East Windsor Middle School

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• East Windsor Middle School

Eighth Grade Presentation
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Schedule
5 Major Periods Math, Science, Language Arts,
Social Studies, and Academy Specials 72 Minute
classes, Once a day Art, Music, Computers,
Cooking Science, Health, and Physical
Education Academic Assistance Homework Club Prime
Time
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Grade Eight Fast Facts
101 Students 39 Girls 62 Boys 6 High Honor
Roll 44 Honor Roll 49 Renaissance winners 19
Average class size
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Team Meetings
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David BidwellScience
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Melissa LopesEnglish
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Peg ZagorskiLearning Academy
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Jenna CollinsU.S. History
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Brian Maltese Mathematics
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Pam LamontSpecial Education
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John NahasMathematics
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Barbara PalenscarGuidance Counselor
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Karen BlanchetGuidance Counselor
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Team Smart Goal Students will improve their
short answer responses to open ended questions in
the area of literacy by at least 10 as measured
by the goal standard for the 2007 CMT
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Why did we choose this goal?

• CMT scores are traditionally low in this area
• Teachers agree that classroom performance is low
  in this area
• A pretest verified the need

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Simply put, we want students to...

• demonstrate an understanding of the texts
  general content
• interpret and /or explain the text
• connect or associate the text with ones own life
• elaborate on the text and make judgements about
  the texts quality and themes
• justify statements made in short answer responses

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Instructional Strategies to Reach our Goal

• Teachers will develop student activities
  involving discussion of exemplars, scoring sample
  responses, classroom posters/handouts of rubrics
  and criteria
• Teachers will develop and use a common vocabulary

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Instructional Activities to Reach our Goal

• Teachers will develop short answer response
  criteria
• Students will be assigned open ended questions in
  tests, quizzes, and other assignments in each
  discipline

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Instructional Activities to Reach our Goal

• The 8th grade team will review the assignments
  with the common rubric
• The team will maintain and review data from the
  assignments and adjust instruction accordingly

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Interdisciplinary ProjectThe Giver

• Students construct 3D model
• English persuasive paper Why is a community a
  Utopia?
• Science meteorology (weather conditions/climate),
  technology (communication, fuel, waste)
  ecosystems (wildlife, plant life), energy source,
  landforms (mountains, rivers oceans).
• Social Studies create a Constitution, Bill of
  Rights, bylaws of community, education.

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Interdisciplinary ProjectThe Giver

• Academy support working with groups on their
  written reports - revising, editing using
  technology.
• Math students will build a house and find cost
  per square foot (5 room min.), also draw house to
  scale (ex. 1 inch 1 foot)