http://www.montessori-evergreen.com/mid_program.html

http://www.coonamessettmontessori.org/

http://www.cambridgemontessori.net/podium/default.aspx?t=4328

Journey Montessori Middle School

Imaginations Montessori Middle

Horizons Montessori Middle

Freedom Montessori Middle

McKeel school with in a school research:

• http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=19197140
• http://www.themetschool.org/edu_advisory
• http://www.themetschool.org/edu_applied
• http://www.themetschool.org/about_facts
• http://www.whatkidscando.org/portfoliosmallschools/MET/Metintro.html
• http://schoolredesign.net/srn/server.php?idx=470
• http://www.whatkidscando.org/portfoliosmallschools/MET/learninggoals.html#expectations
• http://www.whatkidscando.org/smallschools/projectintro.html
• 
  

Do I suck it up and do it if I don't believe in it?

I met with HM for my yearly evaluation. It went well, and yet I feel really upset about it. He gave me some constructive crit. and it was well recieved and understoon (ie appearance--especially as a team leader next year). He commented how he is going to be rougher on me b/c I"m setting an example etc etc etc.

But what really gets me is this whole rewards thing--Joyce happened to be in there and she "explained" that this is the back bone of the check system--ie incentive. The contest thing also bothers me...Why? What purpose do they serve? I'm not competative and don't like fostering a competative atmosphere in my classroom.

So we have to do contests...OK...I'll just jump through hoops on that one. But the reward thing, I really feel strong about. Why must I reward kids for what they are SUPPOSED to be doing, how do I deny kids (and let them built resentment) if they didn't reach the magic number. I dont' know...maybe I'm supposed to just suck it up and do it again, jump through hoops and make them happy. It just doesn't feel right.

In memory of Wyat...kids on my radar who do not fit the system

2005-2006 School year
Allen Youngblood--7th grade
Gregory Vance--maybe--7th grade

• intelligent ie social misfit

In memory of Wyat...kids on my radar who do not fit the system

2005-2006 School year
Allen Youngblood--7th grade
Gregory Vance--maybe--7th grade

• intelligent ie social misfit

GRRRR...and this is where Mckeel screws up.

I hate it when teachers just sit around and bash students. That is a cardinal sin amongst teachers. I'm subbing for a 7th grade teacher today, so I had lunch with them. One of them sits there and talks about a student who does his own thing....such as in science when they are studying electricity rather than sit there like a good little student, dismantles things and puts them back together. This kid doesn't need a lecture on science...he needs to be doing actively learning.

I am really getting frustrated with traditional education and how we (education and Mckeel) just shove kids aside and label them as "bad" b/c they don't do things the "normal" way. B/c they don't conform with our "rules" they are being disruptive.

There has to be a place for these kids...a place at Mckeel. I have ideas. I think my new goal (along with the other million I'm currently working on...)is to type up my proposal for a school with in a school and give it to HM and Margie. These kids are going to be ruined before they even get into highschool. The teachers who do this have blood on their hands.

06-07 curriculum

Ø Meaningful activities and assessments
Ø Project oriented curriculum
o Teach students how to present orally
o Teach students the technology to use
§ Power Point
§ Smart board
§ Slide shows

Ø Create folders for all seniors on Bob
o Use materials in folder to create an electronic portfolio that will be burned on CD/DVD

Ø No MC test
Ø Teach Bloom’s Taxonomy so that kids understand what “analyze, discuss, etc…” mean
Ø Two internship presentations done during internship.
o The first—What the student is doing, what their project is
o The second—What they have accomplished, reflection
Ø Possibly let the news dictate points of the curriculum—especially if it is a senior internship class.
Ø Teen Age Project—Intro Autobiography
o True Colors
o Kersey Temperament Sorter
o Nirvana Essay
o Interest survey
§ Nycareerzone.org* see added sheet
§ Interest survey and Career survey


Career Zone:

What are your results:
· Artistic - 16
· Investigative - 11
· Social - 5
· Realistic - 1
· Enterprising - 1
· Conventional - 0

Click on the one that you have the most in and summarize what it says

Click on Interest occupations. Print out 2 copies of your interest profiler—turn one in.

