I'm Honored

A Reflection

            

Occasionally either a colleague or a parent will ask me, “What does it feel like to be the NJAMLE Educator of the Year?  Have you gotten a lot of air time on TV and radio and coverage in the newspapers and blogs?  Has Oprah called? Oh, and what is NJAMLE?”

            With a wry smile and a humble shrug of my shoulders, I attempt to formulate an answer.  The first question: “What does it feel like to be the NJAMLE Educator of the Year?” may be the most difficult one for me to answer.  You see, I am honored to be recognized by my colleagues.  However, I feel the same now as I did when I heard my name being announced at the annual conference last year at Kean University: incredibly fortunate.  The outpouring of respect from my colleagues cannot be described.  I continue to feel honored to be held in this high esteem, proud of my students and their efforts over the years, respectful of my position as an educator who hopes to make a difference in the lives that he touches each day, and most of all, humbled. 

You see, there are numerous educators throughout this entire state who are doing outstanding work on behalf of their students, parents/guardians, colleagues, administrative staffs, school communities, and communities at large.  Some of this work is recognized, but a great deal of it is routinely taken for granted.  Without this “matter of course” that occurs daily, there are numerous students who would not have their futures being maximized in the same way if it hadn’t been for the selfless dedication of their teachers, my colleagues.  These individuals do not seek glory nor do they seek recognition.  Rather, they seek to discover and sometimes even create paths for their students to follow on the road to being successful, productive, and respectful professionals, parents, and citizens.  I happen to be fortunate enough to have been recognized by my colleagues, whose students are fortunate enough to be inspired by them on a daily basis – sometimes even without any recognition or glory.

Concerning the question about receiving an increase in the amount of media coverage, I did indeed receive a fair amount of recognition for my award.  Nonetheless, the recognition truly belongs to those who are inspiring their students to find their inner passions, apply their talents, and pursue their dreams.  Whenever I attempt to imagine a world without caring, dedicated, and committed educators, I immediately reflect upon the teachers who collect donations so their students can wear fancy clothes to the graduation dance.  I reflect upon the teachers who spend extra hours both before and after school to help their students to understand a concept, prepare for a competition, or ensure that past-due work must be completed so the students will be adequately prepared for the next academic level.  I reflect upon the teachers who help to conduct special fund-raisers on behalf of needy families.  I especially reflect upon all of my teachers, my mentors, and most importantly my parents who have supported me and inspired me to become the teacher that I am today.  Unfortunately, the media tend not to find these acts of sincerity and kindness to be newsworthy events on a more frequent basis.

Oh, yes.  Has Oprah called?  Not yet, but the Office of Veterans Affairs and the National Education Association’s Foundation did reply when I shared information about a special project that I had implemented in my classroom.  You see, the project was inspired by my colleagues in the Fordham University Digital Literacies Collaborative directed by Dr. Kristen Turner.  I was looking for a way to enhance my teaching, and the Fordham DLC provided me with an inspirational spark.  I decided to have my students take the color poems they were writing after completing a unit featuring Lois Lowry’s The Giver and enhance their poems with digital options.

As this project moved forward, it seems that my student Michael had written an outstanding color digi-poem (my term for a poem formatted on a technology-based platform such as an iMovie or Screencast) about our American flag.  Michael’s efforts resulted in one of the best poems I have ever seen a student produce in my almost 43 years in the classroom.  When I shared his poem “Stars and Stripes” with the Office of Veterans Affairs, they asked me to write a guest blog featuring both the digi-poem activity I has designed and Michael’s poem specifically.  My blog and Michael’s digi-poem were featured on the Office of Veterans Affairs website.  The posting was done on July 4, 2016 to pay tribute to our veterans who have defended our nations “Stars and Stripes.”  Furthermore, the National Education Association’s Foundation asked me to write another blog about the project and Michael’s special poem, which I have also done.  My blog has been featured, along with five digi-poems from my students.  Of course, one of the poems is Michael’s.  Congressman Leonard Lance invited Michael, his family, and me to the Congressman’s office where Michael was presented with a certificate and a flag that had been flown over the U.S. Capitol.  Incredibly, Michael earlier that day (through a bit of maneuvering on my part) met John K. Schwarz, the Executive Director of the USS Houston CA 30 Survivors Association and Next Generations, who has invited Michael to read his poem and lead the flag salute at the Association’s next conference. 

