Dear LPMS Families,

The Corvallis GT recently came to learn about our peer mentorship program at Linus Pauling and published a positive front page article.  We are very proud of the initial success of our peer to peer mentorship program at Linus Pauling.  The article gave one inaccurate piece of information that we would like to clarify.  Students do not miss their regular PE or Health class to participate in peer mentoring.  Several of the students involved in the article were previously scheduled as "PE teacher assistants" (an elective class) in addition to taking a daily period of PE.  They chose to peer mentor instead of continuing as a PE teacher assistant not as a student in the class.  Choosing to be a peer mentor is always optional and is one period in lieu of an elective choice or their study period (aka XLT).  Our PE/Health program is part of the core program at Linus Pauling for all middle school students and we are proud to offer this as a daily program. Sorry for the confusion.    

Here is a link to the story:

http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/education/linus-pauling-begins-peer-mentoring-program/article_ab51ed30-8c5f-11e3-94e1-001a4bcf887a.html

Linus Pauling begins peer mentoring program

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Gabe Murk, 12, a seventh-grade student at Linus Pauling Middle School works on some math problems at school Wednesday as his math mentor Nick Van Vleet, 14, watches his progress. With the help of the mentoring program, Gabe has had a huge increase in his productivity at school. (Andy Cripe | Corvallis Gazette-Times)

February 03, 2014 9:15 am  •  By Anthony Rimel, Corvallis Gazette-Times

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When retired teacher Ken Gouveia was brought on at Linus Pauling Middle School for a long-term substituting job this fall, it was a chance to do something he’d never had time for previously in his teaching career: starting a peer mentorship program.

Gouveia, who taught at Western View Middle School in Corvallis before it was folded into Linus Pauling, said there are things he can’t do as a substitute, like some state testing, which gave him the time to bring an idea he’d had for years into being.

His concept was relatively simple: student volunteers, mostly eighth graders, are excused from two or three gym classes or study periods during the week and they spend the time working with students who need extra help. The mentors sit with students who have trouble staying on task in class, or help them with their class work one-on-one in a hallway or a study area. Teachers make recommendation for which students might need mentors in their class, or for which kids might make good mentors.

Gouveia said the student mentors are close enough in age to the people they are helping that they are able to relate to them and assist them in a way that adults can’t without a lot of training. Gouveia added that with class sizes as large as 37, it is hard for teachers to give every student attention.

“Some kids just need someone to connect with,” he said.

The benefit is not one sided either, according to Gouveia. The mentors gain self esteem, and they learn (or relearn) the material as they teach it to other students.

The peer mentoring program began in early December, and Gouveia said there is anecdotal evidence that mentored students are improving their school work habits.

“These kids have worked miracles,” he said.

Gabe Murk, a seventh-grader at the school, was one of the first students to have mentors.

“I used to dread coming to school, like a lot of kids do” Gabe said. “Now I kind of look forward to it.”

Gabe said before he had mentors, he did very little of his school work and would often not go to class or would act out, but he’s now doing most of his work.

“It’s been really helpful,” he said.

Gouveia said the mentors have helped Gabe become a responsible student.

“He’s a happy kid now, and he wasn’t a happy kid before.”

Gabe and his mentors, whom he has in many of his classes, will often work outside of class on school work. If Gabe gets his work done, his mentor can decide to allow him a little free time for them to walk around the school together, or work on disassembling and reassembling broken computers in the lab, which Gabe enjoys.

“I’m teaching them a lot (about computers),” Gabe said.

Jonathan Ely, an eighth-grader at the school, mentors Gabe humanities.

“It’s fun,” he said. “It’s been really cool getting to know Gabe.”

Gouveia said there are many bright students such as Gabe who don’t thrive in a traditional classroom, but the mentoring program gives them another way to be engaged at school.

“They build connections in school. That’s almost as important for some kids as getting work done,” Gouveia said.

Jonathan said he often greets Gabe in the hallway, and he’s told a lot of his friends about Gabe, and they now greet him, too.

Gouveia said the school has about 65 student mentors, and a waiting list of students wanting to be mentors.

While some students such as Gabe are spending part of their mentoring time outside of class, Gouveia said the program is still getting them to improve their work habits and behavior overall. Gouveia said the school staff hope to transition students with mentors from working outside of class, to having assistance in class, and then to not needing mentors at all.