Read through your career suggestions

Explore other areas of portfolio

Click on asses yourself. Follow instructions on screen

Write down your 3 letter combo. Choose your top 3 jobs.

Notes on my perfect school....

Why do we need a different school (i.e. What is the problem?)

Ø Provides an individualized education—One size doesn’t fit all
Ø Students learn differently
Ø Provides real life experience
Ø It focuses on small groups of students over a long period of time
Ø http://www.bigpicture.org/aboutus/philosophy.htm
Ø





The perfect school

Ø A place of individualized learning—each student has an Individualized learning plan
Ø A place where learning is REAL
Ø A place where instruction is student centered—little to no lecture
Ø A place where kids feel safe
Ø A place where assessment is valid and real and reflective—no MC test
Ø A place where there are no ABC grades….grading is done reflectively by students and teachers.
Ø A place that incorporates advisories and small class sizes
Ø A place that uses internships as true learning experiences.
Ø A place where the 5 habits of mind are used
Ø A place that encourages real usage of technology
Ø A place that does not offer honors credit. Instruction is individualized to each student’s needs.
Ø Each student’s gifts are used and appreciated.
Ø Bloom’s taxonomy is used at its highest levels.
Ø Would allow for at least one dual enrollment class at a local college.
Ø Would provide an actual education, not the appearance of one.
Ø Would also use mentors in the internships to help teach students
Ø Would leave the traditional model of education behind and explore new ideas and new options
Ø Is not afraid of taking risks and making leaps of faith.
Ø Find a place for all students.
Ø Use portfolios to monitor and show off progress
Ø Students learn because they are interested in the content material
Ø

alexis morris

Published Wednesday, February 15, 2006 ALEXIS MORRIS, 18 McKeel Academy LAKELAND -- Miss Alexis Kuuipo Morris of Lakeland died of injuries suffered in an automobile accident Monday (Feb. 13, 2006) at Tampa General Hospital. She was 18. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Jan. 10, 1988, she came to Lakeland from there in 1995. She was a student at McKeel Academy in Lakeland where she played volleyball and basketball. She also was involved with the TV production program at McKeel. She had just started her internship with the Polk County Sheriff's Office. She was a member of All Saints Episcopal Church in Lakeland. Miss Morris is survived by her parents, John and Jacqueline Morris, Lakeland; brother, Rick Morris, Lakeland; sister, Kelly Kaimilani Sheather, Honolulu; maternal grandmother, Beverly Cooper, Lakeland; paternal grandmother, Laura Morris, Honolulu. Services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Victory Church chapel. Gentry-Morrison Dukes Steen Funeral Chapel.

Published Tuesday, February 14, 2006

2 Dead in Crash That Snarls I-4 for Hours

By Gabrielle Finley
The Ledger

PLANT CITY -- A Lakeland woman and her boyfriend were killed in an accident on Interstate 4 early Monday, the first fatalities on I-4 in Hillsborough or Polk County so far this year, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.

The 5:15 a.m. accident shut down traffic for several hours, the FHP reported.

Anthony S. Boswell, 20, of Plant City, and his passenger Alexis Morris, 18, of Lakeland, were in a 2001 Hyundai Tiburon headed east on I-4 near Plant City.

Their car collided with the back of 56-year-old Luis E. Cordoves' 1993 Mercury Grand Marquis, according to an FHP report.

The Tiburon went into the median and crossed into the westbound lanes, colliding with the left rear of a tractor-trailer, the report said.

Upon impact, the tractor-trailer smashed into a concrete barrier wall and overturned, cutting off westbound traffic just east of the Alexander Street exit, the report said.

Boswell, who was not wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead at the crash scene, the report said.

Morris was flown to Tampa General Hospital where she died about 4:30 p.m., the FHP said.

Cordoves was not injured, and 54-year-old Richard Briseno, the tractor-trailer driver, suffered minor injuries, the report said.

