NMSI Talk- Dr. Petrosino

On Wednesday May 21 and Thursday, May 22 Dr. Petrosino presented work on two courses he dsigned. One, Knowing and Learning in Mathematics and Science (with colleague Dr. Walter Stroup) and Project Based Instruction in Mathematics and Science. Much of this work is being incorporated in the work of the Hoboken School District's Curriculum Committee.

The conference is in response to an outpouring of national interest of educators interested in replicating the successful UTeach program for training math and science teachers May 20-24, 2008. More than more 230 participants from around the country will attend the three-day meeting, the largest national workshop since the program’s inception 11 years ago.

Attendees will learn more about the highly successful UTeach program and explore issues related to science and math education with university faculty, administrators, and others currently implementing UTeach programs across the country. UTeach is being replicated at 13 universities throughout the United States through the Uteach Institute and the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI).

The Austin conference attendees will include representatives from current recipients of NMSI-UTeach grants, including: Florida State University, Louisiana State University/Southeastern Louisiana University, Northern Arizona University, Temple University, University of Kansas, University of California- Berkeley, University of Colorado- Boulder, University of California- Irvine, University of Florida, University of Houston, University of North Texas, UT Dallas, and Western Kentucky University.

LitLife Presentation

Today ten district administrators met with representatives from LitLife to discuss K-8 literacy and reading professional development in the Hoboken School District. LitLife works in a diverse range of school communities to 1) Design and construct curriculum along a spiraling continuum, 2) empower students to exceed national learning standards by training teachers wisely and well, 3) give teachers practical strategies and management tools to create a differentiated classroom, 4) inspire a love of reading and writing in all children by motivating teachers, and 5) develop strategic plans for literacy achievement at all grade levels.

The program is in over 100 schools and has served thousands of teachers grades K-12. The basic premise of the program is a belief that "the key to an extraordinary, memorable, equitable education for all children is effective, systemic, and joyous teacher training.

The professional development centered on student self regulation and metacognitive processes is consistent with findings from the National Research Council's findings on "HOW PEOPLE LEARN".

Curriculum Meeting- May 14

The Curriculum Committee met today and discussed issues related around the development of hands on activities that incorporate basic principle of How People Learn. Specifically, the committee looked at three key issues: 

1) Reconsider developmental rationale for constraining middle school childrens’ science instruction
2) Effective structuring of clasroom environment for investigative activity via project based instruction preceeded by a meaningful problem
3) Emphasize working like scientists rather than functioning primarily upon students initial state of understanding

The Committee also examined design principles for effective instruction built upon the idea of reflection and revision. Specifically, theses Design Principles for Problems to Projects include:

1) Define Learning Appropriate Goals
2) Provide Scaffolds
3) Multiple Opportunities for Formative Self Assessment
4) Social structures that support participation and revision

The presentation by Dr. Petrosino focused on The Development of a Project, The Scaffolding of Student Activity, Opportunities to Reflect and Revise, The Use of Tools and Opportunities to Acquire Meaningful Content in Mathematics (Data/Measurement) and Science (Experimentation).

The challenge of this work is figuring out how to include detailed project based work like those demonstrated today while still being very conscious and aware of the existence of accountability testing and the educational, social, and political world they inhabit. 

Summer Curriculum Committee Meetings

The Hoboken Curriculum Committee will begin summer meetings on Monday July 14 and continue until Thursday August 14. The Committee will meet four days a week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) from 9AM to 3:30PM with a 1 hour lunch period (11:30-12:30). Additional times and dates may be arranged when appropriate and approved. The primary goals of the summer meeting swill be to provide and articulate detail to the District's system wide curriculum revision process. Meetings will take place in Calabro School.

Frank Sinatra Stamp Ceremonies

“I would like to be remembered as a man who had a wonderful time living life, a man who had good friends, fine family - and I don't think I could ask for anything more than that, actually.” - Frank Sinatra

The United States Postal Service is releasing 120 million copies of the Frank Sinatra stamp this week, featuring a young Sinatra wearing his signature fedora and his blue eyes sparkling. Sinatra was born on Monroe Street and raised in Hoboken. "What you have here is the child of immigrant parents who came to seek the promise of America from the Old World," said Sinatra Jr. about his father. Pointing to the Hudson River flowing past Pier A Park in Hoboken, where the ceremony was held, Sinatra Jr. added, "This is the river that brought his parents to where we are today. "Here was a kid off the streets of Hoboken, New Jersey, and now his face is being honored by a United States Postal Service stamp. If that isn't the finest expression of the American dream, I don't know what is," Sinatra Jr. said.

