly developing plans based around what the DuFours believe are the essential questions we must ask ourselves for effective collaboration:

• What do we expect our children to learn?
• How will we know if they have learned it?
• How will we respond if they don't learn?
• How will we respond if they already know it?

In my mind, the third question in this list is the most important. When we have students who don't learn what we expect them to learn, how will we respond? One of the key pieces to the answer to this question at Henley this year will be our STING period. STING is a period that meets at the end of each school day and is designed to provide an opportunity for us to help our students who aren't achieving at the levels we expect. To start the year, students will be placed into STING groups based solely on their grade level. As we gather data on student achievement and identify students who are struggling in different classes, we will be forming specialty STING groups that focus on different core subjects. This will enable us to provide directed remediation, rather than invitational remediation, to some of our students who need it most.

As with all new programs, I'm sure we will experience some growing pains with STING as we take risks to discover what will work best for our kids. I feel confident that this will be a key piece of the puzzle to raising the level of achievement at Henley even higher. More detailed information about STING will be coming to parents through this site and our school website. Students will be learning about STING from their teachers next week.

I can't wait until Wednesday! Here's what's happening at Henley over the next couple of weeks:

• Henley Open House: Monday, August 20, 10:00 a.m.-12:00 a.m.
• First Day of School: Wednesday, August 22
• PATSO Meeting: Monday, August 27, 7:00 p.m.
• Labor Day Holiday--School closed!--Monday, September 3
• Back-to-School night: Wednesday, September 5, 7:00 p.m.-9:00p.m.

I hope to see many of you at these events! Go Hornets!

Focus Group Date Change

I posted last week about some parent focus groups that I am putting together at Henley and needed to let everyone know that I've had to reschedule two of the planned meetings. The meetings that were originally scheduled for August 8 and 9 have been moved to August 22 and 23. The revised schedule for the meetings is as follows:

Wednesday, August 15, 6:00 p.m. -7:00 p.m.
Thursday, August 16, 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, August 22, 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Thursday, August 23, 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.

All meetings will still be in the conference room at Henley and will be limited to ten participants. Please call Sandy Conley or Alissa Layne in the front office to sign up for one of the meetings. I look forward to seeing many of you then.