Football Season

Our Peirce Panthers football season ended last week with a playoff loss.  Overall we finished our season at 5-4, but reached the Semi-finals of the Ravenswood-Ridge sports network.  To put that into perspective, we were one of the final 32 teams in the entire city left participating in football.

As a first year coach at Peirce I was uncertain what the team would be able to accomplish on the field.  Last year's team did not make the playoffs so I knew we had our work cut out for us.  We finished the regular season with a 3-3 record, defeating Brenneman, CMSA and Blaine while losing to Goudy, Hamilton and Uplift.  I knew our record did not reflect how hard these boys had worked all year.  We had lost those three games on the last play of each game and any of the three could have gone either way.

The playoffs proved that we were a good team.  We defeated Lagassiz 28-8 and then defeated Stockton 20-12 to reach the semi-finals.  In a rematch with Goudy we were defeated 24-12.  It was a hard fought game in tough conditions that Goudy ended up putting away in the second half after leading only 6-0 at halftime.

Aureliano Macedo catches a TD on our lineman pass!!

A tough Panthers defense readies for action

Defense ready to make a stand

I learned so much as a coach and mentor as well.  I hope to improve as a teacher and prepare them for life on and off the field.

While other teams may have been faster and were certainly bigger, we played with a ton of heart and played our game.  It may sound cliche, but it is the truth.  The boys worked hard in practice, helped each other out, and were mentioned numerous times for having upstanding sportsmanship.

I will miss the nine graduating 8th graders next year.  These boys will have success at the next level playing football.  They are: Elvis Martinez, Luis Correa, Marc Macedo, Aurelliano Macedo, Jonathan Minaey, Reno Delaflor, Christian Jones, Fernando Reyna and Keon Coleman.

Health and PE Update

First of all I want to take the time to apologize for not updating this blog much sooner in the school year.  I hope to update this weekly with photographs of class projects, individual student work, updates from our sports teams and the new school yearbook I will be leading for After School All-Stars.

The end of the first quarter is a few weeks away.  I want to make sure all the students and parents realize that Health class is a separate grade from the Physical Education grade.  Both classes meet on the same day and are usually split at 35 minutes each during our block schedule.

I am excited to announce that we were able to procure some brand new Health textbooks for the first time in many years.  This will add significantly to our Middle Years Program.  We are moving forward with our health topics and students will see a significant increase in the intensity of the workload as it will not only be challenging, but require them to do some work outside of the school day.

2011 School Year!

This summer was one of both great news and sad news for me personally.  The sad news happened when I had to say goodbye to my students and amazing co-workers at St. Sylvester School in Logan Square.  It was one of the betters years of my life and I am thankful for the opportunity to work at an excellent school with such great people.

Although this was a difficult decision to leave, I am truly excited and blessed to be a new member of the staff at Helen C. Peirce International School in Andersonville.  An outstanding and growing school with wonderful diversity that has a great track record and wonderful interaction with parents and the community.  I am looking forward to joining an excellent and highly motivated staff and meet the needs of all of my students.

I am looking forward to a wonderful 2011-2012 school year and can not wait to get started!!

Mr. Parsons

Summer Reading

The Dominican Reading Group will be reading the novel Al Capone Does My Shirts over the summer.  They were assigned a packet that highlighted multiple reading skills that we will focus on for next year.  The book can be found at any Chicago Public Library and can also be routed to your nearest branch for you convenience.  Please get a jump start on this so you can enjoy your summer.  I look forward to working with a new group of eager and excited readers in the fall!!  Please contact me if you have any questions.  Here is a quick link right to the book:  Chicago Public Library

Mr. Parsons

Reading Characters in Decoupage!!

The Dominican Reading Group finished their literature circle units by completing decoupage art of characters from their novels.  Decoupage is an art form where you glue paper onto other objects.  Often times this will be done with furniture or house ware products.

The students had 3 different novels, Park's Quest, The Watson's Go To Birmingham, and Snow Treasure to choose characters from.  The books were perfect for this type of project because each book had multiple characters with varying ethnic backgrounds.

The Snow Treasure Group

The Watson's Go To Birmingham Group

The Park's Quest Group

8th Grade Class Trip

I was fortunate to be able to go with a class I will miss dearly next year on their class trip.  We camped at Starved Rock in Utica, IL.  It was an enjoyable trip and the students learned so many new things.  Team building by putting their tents up was their first obstacle and they accomplished this task with a little nudge from their teacher :)  Overall, the students had fun being away from the city, hiking, playing soccer and baseball, sitting by a campfire and chasing raccoons away all night.

The bus trip to Starved Rock and passing over the Illinois River.

