english
W
hether you are sitting among students
at a Harkness table or walking through
the halls at Newark Academy (NA), you will find NA faculty consistently reimagining the educational rigor that the school is
known for. Each day NA educators bring innovative, engaging and challenging
experiences to students in order to help
health humanities IB
instill within them a genuine love of learning.
This focus on academic excellence is affirmed by NA’s supportive community – one in which students learn together while
developing as confident individuals with integrity. In the following pages, several
Newark Academy faculty members share their vision of what “reimagining rigor” means to them and their colleagues in their respective roles as educators.
math science
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NEWARK ACADEMY
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english BY DAN REED
I
To me, reimagining rigor means realizing balance. It means
creating balance between writing and other forms of communication, as my students
and I combine a detailed approach to strong writing – a central hallmark of a Newark
Academy education – with opportunities for other modes of creative expression.
It means finding balance between self-driven and collaborative work, both of which will surely be essential in our students’ lives after they leave NA.
Perhaps most importantly, it means achieving balance between teacher and student. Not a proponent of the classical “sage on the stage” model, I find that my students and I thrive together when we prioritize teacher-student collaboration in as many areas as possible – planning and facilitating discussion, choosing texts, designing assessments – instead of abiding by a traditional top-down approach. In these ways, I work with my students not only to promote challenge and find joy in learning, but also to realize that this joy can and should come as a direct result of that challenge.
This looks different in every grade. For instance, the seniors in my IB English Higher Level (HL) class work together to define what a great reading discussion looks like, and then they plan and facilitate the discussions – each student working with a partner – for some of our texts. In the 2020–2021 academic year, inspired by one of my colleagues in the English department (shoutout to Mr. Scerra!), I asked my IB students to choose our final course text; they debated the merits of several works and eventually settled on Kazuo Ishiguro’s Booker Prize-winning The Remains of the Day (one of my favorites, in fact!).
Dan Reed, English Department Chair, engages students to explore the themes presented in Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day. To be sure, I work to apply many of the same academic rigors that have long characterized a challenging English education, namely those that come with a meticulous approach to analytical and persuasive writing. Indeed, my students might tell you about how I expect knowledge gained from our “Daily Nuggets” – short lessons at the start of each class about all sorts of “hard skills” related to our subject – to show up in their writing. They might also mention the challenges of our cumulative writing curriculum, and the necessity of keeping a detailed record of writing feedback in order to progressively master skills and mature as writers. My goal every year, though, is to get to a place with my students where they are the ones applying the rigor to our work.
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REIMAGINING RIGOR
Meanwhile, my students in ninth-grade Literature and Composition, having already written plenty of analytical essays (as I’m sure they’d tell you), went through the process of proposing, designing and completing creative projects in response to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. With the aid of a rubric to keep them on the right track, they needed to determine what rigor looked like in their own processes. Unsurprisingly, they ended up producing a panoply of imaginative projects, complete with analytical artist statements: a painstakingly designed Twelfth Night Monopoly game, an original Twelfth Night-inspired rewrite of a popular Hamilton song, and an adaptation of the play set at a modern high school, to name just a few. I’ve found that, when students are given a stake in planning their experiences, they tend to choose rigor. Their creative risk-taking has inspired me to challenge myself in the classroom in similar ways, like planning special units around skills that each year’s students want to learn but that I first need to learn more about myself. Perhaps more importantly, I think their choosing to challenge themselves is rather auspicious for them, as this sort of intrinsic motivation will be integral to their well-being when a teacher’s grades are no longer the ostensible markers of their success. In the meantime, I continue to revel in how much I learn from my students – and how much they learn from one another – when they share in the mission of designing our experience together in the NA English classroom.
health In the Health Department, “Reimagining Rigor” Is Answering the Question Why? BY DIANA FERNANDES
I
Through our curriculum and hands-on lessons, it is our goal in the
Health Department to provide information that can help students become more knowledgeable,
to provide tools for positive decision-making, and to give students opportunities to recognize why their mental and physical health is important.