Hoboken Mayor David Roberts joined Sinatra Jr. at the unveiling, along with actor Danny Aiello, U.S. Rep. Albio Sires, D-West New York, Superintendent Jack Raslowsky and well over 100 Sinatra fans. By CARLY BALDWIN

Saturday Curriculum Meeting- May 10

The Curriculum Committee met for 6 hours today at Hoboken High School (9AM-3PM). The primary goal was to formulate a final version of the K-12 Curriculum Mapping for the new District Curriculum. For the first time this year we worked in content specific groups to address vertical alignment of the curriculum. Edits were made to previous drafts and some areas received significant reformulations. Content specific groups included Mathematics, Science, Language, Social Studies, and English. This leaves the areas of Music, Art, Physical Education and Career Education yet to be finalized. While we were all expecting to have this past us by this point, the involvement of many teachers across many grade levels is proving to be a major strength and deserves the time allocated. We are anticipating all mapping to be finished by the middle of May.

Red Bank Primary School Visit- Tools of the Mind

Over a dozen members of the Hoboken School District visited Red Bank Primary School in Red Bank, NJ today for a visit of the school's implementation of the Tools of the Mind PK-K curriculum. This was a follow-up to the March 4th visit (see post). Amy Hornbeck, coordinator of the Red Bank program, was on hand to lead visits to numerous PK and K classrooms as well as lead a Question and Answer period for principals and teachers following the classroom observations. Tools of the Mind is a research-based early childhood program that builds strong foundations for school success in preschool and kindergarten children by promoting their intentional and self-regulated learning. In a series of rigorous experimental trials, Tools of the Mind has been shown to have a significant impact on self-regulation of preschool children. The studies also found these gains in self-regulation to be related to scores in child achievement in early literacy and mathematics.

The Hoboken School District is currently assessing the viability of adopting the Tools of the Mind program to address the issue of self regulation among our youngest students in addition to streamlining the transition between the district's Pre K and Kindergarten programs. A decision will be made shortly.

A growing body of research indicates that many children start school not ready to learn not because they do not know their letters or numbers but because they lack one critical ability: the ability to regulate their social, emotional, and cognitive behaviors. Current research shows that self-regulation – often called executive function -- has a stronger association with academic achievement than IQ or entry-level reading or math skills.

District participants included:

Linda Erbe- Principal Connors
Elizabeth Falco-Principal Brandt
Susan Imorz- 21st Century
Jill Littzi- Kindergarten
Romy Marchesani-Kindergarten
Paula Ohaus- Arts
Linda Palumbo- Principal Calabro
Jessica Peters-Supervisor of Early Childhood
Dr. Anthony Petrosino- Asst. to Superintendent
Elizabeth Schwartz-2nd Grade
AnnaMaria Simone-Kindergarten
Katrina Sturdivant-Kindergarten
Charles Tortorella-Principal Wallace

For more information on Tools of the Mind visit: http://www.mscd.edu/extendedcampus/toolsofthemind/

Dr. Jay Pfaffman Visit-Instructional Technology

On Monday, March 31st, the district was visited by Dr. Jay Pfaffman. During the visit Drs Pfaffman and Petrosino discussed a number of issues related to technology and instruction in the District. Jay Pfaffman, Ph.D. (Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN) teaches graduate courses in instructional technology at the University oF Tennessee-Knoxville. His primary research interests are in engagement and motivation. He also looks at ways to help teachers and schools recognize the importance of Open Source Software. He is a member of the American Educational Research Association and the International Society of the Learning Sciences. Current projects include using Linux terminal servers in classrooms and studying how former students are using Moodle, and Open Source learning management system, in their schools. Dr. Petrosino and Dr. Pfaffman were colleagues at Vanderbilt University's Learning Technology Center in the 1990's and have worked on a number of projects together over the years.

See Dr. Pfaffman's website: http://learn.occ.utk.edu/

Recent publications by Dr. Pfaffman:

Pfaffman, J. (2007). It's Time to Consider Open Source Software. TechTrends, 51(3), 38-43. DOI: s11528-007-0040-x. Republished in LinuxInsider in two parts: Part 1, Part 2.

