The Great Schedule Change of 2014

Our first 9 weeks is coming to a close. Please be sure to be regularly checking your student's Edsby accounts for their current grade. I will also be attempting to contact some parents who I have concerns about their students over this weekend. 

The biggest deal is the great schedule change happening next Friday, October 10th. If you haven't heard about it or are unsure what is going to happen. On the 10th students will first go to homeroom and get their potentially different schedule. Middleton had over 200 more students enrolled for this year than projected so we are getting more classes and in some places new teachers. 

For my courses only Introduction to Engineering Design I hope will be affected. I am going to get a 4th period of the course which will be located on Day 2 Period 1. Some of your students may change between periods of my course. Don't worry as I will be ensuring that the change is as smooth as possible in the course. No student should be removed from my course and I shouldn't have any new students added. 

There is a possibility that your student may switch teachers in some of their other courses though. Many teachers are freezing their grades on the 10th because the end of the grading period is on the 17th. I will still be grading assignments in that final week but will ensure that all grades transfer between the classes with your student.

If you have any concerns please be sure to contact me. Unfortunately I can not help with actually modifying or keeping your students schedule from modifying. 

Mrs. Gerena

Great Start to the School Year

We're off to a great start to the school year! In Introduction to Engineering Design (IED) we've used our creativity and problem solving to create Cable Cars that zipped or maybe didn't zip across the classroom, we've also learned about the Engineering Design Process and begun applying it in class.

In Civil Engineering & Architecture (CEA) we're building exemplars of Architectural styles which should be ready to show off next week!

In Engineering Development and Design (EDD) we've started picking our groups and deciding on the year long projects.

Please remember to check out the calendars on your classes specific page along with signing up for Text and Email updates. I'm still working on getting all the tools I have set up into practical use so please be patient but we're working along.

The beginning of this year has definitely been busy! With more students than were original expected Middleton is growing and they sure are keeping me working. :) I hope everyone is enjoying the start of the year.

-Mrs. Gerena

Welcome Back for the 2014-2015 School Year

Hello Everyone!

I'm so happy to be back for the 2014-2015 school year. I was all over the place this summer. In June, myself, Mr. Mead along with 8 students traveled to Washington D.C. to compete in competitions at TSA Nationals. We learned a lot while there, we made new connections at other schools both nearby and a far and we're even more excited about going to Dallas for Nationals in 2015.

After going to Nationals I came home for a few days and then was off to Columbia South Carolina (USC) where I was training with Project Lead the Way to teach Civil Engineering and Architecture (CEA). It does seem all us Engineering teachers are a bit odd. I learned a lot and had a good time. I even got to do some walking around the campus. USC was established in 1801 so it has quite a history.

Next I came home for 2 days then jumped on another plane, this time to Duke University in North Carolina to attend another Project Lead the Way training; this time for Engineering Design and Development (EDD). Duke is a gorgeous campus! For a little bit I was thinking I had gotten in over my head with our project design. 2 weeks is not a lot of time to complete a project from start to finish.

It was a very busy summer for me as you can imagine but I'll be so happy to be back in Tampa. What did I
miss the most besides my family? The ability to drive myself somewhere to run errands along with having a full kitchen to prepare meals in. At USC we had a full kitchen but no pots/pans/microwave/plates or silverware! At Duke I just had a mini frig and a microwave if I went down to the first floor.

This website is brand new be sure to finish the pages specific to each class, the page about the clubs I'm involved with, and I even put up a page about me for your enjoyment. Any comments on information specific to my courses you'd find useful here just let me know. It's forever evolving.

I will be using this to update everyone on the results of projects, times I'll be available after school, and other information. This will not be the only source. I will be using the Email list serves and the Text groups. The links for all of those are on the right sidebar.

Please be sure to fill out the Parent Communication form for the 2014-2015 School Year. I know the information with the school is not always your preferred method, and sometimes not the easiest to update either. This form will let me be sure I can contact you directly about any concerns and it also gives me a chance to get to learn some of my students strengths from their parents point of view.