Welcome Back 2009

Greeneville Middle School

"Work Hard, Play Hard"

August 6, 2009

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome back to school!  The Greeneville Middle School staff is excited about this upcoming year. Last year we spent much time and energy revising our schedule and our curriculum.  We have several teachers in new positions, and we have devised a schedule so that students will have math, language arts, science, and social studies every day all year long.  Our work began because of concerns from parents, community and staff about the progress in science and social studies and because of the new high school graduation requirements mandated by the Tennessee Diploma Project.  We listened, researched, and visited other quality middle school programs to create the new schedule.  The new curriculum for math, language arts and science was produced by the state and will be implemented this year as well. 

On the back of this letter, you will find the schedule for all three grades.  Due to limited personnel, we had to create two different schedules: one schedule for 6^th and 8^th grades and a different schedule for 7^th grade.  All classes will average 20-25 students.  We will explain the schedule at our parent night events and answer questions and concerns.  Last year we started grade level parent nights to explain specifics to grade levels and give you time to meet and talk to the staff.  Parent nights are at 7:00 p.m. in the GMS Commons as follows:  6^th grade August 6, 7^th grade August 10, and 8^th grade August 11. You can check out the new staff assignments on our GMS website http://gms.gcschools.net/ .

At GMS, we are dedicated to serving our community and to serving our students.  We do that by providing the best educational experience which requires professional development for our staff.   We have two initiatives in our system to address this need:  1) professional learning days built into the calendar and 2) academic coaches.  Last year we implemented the professional learning days and we will continue that work this year.  We use this time to share best teaching practices, map the curriculum and collaborate with our cohorts.  This is such valuable time for our teachers, and it translates into valuable time for our students. 

This year we are implementing academic coaches system-wide with the federal stimulus money (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act).  Danna Brickell will be the GMS academic coach, and Kristen Caton will be our librarian for the next two years.  Mrs. Brickell has 25 years experience as a teacher and librarian.  She has also served as the instructional coordinator at GMS for 10 years.  She brings a wealth of knowledge and professionalism to this position.  Her main roles will be to assist veteran teachers in lesson design, find resources for the new curriculum, and mentor new teachers.  

As you can see, GMS is making changes for optimum student learning.  We will push students to do their best.  We will support students with interventions to ensure success.   As we move forward with the new schedule, new curriculum standards and the implementation of the Tennessee Diploma Project, we will continue to research new ideas and innovative teaching strategies, find and implement the latest technology, and prepare all students for success at the highest level possible.  We look forward to an awesome year!

Sincerely,

Shelly W. Smith