Pfaffman, J. (2007). Transforming instruction without training: A case study of the k12 Linux Terminal Server Project. Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2007, 363-366, Chesapeake, VA: AACE.

Perkins, M., & Pfaffman, J. (2006). Using a course management system to improve classroom communication. The Science Teacher, 73(7), 33-37.

Schwartz, D., Martin, T., & Pfaffman, J. (2005). How mathematics propels the development of physical knowledge. Journal of Cognition and Development, 6(1), 65-88. DOI:10.1207/s15327647jcd0601_5.

Hoboken Curriculum Project- March 8 Meeting

This Saturday Meeting dealt with issues centering around the following topics:

1) How can we incorporate 21st Century critical thinking skils into our curriculum
2) A review of the July 2007 Curriculum Audit Report
3) A review of the QSAC report for Curriculum and Instruction
4) Discussion on our reading for "The Strugle for the American Curriculum"
5) Back of the Envelope Problems

Red Bank Primary School- Tools of the Mind

Tue- Traveled to Red Bank Primary School with Jessica Peters and members of both HOPES and MILE SQUARE pre-school programs. Met Amy Hornbeck while there, a representative from TOOLS FOR THE MIND

We visited about 6 classrooms while in Red Bank and observed both Pre-K as well as K classrooms. Overall impression was that I saw great examples of self-regulation and reflective activity by the students. The teachers (and their aides) functioned as “learned others” within a Vygotskian paradigm. By this I mean that students were progressing along their own developmental trajectory with well thought out and planned activities. Furthermore, there was numerous opportunities for differentiated instruction (consistent with special education requirements as well as I& RS and Response to Instruction (RTI). We were shown many examples of student work and also had conversations regarding how activity develops over time. This was easily shown by portfolios that are kept by the teachers (and sent home to parents on a weekly basis). The students we observed seem to derive from the same SES as the students of the Hoboken Public Schools with a corresponding focus on special needs.

Tools of the Mind is a research-based curriculum that emphasizes the development of underlying cognitive skills such as self-regulation, focused and sustained attention, deliberate memory, group interaction and problem solving, listening and responding to other children’s perspectives, emotional and behavioral self-control, empathy, and interest and motivation to learn as a way of simultaneously fostering the development of academic skills as established by the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards. (NJCCCS).

High-quality instruction is supported by a classroom assistant and students receive specialized instruction in music, art, physical education, library, and computers. Classrooms are organized to allow for the establishment of learning centers to promote concepts of print, early writing, phonemic awareness, oral language and comprehension skills while at the same time emphasizing the development of self-regulation and classroom routines. Themes are used to focus instruction in mathematics and science. Small group instruction addresses individual students’ needs and allows for a personal connection between the teacher and your son/daughter. Conferencing is a key component of the program that facilitates the development of self-responsibility and overall readiness, organizational and planning skills. The goal is that by the end of Kindergarten, children know about learning and how they, as individuals, learn.

IN Red Bank, young children are not just spending more time in school. They are engaged in a world of learning, spending the day with extraordinary teachers and assistants in an environment that fosters problem solving and enriched learning.

Center for Talented Youth Visit

On February 14th Superintendent Jack Raslowsky and Dr. Petrosino visited John Hopkins University's Center for Talented Youth (CTY). During the visit, the two met with the administration, tutors and contant developers for the "John Hopkins Program". The visit lasted from 10AM to 3PM and issues such as identification criteria, curriculum, technology, integration with regular classroom activities, and summer opportunities were discussed. The meeting was very productive and plans were set in place for follow up conversations during the spring.

Trip to John Hopkins University- Center for Talented Youth

On February 14 Superintendent Jack Raslowsky and Dr. Petrosino traveled to Baltimore, MD to visit with leaders of John Hopkins University's Center for Talented Youth (CTY). The visit consisted of a series of presentations by the CTY staff on topics such as entrance criteria, expansion efforts, diagnostic assessment of students mathematics progress, integration of the Hopkins model with exisiting classroom instruction, technology infrastructure needs and summer program offerings. The discussions were very productive and plans were made for followup conversations during the spring.

The CTY provides academically challenging online courses for students in grades K through 12, guided by CTY's distance education faculty. Subjects include mathematics, computer science, biology, chemistry, physics, earth and space science, writing, language arts, Chinese, a variety of advanced placement courses, and others.