Darius Goes West

When I was in college in Georgia, I worked as the assistant director for a summer camp for students with special needs. My first summer was the summer after this student's brother, Mario, died.

You may have heard of the movie "Darius Goes West". The cast/crew were in Dallas this week promoting the movie and were featured on the news and on the radio. My wife heard Darius on Kidd Kraddik and asked me if I heard it. Anyways, he was one of my kids at the camp. He grew up and made a movie to raise awareness about Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It is the #1 genetic killer of children in the world and is 100% fatal. Mario died 3 months shy of his high school graduation. Darius graduated from high school in 2007. You can preview it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2yoOlicmww&eurl

The reason I wanted to share this with you is because it shows the difference (once again) that 1 person can make. Also, my wife and I just finished watching it, and I am so proud of him and all that he has accomplished I couldn't help but share it with everyone.

Darius and the crew are again traveling the country raising awareness of muscular dystrophy. They have a goal to sell 1 million DVD's by this summer. They cost $20. $17 goes directly to research, and $3 goes toward making more DVD's. http://www.dariusgoeswest.org/

I am in no way affiliated with them, I just am trying to help them spread the word.

MLK Day

Just a reminder that we will not have school on Monday, January 19th in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We have discussed his life in our classroom, so please remind your students while they are enjoying their day off why they're not at school. We will also be celebrating the significance of his accomplishments during the inauguration activities on Tuesday, 1/20.

Holiday Party

Our class will hold a Holiday Party on Friday, 12/19 during our lunch period at 11:30. Parents are invited. We hope to see you there!

WMS Choir Concert

UPDATE: Due to the weather, tonight's concert has been rescheduled for Wednesday, December 17th at 7PM.

The WMS Holiday Choir Concert will be on Tuesday, December 16th @ 7PM in the gym. Come join us for an evening of music and fun to get you into the holiday spirit!

A Christmas Carol

Along with the 7th grade English classes, we will be going to see the Dallas Theater Center's production of "A Christmas Carol" on Wednesday, December 10th. Students must bring a sack lunch from home. We will leave at 9am and return around 1:45pm. We have been reading the novel in class and are excited to see the live production. It should be a great experience for all of our students. They have been really enjoying the story in class.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I would like to wish all of my students and families a very Happy Thanksgiving. As we spent the past several days talking about the things we are thankful for, I have been impressed to hear the many different things that the students have told us they are grateful to have in their lives. I want to take this opportunity to tell them that I am thankful for them and their hard work. I am thankful that I have an opportunity to work with them and learn from them each and every day. I am also thankful to have such an amazing team to work with, and to be so blessed to have Mrs. Wolf and Mrs. Stone in our classroom. I love to come to work every day and love my job. So I am thankful for all of the many opportunities and blessings I have just by being in the right place at the right time. Happy Thanksgiving!

Parent Training

November 6th at 7pm

Futures Planning and Transition Services for Parents of Students in grades 7-12 at the admin building.