Professional Development News
  • Celebrating Piedmont
  • StudentSpace
  • Piedmont PD
  • Lesson Ideas
  • News and Thoughts

OnCe a Pirate, always a pirate

12/11/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Former Principals/APs/Piedmont Institutions Ms. Powell, Mr Spivey and Ms. Gardner came back to say goodbye. Ms. Johnston has been here 30 years! She's taugth the moms and dad's of some of our students when their parents went through Piedmont!
Picture
Piedmont celebrated the many years of service of Ms Johnston and Ms Self after school today. When I think of Piedmont without them, not only do I get a little misty-eyed, I also think of how we are all so different and how each one of us contributes to the magic that makes Piedmont Piedmont.
I’m sure we will have more official remembrances but I want to write a few words of what I’ve learned from them personally in the 20+ years I’ve known each of them.
From Ms Self I learned that being a hostess is not something that can be entered into lightly. Ms Self has a gift at making every event special and of giving of herself. And I don’t just mean her delicious homemade recipes - I mean giving thought and planning and care and attention throughout. She extends that same care to everything at Piedmont - from the MMIS reports, to the supplies, to the infamous “Lou’s cart” which will forever be called such.

Picture
Picture
Dawn and I knew each other before I went to Piedmont. We both met in Gaston county in 1993 or so. Who would have known we’d end up teaching together just a few years later? So many ways we’re opposite: from our hair (mine perpetually messy, hers always done) to our politics (mine liberal, hers conservative) yet our differences only make me respect her more. And I don’t mean that I wish that I could look so put together every day or explain math with flair or drive a fancy sports car. I mean that I wish that I could eyeball a class and know in seconds who will be trouble, who to separate, who will work for candy, and who needs an extra hug. I wish I could be so confident and kind, I wish I knew how to hold my tongue when the situation called for it and to also express my mind when someone needs a good telling-off. (Who knew she got sent to the principal’s office for it?) I wish I knew how to teach with the steadfastness she does so that even the toughest kids remember her with love generations later.

It makes me think of another friend of ours, Dee Gardner, and her old Piedmont motto, “Together we can!” Because separately we’re all awesome in our own ways, as we saw as we honored Dawn and Lou today, but together we are superheroes.

I was told Dawn didn’t want to cry (she did) so not to say anything sappy but I'm going to miss you, Dawn and Lou. We all are.

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
I love the genuine caring and happiness in the eyes of these old friends.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Ms. Stone speaks to the wonderful relationship she and Ms. Johnston have developed over the years, From parent/teacher to coworkers, to friends.
Picture
0 Comments

Special Events Give students Fresh Perspectives

12/7/2017

0 Comments

 
At Piedmont we are big proponents of experiential learning. from recreating (safely) wars and revolutions in individuals and socieities classes, to walking field trips of Uptown historic and modern business sites,  Piedmont students learn by doing. In math they don't just study prisms, they build them, blow them up and go inside. In science, they don't just study heat and geothermal activity on the earth, they make smores to exerience it. 

Here are a few recent examples of special events our teachers created for their students:

FinancE: Money Math in Real Life

Guest speakers teach Financial Literacy to sixth Grade and 8th grade

Thanks to Ms. Styles and Mr. Reddig, the 8th graders spent the days before Winter break learning about a topic that will help them for the rest of their lives. The teachers arranged a two day participatory experiential lesson in finance from the experts at Wells Fargo.  Students learned about timelines, what you can and can't control,  how quickly money goes when you are an adult, and how to guard yourself from unexpectd setbacks. 
Thanks to Ms. Swift and 6th grade math team for inviting in a Piedmont parent and finance expert to be a guest speaker to 6th graders. Money math in real life, and a good lesson about the way debt can spiral out of control. Here are a few photos from that event. 

Titanic In the Gym

Thanks to Mr. Chandler, Ms. Hash, and Ms Tapia for the Titanic in the Gym event where 6th graders used their knowledge of math and reading to stay afloat. I heard only a few survived but everyone enjoyed the chance to compete and cooperate in the multi-class  simulation!
Picture

Wonder Field Trip

Thanks to Ms. Kryszak and the 6th grade team for organizing a trip to see the new release film of the summer reading blockbuster novel Wonder.  Students enjoyed seeing the book come to life on the big screen almost as much as the popcorn and having the theater to ourselves! They were able to cheer for the heros and boo the villains together and also learn a little about the importance of empathy for those who are different from ourselves.

