Here's Puma Pride in action: The National Center for Educational Achievement recognized the school as a 2009 Higher Performing School; it earned three Gold Performance Acknowledgements from TEA in 2009; and it was Exemplary in 2009 TAKS Reading, Social Studies, and Writing, and Recognized in Math. Also, the UT Council of Educational Administration identified Paredes as one of the highest performing Texas middle schools in math. The school will be highlighted by the Texas Business and Education Coalition on its website. I join the school staff, parents, and students in being so proud of all these achievements.
All of this happening on a GORGEOUS campus that is well maintained. After meeting the French teacher, I finally figured out what the landscaping of the school reminded me of! It's the drive from Spain to France through the Pyrenees. The trees, natural surroundings, and hilltop campus feel like it is tucked away among olive trees and vineyards on a hillside in the mountains. Very Euro-fabulous! Seriously, you wouldn't know you were in the City of Austin.
It's no surprise that the school's cheerleaders met us at the door, jumping into a Paredes cheer with me without pause — and, yes, at my prompting (I love cheers!). Pablo the Puma mascot joined us in the spirited welcome.
I always enjoy learning about each school's namesake, and Paredes has a special one, Dr. Américo Paredes, a renowned folklorist, author, poet, and musician whose labor of love was to preserve the Texas-Mexico border culture for future generations. A University of Texas professor emeritus, he founded Mexican American Studies, Border studies, and the post-modern movement in anthropology. In 1997, he received the University of Texas Presidential Citation. Dr. Paredes, at age 83, attended the groundbreaking ceremony for this school in 1998, but, sadly, passed away before its opening in 2000.
On our tour, we found Teacher of the Year Christina Canales teaching 7th grade math. The kids were dividing decimals, but she makes math fun and cool by teaching them formulas through numonics. We learned an integer rap to help students understand how to add negative numbers, and also a "cowboy-horse" division method. I have to explain: The cowboy is on top of the fraction (numerator) which sits on a saddle (viculum - the divide line in a fraction) and the horse (denominator) is on the bottom. The cowboy then gets put in the "tent," or the division bracket, then the horses are put out of the "tent" for the number to divide by. Sounds confusing??? Probably, but it's a lot easier when the student does it on the board. I also got to see another 7th grade class where Isiah and other students were carefully measuring out restaurant space and costing out menus.
Walking to Coach Ervin's class, we saw the award-winning outdoor classroom with all the weather boards. Next to it was the veggie garden where students grow food for community service donations.
In Coach's classroom, we witnessed how his students earned a 99% TAKS pass rate in Reading last year. The choral reading structure is key to the students' success. Collectively, they worked to make inferences in identifying details and main idea. 
Paredes has a separate fine arts building, and the music room of Richard Davis, head band director, was our first stop. With over 50 students, he conducted a performance with perfect precision. The bands competed this year at the Peak Music Festival in Denton. The Symphonic Band earned a 2nd Division rating, and the Wind Ensemble earned a 1st Division rating and the Best of Class Award! As the school year winds down, the students have been preparing to perform with the Akins High band — need I say more? Have you heard the great Akins band? One of AISD's best will get even better next year when these Paredes kids move up to high school. We also enjoyed the jazz band, complete with congo drums, piano, bass, and brass ... lots of brass.
We knew it was time to leave the Paredes Pumas when the announcements came over the PA. We thought about staying for the school's end-of-year dance, but there is just too much work waiting back at the office. Goodbye, Pumas! Thanks for the great time and warm welcome.
That's the tour for this week. It's been so much fun, and every campus has been so very gracious to us. Next week is the "4" in "44 in 4." That means it's the last week of the tour ... and we have 16 schools to go to reach our 44! Stay tuned for more exciting learning in AISD!
