Julian School Improvement Plan - Update
The School Improvement Plan at Julian Middle School is focused on providing equitable learning opportunities that increases student engagement for all students. There are 5 teams of teachers that have done work in the following areas: Powerful Instructional Practices Team, Behavior and Academic Intervention Practices Team, Technology Instructional Practices Team, Social Emotional Learning Team, and the Family Engagement Team.
Part of our School Improvement Plan process is having teachers create and lead professional learning opportunities for their colleagues. At our March staff meeting, Julian teachers attended sessions on the following topics:
- 100% of Students, 100% of the Time: Techniques for Distinguished Tier 1 Instruction
- Attendees will learn about specific techniques to incorporate high behavioral expectations in the classroom.
- Tech Tools for the 4 C’s
- To provide students and teachers with 21st century learning tools that allow them to communicate, collaborate, create, and use critical thinking skills.
- Khan Academy - In Your Classroom
- Explore the different aspects of Khan Academy, and the different ways it can be incorporated into content areas other than math. Hear about Khan Academy journeys from our teachers.
- Engaging Students in Strong Discussion
- Immerse yourselves in discussion around high interest text/video using discussion strategies that promote meaningful conversations. Then spend time exploring this strategy and more. Walk away with tips for getting started and tools to incorporate today!
- Positive Teacher Language
- Discuss with colleagues the ways that we can intentionally use how we speak to students as a tool for both classroom management and building students, social, emotional skills.
These learning sessions were created and led by Julian teachers. This model is enabling us to further establish collective teacher efficacy throughout our building. Collective teacher efficacy is the shared belief that through our collective action, we can positively influence student outcomes, including those who are disengaged and/or disadvantaged. I will be providing regular updates regarding the progress of School Improvement Plan over the next few months of school.
Trimester 2 Report Cards - Going Home Today!
Students are being given their trimester 2 report cards at the end of the school day. You can expect to receive these from your student this afternoon.
6th and 7th grade families are also receiving results from the Illinois Science Assessment that your student completed while in 5th grade. Click this link for more information about the science assessment scores.
Julian STEM Program Recognized
Julian Middle School has been recognized as a Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Distinguished School for providing broad access to transformative learning opportunities for students through PLTW GatewayTM. Congratulations to our STEM teachers: Mr. Walsh, Ms. Court, and Mr. Olson on this accomplishment. We are one of just 110 middle schools across the U.S. to receive this honor. PLTW is a nonprofit organization that serves millions of K-12 students and teachers in over 10,500 schools across the U.S. Click this link to read more.
Jukebox @ IGMSA
The students of Julian's Jukebox once again achieved a "1" Rating at the Illinois Grade School Music Association (IGSMA) Festival. The panel of esteemed adjudicators awarded the group "perfect scores", something rarely achieved even by many of the talented Jukebox groups in the past. Their performance was truly thrilling!
Click here if you would like to take a listen.
Our Jukebox group is made up of the following students:
Soprano
Aiyana Best, Ava Waters, Greta Kirby, Livia Angelini, Natalie Klein, Roya Gharavi, Sabine Roser, Samantha Duwe, Sarah Chapman, Solana Kahn and Terria O'Neal
Alto
Brigid Barrette, Cameren Truelove, Eleanor Rollo, Jessica Wolthusen, Kate Cipparrone, Kirsten Plunkett, Lena Tang, Lili Cleaveland, Lily Manning, London Bingenheimer, Megan Chyna and Olivia Scott
Tenor
Ben Bonick, Brady Walters, Caz Badynee, Chip Papier, Gabe Huang, Jackson Hassler, James McConnell, Kegan Jones, Matthew Tuhey, Michael Goto, Tucker Bonnell and Will Endres
Bass
Ben Rodriguez, Henry Skalla, Roman Johnson and Wes Morrison
Thanks to Mr. Seymour for the great work he does with all of our choir students!
Speech Team takes 1st Place
On March 3 our District 97 Speech Team which is made up of Julian and Brooks students took 1st place again at the West 40 Speech and Drama Festival at Elmwood Park High School. Our students participated in 10 events and scored first place in each one.
Congratulations to our students for their hard work!
Mary Andolina, Maggie Blonski, Josh Bonds, Luke Finn, Abby Lofgren, Wes Morrison, Terria O’Neal, Kirsten Plunkett, Zach Polan, Lauren Rainey, Shea Sturtevant, Cameron Truelove, Matthew Tuhey and Evan Yarbrough
A big thank you goes out to Mr. Beck, Mr. Colucci, Mr. McGlynn and Ms. Santos who coached our students this year!
Jazz Ensemble Recognized
The PJMS Jazz Ensemble performed in the Illinois Grade School Music Association District Jazz Contest and received a Division 1 rating, from all 3 judges which is a great accomplishment! They are now qualified for the State Contest in May. We are proud of the kids as they performed wonderfully and represented Julian with pride.
Congratulations to the following students:
Thomas Smith, Phineas Darrow, Jahan Malik, Mattia Zefran, DJ Cintron, Dominic Sanders, Owen Miller, Aurelia Brice, Roger Dunn, Charlie O’Keefe, Cole Salgado, Sam Champman-Rienstra, Reid Wollen, Josiah Jennison, Cory Yu, Ben Cohen, Todd Kiefer, Nick Owen and Alex Hymson
Thanks to Mr. Kanwisher for the great work he does with our band students!
Battle of the Bots (VEX Robotics Competition)
The dust is still settling from the Battle of the Bots. What a day! Thank you to all of the staff that stopped by to cheer on the students. The bots that took the field on Saturday, March 3 were some of the best that we have ever seen! The results are posted below:
Excellence Award – Team Kryptonite: Jacob Drews, Emily Hsieh, Senja Peters, Malik Pintado-Vertner, Mia Rossbach, Isaac Teo
Tournament Finalist and Design Award – Team Havoc: Will Crosby, Patrick Diakite, Evan Dominguez, Michael Drobot, Dawson Pickens and Zephaniah Roe
Tournament Finalist – Name Unknown: Jordan Arnold-Anderson, Olivia Evans, Hederik Kosten, Reed Uebelhor and Zachary Wachtel
Tournament Finalist – Jumanji: Charlotte Boultinghouse, Annelise Dusterberg, Victoria Evans, Lowell Rindler and Michael Ryan
Sportsmanship Award – Dand-E-Lions: Nina Cleofe, Eva Loranz, Belle Martin, Lauren Rainey and Ellie Ruszczyk
Congratulations to our students for their hard work!
Thanks to our robotics coaches for all the time and energy that put into working with our students. Coaches include Mr. Walsh, Mr. Berger, Mr. Morrell, Ms. Tucker, and Ms. Junker
Illinois Math and Science Academy (IMSA) - Math Competition
Congratulations to the Julian Middle School Math Team that took 1st place overall in our division at the IMSA Math Competition earlier this week! Our winners included the following students:
7th Grade - Grade Level Team Competition
2nd Place: Hayden Jingst, Porter Jingst, Maria Kunigk-Bakalar and Carson Brown
8th Grade - Grade Level Team Competition
1st Place: Gabe Haung, Griffin Kelley, Evan Pollock and Cory Yu
8th Grade Individual
1st Place - Cory Yu
3rd Place Tie - Griffin Kelley and Gabe Haung
Creative Thinking Pair Competition
2nd Place - Will Crosby & Carson Brown
3rd Place - Griffin Kelley & Jordan Arnold-Anderson
A big thank you to our math club sponsors: Mr. Pletsch and Ms. Welchko.