Briseno was taken to South Florida Baptist Hospital in Plant City.

Traffic was shut down for five hours, backing up to the edge of Polk County, said FHP spokesman Larry Coggins.

Troopers routed traffic to Frontage Road while crews worked to clean up the road and move the tractor-trailer.

There have been no traffic fatalities on I-4 in Polk County so far this year, Coggins said.

Gabrielle Finley can be reached at gabrielle.finley@theledger.com or 863-802-7590.

The Met

So in the course of a week I have decided to move to providence RI and not to move. Amanda is willing to move to Providence for me to start working at the Met, assuming I got the job. I think I have decided that we are going to wati one year, let me finish my masters and then apply. Who knows. Working at the Met would be a dream come true for me. I don't see myself at McKeel forever anymore. And I really feel peaceful about leaving McKeel. The stress is uprooting my family adn moving them to a completely new place. Waiting one more year, would give us the chance to really put things in place.

It is crazy how this process all begun. I discover Alfie Kohn, loan the book to HM, he looses it, buys me the book by Dennis Littky, and the rest is history. I guess I have those two people to thank for all of this :-)

sigh.

I'm so disturbed that Betsi would want to call a project for her regular classes a "non-honors project." So many educators are blind to the damage that they could possibly be doing to their students.

Reaction to Wyat...

Many days like that. Less now than when I first started…I don’t think it gets easier; I think you just become less surprised by the emotional let down. The first time this happened to me (at Roosevelt) my teacher mentor sent me a note…I still have it somewhere…

I found the note and put it in your box; just return it when you are done. I remember my initial reaction was to withdraw; to try not to care about other kids as much as I had about Jimmy. Avoid any further hurt. But, Curtis, you are too important to these kids! Who gets the email from the kid in California going on his first World Tour? I emailed him back, but just think about the fact that the one person he wanted to share it with was his high school English teacherJ

Just so glad you are here; hopefully, you will feel that way again in just a few days>

Nance

-----Original Message-----
From: Romey, Curtis
Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 9:55 AM
To: Reagan, Nancey
Subject: hey...

I don’t know how I feel about all of this. I’m not angry at him (or at the school, like I thought I might be). I just feel sad. Sad for him, sad for his mom.

Maybe this is one of those mistakes that will help make his future better.

Do you have days that you just don’t get your job?

CR

"Think, Know, Choose, Do" --Ender's Shadow

Wyat and HM...cont.

My head hurts.

Wyat was dismissed today. It appears he has been duping us for a while and much of what he has told us wasn't true.

What do I learn from this? I'm to naive? I need to be less vulnerable? I dont' know....I honestly don't want to think about it.

My conference with HM went amazingly well. He is interested in me helping out...I have already talked with Margie about what I can do to help. We will see.....

And now for something different

Margie and I talked--She loves my idea...but even more important I talked to HM about it 2 weeks ago and he is all about changing the state of the school and shaking things up. I needed to hear both he and Margie say that b/c I was ready to think McKeel was no better than any other high school.

Margie said, again, that she thinks I should start thinking administration. So...tomorrow I'm goign to talk to HM about more responsibility within curriculum (aka helping Margie).

I'll follow up on his response.....

Wyat

So the question I keep asking myself is "When do I stop caring?" I know the answer is never, though I see other people (or at least I think I see them) giving up. I can't give up on him b/c I have invested my heart into him. As cheesy and "torch of education" as that sounds, it is true. I see my own boys in him and I treat him as I would want someone to treat my son.

Wyat is on the verge of being dismissed, but yet people are still fighting for him. That makes me happy. Well, fighting for him isn't the right word. The ball is completely in his court. It is his decision to want to be here. He has missed so much school and his grades are so bad that he has to pull himself out of it.

I think they are pulling internship from him. As much as I believed before that was a bad idea, I think it is a good idea now. He needs to be here--or at least he needs to give the appearance of being here to appease the powers that be.

