SECTION F, JANUARY, 2019 CALLICOON, NY
SCHOOL SCENE A look at activities in the Fallsburg Central School District
A Special Supplement to the Sullivan County Democrat
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SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT
JANUARY, 2019
For student growth, Fallsburg steps into new ways of grading STORY AND PHOTOS BY KATHY DALEY
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ixth grade teacher Tegan Edwards couldn’t have been more pleased. At a recent Parent-Teacher Conference, parents expressed delight at the new report cards for their children, Edwards said. The cards now reflect more specifics about what the child is doing well and where growth is needed. As compared to past report cards, these detailed, for example, a child receiving the highest mark, a 4, in understanding the concept of ratio in math, but getting only a 2 in fractions. “The parent could see that the student needed work on fractions,” said Edwards. “The report cards are all skills-based, and the parents loved it.” The change in offering report cards
Teachers now experiencing more in-depth discussion with their students around grades and growth in learning, according to sixth grade teacher Tegan Edwards, above, in her classroom.
that truly reflect student learning and point the way to student growth began in 2017, said Assistant Superintendent Dr. Matthew Evans. The goal was to reduce course failures. “Today, we know which grading and reporting practices actually encourage student learning and growth in learning,” said Evans. The work began in earnest with an audit of the grading practices throughout the district. “We found that teachers used many different calculations in determining student grades as reflected on their report cards,” said Evans. Like teachers everywhere, one teacher might factor into a student’s percentage grade how he or she performed on quizzes, or completed homework, or for participation in
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School Scene A look at activities in the Fallsburg School District Published by
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Fallsburg Central School District's changes in grading practices are intended to make grades more reflective of student achievement, say Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ivan Katz and Dr. Matthew Evans, Assistant Superintendent.
Fallsburg Junior/Senior High School, the grading practices committee suggested quarterly averages given to students in their subject that would be no lower than a 50. The change is expected to increase opportunities for students who are not doing well to persist in improving their learning later in the school year. For example, it was previously possible for a student to receive the following averages in a course: 1st Quarter Average: 50, 2nd Quarter Average: 40, 3rd Quarter Average: 45. If the student were to eventually pass the course with an average of 65, he or she would need a fourth quarter average and final exam score of 95 or better, a daunting and mathematically improbable task that has often led students to basically give up. With the new protocol, the student would need average scores of 88 or better in the fourth quarter and on the final exam. “We want to give kids more of a chance to be academically successful,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ivan Katz. “We don't want to get a kid lost in abject failure.” “We're not giving them a pass (with the change),” said Evans. “They still have to produce passing work and get a passing grade.” Teacher Teagan Edwards says it’s all for the good. “For me, it’s about the comments and discussion I have with my students now,” she said. “I can ask, ‘what happened, and how can you grow moving forward?’ That’s what we’re pushing for in the entire District – seeing the growth.”
