“The Golden 12”

Last year Hand Middle School won South Carolina Department of Education’s prestigious Palmetto Silver Award.  The Palmetto Gold and Silver Award Program is designed to recognize and reward schools that attain high levels of absolute performance and attain high rates of improvement.  While we are proud of our Silver Award status, we will not rest on our laurels; we are going for the gold!  The Palmetto Gold Award is our aim.  As we seek Palmetto Gold status we have several initiatives in place that we think will help move us closer to our goal, specifically, “The Golden Twelve” and increased efforts at improving student and teacher attendance.  “The Golden Twelve” is a list of words that Hand Middle School has adapted from famed education consultant Larry Bell.  According to Bell, often students do not do well on standardized tests, not because they do not know the answer but because they do not understand the question.  “We should not have students missing questions they know the answers to simply because teachers do not thoroughly familiarize them with (certain) word(s).”    Bell goes on to refer to the words that trip students up on standardized test as his “12 Powerful Words.”  As we go for the gold at Hand Middle School, we have adopted Bell’s “12 Powerful Words” but have renamed them “The Golden Twelve.”  We are in agreement with Bell; students should not miss answers to a question simply because they are not familiar with higher order thinking words/verbs.  As a result, Hand Middle School began working with our students and staff on “The Golden 12” during the 2007-2008 school year, last year we continued our efforts by seeking our business partners and full submersion of “The Golden 12” into our curriculum, and this year we are continuing our efforts of full submersion of the 12 words into our school and our curriculum while again seeking out additional business partners to assist in our efforts.  

Our goal is to reward students and teachers as they continue to utilize “The Golden Twelve.” As teachers are continuously caught using daily quizzes, tests, and other assignments that include “The Golden Twelve” words, their names will be entered into weekly/monthly drawings (based on the level of support from sponsors) for incentives.  As students notice “The Golden Twelve” words in their assignments, are able to point them out to their teachers, and are able to define them in their own words, they too will be able to win incentives/prizes.  Classes/students that are doing special assignments with “The Golden Twelve” will be featured on our morning news show and awarded with a class prize.   By celebrating and honoring our students and teachers and their commitment to education, we believe that Hand Middle School can achieve our goal of Palmetto Gold.

Special Thanks to Hand Middle School’s “Golden 12 “Sponsors”

Platinum Level Sponsors

Gergel, Nickles & Solomon, PA

Superior Mailing Services

Yesterday’s Restaurant & Tavern

Gold Level Sponsors

Dr. Kris O’Neill Cosmetic & Family Dentistry

Silver Level Sponsors

Andy’s Deli

Business Partners

Groucho’s

Pizza Man

Rockaways Athletic Club

Applebee’s

Publix

Zoe’s

Papa John’s