NARRATIVE

Winfield Middle School believes that no one individual can be diverse; diversity is the existence of variety within a group. Encouraging the ingenuity and intelligence of talented students by creating lessons that require problem-solving to achieve goals, teachers support and sustain diverse STEM programs and initiatives.

Diversity is a key element in Winfield’s STEM program. Diversifying a classroom setting is an excellent start when teaching STEM lessons. A classroom that utilizes cooperative learning has the ability to join students with different backgrounds, varying experiences, and unique perspectives. As a result, these groups approach problems differently, ask higher-level questions, and ultimately form an increased percentage of innovative solutions. A sense of competitiveness builds among students the longer they are in an inclusive environment. Scientific success becomes more likely and ultimately promotes STEM growth throughout the school.

Furthermore, Winfield City Schools continuously searches to form partnerships within the community to support our STEM initiatives and programs. Local businesses, community organizations, STEM practitioners, individuals, families, and institutions of higher education all work with our school system to provide the best experiences and opportunities for our students. For example, the annual Fall Festival is feasible for the school system to host due to the amount of support we receive from the Park and Recreation, Police Department, and Community Sponsors. Also, the local theatre programs involve our students in their grand productions and allow the schools to come and enjoy the show. The annual Art/STEM expo is supported by a variety of community members and stakeholders of the school. Lastly, guest speakers are always welcome to share their experience with STEM in their professional lives.

Strengths: Winfield City School's greatest strength in Standard 3 is Engagement. All stakeholders have bought into providing students with the best possible STEM experiences.

Opportunities to Improve: Winfield City School would like to improve in Results. We are working on new ways to collect data from stakeholders that will receive more involvement in data collection.

Fall Festival Announcement.pdf

Fall Festival

The Winfield City Schools Fall Festival is an annual event started in 2018. This event welcomes all members of the community to join in on a STEM experience hosted by faculty and staff at WCS. The event offers a STEM Expo, games, food, music, and much more! This annual event is a highlight of our community's fall celebrations!

Fall Festival MAP 2021.pdf

Art/Stem Expo

WMS began hosting a Art/STEM Expo night along with the Annual WES Art Show in 2017. This expo invites parents and community members into the school to view and/or purchase student art. The art and STEM projects are lined down the halls, in the library, and the lunchroom. This was the first year that WCS used the company Artome’ and were able to sell the students’ framed art, both originals and reproductions. Some of our art projects included STEM and the students enjoyed making “STEAM!”

Each grade level comes up with a different theme for their hallway art and a theme for the student art that will be framed by Artome'. The Artome' Framed Art is set up in the lunchroom and the library available for purchase, while the hallways are covered in Art and STEM projects. Community members and parents love to come and view the student masterpieces every year.

We have hosted this event at WMS annually since 2017, until the Covid pandemic. With restrictions and guidelines, we decided to make the Art/STEM Expo a virtual event and still had great success!

We will happily invite visitors back into our school this spring for this annual event!

Freedom Theatre/Drama

Arts education is a growing interest at Winfield City Schools. At its core, the Winfield theater program is centered on self-confidence, teamwork, and self-expression. This is done through a framework that allows the students a variety of ways to rehearse and perform with and for their classmates, as well as opportunities to share their work with the community.

Within the curriculum, a Theater elective is offered at the seventh-grade level, and at the high school for grades 9 through 12. The seventh-grade elective is a fun overview of theater and acting, generating interest in participating in high school and in the Drama Club extracurricular. At the high school, the projects are more standards-focused, exploring a variety of performance styles including mask work, mime, and voice acting in addition to rehearsing and performing from a script and practicing a variety of improvised scenes and games.

The theater program is STE(A)M based. In addition to performing, students learn the technical crafts of scenery, costuming, lighting, and sound. They have opportunities to work with and present material for other classes and grade levels in ways that support their learning. For instance, the high school class presents a yearly "Pirate Stories" project in which they adapt stories written by third-grade students into an hourlong variety show which is presented to the third graders in an assembly. The theater students have also presented various takes on Renaissance-themed performance pieces, including short plays they wrote themselves, for the school's annual Renaissance Faire.

The Drama Cub creates more focused opportunities for the students' grades 7 to 12 to rehearse and present polished scenes and full-length plays to school and public audiences. Students are able to travel to The Freedom Theatre in Winfield to see their classmates present full-length works ranging from Shakespeare to Thornton Wilder and Agatha Christie. Through participation, the students earn credits toward membership in Winfield's chapter of the International Thespian Society, an honors organization for secondary theater students.

Winfield students also have year-round opportunities to get involved with the local community theater organization, Self Express Productions Inc. The company produces four full-length productions and a summer youth workshop each year, in addition to offering classes in singing and various styles of dance. The company has partnered with The Pastime Theatre in downtown Winfield and has since created its own venue, The Freedom Theatre, to provide additional arts opportunities for the community and school. Students participate in classes, perform in plays and musicals, and help with building, painting, stage management, and other technical aspects of theatrical production through their involvement with Self Express. Since its inception the co-funder of Self Express has also served as the theater teacher and Drama Cub sponsor for Winfield Schools, providing mentorship and guidance in both areas.

Guest Speakers

Guest Speakers are an important piece of STEM Discipline Integration in the sense that students need opportunities to see how what they are working on in class is relevant to the real world. Guest speakers offer a gateway into the real world. Most guest speakers come during for a school wide assembly, but others come to specific classes during specific projects to offer expert guidance. These are all opportunities for STEM-field adults to illustrate how important it is to be able to transfer skills across disciplines, but also to learn cross-discipline skills.

Brett Burleson, Police Chief

Mayor Randy Price

Peer Helpers

Students attended a training where they learned how to best help their peers! Teachers also received training about the program and how it would be implemented at WMS!

Peer Helper Curriculum

Peer Helper Faculty Training

Project Based Learning (PBL)

PBL projects provide great opportunities for our school and students to partner with community stakeholders. Dizzy Dean’s Fireworks has been a staple in the community of Winfield since the year 2002. Glenn Dodd, owner and operator of Dizzy Dean’s Fireworks was a graduate of Winfield City High School. Glenn, now a resident of Northport, began his firework business in his hometown of Winfield and is now making his way back home for a business expansion. Dizzy Dean’s Fireworks Supercenter is being built in Winfield and is set for a soft opening this winter with a grand opening the following summer. Winfield City Schools is an active partner with Mr. Dodd, creating various projects to be displayed within the new supercenter. Sixth grade students are working to create an exhibit entitled “Fireworks From a Sixth Grade Perspective”. Students are actively studying the history, science, and mathematics found in designing and creating fireworks, as well as in the business aspect of selling and distributing of fireworks. Included in the exhibit will be a student made model, showcasing the makeup of a firework. Students are also practicing their presentation skills and researching marketing strategies to create videos to promote Mr. Dodd’s business. Additionally, students are creating a video to inform consumers of the safety precautions necessary when buying and shooting fireworks. Seventh grade students are partnering with students at Bevill State Community College to create the very first disco firecracker ever made, that will be displayed in the center of the store. The disco firecracker will spin and shine, creating a fun and exciting environment for Dizzy Dean’s Fireworks customers. Finally, the Agribusiness department and students are designing and building a spinning wheel to be used by customers. “Spin the Wheel to get A Deal”, as said by Mr. Dodd, will be a crucial addition to his business strategy. Winfield City Schools is excited to have formed a partnership with such a stakeholder in the community as Glenn Dodd and Dizzy Dean’s Fireworks.