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class. Another teacher might factor in behavior, or how a student fared on completing projects. “It was very inconsistent,” said Evans. Last February, the District convened a grading practices committee of 20 people to compare Fallsburg’s methods with current “best practices” on grading, according to Jane Tingley, Director of Staff Evaluation & Student Data. The group of District staff and outside community members were then asked to suggest policy changes. The committee continues to meet regularly and will publish a grading guidance document draft. In the meantime, the group suggested two changes to begin this school year. For all grades in the K-6 Benjamin Cosor Elementary School, teachers are now grading students on a 1 to 4 scale in all subjects on their report cards. That has been the protocol for kindergarten through third graders, but now fourth through sixth graders are graded on that scale as compared to their prior 0 to 100 percent grade scale. Now, the number 4 on a report card indicates that the student frequently demonstrates mastery in the subject area or standard, that is, whether they have grasped the knowledge and skills they are expected to learn. A grade of 3 indicates the student is proficient in the subject area or standard. A grade of 2 shows that the student is nearing proficiency, while 1 indicates the student is performing well below proficiency. For teachers, students and parents, “The report cards can help set further goals for the student.” Then, for students in grades 7-12 at
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Gathered at Fallsburg High to talk about anti-bullying and pro-kindness efforts: back row, special education teacher and PBIS co-coordinator Evan Mullen; math teacher and PBIS cocoordinator Daniel Redmond; guidance counselor and Olweus coordinator Meryl Curry;
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Bullies Beware: Only good behavior wanted here
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STORY AND PHOTO BY KATHY DALEY
ullying has been around forever but it’s much worse now. “Technology plays a really big role,” said Fallsburg High School student Tulsi Patel, who is Student Government Association president. Teacher Evan Mullen agrees: “Face to face is one thing, but, alone at night, (a bully) might feel that they could say anything or demean someone. It can go on all night long, clicking away on their phone.” “Bullies don’t feel good about themselves and they have to bully others,” added Patel. Today, bullying is defined as aggressive behavior that is intentional and involves an imbalance of power. At Fallsburg Junior/Senior High School, said Interim Principal Dalila Serrano, “we want to let students know that if they speak up, they will get help. And if they see bullying and report it, their efforts will be followed up on.” Guidance counselor Meryl Curry heads up the school's Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, which is a successful nationwide anti-bullying system. Students participate in regular classroom meetings on topics like cyber-bullying, rumors and gossip, handling anger, diversity, and good behavior in each area of the school. Curry provides lesson plans and the how-tos for teachers, who conduct the classroom meetings. Seventh and eighth graders get once-a-week class meetings on Fridays. Ninth and tenth graders sit down for class meeting every other week. Eleventh and 12th graders meet once a month. Then, at the junior/senior high math teacher Daniel Redmond co-coordinates PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) with Evan Muller. PBIS is a process for teaching children and teens appropriate behavior and providing the support necessary to sustain good behavior, they said. It's a framework that identifies needs, develops strategies and evaluates how it's all going. “PBIS is a systematic way of teaching students positive behavior,” said Red-
mond. “Not all of our students are always being taught right from wrong” at home, he said. Ongoing work includes emphasizing and rewarding positive behavior in the classroom, auditorium and gymnasium, for example. PBIS has initiated a Student of the Day award for those whose behavior sets a good example for others. Staff member of the Month is another way to honor adults who are remarkable. At the junior high, “incentive reinforcement” has teachers giving out special tickets to students who are on task. This year and for the first time, the whole school witnessed a preview version of the annual Student Winter Concert. The point was to allow the student body to see and applaud the talents of their peers who are members of the senior chorus, band and chamber chorus. “We want everyone to see their peers singing and playing, to see them in a different way,” said Mullen, “To maybe have them say, 'Oh! You did great last night.'” And to believe they can do it too. ”We want to affect behavior outside the classroom,” said Principal Serrano, “to allow students to grow in other settings.” Upcoming this month is a presentation by Sweethearts and Heroes, a group of motivational speakers from the Glens Falls area focused on the impact of bullying. Their message and action plan revolves around empathy, empowerment and leadership. This year’s presentations will give particular focus on cyber-bullying. They will also present an evening session for families and community members. Finally, said the principal, “we are working on a new initiative. It's called Fallsburg Family.” “As we support each other with responsibility, respect, being there and being ready,” wrote Serrano in the monthly Fallsburg newsletter, “we form ties that define us as family. As part of the Fallsburg Junior-Senior High School family, we will prepare today to succeed tomorrow. Through a thumbs up, high five, kind word, smile or a big shout out, we can support each other on a daily basis.”
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SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT
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A dynamic hands-on approach that links knowing with doing STORY AND PHOTO BY KATHY DALEY
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Students in the fourth grade class of teacher Emily Vanacore plan their own dream vacations, using math and English Language Arts skills.