By the way, as I am writing this, the National Council of Teachers of English has posted a second blog of mine.  The first dealt with the digi-poem project itself.  The present one deals with my desire to “go the extra mile” on Michael’s behalf to secure for him the recognition that I knew he indeed deserved.

I am sorry to say that to date, Oprah has not called.  I did indeed reach out to her, but I guess she must have been busy at the time.  That’s fine.  I’ll still entertain her contact should she decide to initiate one.  I have sent her a copy of the link to my second blog, which once again features Michael’s poem.  I’m not going to let one disappointment sidetrack me.  Even so, I do recognize that Oprah gets a lot of contact from her fans.  I understand.

Be that as it may, please know that I am most grateful for the opportunity to have served as the NJAMLE Educator of the Year.  I have not taken this responsibility lightly.  To be recognized by one’s colleagues is indeed a reason to be grateful, as well as respectfully humble.

To the future educators who are recognized by NJAMLE (New Jersey Association for Middle Level Education), may I congratulate you in advance for the countless hours you have dedicated to the betterment and inspiration of your students.  To those who may not be fortunate enough to be recognized yet, please know that your students, your colleagues, your school districts, and your communities at-large appreciate your valiant and generous efforts more that they can begin to tell you.

Oh, and one more thing.  I stand ready to reach out to Oprah again and again.  However, this time it shall be on behalf of my colleagues who are being recognized by NJAMLE.  Let’s hope for a positive response for my next effort.  Ms. Winfrey, please read the message I have just sent to you and be sure to look for my upcoming messages.

            Joseph S. Pizzo has taught integrated language arts at the Black River Middle School in Chester, NJ for 42 years.  An adjunct professor at Union County College and Centenary University, Pizzo is the NJAMLE Educator of the Year for 2016. An executive board member of NJCTE and a former co-director and Educator of the Year, he also serves on the boards of NJAMLE and NJ Schools to Watch.  A member of Fordham University’s Digital Literacy Collaborative, Pizzo has written blogs about his digi-poem unit for the US Office of Veterans Affairs, the NEA Foundation, NCTE, and Digital IS. The host of podcasts for NJAMLE, NCTE, and NJCTE, Pizzo is a member of the NJDOE’s Council for Teaching and Learning and the author of Barron’s New Jersey ELA/Literacy Test.

Top 5 Take Aways from AMLE

I’m one of the lucky ones.  I have been able to go to a couple of great national conferences over the years?  What makes them so great?  People!  Sharing!  More People! More Sharing!  Yup, you can do all that on social media, but how cool is it to meet those people you connect with on social media and not be limited by the amount of characters you can write?

When I do go, I am always on the lookout for creative ways to connect to kids and teach the standards.  Assuming that you might “want some of that”…I will share my top 5 takeaways of this year’s findings with you: 

1.       Got a kid who is intellectually curious?  Hook them up with a “Weekly dose of Curiosities and Puzzlements!”  Check out http://www.byrdseed.com/ for some great resources to get them thinking! 

2.       Spaghetti Towers – you’ve probably been challenged to build a spaghetti tower in your lifetime.  Simple materials, design challenge, etc.  Who do you think are the most creative people working on this challenge?  Check out this Ted Talk to find out!  While accepting the challenge (and failing) during session at the conference, the leaders kept adding constraints like “oh no, you are now working with people who do not speak your language, no talking for the next 5 minutes).  Fun, challenging, team building, design work, STEM principles, etc.

3.       Always looking for new tools!  Check out the Student-driven Blended Learning Classroom presentation page from @Mr_Hallerman and @haydabeck to see some examples organized by use – Create tools, Save tool, etc.

4.       Play Like a Pirate – Yup Quinn Rollins (@jedikermit), Curriculum Specialist at Granite Public Schools uses toys to teach Language Arts, History, Science.  Using us as his model classroom, we did some really great things with Playdough and Toy Packaging – he has included lots of templates on the right side of his home page to get kids writing bibliographies, etc.  Good stuff…funny guy, engaging activities…even Dave Burgess himself was participating!