Here are a few pictures of the 8th grade class camping and enjoying some snacks after accomplishing their first task.  (Note the tents in the background)  A little friendly game of soccer between the boys and the girls took place on a wonderful open area of the campground. 

The hiking portion of our trip consisted of a 2 mile trek through the trails at the Starved Rock State Park.

The sunset at the top of Starved Rock.

 

What a wonderful way for the students to end their middle school careers.  A very peaceful, serene, and exciting journey for them to share together.

World War I Debates

The final project for my 8th grade Social Studies class was to complete a World War I debate.  As an alternative assessment to a standard test, the debates forced the students to dig deep into specific topics.  Each group of 3 was given 6 different topics they could debate.  The topics were:

• Should the United States have entered World War I?  Pro/Antiwar arguments
• Was the League of Nations a good idea in theory?  Why did it fail?  What is nation building?
• Was the instituting of a draft to secure troops fair to American men?  Was it the only way?
• Were there reasons to go to war like helping the economy that pushed the U.S. into WWI?
• Was the Treaty of Versailles too hard or not harsh enough for Germany?
• Should there be laws banning certain types of weapons during warfare?

I created a rubric where the groups were graded on 6 different components.  The components consisted of the following categories:

• Quality of information
• Debate rebuttal
• Use of facts/statistics
• Presentation style
• Organization
• Understanding of Topic

Each group spent considerable time using primary resources, their textbooks, research in the computer lab, and notes from lectures.  They also added their own insight into the debates and added unique names for themselves or news stations they were reporting for during these debates.  Needless to say and despite arriving back from our class trip the day before, the class was prepared and ready for their debates.  It was a wonderful moment to spend my last class with a special group of hard working 8th graders before their paths into high school.  Below are video samples that had excellent point and counter points that my students recorded in class.

Spring Sports Teams

The Spring sports seasons came to a closure this week.  The softball team started the season slow but with extra practice and solid commitment finished the year strong.  With a large group of students who had not faced this sort of competition, they certainly played like experienced players.  Although the team was eliminated in the second round of the playoffs, there were numerous positives to come out of the season.  The 6th grade class had excellent attendance at practice and at games and by sticking together will have a bright future.  Three-run home runs in the first playoff game by George Rendon and Ivan Delgado sparked a rally and a comeback win.  Great pitching all season by 7th grader Paul Hayes gave us consistency on the mound.  Overall, the players improved their fundamentals and worked hard to get better each and everyday.  I hope for more success next season.

 

Our first year in the St. Stans Volleyball league proved to be a success.  The team improved greatly from the start of the season to the end by practicing hard and with a purpose each day.  A close 3 game match in the championship game resulted in 15-13 loss and an overall 2nd Place Finish.  Many of the 8th grade girls will have solid careers ahead of themselves in high school and I look forward to following their success as they move on.

Pullman Field Trip

Two of my favorite eras of history are The Gilded Age and the Progressive Era.  I was fortunate to teach both units this year with my 8th Grade Class.  They were so passionate about learning about the growth of corporations and the labor movement.  One final thing I wanted to do was take them to the Historic Pullman Neighborhood in Chicago where many significant events occurred in the course of Chicago's history and America's as well.  The neighborhood is on Chicago's far south side and took us all the way to 111th St.  The Pullman Rail Company was one of the most famous Company Towns in American history.

 The Pullman Co. Today

The Hotel Florence was named after George Pullman's favorite daughter.  Today, it is in the restoration state but still looks marvelous.  The exterior is well maintained and the historic district designation will keep it there as long as nature allows it to stand.  Below, students enjoy walking in the billiards room and the smoking parlor, where businessmen would often meet and have cigars.   The original railing still shows the remnants of burn marks.  Also, an original metal sign, today worth thousands on reality shows like American Pickers is ready to be displayed.  The final pictures show the dining hall with an original fireplace and stained glass window.

Historic home renovations line the streets of Pullman.  The home to the right recently won an award for being historically accurate in size and color.  Due to historic district status, remodeling work on the exterior has to be done to certain specifications.  The Pullman Co. purchased paint in bulk in the 1880s to save money, thus most homes during that era had red and green paint and were leased to employees.  These 3 story homes are very popular for families and are reasonably priced in today's real estate market.

The Green Stone Church was the local place of worship in Pullman.  The Green Stone is a rare stone once found in Pennsylvania where the Pullman Co. originally started.  The stone today no longer exists.  It is also extremely brittle and therefore does not enjoy the Chicago winters.  The stained glass window looks amazing from the inside.

 

A mural at the Pullman Visitors Center shows an original luxury rail car and the labor history with European immigrants, African-Americans, and residents of Illinois.