Cerventino Multicultural Center for Middle School Studies

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Cerventino Multicultural Center for Middle
School Studies
Created by José Jaramillo Gloriby Neris
Kirsten Richter Alfred Mike Southall EDFN 313
Fall 2003
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Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra

• Miguel De Cervantes symbolizes the rudimentary
  principles that our educational community has
  identified as essential to a multi-dimensional
  and genuinely democratic education.
• His work has been translated into nearly every
  language spoken on Earth.
• The Cerventino Multicultural Center seeks to
  continuously construct and modify a learning
  environment suitable for the individual students
  involved.
• Quarterly curriculum assessments and revisions
  allows our institution to accurately identify
  which academic skills must be exercised more
  frequently by the students.

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Our Schools Mission and Philosophy
We are devoted to maintaining a healthy learning
environment that includes students, parents,
teachers, faculty, staff and community members.
The community of learners works as a team to
maximize the success of each individual learners
education. Our mission is to provide middle
school students with a learning environment that
reflects the interrelations of such aspects of
daily life as, We believe that
through these interrelations, students will learn
to accomplish tasks as individuals and in
cooperative student-centered learning
environments. The construction of self- esteem
and esteem for others should be emphasized along
with the creation of an extended learning
community involving parents, teachers, school
staff, community members, scholars and
researchers. The learning community participates
in co-curricular and extracurricular activities
contingent with the goals and objectives
communicated in the classrooms.
social physical
emotional cultural academic
Unity
Facing Challenges Constructing Identity
Appreciating Diversity Above Average
Standards
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Cerventino Middle School Demographics

• A portfolio of the student body is as follows
• Hispanic - 40
• White - 35
• African-American - 15
• Asian - 5
• Other - 5
• Cerventino Middle School was founded in 1959.
  There have been several renovations done to the
  facility to accommodate for the changing reality
  of student life, such as technology and physical
  education maintenance. The building has central
  heat and air. New windows were installed two
  years ago made of unbreakable substances to
  protect the students from possible emergencies
  and from accidents that might occur with
  easily-breakable glass. The all brick
  three-story school sits on land that has been
  decorated with the wild prairie vegetation that
  covered this land before it was incorporated into
  the United States.
• A variety of services are available at
  Cerventino Middle School Middle School. There's a
  School Nurse, School Psychologist, and Speech
  and Language Specialists. The school facility has
  a gym, ball field and a running track.
• The school structure also contains three
  state-of-the-art computer centers, a theater, a
  student resource center, and a large library. The
  library is fully computerized and has multimedia
  computers with internet and email access for
  students. A strong community spirit is the main
  thing that characterizes Cerventino Middle School
  School. A large number of former pupils and
  teachers remain connected to Cerventino Middle
  School

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General School Description

• Parent involvement is one of the requirements
  for families who enroll at Cerventino Middle
  School. Some of the key components of parental
  involvement are
• 1. Attendance at an open house scheduled
  during the week or on the weekends depending
  on parental requests for scheduling.
• 2. Parent Teacher Association
  workshops and programs aiming at
  increasing parental involvement in the
  learning community throughout the course of
  the school year (short-term) and the
  students academic life (long- term).
• 3. Parents gain an understanding
• of the schools expectations, policies
• and facilities used to create a safe learning
• environment for the members of learning
  community.

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General School Description

• Community Involvement at Cerventino Middle
  School Strengthening the ties among the school,
  local community and other aspects of daily life.

The culture of our school incorporates career
models to show students the wide variety of
choices at their disposition. Cerventino
continually invited guest speakers from the
business district, Museum staff, local artists
and trained professionals that can help our
community ignite an interest in students that
might need some real-life experiences shared with
them. Once the students are exposed to a
variety of career options and disciplines, they
can begin to narrow their choices and explore the
areas to which they are inclined. This is not a
guarantee that students will make the career
choice of their life. Students learn not only
from successes but also by a process of
elimination. A student who has been
exposed to career information from real-life
practitioners enters the high school with a firm
foundation that is linked to their identity. This
clear definition of identity only develops
gradually and through a variety of medians.
It is our contention as an educational
institution to help our students direct the
establishment of a professional and academic
identity. In doing so, strength of character and
individuality thrive. From this point, students
take more active roles as socially-responsible
individuals and in cooperative learning
environments.
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and Administrative Coordinators
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GeneralCurriculumGoals

• Our vision of the middle school is one that
  eases the transition that learners have to
  experience during adolescence. Cerventino uses
  the following theories and practices to carry on
  its mission as an educational institution.
• Prior knowledge is recalled and linked to new
  concepts and strategies through
• 1. Literacy Skills
• 2. Integrated Technology
• 3. Maintaining a healthy and culturally-rich
  learning community.

