Mr. Blount is a National Board Certified Teacher!

Last school year I applied for certification in Early Adolescence/English Language Arts with the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. It was an intensive process requiring that I build four portfolios to document my ability to analyze student growth in reading and writing, facilitate small and whole group discussions, and document my educational and instructional accomplishments. Upon completion of the portfolios, I took a timed computerized essay test addressing the areas of literary analysis, universal themes, teaching reading, language study, analysis of writing, and teaching writing. The results were announced online today, and the above screen shot shows what I saw when I logged into my account. The congratulatory letter below provides additional details about this accomplishment.


I wish to thank all of my 2007-2008 Tomlin Middle School students and colleagues for supporting me in this endeavor and my parents Roland & Evelyn Blount for hosting my writing marathons on their living room floor. My eternal love and gratitude, however, goes to my two NBCTS mentors, Vickie Gunn and Tracy Stanley, without whose support and assistance I would not have been able to earn this honorable designation. Thanks, girls! You KNOW you pulled me through!

Plate Tectonics with Mrs. Gunn

Mrs. Gunn, my next-door colleague, is an amazing teacher. While my strength in teaching is lecture and discussion, Mrs. Gunn teaches primarily with collaborative groups and hands-on activities. Several times per week we co-teach geography with our homeroom students. One day last week I hosted Mrs. Gunn's class while they illustrated the water cycle in their interactive notebooks, and my students went to her classroom so she could teach them a hands-on lesson about plate tectonics using cake frosting and graham crackers. The best part of the lesson was that at the end they would get to eat their activities. Now that's a way to keep students attentive!

Mrs. Gunn teaches near Sean's table.

An edible activity. Yum!

Aaliyah and Anisha get in the mix.

Mrs. Gunn gave the students the following four definitions for their interactive notebooks:

plate tectonics - the theory that pieces of the earth move and change shapes

convergent boundary - when two plates collide

divergent boundary - when plates move away from each other

transform boundary - when plates slide past one another

Mrs. Gunn demonstrates a transform boundary at Shayla's table.

Michael enjoys eating his project.

Aaliyah and Shayla think it was a sweet lesson!

Thank you, Mrs. Gunn!

Our Chinese New Year Celebration

Last Thursday, Mrs. Gunn invited our geography class to join hers for a Chinese New Year celebration. Her room looked almost like an authentic Chinese restaurant. It was decorated with red student-made Chinese lanterns and red spring couplets, and the tables were spread with red checked tablecloths and red plates. Several students even dressed in red, the official color of Chinese New Year.

Mrs. Gunn give directions for the celebration.

Hannah proves she can use chopsticks.

Our principal, Dr. Carbaugh, stopped by for a visit.

Jeff, Saulo, Alexis, and Andrea

Mrs. Gunn and Dr. Carbaugh

I want to send a word of thanks to the parents of Jack, Georgette, Chance, Aramis, William, and Tyler who brought or sent in food for our celebration. And of course the biggest thanks goes to Mrs. Gunn who made our celebration possible!

Chinese New Year Celebration Planned

We will be celebrating Chinese New Year together with Mrs. Gunn's geography class this Thursday, February 7, as part of our current unit of study on China. We are asking students to bring in homemade or take-out Chinese food that day to share with each other. Parents, if you would like to deliver hot Chinese food on Thursday, please have it at school by noon. Mrs. Gunn will be providing the hot tea for our celebration.