President's Message

I am excited to introduce myself as the 2022 ALAMLE President. Since its inception in December 2017, ALAMLE has become a growing organization with middle-level education and middle-level educators at its heart. These last years have not been without obstacles. One obstacle that we have faced is communication with a growing membership. This year our goal is to make our members a priority. We are working hard to ensure that systems are in place to provide the continuous member communication that each member deserves, whether that is through emails, Twitter, and updated resources on our website. I invite all of our members to the table to assist ALAMLE with continued growth in the area of member services, as well whatever talents, gifts, expertise, and resources that you have to offer to impact middle-level education in Alabama.

Highlights

Three highlights from this past year and the current year are ALAMLE's conferences: ALGAMLE '21, ACGAL, and one of our members taking a board of trustee seat in AMLE, the middle-level national organization. Alabama Georgia Association of Middle-Level Education Joint Conference of 2021, held on September 24 and September 25 was an inaugural event. ALGAMLE '21, an all-virtual conference had many surprises and treats. The tailgate session led by the hilarious, brilliant, and talented keynote, Dru Tomlin was the perfect kick-off to the event. We want to send shout-outs to Dr. Andrew Maxey, Erica Fox (former ALAMLE board member, now GAMLE board member), Dr. Latonya Sibley, Dr. Valerie Johnson, Jonathan Colvin, Dr. Brandon Kiser, and the entire ALGAMLE '21 conference planning committee for an awesome and successful conference!

The Alabama Conference on Grading and Assessment for Learning 2021 was held on October 16, 2021. Hosted by ALAMLE, along with state-level sponsors CLAS, Alabama ASCD, Alabama Center for Best Practices, AlabamaNBCT, AEA, ARIC, and A+Education Partnership, was held virtually and face-to-face. Keynotes, Matt Townsley and Nathan Wear led the way into a fulfilling day of middle-level professional development. Thank you to Dr. Andrew Maxey who has led the way for the past four years, to make ACGAL a huge success. Thank you to the ACGAL conference planning committee for your dedicated hours of service to this conference.

ALAMLE has a voice at the national table. We congratulate Dr. Andrew Maxey for his appointment to the AMLE Board of Trustee. Dr. Andrew Maxey, a founding board member of ALAMLE (has held the office of ALAMLE President and Past President), works as Director of Strategic Initiatives in Tuscaloosa City Schools. He serves on the AMLE Board of Trustees as Director of Strategic Initiatives for Alabama. We want to say congratulations to Andrew! His work with middle-level education is relentless.

If you are interested in taking a seat at the table in a big way, please email ALAMLE at alabamaamle@gmail.com.

Harriette Thompkins, ED.S., CIL

President, Alabama Association for Middle-Level Education

Secretary, AAESA, District IV

Priority 1: Support and offer professional learning opportunities for middle-level educators.

• We are the lead sponsor of the Alabama Conference on Grading and Assessment for Learning
• Plans for supporting participation in AMLE’s national conference in Nashville this Fall are underway (watch for more information soon)

Priority 2: Curate and provide professional resources for middle-level educators.

• Our webpage (www.alamle.org) provides a robust resources section with such curated content as recommended middle-level books, professional materials, sites, apps, podcasts, and much more.

Priority 3: Advocate for the advancement and improvement of middle-level education.

• Our board is engaged in advocacy directly with decision-makers at the Alabama State Department of Education, the legislature, colleges of education, professional organizations, etc.

Priority 4: Build a network of leaders and educators dedicated to improving education for young adolescents.

• Our website, our newsletters, and our social media channels (@alabama_amle on both Twitter and Instagram) are all great ways to connect with and learn from fellow middle-level educators from across the state.

Vice President: Julie Walker

Secretary: Dr. Valerie Johnson

Treasurer: Dr. Mike Cook

Communications Director: Keiosha R. Quarles

Region 1: Dr. Melissa Shields

Region 2: Ana Rosales

Region 3: Vacant

Region 4: Tatricia Walker

Region 5: Carrie Coat

Region 7: Reba Hudson

Region 8: Dr. Victoria Calhoun

Region 9: Vacant

Region 10: Dr. Valerie Johnson

Region 11: Amanda Nolin

Board Member At Large: Dr. Latonya Sibley

TIPS from AMLE on Planning for your Middle-Level Education Month Celebration

Planning Your Celebration

The sky’s the limit! The way you plan your celebration is only limited by your imagination. Take a look at the ideas and free samples throughout this section. After your next celebration, send us a paragraph, photos, or an article about your school and community activities and we’ll post it on our website. Middle-Level Education Month is a celebration that should be experienced by all schools and communities around the world!

Here are some ideas:

• Get the word out. Develop a few message points about your school that you want to share. Put them on business cards for the staff, on your fax cover sheet, in parent newsletters, and on your website, Facebook page, etc.
  
  
• Develop a brochure. Call it “50 Magnificent Things about Our Middle School” and distribute it at registration, open house, conferences, and other events. Give copies to your district office and local realtors to pass on to those considering moving into your area.
  
  
• Connect with local realtors. Host a breakfast or lunch, and then give them a tour of your school and share programs that make you proud.
  
  
• Engage your superintendent. Keep your superintendent and board informed of effective middle grades practices. Pass along articles or websites you think would interest them. Invite them to attend a middle grades conference with you. Offer to share results of a successful program at a school board meeting—and bring students to help with the report! Send board members copies of your school newsletter.
  
  
• Let students help. Invite a student to join you at a civic club meeting. Help civic organizations feature students at their meetings. Encourage student performance groups to reach out to community organizations for meeting programs.
  
  
• Build a relationship with your local media. Find out who is in charge of education news and ask them how you can help keep them informed of happenings at your school.
  
  
• Stay in touch. Contact your state and federal representatives. Invite them to visit your school to speak with classes during the off session or to shadow you, a teacher, or a student. Offer to be a resource on educational issues and keep them informed of pending legislation that will impact middle-level education.
  
  
• Give your message a personal touch. Facts and figures can be impressive, but a story about how those facts impact the students in your school will make a more lasting impression. Write articles in blogs or online publications, write an op-ed article for a newspaper, and write letters or emails to state and federal representatives.
  
  
• Don’t be modest! If we want the general public to understand what quality middle-level education is all about, then we need to draw attention to the many magnificent things that are happening in countless middle grades schools across the country.

https://www.amle.org/middle-level-education-month-planning-your-celebration/

Connect with other like-minded individuals who are passionate about middle-level education and who want to GROW in their capacity to meet the needs of our adolescent students! Joining ALAMLE with a dual membership with AMLE provides the following benefits:

Easily implemented tools that will you reach and bring out the best in every student.

Proven research and insight into the unique needs of students ages 10 to 15.

A network of like-minded educators sharing ideas, challenges, and strategies for success.

Members enjoy the benefits of ACCESS: professional development, network of middle-level educators, and discounted membership to AMLE.

Individual ALAMLE membership is only $20

Institutional ALAMLE membership is only $150

Mail the attached application along with your payment

Click the following links to sign-up for AMLE dual individual of institutional membership.

individual dual membership: https://www.amle.org/portals/0/pdf/membership/dual/alabama_individual.pdf

institutional dual membership:

https://www.amle.org/portals/0/pdf/membership/dual/alabama_school.pdf

Join today!

Contact ALAMLE:

alabamaamle@gmail.com