For separate programs involving special education, bicycle exercise, writing, and cooperative learning, the Bayonne School District received four prestigious state awards honoring work done during the past school year. The state Department of Education gives “Best Practice” awards to highlight outstanding practices in the classroom and provide models of excellence that might serve as examples for schools throughout the state.
One award was received by Mary J. Donohoe School, one by Washington Community School, and two by Bayonne High School.
“The recipient schools showcase programs that work to prepare students for higher education and develop skills needed for lifetime learning,” State Commissioner of Education William L. Librera said. “The winning schools should feel proud that they are part of a growing state trend regarding innovative and locally developed classroom practices that promote student achievement.”
Bayonne schools received four out of the 54 Best Practices issued this year, out of 700 applications that spanned the state.
Applications for Best Practice are first reviewed by the county offices of education for compliance with laws and policy. Then, the applications are submitted to the Department of Education, where panels of experts (involving approximately 300 administrators and teachers) review the work of their peers and rate each application. A second peer review of the highest-scoring applications is conducted. In the final phases, the focus of the evaluation returns to the county and local levels. The process culminates in 60 site visits by panel members to verify information in the applications.
Bicycling for fitness
Bayonne High School’s “Bicycling for Fitness” was awarded a Best Practice Award in Physical Education. Initiated originally by now-retired teacher Gerri Durr to start students along the right road for keeping fit, Patricia Longo, Karen Gallagher, and Dolores Szaro, who are physical education teachers at Bayonne High School, have since carried on the program.
Bicycling can improve cardiovascular endurance and get people out into the open air. Recent studies show that people who exercise early in life tend to carry on the practice.
“This involves a comprehensive approach to health,” said High School Principal Richard Baccarella. “This is not just about bicycling. This involves classroom instruction time, and learning about how to take care of your body. Students learn the benefits of exercise and develop cycling training that will allow them to ride properly.”
Students learn about balance and movement, the development of motor skills and social interaction.
“The program culminates in a city ride,” Baccarella said, noting that bicycles are donated to the school for the program and maintained by students working through the Industrial Technology program.
Getting independent
The state has given Bayonne High School a Best Practice Award for its program “Project Independence.” During the school day, a group of disabled or special education students pushes a cart through the halls making the rounds. They operate what the school calls “a kiosk-on-wheels” stocked with stationery supplies and with items that the students have made themselves, such as chocolate lollipops. These students have a variety of disabilities that have in the past kept them from functioning well in the general population. Although school officials sought to include them in everyday school activities, the disabilities have often frustrated these students.
Project Independence was designed to allow these students to function in school and to learn skills they will need when they graduate.
Accompanied by teachers and aides, the students pay visits to administrators, department heads, directors and others in Central Administration or peddle their wares in the corridor near the Project Independence Center. They take money and make change, all the time learning to interact with other people – adults and other students.
Then, on Friday, they take their proceeds and visit the local mall, where they test their new learned skills in an environment beyond the walls of the school.
“This works wonderfully,” Baccarella said. “It allows these students to deal with people in real situations, doing things they will need to do when they leave school.”
Under the direction of Peggy Faulkner, Dennis Tiberi and Karen Gray (who have revised the program to make it more effective during its nine years) these students learn how to cope with their disabilities and function in the wider society, Baccarella said.
A ‘Writing Journey’ Two teachers at Mary J. Donohoe School have taken students on a writing journey, one that has brought a state Best Practice Award to the school.
The “Writing Journey” is a year-long process in which students learn the writing craft through the process of reading, writing and critiquing. Students are exposed to a variety of writing forms, and the approach builds on a student’s writing strength. Through a process of encouragement and review, it helps the student overcome writing weakness.
Judy Czachur is a language arts teacher, and Michele Queenan is a fourth grade teacher involved in the language arts.
The program began three years ago, although according to Queenan, it has evolved during that time. She said a lot depends on the children involved.
Czachur said the program consists of three 80-minute classes per week. The idea was to find an interesting way to get students to write, since students will need those skills through school.
Both teachers say the program seems to evoke a sense of passion for writing, so that each student avoids the usual dread of writing, and works towards a writing goal rather than merely filling up the page.
The teachers developed the program out of their research, taking bits and pieces from various places in order to shape a program that works with their students. Part of the advantage of this program is that it helps students meet the new federal guidelines for the No Child Left Behind Act.
Queenan said the first thing they do is get a sample of a student’s writing to determine what needs to be done. Czachur said the program deals with the craft of writing, covering everything from grammar to story structure, with students using a variety of skills including research.
Neither teacher actually expected the remarkable level of writing that the students produced.
Czachur said kids critique various writers, including writing done by the two teachers. She said the students develop their own style and voice. Queenan said she sees the reaction in the faces of the students about mid-year. “You see they got it,” she said.
Student writing portfolios containing both works-in-progress and finished pieces of writing are assessed on a bi-weekly basis through writing rubrics and student and teacher conferencing. At the end of the year, the writings selected by the student are published in a book and celebrated with a fourth grade book party.
Cooperative Learning in Progress
Washington Community School won its Best Practice Award for “Cooperative Learning in Progress” (CLIP).
Students from Kindergarten through the fifth grade work in cooperative, inclusive groups on a series of cross-curriculum and cross-grade level projects throughout the school year. The idea is to get students to work as a team of diverse learners, and increase the interaction between general education students and students with special needs.
Teachers from multiple disciplines form a cooperative team to develop, implement, and evaluate activities. General educators provide expertise on content, special educators provide expertise on adaptations/modifications, and technology teachers provide the expertise on videotaping and editing.
The program involved Sharon Plaskon, a special education teacher; Judy Lee, a technology teacher; Dr. Patricia Berezny, district-wide psychologist; and teachers Gail Martin and Anna Panayiotou.