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• Consider the emotional, physical, social,
  cultural and academic aspects that influence a
  learners engagement.
• Advisory period is held for one hour and a half
  twice a month. Use various strategies and topics
  of discussion relevant to the learners reality.
  The advisory period can be used by hosting a
  single assembly or can be arranged to address
  specific team issues as a smaller constituency.
• Emotional
• Examples 1. Peer Pressure (i.e. and gangs)
• 2. Concept of Respect
• 3. Emotional implications of physical
  development.
• Physical
• Examples 1. Eating Habits
• 2. Establishing healthy sleeping pattern.
• 3. Physical Effects of Anxiety and Depression.

General Curriculum Goals
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General Curriculum Goals

• Social
• Examples 1. Teacher vs. Student Sports games.
• 2. Co-curricular and extracurricular clubs.
• 3. School-wide competitions and contests.
• Cultural
• Examples 1. Invited speakers and presenters.
• 2. Student art and the Fine Arts. (paintings,
  theatre, music, literature)
• 3. Merit field trips
• Academic
• Examples 1. Supplemental tutoring offered.
• 2. Content-based technology workshops.
• 3. Communication forum open to and available
  for students, parents, teachers, staff and
  community members in order to maintain
  continuous and strong communication within the
  learning community.

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Resources

• Technology
• Three multimedia rooms each with
• 30 P.C.s
• two printers
• a scanner
• Internet Projector

Library Our library holds thousands of
books, encyclopedias, documents and archives
including many from the local area donated by
community members and alumni as part of their
legacy.
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Focus

• Cerventino focuses on nurturing a healthy
  learning community not only by prioritizing
  academic activities.
• The school follows a plan designed to receive
  input from family, school and community members
  in order to address issues that arise during the
  school year that affect student engagement.
• There is a strong emphasis on literacy skills and
  establishing them in students.
• A strong skills base allows students to complete
  individual and cooperative learning tasks above
  average.

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Issues and Trends
One of the common issues related with middle
school is health/sex education. In our middle
school sex education is used as a preventive tool
to avoid teen parents. The main emphasize in this
program is to create well-informed students who
will make wise choices. Our school offers
ongoing counseling for any students facing
discipline, gang-related, or any problem that may
affect their academic performance. Cerventino the
counseling office is composed of knowledgeable
social workers whose main goal is to provide a
safe and secure environment. At Cerventino we
feel that attendance and good grades go
hand-in-hand, therefore, are truancy office
ensures that students not only arrive at school
on time but are also there on a daily basis. The
truant officers monitor the number of absences
and take appropriate measures. A very
popular growing trend is that of immigrant
students. Our main concern at Cerventino is to
provide quality education for every student
regardless of where he or she is from. As a
result, we offer a variety of ESL, bilingual, and
tutoring classes to meet the needs of diverse and
multicultural community of students.
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Teachers, Faculty and Staff
6th Grade Math Mr. Wagner Case Manager Mr.
Pretkalis 6th Grade Science Mrs.
Klass Psychologist Ms. Linde 6th Grade
Social Studies Ms. Kapp Speech/Language
Pathologist Mrs. Rettke 6th Grade Language
Arts Mr. Sherrier ESL Coordinator Mr.
Zanders BD Resource Ms. Zajac 7th Grade
Math Ms. Sargeant LD Resource Mrs.
Schnoor 7th Grade Science Mr. Gursky Learning
Specialist Coordinators 7th Grade Social
Studies Mr. Kurtis 7th Grade Language Arts Ms.
Fallon 6th Grade Counselors Ms.
Jennings Mr. Munoz 7th Grade
Counselors Ms. Samuels 8th Grade Math Ms.
Trychta Mr. Emmitt 8th Grade Science Ms.
Kusar 8th Grade Counselors Mrs. Howell 8th
Grade Social Studies Mr. Tyler Mr.
Sanchez 8th Grade Language Arts Mr.
Barton Art Ms. Miranda Music Ms.
Rapaly Physical Education Mr.
Eischen Librarian Ms. Marion Technology
Lab Mr. Kinzie
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• We believe that teachers should be confident in
  their teaching, and about their subject matter,
  so that they can share what they do in their
  classrooms with one another. Therefore, we have
  organized our instructors into nine teams
• Three Grade Level teams that are responsible for
  creating
• goals and setting standards within their
  particular grade level.
• Four Subject Area teams that are responsible for
  creating goals
• and setting standards within their particular
  subject area.
• One Creative Services team that consists of the
  following
• instructors art, music, physical education,
  librarian and technology lab.
• One Student Services team that consists of the
  following experts six counselors (one male and
  one female for each grade level), psychologist,
  ESL coordinator, speech/language pathologist, BD
  resource, LD resource and case manager.

