November Message

First 10 week Report Card

The first 10 week report card will be hand carried home by students on Friday, November 17th. Please take a moment to review it with your child. This is a perfect time to set new academic goals and notice what study habits are successful. Please contact our Guidance Department at 315-672-8381 if you wish to meet with your child’s teaching team.

Principal's Message

At our November PTO meeting last week, School Resource Officer Anthony Gucciardi gave a very informative presentation about cyber safety. He encouraged parents and guardians to take control of their children’s devices by monitoring everything from daily text messages to their ability to download and delete apps independently. We sometimes forget that students in middle school range in ages from 11 – 14; maturity levels vary widely. When we consider the sheer breadth and variety of content on the World Wide Web, everything from the informative and uplifting to the harmful and illegal, we know that we need to monitor and engage in conversations about what our young people are viewing.

This week our faculty had a presentation by Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Abdo who shared information about media literacy from a workshop they recently attended. They opened the presentation with this statistic: recent surveys say children spend an average of 9 hours per day viewing a digital device. To many of us that number seemed almost impossible given a 24 hour day, but deep down we had the feeling that 9 hours might just be accurate for many of our students. It is not unusual for us to hear from parents that their children are up late at night on their phones. Officer Gucciardi made the suggestion that all devices be turned over to parents before their children go to bed. It’s a very practical strategy that not only helps parents limit and monitor screen time, but also supports more restful sleep. (By now we all know the benefit of a good night’s sleep…better memory, health and overall well-being.)

That 9 hour statistic was the entry point for a lesson on misleading news and strategies to help students critically evaluate the legitimacy of on-line and print resources. A recent article in Educational Leadership summed it up this way:

The public is gaining awareness of our vulnerability to media manipulation. Researchers have found that most adults can't accurately judge the truth or falsity of an online news story because they assume that content that aligns with their existing beliefs is automatically true (Goodfellow, 2017).

Media literacy really is an instructional imperative for us as we help develop an informed and engaged citizenry. This chart entitled Beyond Fake News, will help you assist your child in identifying “truth or falsity” as they come into contact with all types of media content. The terms used in this chart are the same terms we use here in the classroom. This link, Online Safety Guide was shared at the PTO meeting by Officer Gucciardi which includes several resources and excellent suggestions relating to online safety.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if we can help you with more information or suggestions.
All of us at CMS wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

We Celebrate Learning!
Beth
blozier@westgenesee.org
Follow us on Twitter @camillusmiddle

November 9 - End of 10 Weeks
November 10  - Veterans Day - No School
November 15 - Board of Education Meeting - 7:00 pm
November 17 - Report Cards Available
November 17 - 3:3 Basketball Tournament - 2:15-4:00 pm
November 22-24 - Thanksgiving Recess - No School
November 30 - Group Yearbook Photos