We ask students to connect on a personal level and reflect
on ways to handle these situations and oppor-
on course content, in order to strengthen understanding
tunities to practice those skills.
and confidence in making healthy decisions for themselves. Across all grades, students are asked to come together and discuss why actions are important and what impacts they may have on people around them or on themselves as individuals. “In the Upper School, students learn about healthy decisionmaking that will take them through life,” says Health Department faculty member Tara DelRusso. “They consider decisions regarding their mental, social and physical health, as well as the consequences of these decisions. Consent, perspective-taking and stress management are all a part of the conversation.” In Kirsti Morin’s seventh-grade Understanding Risky
In my own Physical Health classes, I ask students to explore movement, game strategies and personal fitness with an emphasis on why movement is important. In a class where physical performance is often thought of as primary, it’s easy to forget that knowing why we move can be just as important as the movements themselves. In the midst of a pandemic, these opportunities for students to challenge themselves through movement have become even more meaningful. In my tenth-grade Physical Health class, students create individualized physical goals and design their own workouts to find success. Last fall, I had several students thank me for helping them reach goals they didn’t think were possible, especially because prioritizing
Behaviors class, she uses real-life examples of peer pressure
movement while home has been challenging. One student
and peer conflict to make scenarios relatable for students.
impressively completed over one 100 push-ups in a single
She then leads discussions that result in practical advice
class period! This was something she thought she’d never be
Diana Fernandes, Health Department Chair, helps Wesley Freeman ’23 (on the left) and Zoe Hermans ’23 (on right) to reach their physical health goals.
able to accomplish. It’s a true joy to work with and support these students, and it’s especially gratifying to watch as they push themselves and take responsibility for their physical health. As Carol Spooner, another faculty member in the department, says, “Whether designing their own fitness programs, creating healthy coping strategies for the physical and mental-health challenges of the pandemic, or developing empathy and perspective-taking skills to better connect with others, the Health Department curriculum celebrates challenge and inspires integrity within oneself and in collaboration with others.” It is our hope that all of our classes instill in our students lifelong skills and the confidence to take charge of their wellness for many years to come.
NEWARK ACADEMY
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humanities BY ROCHELLE OUTLAW EDWARDS
I
The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic
and the constant shifts between remote and in-person learning have inspired faculty
members in the Humanities Department to reimagine rigor as we seek to maintain the intel-
lectual quality of our courses, to keep students engaged, and to make classes more fun and enjoyable.
In humanities classes, reimagining rigor began with reimagining homework assignments. While some classes, like AP U.S. History, reduced the length of nightly reading assignments, others, like Modern World History and IB Philosophy Higher Level (HL), replaced homework assignments with in-class
readings. Reading aloud together in class allows students to digest difficult concepts and vocabulary
together and allows the class to do immediate work with the text.
Critical Thinking. Students worked in groups to plan a campaign for a political party during the 1860 presidential election. The project required their investigation into the life of a candidate, the candidate’s political positions, and the issues central to that year’s election. In addition to a written report, groups were tasked with implementing a campaign for the candidate via social media or posters throughout the school, using primary sources. Both of these projects demonstrate the department’s focus on skill building. In past years, humanities assessments tended to be more traditional, like in-class essays; now, however, faculty members are constantly seeking creative ways to assess student learning. One example of this can be seen in IB Philosophy HL, where some essays have been replaced with daily reading
Rochelle Outlaw Edwards, Director of Equity and Inclusion and Humanities teacher, helps her students to take ownership of their learning.
ments give students more control over their learning. Rather
Another strategy, used in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, is
questions on an in-class essay, students put more effort into
notes and reflections. According to course teacher and Upper School Principal Dr. Richard DiBianca, these types of assessthan spending time on studying and trying to anticipate the
incorporating more discussion-based classes and rotating the
making deeper connections to the texts. In IB Modern World
responsibility of students to submit discussion questions on
History Standard Level (SL), students were required to debate
each night’s reading. According to Jim Coe, who teaches the
whether Adolf Hitler was Germany’s fate or misfortune. As they
course, this strategy helps frame the class’s thinking about
would for an in-class essay, students had to develop nuanced
the material and gives students an increased sense of owner-
and focused arguments while illustrating the depth of their
ship over their own learning.
understanding of the historiography surrounding Hitler’s rise
Another way of reimagining rigor is through creative group projects. In American Studies, groups of students in the 2020–2021 academic year were tasked with researching,
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to power. A debate tests their oral communication skills and challenges them to immediately respond to arguments posed by their classmates.
planning and teaching lessons on the post-Civil War era.
