Vol. III Edition 1

9/15 Interims Issued

9/23 Back to school dance

(6-8pm); all grades

10/3 Make-Up Pictures

10/13 Sonic Spirit Night

(6-8pm); Broad St. Loc.

10/17 In-Service (no school)

10/18 Last Day 1st Qtr.

10/27 Report Cards Issued

Football Schedule

9/14 ADM vs. Manning (Away)

9/21 ADM vs. Hillcrest (Home)

9/28 ADM vs. Furman (Away)

10/5….ADM vs. Ebenezer(Home)

10/12...ADM vs. COM (Away)

10/19...ADM vs. Bates (Home)

*** 10/5 is Homecoming***

———————————————

Volleyball Schedule

9/15 ADM vs. Furman (Away)

9/19 ADM vs. Ebenezer (Home)

9/22 ADM vs. Hillcrest (Home)

9/24 ADM vs. Mayewood(Away)

9/26 ADM vs. COM (Home)

9/29 Open

10/1 ADM vs. Bates (Away)

10/3 ADM vs. Furman (Home)

10/6 ADM vs. Ebenezer (Away)

10/8 ADM vs. Hillcrest (Away)

10/10 ADM vs.Mayewood(Home)

Alice Drive Middle School Principal: Jeannie Pressley

40 Miller Road Asst. Principals: Jenaii Edwards &

Sumter, SC 29150 Trevor Ivey

803-775-0821 Phone Curriculum Coordinator:

803-778-2929 Fax Stephanie Barrineau

The ADM faculty & staff are excited about working with you and your student(s) this year! ADM is a special place with a rich history of academic excellence. We have a dedicated and passionate group of teachers and staff ready to work with your child. I am honored to partner with the various stakeholders in our learning community to deliver a world-class education to all students. We have so much to be proud of in our school’s continued focus on 21st Century learning and teaching. In partnership with all stakeholder groups, we will continue in our efforts to engage all students in a student-centered, rigorous, relevant, and integrated STEM-based education. Through this year’s theme – Soaring Above and Beyond – we will strengthen our culture of collaboration, global connections, and STEM-related partnerships to pre-

pare students to be high school ready.

Instruction at ADM is delivered to students through the form of an alternate A/B type of flexible scheduling. As such, students have eight classes alto-gether but only meet four on each day. There are four core classes (math, language arts, science, and social studies) and four other classes for related arts, enrichment, and/or remediation purposes to meet the customized learning needs of students on an individualized basis. Our teachers are con-tinuing to refine their practices to ensure that teaching and learning is max-imized throughout the 90-minute block. With the continued implementation of a 1:1 Chrome Book Technology Initiative, we are providing equitable ac-cess to 21st century technology for all ADM students. Through the SC Col-lege and Career Ready Standards, we will expand problem and project based-learning opportunities this year as the vehicle for STEM learning

across the curriculum. As you can see, great things are happening at ADM!

Please take time to download the ADM app from the app store on any Apple/

Droid device or check our website for updated back to school information.

Feel free to contact me with any questions/concerns you may

have.

In It Together!

Mrs. Pressley

Principal

Alice Drive Middle Selected to Participate in the Coveted Teach to Lead Program

John King, U.S. Secretary of Education, is an advocate of teacher leadership, stating, "We don't just want educators to be part of the necessary change--we need them to lead it." Such a statement can be found implemented at high quality levels at Alice Drive Middle School, the largest middle school in Sumter School District. Alice Drive Middle, a nationally certified STEM school, has been selected as one of only a dozen schools in the nation and the first ever in South Carolina to participate in the 2016-2017 Teach to Lead initiative. Coordinated by the U.S. Department of Education, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and ASCD, Teach to Lead is a national program that seeks to recognize and advance groundbreaking teacher-led work happening across the country. In doing so, the program uses the logic model to catalyze fundamental changes in the culture of schools and the culture of teaching so that teachers play a more central role in transforming teaching & learning and in developing policies that affect their work. As part of the pro-gram, Alice Drive Middle is convening a team of five educators to attend a teacher leadership summit in late September in Long Beach, California. The team's proposal, titled "STEM 2.0: Taking our Nationally Certified STEM Program to the Next Level" will be led by Trevor Ivey (assistant principal), and includes four teacher leaders -- Christine Shuler (7th grade ELA & STEM Teacher), Stephanie Barrineau (instructional coach), Leslie Lloyd (8th Grade SS & STEM Teacher), and Cindy Parker (6th Grade Math & PLTW Teacher). During the summit, the team will engage in the following:

Share ideas and best practices and learn from examples of existing teacher leadership

efforts;

Identify common challenges and create concrete, actionable teacher leadership plans

to address them locally;

Network and build relationships with other educators and leaders in their region; and

Identify promising ideas for follow-up support through future engagement events.

