I am so excited about my job!!!  I know, what’s new?  But, I JUST returned home from at weekend in Atlanta at the Ron Clark Academy and it was AWESOME!  I am so jazzed.  It validated stuff that I was already doing with my students, yet challenged me to do more.
New ideas:
1.  Home Visits- 10 minute chats with students and families in their home.  Set expectations, challenge the child, and, of course, encourage!
2.  Teachers sign a contract that states they will be available to the students until the students reach 21.
3.  Focus on cultural and global studies.
4.  Have students lead the class and then have others critique (lots of positive feedback and one or two things to work on)
5.  Have teachers film themselves and fill out their own observation papers.  One month later, repeat the process and after observation sheet is completed by the teacher, sit down with the teacher and review with them.
6.  Lots of teacher games!  I will share these with photos as I make them.

I hope to implement many ideas with the middle school teaching team.  I think consistency and teacher buy-in will be the keys to success.