School is out but Learning Continues

Last week all of our local schools completed the 2018-2019 school year.  There were many sighs of relief from students and teachers alike. On the other hand, there may have been a few groans from parents as they grapple with what to do with their children over the next two months. 

Of course there are many summer camps and options from which to choose but students can also learn while at home or even on vacation.  Selma City Schools wants to ensure that our scholars are exposed to continuous, quality learning by providing our students with access to Edgenuity during the summer.  Edgenuity is a leading online, standards-based resource for students in grades K-12.  It is specifically designed to improve learning outcomes.

Our scholars used this tool during the school year and can continue using it at home.  Students will have a wealth of information at their fingertips that can be reviewed as many times as necessary to achieve mastery.  This individualized instruction is intended to meet the needs of each scholar.

Additionally, MyOn offers thousands of books to include those on our summer reading list.  This online library has been a big hit with our families for the last two years.  Many of our scholars have improved their reading level as they have discovered the joy of reading.  Students are encouraged to read each book on their reading list and especially the required book for their grade-level and take the online assessment. 

Participating students will be recognized at the beginning of the school year for their hard work.  I look forward to celebrating our amazing readers this fall!

Using Edgenuity and MyOn are two sure ways to counter the summer slide.  Summer slide is the term used to describe the summer learning loss that can occur over summer break.  Research indicates that students can lose as much as two months of reading skills and two and a half months of math skills over a single summer.

Furthermore, 9 out of 10 teachers have to re-teach material when students return to school in the fall.  Teachers spend form 4-6 weeks re-teaching content due to the summer slide. 

Students who read or are engaged in other forms of learning even for just 3-4 hours a week can prevent the summer slide.  Team Selma recommends at least 20 minutes of reader each day.

Yes, school is out but learning must continue!  Parents, please check out our website, social media outlets or call your child’s school for more information on summer reading and summer learning dates and locations.  Happy Summer!

For more information, email me at avis.williams@selmacityschools.org

Shadow-A-Student Day

Last week, Team Selma central office administrators had amazing opportunities to participate in Shadow-a-Student Day.  What an engaging experience!  My scholar was a 5^th grader at Meadowview.

At the start of class, we participated in the morning class meeting where students shared their good news.  Our teacher was funny and it was clear that her rapport with the class was genuine and positive.  My classmates shared about siblings and other family members graduating from college, visits from cousins and helping with Sunday school.  One brave young man even shared that he met his grandfather for the first time over the weekend.  I was happy that he felt safe sharing this with his peers.

We had physical education shortly after this.  As a PE major myself, I looked forward to this.  I jumped circles around my peers while jumping rope during a cardio circuit.  My pushups and sit-ups were pretty impressive too!  I tried not to make my new friends feel bad as some of them struggled more than me to accomplish our tasks. 

Small group reading was next followed by time in the computer center.  My scholar taught me some basics of coding.  She was supportive and very confident.  It was an incredible day.

The following day during our debriefing at our cabinet meeting, I learned that other members of Team Selma had very different experiences.  In short, it’s clear that we have much work to do in order to create equity across all of our schools.  My expectation is that every scholar has the opportunity to thrive in a safe and supportive learning environment.  This activity brought to light that we have work to do in this area.

Fortunately, my team and I are committed to ensuring that our scholars have all that they need to be successful today as well as beyond high school graduation.  This experience further solidified “My why” and made it very clear that we are moving in the right direction.

The pictures speak volumes.  Thanks so much to our teachers, leaders and scholars for making this an excellent learning opportunity!

For more information, email me at avis.williams@selmacityschools.org

Amazing Partnerships!

Team Selma is blessed with some truly phenomenal partnerships.  From restaurants to flower shops and even our local fraternities and sororities.  Recently, a new partnership emerged with the University of Alabama’s School of Engineering, specifically mechanical engineering.

Selma City Schools is committed to improving the academic outcomes of our scholars.  To that end, we are transforming R.B. Hudson to a STEAM Academy.  STEAM is science, technology, engineering, arts and math.  Our UA partnership will be amazing for supporting our efforts.

The mechanical engineering department, under the leadership of Dr. Marcus Ashford, have created a class titled Engineering Service Learning and Logistics.  Members of this class will support our scholars and teachers at Hudson and Selma High School.  We are creating a STEAM Bus that will be a greenhouse on wheels!

You may have seen pictures on our social media sites featuring our welding scholars doing the initial work to repurpose the school bus.  Next, the UA students are designing a low cost, shed-like structure that can be used to house the STEAM Bus. They may even incorporate solar panels, rain barrels, and/or other systems to be attached to the shed to interact with the bus.  We even discussed developing a special climate model for the bus.

Aside from working with the STEAM Bus, this partnership will also provide grant writing assistance, teacher workshops and connecting us with other UA organizations.  We are super excited to explore the opportunities that this could provide for our teachers and scholars!

As amazing as this is, we recognize that this is only possible because of the grant received from International Paper to begin this project.  Also, our incredible teachers, Mrs. Williamson, Ms. Needham, Mr. Irby and Mr. Talton are to be commended for their leadership.

In the coming months, we will have a great reveal for this bus and our Parent University Bus.  Both buses will be used to ensure that our schools are connecting with the community in a meaningful way. 

Team Selma appreciates all of our partners and welcome YOU to become a part of our team!  Courtney Washington, our community engagement specialist, will be more than happy to pair you with a school or a special project.  Check out our website and social media for details and let us know how you want to partner with Team Selma!

For more information, email me at avis.williams@selmacityschools.org