STJ Peer Tutors

by Sidnee Beavers, Class of 2021:

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The Writing Center has evolved into a phenomenal service for students at Saint James School. Mrs. Ramsey, our fantastic Librarian, founded the Writing Center to help students develop their essays and creative writing. The program grew quickly. Mrs. Ramsey selected a great team of Saint James seniors to assist her in offering additional services. The 2020-2021 peer tutors are Sidnee Beavers, Paige Hemmer, Ella Taylor, Zoe Tatum, Izabella Hernandez, Barrett Hammond, and Sumner Brown.

Peer tutors are senior students who have an interest in writing and service. These students allow the Writing Center to offer more flexible hours and additional services. Because of the Coronavirus pandemic, the school has become even more technologically proficient, allowing Peer Tutors to offer services in-person and over zoom. The Peer tutors are able to work in the mornings, afternoon, and even on weekends to better serve the STJ student body.

Peer Tutors have many tools to assist students in their writing. They have a history of high quality English studies from Saint James School. They can often be found in Advanced Placement English classes or in creative writing clubs. Peer Tutors also received additional training with Mrs. Ramsey over the summer. Training included technology instruction, relevant scenarios, and Socratic discussion.

Peer tutors offer many services to Saint James students. Peer students are most commonly asked to assist with essays for English class. Tutors are trained to help students at any point in the development of their essays, whether that be brainstorming topics or proofreading a well developed essay. However, because of their experiences at Saint James, Peer tutors are also able to assist students with history classes. History classes at Saint James are college preparatory, so they require a significant amount of writing. The Peer Tutors can assist students with bibliographies for history classes or Document based question essays for Advanced Placement history classes. Peer tutors are also happy to help students with any creative writing they may be interested in writing.

All of the peer tutors have greatly enjoyed helping students become more confident in their voice while writing. We are more than happy to help students in grades 9-12. Students can schedule an appointment by going to OnCampus, clicking on the Resources button in the top banner, press on the High/Middle School Library, click on the “Click Here for Writing Center Peer Tutor Appointments on the write hand side, and then select a Peer tutor to make a 30 minute appointment with. We are so excited to offer this free program at Saint James. Go Trojans!


Digital Citizenship Week-

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In this digital age with our digital students it is imperative that we model, explicitly teach, and constantly remind our students of digital citizenship. We expect the same great online manners, uses, and skills just as we do with offline citizenship. Our students today have two worlds whether we like it or not and we need to do what we can to keep those students (all ages - it gets more imperative as our students get older) safe.
— Ms. Deborah Otis, Educational Technology Specialist
Literature used in elementary technology enrichment lessons.

Literature used in elementary technology enrichment lessons.

This week, we celebrated Digital Citizenship Week, Oct. 19 – Oct. 23, 2020. Digital citizenship refers to the responsible use of technology by anyone who uses computers, the Internet, and digital devices. This is more important than ever for this generation of young learners. Starting in PreK3, digital citizenship is a main focus of our technology curriculum and is reinforced all year. Students are taught age appropriate lessons about basic internet safety, online research, privacy, digital communication, and applicable skills to help them navigate their digital world. We are thankful for full-time technology faculty members at every level (elementary, middle, and high school) who reinforce these critical skills. #WeAreSaintJamesSchool

Literature used in elementary technology enrichment lessons.

Literature used in elementary technology enrichment lessons.

Student created digital citizenship presentation.

Student created digital citizenship presentation.

Explorer Battleship

The battleship game is a fun culminating activity following our study of map skills and locating latitude & longitude coordinates.  The black lights and glow in the dark map add some extra excitement to the game!  Our version is called “Explorer Battleship” because we just finished studying some of the early explorers to North America, and the types of ships they sailed.  The students each have a printed copy of a world map and decide their ship’s location and coordinates on the map.  

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Four teams compete to sink the opposing team’s ship by calling out a latitude/longitude coordinate.  The large glow-in-the-dark floor map is used to help guide them when locating coordinates. When a ship has been sunk, the appropriate ship card is placed in its spot on the floor map.  The winning team is determined by which team has the last remaining ship still sailing the ocean blue! 

-Mrs. Robin Parquette, 5th grade teacher

#WeAreSaintJamesSchool

#WeAreSaintJamesSchool

Faculty Spotlight: Mrs. Joanna McCurdy

I teach: high school English II and English I

I've Taught for: This is my 12th year teaching English, 5 years as a middle school ELA teacher and the rest as a high school English teacher. I am also a fourth generation educator, so education has been in my blood and my heart my entire life. This is my first year at STJ and I am loving it!

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Hometown: Jasper, Alabama

High school: Walker High School (now known as Jasper High School)

College/Degree: Auburn University; Bachelor's of Science in Secondary English Language Arts Education

Favorite Book: Oh my gosh....there are too many to choose from! Some of my favorites are: Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers; anything written by Emily Giffin for light, fun reading; To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee or really anything in Southern Literature

Favorite Movie: Walk the Line and Beauty and the Beast

Favorite Food: sweet potatoes

Married to: My very own Southern gentleman, Sellars McCurdy

Children: Mac (aka Mac Man)....he is in Mrs. Browning and Mrs. Castleberry's Pre-K3 class

Fun Fact: My husband's family has their own breed of horses (the McCurdy horse), but unfortunately, I am deathly allergic to horses, so I have never gotten to ride one, and I cannot be around them :(

VRL Students in the Metric Measurement Lab

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The purpose of this lab is to introduce the students to metric measurements and conversions. They use various lab equipment to make accurate measurements. If done correctly, a rainbow will appear... in a test tube, of course. 🧪 

Even though we have students learning at home via our Virtual Remote Learning option, the experiments in our middle school science lab still go on! With our handy iPad stands positioned near the lab tables, students in Mrs. Whigham’s science class feel like they are right there in the action.

#WeAreSaintJamesSchool

#WeAreSaintJamesSchool

Staff Spotlight: Officer Robert Ojeah

My role: School Security Officer

I've Been in this role: 1 year

Hometown: Ogwashi-Ukwu in Delta State, Nigeria

College/Degree: B.A. in psychology and visual arts from Alabama State University

Favorite TV Show: The Big Bang Theory, Friends

Favorite Food: plantains

Fun Fact: I love to cook, I am an artist, and I am 6’10!

Favorite Thing about STJ: The kids! They are very loyal to the school.

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#WeAreSaintJamesSchool

#WeAreSaintJamesSchool

Express Yourself!

Our second graders spent some time during the first few weeks of school creating one-of-a-kind art: themselves! First, students designed and decorated a paper t-shirt that described them, their families, interests, and anything else they wanted to tell about themselves. They then cut out and embellished cardstock hands and mini versions of themselves. Throughout the year, students will use their tiny cut-outs in various ways. In October they will dress in Halloween costumes, in the spring they will sport STJ spirit wear, and so on. We love expressing ourselves and embracing what makes us unique!

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#WeAreSaintJamesSchool

#WeAreSaintJamesSchool