Teaming
Teams 6th Grade Team Math Team (6th, 7th and
8th Grade teachers) Creative Services Team 7th
Grade Team Science Team (6th, 7th and 8th Grade
teachers) Student Services Team 8th Grade
Team Social Studies Team (6th, 7th and 8th Grade
teachers) Language Arts Team (6th, 7th and
8th Grade teachers)
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The teams will attend meetings according to the
following schedule
Team Meetings
Monday - 4th Period 6th Grade Team Art
teacher 6th Grade Counselors 7th Grade Team
Music teacher 7th Grade Counselors 8th
Grade Team Physical Education teacher 8th
Grade Counselors Tuesday - 4th Period 6th
Grade Team 7th Grade Team 8th Grade
Team Thursday - 4th Period 6th Grade Team
Music teacher 6th Grade Counselors 7th Grade
Team Physical Education teacher 7th Grade
Counselors 8th Grade Team Art teacher 8th
Grade Counselors Friday - 4th Period 6th Grade
Team Physical Education teacher 6th Grade
Counselors 7th Grade Team Art teacher 7th
Grade Counselors 8th Grade Team Music
teacher 8th Grade Counselors Monday/Tuesday/Thu
rsday/Friday - 6th Period Math
Team Social Studies Team Science
Team Language Arts Team
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Benefits of Team Meetings

• The Special Services Team will hold meetings on a
  weekly basis, as determined by the case manager,
  to evaluate the program and make assessments.
  Members of this team can attend other team
  meetings as needed.
• We believe that teachers should be reflective
  practitioners. Therefore, we encourage our
  teachers to reflect upon their work every day.
  We encourage them to seek the advice of peers,
  and to share their knowledge with colleagues.
  This can be accomplished during team meetings or
  during professional development workshops.
• Professional development workshops will be
  developed for teachers and offered during team
  meeting times on a monthly basis. Topics may
  include classroom management, curriculum
  planning, special education, or any other topics
  that teachers may find pertinent.

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• Theories We believe that students learn best
  when they are motivated.
• Therefore, we encourage our teachers to
  incorporate the following
• aspects into their classrooms
• Dignity - Regardless of their talent, students
  that portray
• dignity are confident, secure, and see
  themselves as
• valuable (Harmin, 1998, p. 5).
• Energy - An energetic classroom is alive,
  busy, and active. The students are engaged
  and time tends to fly (Harmin, 1998, p. 5).
• Self-Management - Students with self-management
  skills make appropriate
• choices, guide and discipline themselves, and
  work willingly
• (Harmin, 1998, p. 5).
• Community - A strong classroom community
  involves sharing, cooperation, student
  interdependence, and support (Harmin, 1998, p.
  5).
• Awareness - Students that are aware of their
  surroundings concentrate, observe, listen,
  think, notice, and evaluate. They are mindful
  and attentive (Harmin, 1998, p. 5).

