Pennsylvania Association for Middle Level Education
Hello, Four weeks until Thanksgiving! The holiday season is approaching quickly! What are your students doing this season to serve their community? Hoping to start or enhance a meaningful service or advocacy project with your students to highlight civic engagement and sharpen leadership skills? Explore.Act.Tell. is a solution! The Foundation for Impact on Literacy and Learning (FILL) is thrilled to introduce another no-cost leadership program! With the Explore.Act.Tell. Program as a guide, students will learn about the issues surrounding food insecurity and develop skills they will use to create and implement a community service project. Here are a few details:
FREE program for grades 6-12 fully funded by Albertsons Companies Foundation Nourishing Neighbors Program
Experiential learning program that teaches students to understand and act on solutions to hunger insecurity in their community
Consists of four interactive lessons with ready-to-use student and teacher lesson plans
Enter projects into the student challenge for a chance to win a $5,000 grant for a hunger focused charity of choice
Sign up for free and instant access!
Questions - please email Stephanie@fill.foundation or call 317-443-2954 Happy Holidays! Stephanie
This season of giving thanks, we want to know why you’re thankful for literacy, both in your own life and in your students’ lives. We’ll send you a beautifully printed poster to express our gratitude for this effort! We have a limited quantity available, so make sure to tell us your story and request your poster soon.
Veteran teacher Marilyn Dieppa recently joined Science Connections: The Podcast to share her insights on how teachers can adapt in an ever-changing educational landscape while also modeling a steady, solid presence for their students. Check out this latest blog post for a look at the insights Marilyn shared on the podcast.
Learn more about Amplify Reading’s year-long study on student growth and proven reading development in grades K–5. Research shows that students who used Amplify Reading for at least 30 minutes a week were 35.5% more likely than non-Amplify Reading students to meet or exceed the benchmark by the end of the school year. Even in inconsistent times, students made greater gains with Amplify Reading.
Join us for the Amplify Fall ELA webinar series, Three Classroom Strategies to Prepare Your Students for High School. Amplify has designed this three-part webinar series to help instructors understand how building the proper scaffolding throughout each grade will maximize growth for middle school students of all levels. Each webinar discusses a unique strategy, so be sure to sign up for each one!
Join us for a virtual professional development opportunity like no other. Sit in on a Desmos Classroom lesson taught by expert educators and Desmos Classroom superusers. You’ll play the role of a student and even peek behind the curtain as you experience Desmos Classroom’s engaging, collaborative digital activities and powerful, live classroom monitoring tools.
Dyslexia toolkit for teachers. As we enter Dyslexia Awareness Month, it is important to acknowledge young students who may be at risk for dyslexia and struggling to read in the classroom this year. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Learn how you can identify these students and get them the support they need!
The 6th Annual Conference of The Reading League: October 20–21, 2022 IDA 2022 Annual Reading, Literacy & Learning Conference: November 10–12, 2022 GESS: November 15–17, 2022 NCTE: November 17–20, 2022
It’s time for the 2023 National School Bus Safety Week Poster Contest and PennDOT needs your help to spread the word.
This is a great opportunity for students to learn about school bus safety while promoting it to others.
Please direct this email to your Principal’s Office so they may distribute the information to the appropriate department.
Details for entering this fun and educational contest are found at the following link:
https://www.penndot.pa.gov/TravelInPA/Safety/TrafficSafetyAndDriverTopics/Documents/School-Bus/SB-Poster_Guidelines_Booklet.pdf
A reminder from PennDOT
As you know each year PennDOT encourages School Districts and Law Enforcement to work together to educate motorists about the importance of stopping for school buses that are loading or unloading students with their red lights on. Please find attached our annual Operation Safe Stop (OSS) Booklet that provides all the details on how to participate.
Operation Safe Stop is Wednesday October 19, 2022, and is part of School Bus Safety week which is October 17th thru October 21st. We ask that you please distribute these booklets for participation.
Your kind attention to this request will assure us a very successful OSS event.
A sincere thank you for all you do!
The Explore.Act.Tell. Program is ready for the 2022-2023 school year!
It is time to renew for the new school year! Renew here now by answering two multiple choice questions!
A welcome packet will be mailed to you after registration.
Please share with colleagues! New registrants can register here:exploreacttell.org/registration.
As a refresher, here are a few details:
FREE program for grades 6-12 fully funded by Albertsons Companies Foundation Nourishing Neighbors Program.
Consists of four interactive lessons with ready-to-use student and teacher lesson plans aligned to educational standards
Enter projects into the student challenge for a chance to win a grant for a hunger focused charity of choice
Visit our website for more information: exploreacttell.org
Questions - please email Stephanie@fill.foundation or call 317-443-2954
Hello Middle School/Level math teachers, teacher educators, and STEM educators:
COMAP is very excited about our Middle Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MidMCM) – now in its 2nd year. The MidMCM offers middle school/level students the opportunity to work as team members to engage in and improve their modeling, problem solving, and writing skills.
Read more here...
Hey Digital Changemakers,
Reaching out to update you on the exciting new events and opportunities we have in store! Feel free to share these announcements with your connections and school community.