Geek Fest

Thanks to Mr. Carpenter, students were able to go with their Career and Technical Education classmates to the 2017 Geek Fest. Students loved being on a college campus. They attended lectures on Minecraft and Movie Making, toured a high tech automotive center, and particpated in hands on tech sessions like:
I don't have photos of this year's leadership trip to Queen's University, or drama's trip to see the high school play, so please understand this is only a small slice of the work teachers here to do make learning real every day.

​Related Posts:
  • http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/celebrating-piedmont/holocaust-survivor-visits-piedmont-to-speak
  • Piedmont Smooth
  • Distinguish Guests
  • Banking Titan Visits Us
  • Civil Rights Gymnasium
  • Whirligig Example of Maker Movement in Education
  • 7th Grade Living History Museum
  • 8th grade Civil War Simulation )
  • 8th Graders Make a Civil Rights Museum
  • Let Students Show You New Ways to Teach (Desmos for Math in Ms. Callahan's room)
  • 6th Grade Museum of Religious Tolerance
  • Holocaust Survivor Speaks to Piedmont 7th Grade
  • http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/celebrating-piedmont/students-build-a-civil-rights-museum
  • http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/celebrating-piedmont/2-distinguished-guests
  • piedmontpd.weebly.com/lesson-ideas/bring-content-to-life-through-dramatization
  • http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/celebrating-piedmont/gods-and-goddesses-of-piedmont
  • http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/celebrating-piedmont/7th-grade-brings-history-to-life Living History Museum
  • http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/celebrating-piedmont/7th-grade-video-stars includes a WWI reenactment experience
  • http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/celebrating-piedmont/piedmont-teachers-gamify-social-studies
  • http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/celebrating-piedmont/hi-tech-art-instruction 
  • http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/celebrating-piedmont/6th-grade-active-learning
  • http://piedmontpd.weebly.com/celebrating-piedmont/holocaust-remembrance-day-at-piedmont

0 Comments

ComPetitIon and cooperatIon

12/5/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
The competition season has only just begun here at Piedmont! We are proud of our recent Mock Trial participants and coaches for winning third place. They got a chance to research and practice trial law at the county courthouse and coaches report their work was excellent!

Congratulations schoolwide spelling bee participants and winner Johnathan Thomas and first place Juliana Reali. Competition organizer and emcee Ms Whiting Reports that the winning word was “merengue” ! (Which didn’t sound too hard until I had to write this blog and realized that I had no idea how to spell it) Now I for sure that six and seventh graders know how to spell better than I do. Great job!
Picture
Weve also had some classroom competitions this week. Students in 7th grade fought the French Revolution and debated the wisdom of the reign of terror. Teachers brought the event to life with costumes and props, but don’t worrry, French teacher Mme Coriale still has her head!
​
Picture
Picture

As much as we like to win, we also love to help each other. Mr Cherry, Ms Peterson, And the 8th Science PLC shared their work with rubrics during a staff PD and all the faculty opened their doors of their classrooms to display the learning during a recent visit from other schools who wanted to learn from each other.
​Here are some more photos of these and other recent competitons and cooperation at Piedmont!
Picture
0 Comments

    Celebrating  Piedmont : a blog of Happy Happenings

    Categories

    All
    Active
    Art
    Ban Boredom
    Character Ed
    Community And Service
    Cte
    Digcit
    Drama
    Gamificaton
    Geniushour
    Hard Fun
    Humanities
    IB
    Lol
    Maker
    Makerspace
    Math
    Music
    Orchestra
    PBL
    Personalized
    Personalizedlearning
    Reading
    Real World
    Science
    Service In Action
    Social Emotional Learning
    Social Media
    Socialstudies
    STEAM
    STEM
    Test Prep
    Travel
    Visual Literacy
    Visual Storytelling
    World Languages

    Archives

    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014

    Author

    "Celebrating Piedmont" logs only a small fraction of the learning magic the teachers of CMS' Piedmont Middle School, an IB World School. create daily. In that sense, it is authored by all the staff and students of Piedmont.  It is curated by Ms. Gurthie who can be reached at the icons above. She'll be happy to brag about Piedmont's teachers and students any chance she gets!  Please note this blog has only just begun and we have so much to show off! Come back again soon!

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from Yellow Sky Photography, Nicholas_T, Wendy Longo photography, Gidzy, Mara ~earth light~, seyed mostafa zamani, Y'amal, slopjop, Kevin Shorter, davecito, Nina Matthews Photography, Rob Stemple
  • Celebrating Piedmont
  • StudentSpace
  • Piedmont PD
  • Lesson Ideas
  • News and Thoughts