The debate in IB Modern World History reminds us of the
Each group wrote an outline, conducted a seminar, designed
challenges of the past year, with students continually shifting
a Kahoot (an online, game-based learning platform), and gave
from in-person to remote learning and the impact of those
a quiz on the material they presented. This project stressed
changes on these types of assignments. We applaud our
collaboration, communication and creative thinking skills.
students for remaining dogged in their endeavors, despite
Likewise, in American Experience, a group project incorpo-
our ever-evolving circumstances. Beyond COVID, the
rated five of Newark Academy’s “Six Cs” of skill development:
Humanities Department plans to take these new challenging
Citizenship, Collaboration, Communication, Creativity and
and innovative ways of reimagining rigor into the future.
REIMAGINING RIGOR
IB BY NEIL STOURTON
I
If you graduated from Newark Academy
in the 1990s, you remember the International Baccalaureate program
as catering to a handful of students. Fast forward to today, half the
students in each class graduate from NA with an IB diploma, while many others
take individual IB courses as honors offerings.
NA students have embraced the IB diploma program because it is widely recognized as the most rigorous college-prep curriculum available, but that rigor is not limited to challenging exams. Diploma candidates take IB courses over the final two years of Upper School in six subjects, so they must demonstrate both breadth and depth of knowledge. In addition to studying for end-of-year IB exams, students in each subject must complete IB-moderated internal assessments and other coursework to demonstrate that they can absorb and analyze the course material. IB courses value mastery of skills over content, and students may demonstrate those skills by creating a podcast in a language class, coming up with an independent topic for a paper in math, or doing lab work to prove a theory in the science textbook. Lessons are inquiry-based, and students are always encouraged to challenge ideas and to question sources. The Extended Essay is now completed during June Term, when Upper School students in grades 9–11 engage in
IB literature classes read works in translation, IB history now has a focus on Africa rather than Europe, and IB arts classes look at plays, dance forms, music, paintings and film from around the world. As they completed their Senior year at Newark Academy, I invited NA students Lori Hashasian ’21 and Nicole Pesquin ’21 to share their take on the IB program:
What are IB classes really like?
“I really love the freedom that IB gives to choose the classes I am most passionate about. My favorite part of my IB classes is the discussions. I appreciate the ability to learn from my peers and use their differing perspectives to form my own perspective on a subject. The material is presented in a way that encourages students to question and build their knowledge on real-world issues, rather than simply memorizing theorems and facts.”
How do IB classes differ from AP or regular classes?
“My biggest concern about taking IB classes was that they’d all be teaching to a test in the same way AP classes do. I was pleasantly surprised that this wasn’t the case at all. IB exams are structured to test critical thinking, so a lot of them involve writing argumentative essays and shorter responses. Preparing for IB exams falls naturally into the structure of the class since most class discussions involve lots of critical thinking and creating arguments. Internal assessments provide a unique opportunity to research a topic that you’re really interested in. They put the responsibility of choosing a topic into your hands and require you to manage your time effectively.” Neil Stourton, Director of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IB), and Lori Hashasian ’21 discuss real-world issues to further frame a class discussion. an intense and experiencial learning course during the last few weeks of the Spring semester. The Extended Essay allows each student to follow their passion and to become the school’s expert in a particular area of knowledge, resulting in a 4,000-word research paper. The IB was founded to foster international mindedness, but looking at other cultures and experiences also forces us to question our own assumptions and values. To this end,
Which IB class developed your thinking the most, and why? Theory of Knowledge (TOK) has definitely transformed the
way I think about learning. Before taking TOK, I’d never really considered the different ways we learn and produce knowledge. TOK doesn’t have as many homework assignments or assessments as other classes, which makes it a stress-free environment and gives you space to just think. One of my biggest takeaways from TOK is that certain types of knowledge are not inherently more valuable than others. For instance, while knowledge in science might be more objective than knowledge in the arts, that does not make it more valuable to society.”
NEWARK ACADEMY
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BY MARY LYSINGER
I
If you imagine learning complex grammar exceptions and
memorizing long vocabulary lists as the definition of rigor in the language classroom,
think again. Today’s modern language classes at NA foster students’ abilities to use
French, Mandarin and Spanish to communicate their thoughts and open doors to
other ways of thinking and experiencing the world. Using techniques that promote the use of only
the target language in the classroom, NA students are challenged from their very first day in class
to take risks and to figure out what they are hearing. Content is selected for its ability to spur exploration and discussion of topics from a variety of domains, and assessments are often project-based and multi-faceted.