5.       And then there’s S.N.O.T.  – stuff not on the test (not the real name of her session but….) by Debbie Silver. Wow.  So much powerful stuff in this workshop, I invited her to come to speak to us directly.  Have you seen this video?  Pretty powerful statement to get you thinking about how screen time is taking away from our ability to connect in person.  Check it out.  Great advisory topic. Can we auto-correct humanity?  Or How about this video “There’s no Dishonor in having a Disability?”

Debbie’s workshop made me laugh, made me cry, gave me specific strategies and activities to connect to my kids and help them connect with the people aroud them.  Check out her books Deliberate Optimism (co-authored with Jack Berckmeyer) or Fall down 7 times Get up 8-Teaching Kids to Succeed.  Like a breath of fresh air, she will help you bring out the joy in your life and your teaching!  Come see her in person at the NJAMLE Annual Conference on March 

Next Generation Science Standards: Are you ready for the future?

Our guest blogger is Thomas Misiak, Supervisor of Science & Technology at Bernards Township Schools

NGSS Overview

Effective September 1, 2016, the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards (NJCCCS) for Science are being replaced by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for grades 6-12.  The NGSS were developed through the work of a multi-state consortium with 40 lead writers submitting their drafts and soliciting feedback from the educational and scientific communities at large before finalizing the current version of the NGSS.  This final version was adopted by the State of New Jersey during the Summer of 2013 with an extended deadline for adoption provided to schools in order research, prepare, and align before mandatory implementation.  The NGSS have been adopted by many other states which has aided in the availability of aligned instructional resources, curricular materials, and lab science supplies.  It is important to note that on the New Jersey Department of Education (NJ DOE) refers to the New Jersey Student Learning Standards but, for science, these standards are the NGSS.

Locating the Standards

The NGSS, along with a multitude of supporting documents and research, can be found at www.nextgenscience.org.  These standards are also linked by grade band on the NJ DOE website under the science content area page.

Organization of the NGSS

The NGSS are first grouped into three grade bands: Elementary (K-5), Middle (6-8), and High School (9-12).  Within each grade band, the standards are then subdivided into the three main focal areas of science: Physical Science, Life Science, and Earth and Space Science.  Under each focal area, at each grade level, is a list of topics that outline the key points covered by the NGSS.

Structure of the Standards

The layout and verbiage of the NGSS are what make them distinctly innovative and refreshing in comparison to the NJCCCS.  The structure of the NGSS is initially complex but designed to ensure science literacy and 21st century learning are outcomes of K-12 science instruction.  The overriding standards- those which should be denoted in curriculum documents and lesson plans- are the Performance Expectations.   These Performance Expectations are grouped by topic and given prefixes to denote grade band like HS for High School and MS for Middle School.  At the elementary level, these prefixes are grade specific (K for Kindergarten, 2 for grade 2, etc.) as the NGSS do specifically outline the topics at each grade K-5.  Beneath the Performance Expectations, the NGSS are broken into three components: Science & Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, and Cross-Cutting Concepts.  Each of these components, frequently referred to as strands, are explained below.

Science & Engineering Practices

This first strand, found in blue beneath the performance expectations, outlines the skill set that students should develop by virtue of addressing the content linked to the overruling standards.  These key aspects are very student-centered and focus not upon the content but upon how the content will enable that student to develop their 21st century skills.  Appendix F, an accompaniment component of the NGSS found on the standards website, outlines the eight different science and engineering practices that are thematic throughout the standards.  It is important to note that not all eight practices are denoted within each topic but, across an entire curriculum or grade level students will be exposed to all eight practices a multitude of times.

Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs)

The DCIs outline the key concepts that students should understand once they have mastered the associated topic.  This strand of the NGSS is most like the 2009 NJCCCS however it is important to note that there are a number of focal points that have changed- some aspects of the 2009 NJCCCS have been eliminated to make room for the newer 21st century focal points of the NGSS.  Appendix E, one of the aforementioned accompaniments to the NGSS, contains detailed information and support for educators regarding the DCIs.

Cross-Cutting Concepts

There are seven cross-cutting concepts that appear as recurring themes throughout the NGSS.  These concepts were embedded to enable educators to help students make horizontal and vertical connections as they progress through units, topics, subjects, grade levels, and courses.  Like the other the other two strands, there is supporting appendix, Appendix G, to provide additional clarification and support.

Supplemental Materials & Support

Beyond the website for the NGSS, the single most relevant resource is the NRC’s “Framework for K-12 Science Education.”  This was a guiding document in the creation of the NGSS and provided educators with vital insight and understanding in the the effective classroom implementation of the standards.

