It's Almost 2016: Looking Back to Look Ahead

December Reflections from Mr. Geoghegan: Looking Back to Look Ahead

When you start to think about how quickly this school year is flying by, you definitely realize that this has been an excellent year so far.  The students here at Nichols have been awesome this school year.  They have taken everything we have thrown at them in stride and see that even if things are getting a little tougher for them, as some of the changes might do, they understand what they are working for:  their success.  

Our assistant principals, Ms. Rae and Mr. Thomas brought a new approach and change to the start of the year, and they have added some tremendous culture to the school.


The Nichols teachers and staff are amazing.  To come into a new school year with even more changes than the year before, they are truly professional.  It has been incredible to see all of us "rowing in the same direction" making sure we are improving each and every day.  It has been a joy to behold.  I have said this before, but I am just so appreciative of the whole Nichols community.  I have been so impressed by the dedication and determination of everyone to make sure that the Nichols Middle is a first-class institution for learning from each and every stakeholder -- teacher, staff member, parent, community member and student.  

In these first few months, the highlights for me have been seeing the 6th Graders come in and fall right into the routine of being middle schoolers.  Our first Fall sports participation in soccer was very successful.  "Murder in the House of Horrors," our fall drama, showed the abundant talent of our students.  All of the NMS Student Council fundraisers for charities display our students' persistent want to help our fellow man.  Our NMS Girls Hoops team continue to be undefeated to start the Winter Season.  And probably one of my favorites from the start of this year has been our First Friday Spirit Days with our grade level T-shirts with our school-wide TIGERS culture-building initiative.

In the grand scheme of things, these really aren't many "reflections" other than it has been a sensational beginning to the school year; we remain steady in working hard to make NMS the best it can be; and we will be relentless in making sure we continue in this direction.

Enjoy the time with family and friends during this upcoming holiday break, and as teachers across the globe love to say on Wednesday, the last day before break, “See you next year.”

Have a wonderful, restful, and joyous holiday from everyone here at NMS; see you on Monday, January 4, 2016.

M. R. Geoghegan

21st Century Learning in Action: "Hour of Coding"

NMS Tech Integration Class Sees An Hour of Coding

Ms. Falconer's Tech Integration class engaged in "An Hour of Coding" here at NMS the past couple of weeks.  This was just the beginning to celebrate Computer Science Education Week, but will continue in all three grades of her classes to include every student here at the Nichols.

Just to give you some background, here is some information from the official "Hour of Code" website:

The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. Anyone, anywhere can organize an Hour of Code event. One-hour tutorials are available in over 40 languages. No experience needed. Ages 4 to 104.

The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics.

Anybody can host an Hour of Code anytime, but the grassroots campaign goal is for tens of millions of students to try an Hour of Code during December 7-13, in celebration of Computer Science Education Week. Is it one specific hour? No. You can do the Hour of Code anytime during this week. You're welcome to split up the Hour of Code into multiple sessions so long as your students finish the Hour of Code tutorial. Just do whatever works best for you and your students. (And if you can't do it during that week, do it the week before or after).

The Hour of Code is organized by Code.org, a public 501c3 non-profit dedicated to expanding participation in computer science by making it available in more schools, and increasing participation by women and underrepresented students of color. An unprecedented coalition of partners have come together to support the Hour of Code, too — including Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the College Board.

The goal of the Hour of Code is not to teach anybody to become an expert computer scientist in one hour. One hour is only enough to learn that computer science is fun and creative, that it is accessible at all ages, for all students, regardless of background. The measure of success of this campaign is not in how much CS students learn - the success is reflected in broad participation across gender and ethnic and socioeconomic groups, and the resulting increase in enrollment and participation we see in CS courses at all grade levels. Millions of the participating teachers and students have decided to go beyond one hour - to learn for a whole day or a whole week or longer, and many students have decided to enroll in a whole course (or even a college major) as a result.

Our students were using programs such as Scratch and programming such fun things as Star Wars and Frozen characters.

It was an excellent experience to see our students problem-solve, critically think, collaborate, and create using technology.  It is always fun to watch our students make mistakes, learn from them, and then attack problems in different ways.

Thank you, Ms. Falconer, for jumping us into this 21st Century Learning.

Check out some of the pictures of our students Coding:

NMS School Improvement Plan Update Presentation to School Committee

Our Students Shine 

On Thursday, December 3, eighth grade students and Mr. Geoghegan presented an update on the 2015-2016 Nichols Middle School School Improvement Plan.

The students, Hannah Stearns, Greta Jacobson, and Chris Cogan are some of the same students who were videotaped back two years ago, when they were in sixth grade, when we presented an update to our 2013-2014 School Improvement Plan for our new 2014-2015 Plan.

On this night, all three students did an excellent job again presenting how we are making scholars out of our students.  Their ability to prepare their thoughts, speak about education, and voice how NMS has prepared them was impressive.

Here is a link to the video from 2014.

NMS School Improvement Plan 2014-2015 from MET on Vimeo.

Here is the link to the School Committee Meeting from December 3 here with our Student Presentation for you to check out (Our presentation starts at about the 46:20 mark).

This is the Google Slides Presentation.

As I wrote above, our students shined on this night. They are displaying all the attributes we would want in a student in the 21st Century.  They can communicate, collaborate, critically think, and be creative.  This is our major goal as a school, and I feel that this presentation shows that they are gaining the ability to do so.

NMS StuCo Canned Food Drive 12/15 through 12/22

Please Help NMS Support Our Community

The NMS Student Council is hosting a Canned Food Drive from Tuesday, December 15, through Tuesday, December 22.

StuCo members will be outside the Media Center each morning to collect any canned or non-perishable goods as students enter the building.

All collected will be sent to St. Vincent's.

Let's support our Middleborough community during this holiday season.

Here's a picture of our NMS StuCo collecting this morning.