While a traditional language classroom may wait until students have learned “enough” and “earned” the right to engage in critical thought, NA teachers are suporting students in active learning. For example, Middle School French students will use simple tools like decision trees and inductive reasoning processes when discussing grammar, becoming actively involved in ensuring accuracy of communication. Mandarin teacher Shun-Yao Chang and Spanish teachers Reyther Ortega and Patty Pascal devoted a year of professional development to implementing a scaffolding approach in their intermediate curricula. “Rigor for us means setting high expectations but supporting our students during their learning progress,” says Reyther. “We immerse them in the culture and language they are learning and place them out of their comfort zones.” This approach has been very successful, according to Reyther: “Students are more motivated when they know exactly what is the real-life purpose of the material they are learning.” Meanwhile, in IB language classes, students meet with authors, UN delegates and other guests, engaging with them in discussions of timely topics. The students develop criticalthinking skills in the process of analyzing causes and effects,
Katherine Guo ’24 and Dagny Slomack ’24 with the awards they received at the 2020 National French Contest.
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and then propose solutions to realworld problems. Collaboration and creativity are key features of language instruction at NA. Thematic units with project-based assessments allow students to engage with technology and each other while working towards meaningful final projects that pull together material in ways the students themselves design. The results are varied and exciting: comic books, newscasts, memes and brochures are just a few of the examples one finds across languages and levels. In Mandarin classes, for example, all levels of instruction participate in an NYU-sponsored annual competition that requires students to write a script and produce a film on a proposed theme. Last year’s Mandarin B, 2 and 3 levels all won awards for their interpretation of “Ten Minutes to Change the World.” Collaboration is crucial not only among students but also between teacher and class. French teacher Moussa Fall says, “My goal is to have my students in the ‘leaning zone’ – which is between their ‘comfort zone’ and the ‘red zone’ – because that is where learning occurs.
Claire Waskow ’23 participates as a guide during the Middle School French C’s annual field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
math BY DR. MICHAEL THAYER
I
What is rigor in mathematics? Historically, it has meant
the ability to make a logically consistent argument based on true premises. The classic
example of such argumentation was Euclid’s Geometry, which built an entire
theoretical system on a small number of definitions, axioms, and common notions.
(Two things that are both equal to the same third thing are also equal to one other, for instance.)
But a rigorous education in mathematics requires more. The era of students memorizing hundreds of theorems and
necessarily mean filling more sheets
regurgitating them at a teacher’s demand has, thankfully,
of paper; it can also mean approaching
passed. For the 21st-century student, mathematical rigor
problems from different perspectives.
involves not only executing procedures fluently but also knowing when such procedures are relevant, understanding how to use that knowledge in novel situations, and, when appropriate, using technology to aid one’s problemsolving approach.
In Math 6, students often find themselves with their first opportunity to experience such problems. Our sixth graders learn how to deal with novel questions that develop both their quantitative and overall problem-solving skills.
One common misconception is that there is only one “right”
Student agency is key here: students have opportunities
way to solve a mathematical problem. Not only is that not
to do “challenge problems” in order to see how well they
true – it’s also not always the case that a problem has only
understand the concepts taught while demonstrating
one right answer. Often the most interesting problems are
creativity in their solutions.
open-ended or require skills like estimation. With such problems in mind, we in the Mathematics Department believe in designing productive challenges for students: giving them opportunities to go beyond their comfort level when doing problems, while supporting them when they struggle. The primary goal of our curriculum is to help students expand their mathematical “toolboxes.” As they progress from year to year, the content they learn in each course provides them with additional tools useful for solving more challenging problems. But tackling more challenging problems does not
Moving on in the curriculum, our Geometry classes start with Euclidean geometry but do so in a way that provides students with opportunities to discuss methods of solution to a wide range of problems and to explore alternatives to the “standard” solution methods. In some of our more advanced classes, including Precalculus, Calculus, and our IB courses, students often work in groups to master the concepts taught. Appropriate projects and explorations are also important opportunities for students to extend their conceptual knowledge while learning how to apply that knowledge in a variety of novel situations. Finally, when reimagining what “rigor” means for mathematics education, the impact of technology cannot be overstated. There are a wide range of mathematical processes that computers can do better than human beings, so we need to help students understand when calculating by hand is best and when using technology would be better. In each of our classes, teachers use a wide range of technologies – from the traditional calculator and spreadsheet to online resources such as Desmos, GeoGebra and Wolfram|Alpha. These computational tools help students visualize, explore and understand concepts that were historically difficult to approach. Our department is confident that our students are learning to be rigorous mathematical thinkers, and it is a pleasure to see
Dr. Michael Thayer, Math Department Chair, helps NA students to approach problems from different perspectives.
them develop their skills over their years with us!