Join us during National Bullying Prevention Month for a discussion on raising awareness for important causes! On Sunday, October 2, at 4 PM PDT, our student panelists will talk about how they’re using their platforms to advocate for bullying prevention, global diversity, and LGBTQIA+ awareness. Learn more, get the student panelist signup link, and register for all of our upcoming eventsHERE!
Easy for you to copy and paste the above into your newsletter. See below for more:
Students4Good Webinar: Be Nice, Be An Ally - “With awareness comes responsibility and choice.” Join us THIS SUNDAY October 2 at 4 PM PDT for a discussion on global diversity, LGBTQIA+ awareness, and bullying prevention. Sign up for free HERE.
#ICANHELP is looking for Student Speakers! - Know any students who are involved in important causes or using social media to make a positive impact? Invite them to sign up to be a Students4Good panelist HERE!
Nominate A Digital Do-Gooder! - Know a student who is spreading online positivity? Making their online space a place to feel welcomed? Doing good things for others and not asking for anything in return? Nominate them HERE, and they’ll receive a special gift from NY Yankees star Aaron Judge!
Train the Trainer Program Package - Our new package deal fully equips teachers, counselors, resource officers, and administrators to train students to become peer mentors and leaders in the safe, responsible use of digital technology. Click HERE to learn more about the program and our discounted certification courses!
2022 Digital4Good Summit - This December, we’ll be celebrating eleven outstanding student innovators who are using digital media and technology to solve problems in their communities and advance social, economic, and educational causes. Get more info, sign up to host a watch party, and register for the event HERE.
Thanks for being a part of the #ICANHELP family!
#YouRock,
Kim Karr
Less than one-third of American workers feel very confident in their ability to have enough money to live comfortably throughout their retirement.* Horace Mann is a long-time PAMLE corporate supporter. Join one of their informational sessions to learn more about addressing potential challenges you could face as you near and live in retirement. Feel free to share with your staff and encourage them to register as well. Register today!
https://horacemann.com/webinars?utm_source=pamle
*Employee Benefit Research Institute’s 2022 Retirement Confidence Survey
Columbus, OH – AMLE is pleased to announce that Gail Heinemeyer, retired middle school principal, AMLE Leadership Institute faculty and Executive Secretary and Director for Professional Development for the Pennsylvania Association for Middle Level Education is the recipient of the AMLE Distinguished Service Award. The award was established to recognize outstanding service by an organization or an individual who makes a significant contribution to advancing the work of AMLE in reaching middle grades educators, schools, and young adolescents
Beginning as a social studies and math teacher, Gail spent 45 years with the Ridley School District in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, ultimately serving as an assistant principal, principal, and Director of Support Services. While initially she envisioned teaching in the high school setting, she found herself at home in the middle grades after playing an integral role in the district’s transition to the middle school model. Since then, she’s become a lifelong advocate for middle level education and young adolescent students. “It’s important that someone going into the middle level understands the uniqueness of that,” explains Heinemeyer, “I’d constantly be reminding new teachers that it’s not all about the subject matter, it’s about developing a relationship with the child first. They’re not going to learn anything from you until you show them respect and the fact that you like and understand them. Once you do that, your teaching becomes that much easier.”
Gail has been involved in AMLE in a leadership capacity for more than twenty years, notably serving as the Co-Chair of the 2005 AMLE Annual Conference in Philadelphia and as faculty for the Institute for Middle Level Leadership beginning in 2004. She served as Chair of the Institute from 2018 to 2021. Gail also chaired the Back-to-School Camp, AMLE’s first fully virtual conference, in the summer of 2020 to aid schools grappling with the pandemic. She is simultaneously heavily involved in her state affiliate, the Pennsylvania Association for Middle Level Education, which bestowed on her the William Alexander Award for contributions to middle level education.
“Gail was one of my first mentors when I joined AMLE and I can’t think of a more deserving individual to receive this award,” said Stephanie Simpson, AMLE CEO. “My favorite memory with Gail was working together on the Back-to-School camp. It was nerve wracking for both our members who were trying to figure out how to school amid a pandemic and for AMLE as we hosted our first virtual conference. Gail had a way of putting everyone at ease. She really made us feel like we could get through anything together.”
“The AMLE Board of Trustees is delighted to be able to bestow this distinguished service award on Ms. Heinemeyer,” said Lisa Harrison, Chair of the Board of Trustees. “Gail not only knows and understands the middle school concept, she has lived it through her actions for decades. It’s easy to see her impact on her own school as well as the educators she’s touched throughout the years.”
Heinemeyer said of receiving the award, “I’m very appreciative of AMLE and recognizing the efforts that I have made over the past number of years. Doing these things was just second nature, never expecting to be recognized. But the fact that I am is truly somewhat overwhelming.” The award will be presented in November 2022 at the 49th Annual Conference for Middle Level Education in Orlando, Florida.
Pennsylvania Association for Middle Level Education, P.O. Box 312, State College, PA 16801support@pamle.org© 2015. PAMLE All rights reserved
