Middle School Band Program Recognized At Warsaw School Board Meeting

The Middle School Band Program was recognized at the Warsaw School Board Tuesday for their accomplishments this past year.
Middle School Band Director Joseph Peloza said every contest the Middle School Band Program was eligible to participate in this year, they did.
In March, the Jazz Band went to the Jazz Band contest at Carroll High School. Later in March, they went as a whole band to North Manchester and performed at the Indiana State School Music Association Organizational Festival. They also took part in ISSMA contests.
Among the awards the bands received was the ISSMA All-Music Award, where the band had to receive Gold or Silver ratings in every ISSMA organizational event category, including Solo & Ensemble, Jazz and Concert Band. Advanced Band received a Gold Rating with Distinction at the ISSMA Organizational Festival. Edgewood and Lakeview Jazz Bands also earned Gold ratings from all three judges at the ISSMA Jazz Contest.
Students recognized at the meeting were Bentlie Zellers, Brenna Overman, Paige Barlow, Blake Barlow, Canton Rapp, Saul Harmon, Natalie Corbin, Chloe Ousley, Noah Huff, Raegan Demange and Landon Miller.
Board member Tom Westerhof asked how many students were in the Middle School Band Program. Peloza said there were between 150 and 170 students in the program.
Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert congratulated the students and thanked Peloza for his dedication to the program.
Later in the meeting, Chief Academic Officer Aimee Lunsford updated the board about Warsaw Community School’s professional development for elementary teachers and staff to strengthen literacy instruction.
“This just ties directly to our mission of continually acquiring and applying knowledge and skills and helping student pursue their dreams and enrich the lives of others in the ways we are supporting teachers to do these things in their classrooms,” she said.
Professional learning opportunities have centered around improving writing and literacy instruction. Lunsford said the writing focus has been broken down into three areas: transcription, syntax and composition. Transcription has been embedded into Word Study work. There is a 10-minute stand along instruction dealing with syntax. Composition is connected to the language comprehension block so students “write about what they know about.”
She said the school corporation has a fully literacy framework with a structured literacy model.
Lunsford also shared data about coaching support provided to teachers throughout the school year. The data included there were four direct instructional professional development sessions throughout the year, 105 building professional development sessions, 89 modeling sessions, 42 mini coaching cycles, 39 full coaching cycles, 14 side-by-side support opportunities and 19 weeks of support.