The underlying question is why I care so much for him. As I said, I see my own sons in him. But why him and not Brian Vandersteen, Vaughn Stewart, Chris Furman (Though I think I had begun caring about Chris...). Even not just specifically for him, but why do I care period? What is it and Wyat of all people?! He knows what to say, he has the puppy dog eyes, he is apologetic and grateful, etc. etc. etc....but yet I can't give up on him.

Sigh...Not a good day. I just hope he gets his act together. We all want him to. I hope he knows how much we do care for him.

Where do I belong?

I don’t know where my place is teaching.  My place is not in this society which we call modern education.  I’m not sure where it is, but I don’t know if it is here at McKeel.  McKeel is a great school, but the teaching is so traditional.  I don’t care what they say, compared to other schools in the US, we are traditional.  

I feel like I’m the only here in FL that isn’t traditional.  I know more like me have to exist….but we are few and far between.  

I don’t know if I’m ready to open my own school yet.  I know what I want but I would like to teach in a school that shares my beliefs before I start my own school.  I know what I don’t want.   I don’t want traditional (as defined by Alfie Kohn), I want cutting edge.

Conversation with Amanda:
Cmromey: Hey.
Cmromey: There are no public Essential Schools in FL.
asmannromey: hey
Cmromey: I'm feeling bummed again.  This happens every time I go to talk to margie.
Cmromey: I dont' know where my place is as a teacher.  I'm really begging to doubt that it is here at mckeel.
asmannromey: so stop.
Cmromey: and go where?
Cmromey: to an even worse situation?
asmannromey: no, stop going to margie.  why do you feel that she has to love every thing you do?
Cmromey: i don't know.
Cmromey: This really has nothing to do with the project.
Cmromey: I'm worried about it and she brought up some really good points
asmannromey: I suggest that you meet with them individually in the beginning .  help guide them into this.
asmannromey: what points?\
Cmromey: the fact that you have kids that "can't" do this...not her words.  
Cmromey: the ones that won't do anything.
Cmromey: "I did it at home and my work is there" kind of kids.
Cmromey: She was a little concerened that this is what I had planned for the nine weeks.
Cmromey: She asked if I was doing any English stuff as well.
Cmromey: She just wants there to be back up "safety nets"
Cmromey: I understand what she is saying.  
asmannromey: no you don't.  you have kids who are reluctant to let themselves be incharge of themselves.  they definitely can.
asmannromey: the ones that won't do anything suffer the consequences.
asmannromey: no working at home.  this is to be a school project,  you are allowed to require that they do it in class.
asmannromey: they are writing a paper, doing research, etc.  this is a english project,
asmannromey: no necessity for safety nets.  
Cmromey: right.
asmannromey: you are their teacher, honey.  you do what you feel is important to help tthem learn.
Cmromey: I think waht frustrates me about her si that she is no different than any other teacher.
asmannromey: honey--of course she isn't.  why would you think she was?
Cmromey: she put it best when she said (and these are her words)....you may need a day that is your day when they are taking notes one something or studying a concept...a day to remind them that you are still in charge.
Cmromey: That is the whole point I am wanting to combat.  I'm "in charge" but I'm no IN CHARGE...do you know what I mean?
asmannromey: that's awful.  you are not in charge of them.  wtf?
Cmromey: she is no different than any traditional teacher.  that is what I meant.
asmannromey: they are in your charge.  you protect them from harm, allow them space to find out what it means to be them as individuals, and hopefully along the way, teach them a little english.
asmannromey: no, i know what you meant.  of course she isn't any different.  why did you think she was?  
Cmromey: I am so scared about taking my idea to to her.....
asmannromey: why did she have access to your lesson plans in the first place?
Cmromey: I dont' know....she talks a good talk.
Cmromey: I showed her the syllabus.
asmannromey: who cares what people say?  blahbitty blah
