Focus on attendance, a growth mindset, and pride 

I am excited to share some middle school information. We are currently working on three areas in the school to help build a strong learning community. These three: attendance, a growth mindset, and pride. Each of these pillars contributes not only to individual success but also to the collective progress of our middle school family. 

First, attendance. Every day students come to school, they open the door to new learning opportunities, friendships, and experiences. Regular attendance is the foundation of academic success. Regular attendance allows students to not only be present, but engage in the lesson, ask questions, hear other students’ thoughts/responses and participate in the discussions that can help build their understanding of the material they are learning. When a student misses even just one day, they are missing vital information or activities that occurred which contribute to the overall learning. Having students in school on time every day builds strong executive functioning skills. 

Next, our district has adopted the idea of a growth mindset. A growth mindset allows us to look at things in a different way. A growth mindset is a way of looking at learning as a way to develop over time. We may not be where we want to be yet, but with time and practice we will get there. This mindset allows students to take on challenges, make mistakes, and learn from them. The best way to use a growth mindset is to not look at mistakes as failures, but as opportunities to learn and improve. Through practicing a growth mindset, every challenge allows us to explore new ideas, take risks and eventually learn in areas that were once difficult. 

Also, I want to discuss the importance of pride in our school and community. I know we are a small community and most of us know each other well. Sometimes this can be hard because we can get stuck or caught up with those around us. I feel lucky to have lived and grown up in Ignacio for the experiences I had with summer rec, internships, and athletic events with friends. Even though things have changed, the opportunities our students have are awesome, for such a small district. It is important for us to talk positively about the place we live, work, and go to school in. We need to cheer for each other and not pull each other down. Taking pride spills out to those around us. We do great things in this community, and we provide students with many opportunities in the district, we need to always celebrate those opportunities. Pride is also about taking responsibility for our actions and showing respect for not only ourselves, but others we are around.  

Finally, I would like to finish up with our extracurricular activities. Currently, at IMS, we have chess club, athletics, knowledge bowl, spelling bee, and garden club in the spring. Our wrestlers had a great showing at our first meet that was the Ignacio Tournament held on Saturday, Feb. 1. We have a large team with 27 wrestlers, both boys and girls. Girls basketball is in its last two weeks and gearing up for leagues. We also provide students with Friday Academy to help with grades so that our students can be eligible for games.  

As always, if you have any questions or would like to talk more, please feel free to reach out and schedule an appointment. You can reach me at dtalamantemontoya@ignacioschools.org.