Article from Press of Atlantic City
Posted: Friday, March 2, 2012 8:29 pm | Updated: 4:36 am, Sat Mar 3, 2012.
By JOEL LANDAU Staff Writer |
Michael Ein
HAMILTON TOWNSHIP — The township’s school district has implemented a new curriculum that allows students more freedom in what they read and gives teachers less control of their own classroom.
But the program, implemented by Teachers College at Columbia University, has had success and the teachers say it’s due to broadening the students’ choices in the classroom and allowing them to discover the lessons on their own.
“It’s a juggling act,” said Christie Reed, a teacher at the George L. Hess Education Complex for three years. “I see kids more excited to read. They keep you on your toes, because you don’t know what to expect because of the freedom they have. But it’s not a challenge because they have a routine of what they do every day.”
The district started a professional development program with the college three years ago, Principal Jennifer Baldwin said.
Faculty must have 100 hours of professional development over a five-year period under state law, and Baldwin said personnel from the college visit the school to work with the teachers. The staff will hold development sessions weekly, she said.
The college’s Reading and Writing Project, which is taught in districts worldwide, allows kids to make choices on what they want to read and write about — instead of being dictated to — which teachers say creates more enthusiasm.
During a session Friday, the teachers discussed nonfiction writing and the best way to get ideas from the children. Instead of instructing the students to write specific ideas in their essays, the teachers were told to tell the students to write the essay and then afterward ask them to identify what ideas they used.
“Opposed to telling them they must write one way, here kids do things (the teacher) may not even think of because it’s a different style,” Baldwin said.
She said some district hold development sessions only on in-service days when there is no school but that her faculty will meet at least once a week as part of the program.
“We don’t apply it without support,” she said.
Hamilton is the only local district that uses the program, and Baldwin said other districts often visit the schools to study what they’re doing.
The program is used for the about 100 language arts teachers at Hess and Joseph C. Shaner Elementary School. The district budgets about $25,000 a year for the program, Baldwin said.
The Hess School made the state benchmark in language arts under the federal No Child Left Behind program last year for the first time since 2007, and Baldwin said the program was a major reason for that.
“We focused on teachers and instruction,” she said. “That will make the biggest impact on kids.”
The method also helps the students develop skills that will benefit them long into their academic futures, said Dan Cartwright, principal at Shaner.
By planning curriculum for the whole district, the students and faculty both understand what they will need to succeed in future grades, he said.
“Beginning from kindergarten, we are on the right track to move forward,” he said. “It helps us dig deeper and understand why we’re teaching a lesson and how it fits the learning. They’ll have the skills they need.”
Jenniffer Farrell, literacy coach for the district, helped implement the program three years ago.
Each language arts class is divided into small book clubs and the children can select books they want to read from a basket, Farrell said. All of the material is matched to them based on their interests, she said.
“The students get to make decisions, and it’s highly engaging behavior because of their choices,” she said. “They can write about the topics they love and read about the things they like.”
And teachers have had to make the transition from teaching one lesson plan to every student to being able to accommodate what each of the roughly 20 kids per class is doing, she said.
“It’s the hardest way to teach. You have to know your stuff, the content and different skill sets,” she said. “You have to be on point with the class. They have so much choice and freedom. We teach the teachers how to have the skills so they do not use a manual.”
Brett Derringer, a teacher for 12 years, said he was excited to make the transition to the new program.
“I’m a big proponent of books instilling knowledge,” he said. “I thought it would be beneficial to have novels to teach literature instead of watered-down texts (from literature text books). A novel is more comprehensive and better for that.”
Contact Joel Landau:
609-272-7215
JLandau@pressofac.com
Article from Press of Atlantic City