Pleasant Hill Middle School continues its commitment to providing world-class, real-life opportunities to help all students develop the characteristics of the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. PHMS educators focus on creating educational opportunities centered around strong instructional practices, Graduate Profile Competencies, and building authentic relationships with students and their families to foster a sense of belonging.
World-class Knowledge: The success of each child is the center of all instructional practices at PHMS. Teachers model being life-long learners by implementing research-based best practices, collaborating on vertical alignment of state standards, and analyzing data to guide instructional design. Our faculty continued to support students academically, as well as in building executive functions, through the use of Empower activities grounded in Lexington One Graduate Profile Competencies that support students’ growth.
Teachers grew their own instructional practice this year through working in grade-level and vertical Professional Learning Communities. Our professional learning focused on the implementation of the Student-Centered Learning Framework and Purpose with the intention of all students being able to answer the following questions during and after each class lesson:
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What am I learning today, and why does it matter?
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What am I doing to show I’ve learned it?
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How well will I know I’ve learned it?
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What opportunities do I have to reflect on what I know and my next steps in my learning?
Additionally, teachers opted into choice-based professional learning opportunities with our Digital Learning Coach, Lead Teachers, and administrators where teachers could focus on strategies to deepen student inquiry and collaboration, providing evidence of their practice through whole school learning walks and artifacts of student work. In addition, a team of teachers attended the South Carolina Association of Middle Level Educators conference, bringing back strategies and best practices they shared for schoolwide implementation.
Students utilized the learning management system, Schoology, in which Week-at-a-Glance - WAAG - slides were posted by teachers for each class as an important learning resource. By using this tool, students and parents were able to locate information daily regarding assignments, linked resources, and agendas. Students also were provided opportunities that allowed them to think critically about texts, collaborate in small groups, and participate in whole class discussions. Additionally, with the support of reading and math interventionists, instruction in these areas was tailored to individual student needs for students identified as needing deeper support while the district math coach worked with the teachers on common assessment implementation and small group instruction in all math classes.
World-class Skills: PHMS continued using time to support learning by implementing a schedule that rotated classes, enabling students to encounter most subjects in the morning two days a week and then in the afternoon three days a week. Empower class allowed each student to have an adult advocate who could check in with them, building relationships with their teacher and peers. Empower was also a student-directed learning time that provided two periods a week in which students could make choices about their learning time by getting additional academic help, retaking a test, engaging in i-Ready personalized pathways lessons in math and reading, or using the time to practice in band, orchestra, or Musical Theatre.
Students were provided a choice in selecting their exploratory and world language classes to suit their interests and strengths. World languages offered at PHMS include Spanish, French and German. Additionally, PHMS continues to offer two immersion tracks in German and Spanish where students move from the elementary immersion program and continue in a secondary-level immersion experience to earn three high school credits during their middle school years. Students then chose among dance, theatre, visual arts, chorus, orchestra, band, PE, Adventure Education, STEM, Computer Applications, and creative writing for their exploratory and performing arts classes.
Life and Career Characteristics: PHMS works closely with its primary feeder high school, Lexington High School, to ensure that every student, regardless of circumstance, advances on time and is prepared to transition to high school, to graduate on time, and to enter college, the military, or industry with certification. Pleasant Hill, as an ABC (Arts in the Basic Curriculum) Certified School, continued to use its ABC Grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission to provide students with performing arts experiences, including the opportunity for musical theatre students to perform Frozen, Jr. As an ABC Grant Award-winning school, 8th graders participated in a Social Studies exhibition of learning in which the students made a claim about a topic in the “Turning Points in 20th Century US History,” proving their claim through creating a website, a display board, an essay, a documentary, or a performance. The materials for the exhibition were funded through the grant.
Students were regularly reminded to follow the three C’s of being a PHMS Cougar: Be Committed. Be Caring. Be Courageous. We firmly believe these ideals are the foundation for students’ success in middle school, aiding their development as leaders in evidencing World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. PHMS could not be prouder of our students, faculty, staff, and community who lived these ideals in a powerful way this school year!
Julie Painter, Principal
Angel Mendez, SIC Chair