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everal days each week, a healthy hubbub ensues from teacher Kate Giametta's classroom. “It usually looks loud. There's a lot going on,” the second grade teacher said with a grin. What's happening in the room is “project-based learning” that involves hands-on activity aligned with learning standards, that is, with the knowledge and skills that students should possess at their grade level. “Three or four times per week we are working in groups on problemsolving situations,” said Giametta. “We built a large haunted house for Halloween using two dimensional and three dimensional shapes. Then we created our own pumpkin patch using graph paper and colored cubes.
It had a corn maze and a walking path.” Students even brainstormed ways to “make more money” with their pumpkin patch enterprise. Project-based learning (PBL) develops critical thinking and problemsolving skills as students learn to relate their learning experiences to the real world. At Benjamin Cosor Elementary, “the math professional learning team felt that PBL is a way to keep students more engaged,” said Principal Mary Kate Stinehour. And the learning that takes place now reaps rewards for the students' futures. “Research shows that what companies want is people who are creative and who can collaborate,” said Peter Dworetsky, who is the math content area coordinator. “Companies want people who can 'figure it out,'” he
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emphasized. In the classroom of fourth grade teacher Emily Vanacore, students recently planned their own dream vacations. “They had to pick a place to go, research what kind of hotel they wanted, what activities they wanted, what kind of food they would eat,” said Vanacore. Project-based learning applies to real life, she said, and that's reason enough for its place in a school day. Of course, learning standards drive what is happening in PBL. Vanacore's dream vacation project was linked to the mandate that students “fluently add and subtract multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm.” The class's dream vacation work also included writing opinion pieces on their trips, in which they supported a point of view with reasons and information. That's a learning standard for English Language Arts. In Alison Castore's fourth and fifth grade special education classroom, students developed real-life budgets for a festive meal using the math skills of rounding and adding. They also
“With PBL, we can modify and adapt. We can keep the students really engaged. And each grade can do it differently.”
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Alison Castore Special Education Teacher | learned estimating, setting a table, writing a shopping list and sticking to a budget. “With PBL, we can modify and adapt,” Castore said. “We can keep the students really engaged. And each grade can do it differently.” Principal Stinehour said the school recognizes the importance of providing PBL opportunities and has extended the practice into other subject areas such as social studies. After all, the educators agreed, the engaging classroom experiences provide surefire answers to the age-old question of generations of kids: “Why do I have to learn this?”
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STORY AND PHOTOS BY KATHY DALEY
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chool social worker Samantha Mongillo walked into the classroom with a bag full of glitter. She poured the whole mess of the small, bright particles into a student's palms, and each child then passed the pile of glitter on to another. Mongillo said that the student who had not a speck of glitter on her or him would get a prize. News flash: glitter was all over the
place, and no child was without the gold stuff somewhere on their hands or clothes. “Like glitter,” said Mongillo, “gossip sticks to you and you can't get rid of it.” Cruel words once spoken about another can't be taken back, she said, and the words spread all over and can't be erased. Like glitter, which goes everywhere and is very sticky, gossip can't be controlled. Mongillo's work with students is a
FALLSBURG SCHOOL SCENE
Michelle Gallo, school guidance counselor, is engaged in a campaign to improve student attendance at Benjamin Cosor Elementary in Fallsburg.
the sniffles,” she said, “but if a child has a fever or something contagious, they need to stay home.” That protocol has gone home to parents in a letter. Meanwhile, the class with the most days of 100 per-
cent attendance receives a reward chosen explicitly by students. Each classroom also enjoys once-amonth lessons from Gallo and from Mongillo. For example, Mongillo is working
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lately on coping skills. She teaches deep breathing, which is a calming relief when under stress, by teaching “hot cocoa breathing.” Children pretend to hold a hot cup of the chocolaty stuff in their hands and breathe deeply of the aroma. Then, they blow breath outwards as they would to cool down the drink. Soon they will be working on positive self-esteem and image building. “Our relationship with self feeds into how we treat other people,” said Mongillo, who will shepherd the students through hand-on projects like collages of who they are now and what they wish to be. For both Mongillo and Gallo, impromptu interactions with students can be just as enriching as classroom work. “A student comes by daily just to interact,” Gallo said. “He just wants someone to touch base with. Or he’s having a bad day. That’s what it’s about – making connections with somebody in school. Building relationships is so important. And for a student, that personal connection is invaluable.”