In addition to this resource, http://www.bozemanscience.com/ngss/ includes an array of videos that explain the NGSS and how content should be directed for optimal alignment.  This resource has proven to be particularly useful to both content experts and novices alike.

Common Questions & Misconceptions about the NGSS

• The NGSS is not a curriculum.  A common misunderstanding is the “topics” of the NGSS should be used to create the units.  This is not correct and doing so will not create a cohesive, aligned, comprehensive science program.
• “Engineering” should not be a stand-alone unit.  The 2009 NJCCCS included as component of science and safety practices.  The engineering foci of the NGSS are comparable to this aspects of the NJCCCS in the sense that they should be an embedded, thematic component of every unit.
• Middle School Sequencing is outlined in Appendix K of the NGSS accompaniments.  This is a research-supported, adjusted sequence.  It is possible to align to the NGSS without adopting this structure/sequence but this sequence, which is presented as a spiraling approach, was designed to avoid curricular gaps and to optimize the use of the cross-cutting concepts to support student learning.
• When will the NJ ASK 8 Science Assessment be revised to reflect the NGSS?  According to Michael Heinz at the NJ DOE, in May 2017 the NJ ASK 8 will reflect both the 2009 NJCCCS and the NGSS with the assessment to be fully revised, with likely computer-based administration, projected to occur in May 2018.

For any additional questions or to receive direct support you may contact Thomas Misiak at tmisiak@bernardboe.com

A Rich Life Thanks to So Many Teachers

Well, Teacher Appreciation Day has rolled around again. I have to laugh as my colleagues posted their thanks for soft tissues and toilet paper in the bathrooms placed there by student council in appreciation.  We are so easy!   It's the little things that we appreciate.  But we also understand that teaching often feels like a thankless job.  I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to do it. Loving your job is a great perk. 

I am not Pollyanna though; there have been many times when I have felt used and abused.  It is very frustrating to put so much into your work and have people make you feel that it isn't enough.

Parents want more.  “Why didn't you tell me he failed a quiz?/was rude to others?/missed a homework assignment?”  Sometimes you have to first develop a relationship with the child.  I can remember being the president of the PTA in my child’s school; the other members were extremely disappointed that the teachers were not more active.  Why couldn't they give more…more time, more donations, just more?  I had to remind them that many of us did not work in the districts that we lived in and we did give more time, more donations and just more to the PTA…sometimes we just have to be the P.

Kids want more.  Can we have more action, more entertainment, more free time?  Lesson planning takes a lot of work.  Not every lesson is going to hit it out of the park for every child…but we keep trying, striving to orchestrate- to wave our baton and let the magic happen.  It is not every day that we hear “can we do that again?” but we know that kids look forward to learning and enjoy school…they just don’t always admit it!

Admins want more.  They need more of our time, higher scores, less ripples.  Without tooting your own horn, many teachers don’t get more than an “effective” checked in a box for feedback.   Administrators often have the as many staff members as we have students to care for, too often the squeaky wheel gets most of the oil.

We don't do this to get rich

Although true, it just feels so corny to write "we don’t do this to get rich."  We do it for the riches.  There is no job that requires more people skills than teaching.  You literally come in contact, more than contact, with hundreds of people a day.  And you know their names!  And it is your JOB to talk to them, make them comfortable, teach them something, support them, etc.  That is what makes your life rich- being a rock star to a kid in the dairy aisle of Shop Rite, the opportunity to know so many diverse human beings, to share your enthusiasm for learning with kids and colleagues.

A different kind of rich

Perhaps the most rewarding thing about teaching is being part of a community of people who by nature, care for each other.  A community that you can see and hear and feel in the flesh!  Life doesn't get any better (or richer) than that ….no need to thank me, for that I am thankful.

Parts of this blog were previously posted on Drive Them to Think blog by Sandra Wozniak

All That's Right in the Middle

Welcome to the NJAMLE blog where we celebrate, share, and collaborate on all that is right in the middle!  We will be sharing best practices from our recent conference, resources and good news from our NJ Middle Level Colleagues.  We know that there are amazing things going on in the middle schools of NJ and would love to share the joys and successes of your schools.  Please contact swozniak@njamle.org with any good new, resources, or best practices that you would like to share!