Middle school welcomes principal

District also adds several new teachers to its classrooms.

New Lebanon School District is excited to welcome Thom Maxwell as the new principal of Dixie Middle School. Mr. Maxwell formerly worked in the Mt. Healthy School District in a variety of teaching and administrative roles. From the strong field of 58 applicants, his ideas for safe and inclusive schools as well as his enthusiasm for improving student learning made him a clear choice to be the next leader of Dixie Middle School.

Mr. Maxwell is committed to maintaining a school environment where every child will have many positive experience, will have fun learning, and will achieve learning expectations for themselves, their parents and their school. Parents and community members are invited to visit Dixie Middle School and meet Mr. Maxwell this month and throughout the school year.

New Lebanon School District also welcomes several new teachers to the district. At Dixie High School, Mr. Ben Little will be joining the social studies faculty. Mr. Tony Sollenberger will be directing the DHS and DMS choirs. Dixie Middle School welcomes Ms. Danielle George, social studies; Ms. Melissa Bucher, social studies; and Ms. Delaney Haynes, art. Ms. Stephanie Johnson will join the Dixie Elementary staff as the new kindergarten teacher.

New “textbook”: Social studies teachers at Dixie Middle School and Dixie High School will be introducing the new “online textbook” to students this year. Instead of carrying thick social studies textbooks around the school, students will access their social studies text through a Chromebook.

The online resource provides several advantages for teachers and students. Students will be able to interact with the electronic textbook in ways that a traditional textbook cannot offer. When students are reading about a subject, they will have instant access to video learning resources and primary documents from the time period to help deepen their understanding of the topic.

Additionally, teachers will have access to a number of resources to support learning projects that extend beyond the typical classroom. Students will have access to the online resources wherever they can connect to the Internet so they can work on projects at home or on the go.

The online material will also allow teachers to give quick feedback to students about how to improve their learning based upon assignments that are submitted online or from formative quizzes for each topic. In addition to expanding the learning opportunities for students within the social studies curriculum, the online resource also helps students to develop essential technology skills that lead to college and career readiness when they graduate.

The online social studies curriculum adds to a number of webbased resources used by New Lebanon Schools to improve student technology skills while providing convenient access to learning tools wherever and whenever students need them.

Teachers will have access to a number of resources to support learning projects that extend beyond the typical classroom.