Mr. Thomas J. Mazza
Principal & Director of School Initiatives Forest Park Middle School |
Dear Parents:
Welcome to Forest Park Middle School’s makerspace learning environment! We are so excited to introduce all parents to this website because it represents a transformational change in the way we teach your children. As we introduce more educational technologies to every classroom, your child will be constructing their content while developing their 21st century skills namely, creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication all necessary to become career and college ready. A makerspace learning environment allows students to imagine, create, experiment, collaborate, and share their ideas while making a tangible product. This type of teaching promotes problem solving at the highest levels allowing our students to feel very accomplished and successful. |
I invite you to our courtyard where you can view our first makerspace project, mosaic tiles. This project was taught by a world renown artist, Robert Markey, who is local to the Springfield area. In fact, he has several of his mosaic art projects sprinkled throughout the downtown area and he teaches at our local museum. By inviting Robert, we can provide an authentic learning experience for your child.
We are busily planning for future makerspace projects utilizing high tech products in the areas of robotics and e-textiles. We’ll be offering these courses as STREAM (Science, Technology, Reading/Writing, Engineering, and Math) enrichment courses so your child will begin to develop skills necessary to learn how to invent and innovate their ideas that will enrich their future! We chose the STREAM path because the US Department of Labor has published STEM careers that are the fastest growing. We found another source that indicates that there are over 500,000 computer science jobs presently in the US! What do all of these jobs have in common? They all require computational thinking and I believe that a makerspace learning environment is the best environment for your child to develop these skills.
At Forest Park Middle School, we are dedicated to deliver the most advanced methods of teaching and learning allowing your child to develop and master skills necessary to become competitive in their future!
I invite you to enter a discussion with me regarding college and career readiness as well as 21st century skills and what it means for your child’s future! We want to prepare your child with the necessary skills that will enhance your child’s high school learning experiences and prepare them for college and their career!
We are busily planning for future makerspace projects utilizing high tech products in the areas of robotics and e-textiles. We’ll be offering these courses as STREAM (Science, Technology, Reading/Writing, Engineering, and Math) enrichment courses so your child will begin to develop skills necessary to learn how to invent and innovate their ideas that will enrich their future! We chose the STREAM path because the US Department of Labor has published STEM careers that are the fastest growing. We found another source that indicates that there are over 500,000 computer science jobs presently in the US! What do all of these jobs have in common? They all require computational thinking and I believe that a makerspace learning environment is the best environment for your child to develop these skills.
At Forest Park Middle School, we are dedicated to deliver the most advanced methods of teaching and learning allowing your child to develop and master skills necessary to become competitive in their future!
I invite you to enter a discussion with me regarding college and career readiness as well as 21st century skills and what it means for your child’s future! We want to prepare your child with the necessary skills that will enhance your child’s high school learning experiences and prepare them for college and their career!
Very truly yours,
______________________________
Thomas J. Mazza
Principal & Director of School Initiatives
Forest Park Middle School
______________________________
Thomas J. Mazza
Principal & Director of School Initiatives
Forest Park Middle School