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new initiative this year that is part of a longtime bullying prevention program at Benjamin Cosor Elementary School. She is joined by Cosor’s first guidance counselor, Michelle Gallo, newly transplanted to Fallsburg from serving as guidance counselor at Eldred Junior-Senior High School. For next year, said Cosor Principal Mary Kate Stinehour, the New York State education department may mandate guidance counselors in all elementary schools as an additional support for students. Gallo is spearheading an Attendance Incentive Program at Cosor. Making the campaign fun are activities such as poster-making. The whole class creates a huge poster with each child’s hand-print as the art work. “The hand-print symbolizes ‘I am here,’” Gallo explained, noting that the posters with every single handprint hang outside the classroom to demonstrate that “this class knows it is important to come to school.” “Parents don’t realize the habit they build when they keep children home unnecessarily,” said Principal Stinehour. “It’s okay to come to school with
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Program introduces new students into language and school life STORY AND PHOTO BY KATHY DALEY
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ll children smile in the same language, as the saying goes. And planting relieved smiles on the faces of the newest Fallsburg students is a “Newcomer program” that helps recently arrived immigrant students learn English and acclimate to life here. In the elementary school, the project has already begun with teacher Veronica Serrano at the helm. At the Junior/Senior High School, teacher Angela Hist works with Principal
Dalila Serrano (no relation to Veronica) in creating the program at the upper-level school. “At the elementary school, it started on Nov. 3 during the after-school program,” explained Hist. “For the Junior / Senior High school, we are expecting it to begin this month (January).” Designed for new students who speak little or no English and often have gaps in their own educational backgrounds, the project has numerous goals. “For most, they need acculturation,” said Principal Serrano. “For example, they want to know what is
High School teacher Angela Hist, at back, with students in the school district’s Newcomer program, Kevin B. and Ana O., whose full names have been withheld for their safety and security.
appropriate, what are considered good manners here. They want to know ‘Do I look at a teacher’s face when I speak or do I look at the floor?’” The program helps the newly arrived deal with matters as simple as
weather conditions here to how to feel safe and thrive at school or how to handle possible discrimination. Students also need tips and techniques for establishing healthy relationships with family members in the U.S. whom they may not have seen in
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life.” Ana, Kevin at at least 28 other new students are enrolled so far in the Newcomer program. Students hail from El Salvador, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Hist said that at the high school, the Newcomer program will take place during the same period everyday: “The idea is to have each student in the program for one-half of the year regardless of when they came into the District,” she said. “The program will run all year long, but the students will be cycled in and out. Additional program committee members include Jesús Galvan, ENL (English as a New Language) teacher in the high school; Joe Levner, guidance counselor; and Martha Zalkin from the elementary school. With the Newcomer program in play, students have a safe way to begin their new life, Hist said. Student Kevin agreed. Already, he said in Spanish with a big grin, “I feel good.” And when a reporter said “Muchas gracias,” at the end of the interview, the student responded in his new English, “You’re welcome.”
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years. For some, dealing with the aftereffects of the situations that propelled them out of their countries is as important as their often-traumatic journey to the U.S.. Ana, age 15, came from Guatemala, a country in the midst of social, governmental and economic crises. According to reports, the country struggles with drug traffickers, street gangs and corrupt politicians. Ana has family in Sullivan County and came for a better future, she said in Spanish. Dalila Serrano translated Ana’s story and that of Kevin, age 16. “When I went to school in my country of Honduras, people outside the school would pressure us to sell drugs,” Kevin said in Spanish. “It was very dangerous.” In Honduras, children typically risk their lives going to school because of the violence in the streets and from drug dealers. Last month, Kevin’s mother said goodbye to her son, who came to the Fallsburg area to live with his sister. His mother wrote to his sister: “Kevin wants to be safe and have a better
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