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Theoretical Fundamentals and Our Learning
Community
We believe in the educational theories of
Abraham Maslow, Howard Gardner and Lev Vygotsky,
and we have incorporated the concepts of these
theorists into our school. Our teachers and
administrators are acutely aware of the fact that
every student has needs, and we strive to meet
those needs each day. We know that optimal
learning takes place when a student feels that
his or her needs have been and are being met.
From the first day of school, all of our teachers
let students know that their classroom is a safe
environment. Elitism, to the extent that it
excludes others, is frowned upon in our school.
Instead, we encourage students to recognize,
appreciate and accept the uniqueness of every
individual. We encourage our teachers
to incorporate scaffolding into their lessons.
Think of this method as a staircase. The teacher
is standing on one step, and the student is
standing one step below the teacher. The teacher
offers assistance to the student so that he or
she can rise to the next step. By using this
method, we can help our students reach their
highest potential and beyond.
One of the ways that we do this is through our
Positive Peer Program. Every Wednesday, one
period for each grade level is dedicated to this
program. Participants include students,
teachers and counselors. It is a time for
students to resolve conflicts or discuss issues
and topics that are important to them. The group
is guided by student interaction. Teachers and
counselors serve only as mediators.
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We understand that not everyone learns or
expresses understanding in the same way.
Therefore, we encourage our teachers to use a
variety of instructional and assessment
strategies within their classes. Students
participate a variety of activities that
incorporate Gardners eight intelligences
linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial,
musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal,
intrapersonal and naturalist. By incorporating
this theory into our curriculum, we can ensure
that every student is learning and expressing
knowledge in a way best suited for him or her.
We do not believe that students should be
assessed on a single factor. Therefore, we
incorporate a number of factors into our
evaluations s classroom tests and quizzes s
portfolios (work included to be chosen by
student) s standardized test scores s
completion of homework s attendance s teacher
observations s class participation Other
factors such as extracurricular activities,
community service, and other leadership roles
may be included in evaluations on a case by case
basis.
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Schedule Students are expected to be in school
from 810am until 300pm. Class periods are
forty minutes in duration. The schedule is as
follows First Bell - 810 1st Period - 815
to 855 2nd Period - 900 to 940 3rd Period -
945 to 1025 4th Period - 1030 to 1110 5th
Period - 1115 to 1155 6th Period - 1200 to
1240 7th Period - 1245 to 125 8th Period -
130 to 210 9th Period - 215 to 255 Final
Bell - 300 All teachers will attend lunch
during 5th period. Students will attend lunch
according to their scheduled times.
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6th Grade Schedule Monday
Tuesday Wednesday
Thursday
Friday_________
1st Science 1st Science 1st Science 1st
Science 1st Science 2nd 2nd Math 2nd 2nd
Math 2nd 3rd Math 3rd 3rd Math 3rd
3rd 4th Lunch/Free Time 4th Lunch/Free Time 4th
Lunch/Free Time 4th Lunch/Free Time 4th
Lunch/Free Time 5th Technology Lab 5th
Library 5th Positive Peer Program 5th Technology
Lab 5th Library 6th Physical Education 6th
Art 6th Music 6th Art 6th Physical
Education 7th Social Studies 7th Social
Studies 7th Social Studies 7th Social
Studies 7th Social Studies 8th Language
Arts 8th 8th Language Arts 8th 8th Language
Arts 9th 9th Language Arts 9th 9th Language
Arts
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7th Grade Schedule Monday
Tuesday Wednesday___
Thursday
Friday__________
1st Science 1st Science 1st Science 1st
Science 1st Science 2nd 2nd Math 2nd 2nd
Math 2nd 3rd Math 3rd 3rd Math 3rd 3rd
Math 4th Library 4th Technology Lab 4thArt 4th
Physical Education 4th Technology Lab 5th
Lunch/Free Time 5th Lunch/Free Time 5th
Lunch/Free Time 5th Lunch/Free Time 5th
Lunch/Free Time 6th Art 6th Physical
Education 6th Positive Peer Program 6th
Library 6th Music 7th Social Studies 7th Social
Studies 7th Social Studies 7th Social Studies
7th Social Studies 8th Language Arts 8th 8th
Language Arts 8th 8th Language Arts 9th 9th
Language Arts 9th 9th Language
Arts 9th
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8th Grade Schedule Monday
Tuesday Wednesday___
Thursday
Friday__________
1st Science 1st Science 1st Science 1st
Science 1st Science 2nd 2nd Math 2nd 2nd
Math 2nd 3rd Math 3rd 3rd Math 3rd 3rd
Math 4th Music 4th Physical Education 4th
Positive Peer Program 4th Library 4th Physical
Education 5th Library 5th Technology Lab 5th
Art 5th 5th Technology Lab 6th Lunch/Free
Time 6th Lunch/Free Time 6th Lunch/Free Time 6th
Lunch/Free Time 6th Lunch/ Free Time 7th Social
Studies 7th Social Studies 7th Social Studies 7th
Social Studies 7th Social Studies 8th Language
Arts 8th 8th Language Arts 8th 8th Language
Arts 9th 9th Language Arts 9th 9th Language
Arts 9th
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• References
• Boyer, K. R. (2002, September). Using Active
  Learning Strategies to Motivate Students.
  Mathematics Teaching in the
• Middle School, 8, 48-51.
• Custer, T. J. (2003, September). Assessment
  Changing the Focus. Principal Leadership, 25-29.
• Guild, P. B., Chock-Eng, S. (1998, March-April).
  Multiple Intelligence, Learning Styles,
  Brain-Based Education Where
• do the messages overlap? Schools in the Middle,
  7, 38-40.
• Harmin, M. (1998). Strategies to Inspire Active
  Learning Complete Handbook. White Plains, NY
  Inspiring Strategy
• Institute.
• McNeely, S. (2000). Considerations in building
  a middle school. 34 paragraphs. Available
  neiu.blackboard.com/courses/1/ELAD_EDFN_313_32/co
  ntent.
• Ormrod, J. E. (2000). Educational Psychology
  Developing Learners. Upper Saddle River, NJ
  Prentice-Hall, Inc.
• Walley, C. W., Gerrick, W. G. (1999). Affirming
  Middle Grades Education. Needham Heights, MA
  Allyn Bacon.
• Other Internet Web Sites
• www.pta.org
• www.inspiringteachers.com
• www.educationworld.com
• www.middleweb.com
• www.thrirteen.org
• Instructor Magazine, A. 2001, P. 23
• Mailbag Magazine, J. 2001, P. 66

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