“It’s about making small steps,” he said.

Gouveia’s substituting position ended Thursday, but Linus Pauling Principal Eric Beasley, said the school administration is committed to continuing the program.

“Our teachers are seeing positive impacts,” Beasley said.

According to Beasley, the school counselors will be able to continue the program, and they will bring Gouveia in once a month to support the program.

Gouveia said he is confident the program will succeed in the long term and be sustainable.

Anthony Rimel covers K-12 education. He can be reached at 541-758-9526 or anthony.rimel@lee.net.

LPMS tech in district news!

January 6, 2014

For our January 1:World Newsletter we are thrilled to spotlight Linus Pauling Middle School.  Middle school students received iPad2s for student classroom use, which are also available to take home.  As a reminder, more information is also available on the district website: http://www.csd509j.net/en-us/districtinformation/keyinitiatives/1world.aspx. 

Eric Beasley, Principal:
Technology integration continues to move forward at LPMS.  I enjoyed hearing from teachers about the ways they are enhancing learning with iPads after attending professional development sessions.  While walking through the hall recently, I visited with a group of students actively engaged in a science project with their iPads.  The students researched the layers of the earth and were preparing a video presentation to articulate what they learned.  A great strategy to become proficient about a topic is to teach the concept to someone else.  The process of teaching to others allows the students the opportunity to plan, think and act on what you learned which really drives it home. Accessing information and presenting are just a few of the positive examples I have seen the iPads utilized.  


Suzanne McFarland-Price, Language Arts Teacher:
As a language teacher, I was excited to introduce the iPads into my classroom.  I have used them to do many of the same activities we used to do, in addition to some new activities.  My students use their iPads as white boards to write, draw and share answers in class.  They have created graphic organizers and three paragraph essays with the application Pages.  Students were able to easily add images to their essays as well.  An added feature with the iPads is that the essays are completed without me ever handing out a single paper and without them handing in a single paper.  I posted an assignment on Showbie, they sent it to me the same way and every student handed in the assignment!  

Learning vocabulary is an important part of my curriculum.  Students now use the iPads to create their vocabulary pages; each word gets its own page where students use an application like Notability to draw an image of the word, define the word and write a sentence.  The iPad allows students to now record themselves saying the new words and reading the sentences they created with these words.  In addition to recording single words and sentences, my students are recording 30-second responses to prompts as a warm up at the beginning of each class.  Students use Showbie to add a voice note for me that I can listen to at another time.  I choose random students to share their recordings every day with the entire class.  Recently my 8th graders have been exploring new territory with the iPads by creating a movie trailer for the novel we read, Una Mano en la arena.  Screening of the trailers took place right before winter break.  I think the iPads can be used to teach traditional lessons and to create new and innovative lessons in my classroom.


Christy Toliver, Math Teacher:
The iPads have become great learning tools in my classroom.  In my math classes, students use them to access, manipulate, and return various assignments.  While this use has saved copies and instructional time passing papers, the most satisfying difference I have noticed is an increase in student participation during class.  The interactive nature of the iPads motivates students to show their understandings on assignments and activities, usually in multiple colors!  The greatest impact of the iPads though has happened in my Math Lab classes.  Part of students' work in these classes is practicing needed math skills.  These skills are naturally different for each individual student. The iPads have allowed each student to access a web-based math program where they can practice the skills that they need at their own pace.  This individualized access gives each student the practice and feedback they need at the time and pace they need it.  Some students have even accessed the program at home using their devices.  The number of skills that students have mastered has been soaring as students work towards their own goals with the iPads.        


Corvallis School District started phase II of the 1:World initiative this year, which is about implementing the most effective instructional tools to connect students to their own learning. The emphasis is on content, challenge-based learning and effective tools to facilitate a pedagogical shift in the classroom. It’s not about the device. The goals of 1:World are to close the opportunity gap, focus on and emphasize 21st century learning skills, create personalized student learning opportunities before, during and after school, connect students to the world and make every student a graduate.

This year iPads were distributed to classroom at Mountain View Elementary School, Linus Pauling and Cheldelin Middle School, Corvallis and Crescent Valley High School AVID students, and English-only students at Garfield and Lincoln Elementary School. The district hopes to have full implementation across all schools (Phase III) within the next few years.