NEWARK ACADEMY
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science BY RACHAEL REEVES
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What are humans made of? What should we do about
climate change? How can we prevent a global pandemic? Interactive Systems, the eighth-
grade science course, teaches students the content and skills they need in order
to engage with these questions and more. In teaching the course, I have found that
traditional assessments can’t always achieve my goals, so I often rely on inquiry-based labs and
student-driven research projects to structure and assess student learning. Looking back at her time in Interactive Systems, Ruthie
“I was really surprised by how much
Gu ’21 says, “I really appreciated the agency we were given,
we change the rivers around us,”
particularly with the infectious disease project and the end-
says Saul Brauns ’25. “Studying the
of-year science fair. By being able to choose our own topic
Passaic River made me think about
and research question, a genuine curiosity was fostered
how we should be protecting the water
for the subject matter. I am of the opinion that curiosity
we rely on.”
is more valuable than knowledge capacity. The latter gets you good test scores; the former encourages outof-the-box thinking – the kind that leads to discoveries and breakthroughs.”
As a Middle School teacher, I also have a responsibility to prepare students for the academic rigors of Upper School science and IB courses. As they study the human body, students learn to design their own experiments and
As I designed the course, I hoped to instill in students a sense
manipulate laboratory equipment like microscopes and
of curiosity about the world around them and the skills to
sphygmomanometers. Exercises like mind-mapping help
think critically about problems facing their communities. For instance, in the Fall, we spend time exploring the NA campus, thinking about our impact on the local watershed. Students measure water quality in the stream on campus and in the local Passaic River, submitting their data to the Great Swamp Watershed Association, in support of the nonprofit’s mission to “protect and improve the water resources of the Passaic River region, from the Great Swamp headwaters to Newark Bay.”
students draw connections between topics and think deeply about the content they are learning. “Eighth-grade science sets a foundation in skills-based learning that reaches far beyond the Middle School,” explains Science Department Chair Caitlin Ciampaglio. “As students enter the Upper School they are equipped with key problemsolving skills using discipline-specific knowledge and methods of inquiry while thinking divergently. The dayto-day of our eighth-grade science class focuses on constructive sharing of roles, responsibilities, spaces and resources in the laboratory.” Throughout the year, students practice lab design skills, culminating in a science fair at the end of the year. The fair is modeled after an IB assessment in the Upper School, for which students research a topic of their choice then design, execute and report on the results of their own experiments. “The fair celebrates intellectual, personal, and creative risk-taking – all of which the Upper School program is centered around,” says Caitlin. Kaleb Youngren ’21 recalls his eighth-grade project fondly, remembering “how fun it was working with my classmates to figure out whether artificial flavorings really matter to taste.” There is nothing more rewarding to an educator than seeing your students joyfully learning new skills and thinking deeply
Rachel Reeves, Middle School teacher, encourages her students’ scientific explorations.
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about issues, and I am so lucky that I get to witness this happening on a daily basis.
AB OUT N E W ARK AC ADE MY At Newark Academy, we are reimagining rigor – attaining impressive
academic milestones and exceeding every traditional benchmark, while
also developing our students as individuals. We safeguard our students’
well-being and personal fulfillment, instilling a genuine love of learning.
Our students, who live in Northern New Jersey and attend grades 6
through 12, move through each school day celebrating challenge due to the joy and fulfillment that is found when they are encouraged to do and learn more.
The Newark Academy approach is to maintain a welcoming community
where everyone feels a genuine sense of belonging and is supported – thriving together.
From the first day of Middle School through the last days at the Upper
School, NA educators continuously recognize our students as uniquely
promising individuals and inherently valuable people. They work to
ensure that every child feels valued and validated, thereby inspiring
integrity and reimagining the rigor that is a hallmark of a Newark Academy education.
91 South Orange Avenue Livingston, NJ 07039
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