The team will take their ideas and develop them into action plans for implementation. Alice Drive Middle desires to continue as a "Leadership Lab," which is the next phase of the Teach to Lead initiative. Under the visionary leadership of Jeannie Pressley, Alice Drive Middle seeks to engage all students in a student-centered, rigor-ous, relevant, and integrated STEM-based education. Creating a culture of collaboration, global connections, and STEM-related partnerships to prepare students to be high school ready is the focus of its data-driven teacher leadership teams. Mrs. Pressley has led the school in a series of strategic planning events since her inception as principal of the district's largest middle school in 2012, which has yielded the following theory of action: if we fully coordinate and align our school's policies, practices, and partners to increase student interest, participation, and achievement in STEM, expand student access to effective STEM instruc-tion, reduce our gap in STEM access, and build community awareness and support for STEM, then we will increase the quality of STEM mindedness and overall student achievement levels. As part of its flexible A/B scheduling, all students receive the oppor-tunity to engage in STEM specific classes and to explore project-based learning through their core classes. During the 2014-15 school year, with their STEM program three years in the making, the school's leadership team in consultation with its teacher leaders, chose to engage in a yearlong pilot accreditation project with AdvancED, ultimately resulting in the school being named the 12th STEM certified school and currently one of 34 across the nation. The school believes in a sustainability model, that has yielded 15 community partners and continues to grow. In measuring its student's STEM literacy levels, the school recently showed marked improvements in its SCPASS test results and also can point to success from the KAP Assessment, which shows significantly positive changes (over time) in students' knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions towards STEM. ADM continues to demonstrate that it is a “school on the move,” embracing the sharing of best practices with other schools across the nation. In-structional leaders from over a dozen schools have come to observe instructional practices at ADM. ADM recently published two articles, “Celebrating our STEM Journey” in Palmetto Administrator and “Preparing Students for STEM Success” in the Learning Forward Journal for Staff Development.

When asked about who gets the credit for success of its programmatic initiatives, Mrs. Pressley explains the following: "The success of the STEM program at ADM cannot be possible without the support and dedication of our school’s teachers who have put in many hours to create, develop, enhance, enrich, and improve the educational experiences for our students. Our teachers’ innovative and collaborative spirit and willingness to transform and do what is best for our students has been a true joy to witness. It is because of their love of our profession, students and our school that has allowed them to move beyond tra-ditional teaching to ensure all the students we serve are college and career ready. They work diligently educating themselves on STEM competencies and best practices. Let’s be clear: our great teachers are the ones who have brought the STEM vision to frui-tion. By no means has this endeavor been simple and easy. The teachers have transformed our school into something incredi-ble—students are engaged like never before at ADM because of the ADM community who give them the best opportunities each day to become productive, competitive, globally aware citizens." Alice Drive Middle looks forward to its engagement in the Teach to Lead initiative and its implications in taking their nationally certified STEM program to the next level.

Since our enrollment has significantly increased, the number of students being dropped off and picked up has

increased as well. In consultation with the Sumer Police Department Traffic Division, we are asking for your co-operation in following the morning/afternoon procedures below:

Entering: Only turn right into Gate 1 (No left turn!). If you enter University Drive from Miller, you must go down and make a U-turn. Please do not drop off before 7:10 am as supervision is not available until then. Exiting: Only turn left onto University Drive out of Gate 2. Please do not turn right onto University Drive to get to Mil-ler. The busses will be blocked and traffic will back up. In the interest of safety, here are some things to remember: Students are responsible for looking for their own ride! If we have to search for them more than 3 times, students who violate the warning he/she has received for not following directions at car pick-up could receive disciplinary ac-tion to include parent contact and re-location/loss of car pick-up privileges. Please pull forward as far as possible before allowing your child to load. When you stop early, you halt the entire flow of traffic. Refrain from making any U-turns in the car pick-up area as this is dangerous. Please do not enter campus on foot to get your child or have your child walk to meet you outside the pickup area. If you would like to have them be a “walker”, notify the front office or your child’s homeroom teacher. The Sumter Police Department has asked that we continue these procedures. We sincerely appreciate your patience as we attempt to resolve the amount of wait time for morning drop off and afternoon pick up. Trevor Ivey, Assistant Principal

Students recently had the opportunity to dissect different animals, explore

organs and viruses and assemble and take apart machines in a virtual 3-D

world. Wearing 3-D glasses and operating with a stylus, everything looks

and feels as if the students are interacting with the objects in real life.

There are sensors in the glasses and stylus, which facilitate the use be-

tween the user and the program. The zSpace Mobile STEM Lab is a bus-

sized lab equipped with 10 computers and a 24-inch high-definition screen

with virtual reality technology.

Ms. Burns-Taylor Ms. Coffey Ms. Carter Ms. Ormond

7th Grade (SS) Academic Prep. ALEKS 6th Grade (Science)

Dr. Cynthia Copeland Ms. Cousins Ms. Evans-Montgomery Mr. Gerard

School Counselor (6th) 8th Grade (Math) 6th Grade (ELA) 7th Grade (SS)

Ms. Tuxford Ms. Hernandez Ms. Hickmon Ms. McDonald

8th Grade (Science) Spanish Read 180 8th Grade (SS)

Mr. Jenkins Ms. Davis

8th Grade (SS) 8th Grade (ELA)

WELCOME TO OUR NEW HAWKS!