asmannromey: and, again, why?  you don't need her approval.
asmannromey: i'm not angry with you btw.
Cmromey: I just wanted her to be aware.  It wasn't so much approval.
Cmromey: I know you are not.
Cmromey: I am really struggling to know where my place is as a teacher.
Cmromey: b/c it isn't in the "society" that we call modern education.
asmannromey: no i agree with you.
asmannromey: and again, why do you want her to be aware?  she doesn't have anything to do with what you do in your class.  you give her too much power over you.
asmannromey: but, i would suggest that you definitely guide them.  meet once a week as a class and just talk--what's going on, etc.  state of the union kind of thing.
Cmromey: true.
Cmromey: right.
asmannromey: make sure that they are doing what they need to do.  if they aren't take them aside and convene with them.
asmannromey: JUST LIKE ms. helpling.
asmannromey: be mr. helpling.  not mr. teachling.
Cmromey: you are so wise :-)
Cmromey: seriously
asmannromey: awwww.  not really.  i'd be too lazy to do anything like that in my class.  *snort*
Cmromey: :-)
Cmromey: right...but you talk good :-)
asmannromey: seriously honey, you are in charge.  be polite but uninterested in her opinion.  ask her to come and see a state of the union meeting.  invite her to poresentations.
Cmromey: right.
asmannromey: and to the presentations too.
asmannromey: love you much.
Cmromey: I told her today  that I'm not sure if I wanted to teach ap next year and she said that is fine, she understands, we will talk about it later...maybe we can work something out with laura and I can take an 11th grade class.  
Cmromey: SHE IS NOT F'ING LISTENING TO ME
Cmromey: I dont' want another class.  I'm giving up one of the ones I have.
asmannromey: nope.  why should she?  you're just a teacher.
asmannromey: actually, she probably has no clue you're teaching an extra
Cmromey: check out this website....another crappy name, but a cool school.  Center for essential schools has a dvd series they are releasing the first dvd is overpriced at 40$.  But it looks really good.
Cmromey: http://www.sof.edu/
asmannromey: were my shoes coming ups or usps?
Cmromey: ups
asmannromey: okay.
asmannromey: so, feeling any better?
Cmromey: yes.
asmannromey: and, is Montessori looking any better?
Cmromey: I don't know.
Cmromey: I will be honest. It sounds good, but I don’t' know if that is me.
asmannromey: right.  
Cmromey: I haven't stopped thinking about it.
asmannromey: what is you?
asmannromey: you polygon.
Cmromey: I don't know and I think that is the problem.
Cmromey: I don’t' know if I'm ready to run a school. I want to teach in a school that has similar beliefs that I do.
asmannromey: right.  want to move?
asmannromey: i might be up for that.
Cmromey: How does NY or MA sound?
Cmromey: they have schools there I want to teach at?
Cmromey: I dont' know.
asmannromey: ummm, i meant in fl.
asmannromey: lol
asmannromey: i get cold.
Cmromey: right.
asmannromey: but if i had to choose, i'd say probably ny
Cmromey: that web site...is for a school called School of the Future...stupid name, but the curriculum is so cool.
Cmromey: One of the senior humanities techers came from florida ....I trying to figure out how to email him with out sounding liek a blubbering teen ager --- I love what you are doing....please let me steal it.  
asmannromey: nyc?  i might be up for a move there
Cmromey: manhattan. ypu
Cmromey: I think my problem right now is I'm not sure who I am as a teacher yet.  I see what I want, but I'm not there.
asmannromey: could we afford it?
Cmromey: I know what I don't want and want to avoid it at all costs.
asmannromey: and is that mckeel?
asmannromey: yet?
Cmromey: I don't have any idea.
Cmromey: about affording it.
Cmromey: I'm not moving yet.
Cmromey: Um...no, mckeel is sort of limbo.
Cmromey: good but not great.
asmannromey: right
Cmromey: we are small, and that affords me lots of lee way to do things.
Cmromey: Anyway, I do feel better.
asmannromey: good
asmannromey: coming home soon?
asmannromey: lol
Cmromey: kind of helpless but better.
Cmromey: to put this in your perspective.  I feel like the only nursing mother in a state of formula feeders.
asmannromey: yes.  iknow exactly how you feel.  and, i was that teacher once.