March 2, 2015
Dear Parents,
Calendar of Events for the week of March 2nd-6th:
Tuesday, March 3rd: Pre-UIL Concert in the HMS Cafeteria
Thursday, March 5th: Spring Pictures
Thursday, March 5th: Boys and Girls Track Meet @ Canyon Vista 4:30PM
Sunday, March 8th: Spring forward one hour! Daylight Savings Time ends
CHOICE SHEETS ARE DUE!
Parents, make sure that your child has turned in their parent signed course selection sheets for next school year to the counseling office. We are in the process of imputing choice sheets into the computer and we want to make sure that your child has theirs in so he/she will have a schedule next fall.
Below is an email I sent my staff as a follow up to our guest speaker Alexis Jones this past morning. Her message of empowering our girls to love themselves for who they are and not for how Hollywood and social media defines them was inspirational and made a profound impact on many of our Hopewell girls. Her anti-bullying message was very well received by our girls and supported by our incredible staff. My letter below outlines my thoughts on the event. I am working hard to secure a speaker later in the spring after STAAR for our Hopewell boys:
“Dear Hopewell Teachers and Staff,
If you haven't heard yet, our speaker for all our girls morning Alexis Jones was an absolute grand-slam home run with our girls. I have seen quite a few of her presentations to both middle and high school girls through the years but never have observed more attentive, engaged, and focused girls throughout her hour long presentation as our Hopewell girls. I don't think one girl was re-directed by a teacher to pay attention. Her message and presentation was inspirational and hopefully will be sustained for the remainder of the school year and beyond. At Hopewell, I am absolutely 100% committed to ensure that our students are taught how to treat each other with dignity and with respect and I believe it's our job as educators to both model and teach that life skill to them in a positive, relevant way. We are much more in RRISD than just teaching the TEKS and getting our students STAAR ready. We must teach both academic AND emotional health to our kids as we are doing at Hopewell by raising the rigor and making learning relevant. If you want more information on Alexis' message and mission, go to: www.iamthatgirl.com or to www.alexisjones.com. Men staff, I strongly encourage and urge you to also check out her message to help you better understand where the girls you teach are coming from.
An example on how powerful and profound Alexis' message was, is the absolute explosion on social media through Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook by our students. Additionally, we have over 150 orders for Alexis' I am that Girl book which she is selling for only $12. If any teachers would like a copy, please let me know and I'll put you down for an order. I am purchasing two copies for our library.
I would encourage you all as teachers and advisory teachers to seize the opportunity to incorporate her message into your lessons, assignments, and writing prompts. The more we can sustain her message and keep it alive, the more it will not only benefit our girls, but maybe our boys will learn something too! I am very close to securing an equally impacting presentation for our boys later in the spring and hopefully will be able to secure that soon. Thank you to our men staff and any other staff that stayed behind to supervise the boys so our girls could hear Alexis. Your part in this event is greatly appreciated!
Lastly, MANY girls have approached me about forming an I am that Girl club here at Hopewell and we will need several teacher sponsors that are willing to organize the girls, gather materials from Alexis Jones' group, develop and carry out a meaningful community service project, and consistently meet with the students beginning right after spring break. Our girls are hungry for this message and we must take on the responsibility here at Hopewell to help support them. If you are interested in committing your time after school for this club and being part of this girl empowerment revolution at Hopewell please email me and let me know! We will be putting up IATG club information, presentation video clips and pics on our website this next week.
Thanks again everyone for working with our middle school students in such a positive way. Their brains are growing faster than ever before, their bodies are changing, and they are learning to become more independent people. They are many time frustrating and other times rewarding. It's definitely our job to guide them through this difficult time in their development and understand where they are coming from. This is where that relationship building piece is crucial as their teachers patiently guide them become productive and prepared citizens.
Karl"
NCLB School Report Card Info:
You as parents will be getting a hard copy notification with the 4th 6 weeks report card regarding our academic performance last year as specified by our Federal Report Card. This report card is reflective of our performance as a school as part of our federal obligations through the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Federal Report Cards for the state, the RRISD, and Hopewell Middle School are also now available online through the district’s website at: http://roundrockisd.org/
Hopewell Honor Code on our school website under latest news:
Don’t forget to check out our Hopewell MS Honor Code. We will be holding our students to the highest level of academic honesty as we continue our mission of increasing the academic rigor at Hopewell MS. We are not going to be teaching to the STAAR test at Hopewell MS but rather will be making sure that all Texas Essential Knowledge Skills or TEKS are taught with fidelity and honesty with an increase in academic rigor, critical thinking challenges for all students through relevant learning. We will continue to use available data provided through our Benchmark tests to ensure that we are effectively hitting all learning targets in preparation for STAAR but will not get lost in the weeds of that data. Teacher planning time is being spent on developing relevant and academically rigorous lessons, developing grade level common assessments, and ensuring that class activities are appropriately aligned to learning targets. The Hopewell Honor Code will ensure that our students are doing their own work and taking individual responsibility for that work. It’s a life lesson and great prep for high school and beyond. We appreciate your help and support of this important new HMS initiative.
Lastly, please encourage your children to self-advocate. This was part of Alexis Jones’ presentation to our girls. Our girls must take responsibility to help them build that confidence to confront uncomfortable, sometimes awkward situations. Meeting with a teacher on their own in solving various academic issues is a wonderful life skill. As parents, it’s very difficult at times to allow your child that space to talk on their own with a teacher is just so essential in their overall emotional health development.
Hope everyone has a wonderful week!
Karl
Karl
