SCHOOL SCENE A Special Supplement to the Sullivan County Democrat
A look at activities in the Sullivan West School District
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High-achieving Sullivan West teams up to meet the day’s challenges
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s she leaves her office at 7 or 8 p.m. most nights, Dr. Nancy Hackett often glances up at the lights still burning in numerous windows in the school building. Teachers working long hours after students go home is no anomaly, said Sullivan West Central School District Superintendent Hackett. “You go into education for three reasons,” she reflected. “You love kids. You have a big heart. You are a hard worker.” With teachers challenged on many fronts – by the changes of a new nationwide Common Core, by continuing pressure over student testtaking, by a new system for judging teachers’ work – even colleges are seeing a drop in new teacher recruits. But, Hackett noted, “education has
weathered storms in the past. With this one, I find we are all growing much closer here. Teachers, central administration, staff… we’re all in this together.” Together, the District is moving forward on a number of fronts. Sullivan West High School is preparing for its new TV broadcasting studio with accompanying student curriculum in broadcasting and journalism. Construction of new baseball, soccer and softball fields at the Lake Huntington campus will CONTINUED ON PAGE 4W
This year, says Superintendent of Schools Dr. Nancy Hackett, Sullivan West is working on its strategic plan and on adapting State Education Department mandates to meet the District’s needs.
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start in the spring, pending final approval from the State Education Department. At long last, the Delaware Valley School building in Callicoon will open its doors once again to students in 2015, after its sale in September to a private college preparatory school in Flushing, Queens. The Windsor School plans to open DV as a branch for its seven to 12th grade college preparatory school. Last month, the District hosted an anniversary celebration and the official unveiling of the new roof at Sullivan West Elementary in Jeffersonville. Constructed in 1938, the school and its two later additions today serve 545 students from kindergarten through sixth grade. Because the elementary school building appears on the National Register of Historic Places, the District was required to replace the
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leaky slate roof with historical accuracy, replicating the original structure. “The building is a beautiful representation of our school district,� Hackett said. And the District is still glowing from its high school’s designation as a silver medal award-winning school by U.S. News and World Report. Ranked in three areas – academic performance, disadvantaged students’ performance, and collegereadiness – Sullivan West scored in the top 8 percent of 21,000 public high schools across the nation. “We are providing a very high quality education,� said the superintendent. Hackett spread that affirmative message at a breakfast meeting hosted by the District in October for town officials, including supervisors, town clerks and highway superintendents. Another gettogether is planned for realtors in December. “We want to know what they need
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The District is still glowing from its high school’s designation as a silver medal award-winning school by U.S. News and World Report. from us,� said Hackett, “and we want their input.� Still, the front lines of duty each day remain the classrooms where 1,138 students and their teachers are faced with a new set of Common Core learning standards that redefine the knowledge, concepts and skills students must acquire. “The Common Core roll-out is very challenging,� said Hackett. “We’re trying to make it all still enriching for students at the same time as we are get them ready for assessments.�
Like other districts, Sullivan West must gather baseline data about each student at the beginning of the school year. Then the students continually undergo re-assessment to determine if they are learning or where exactly they are struggling and why. The fact that districts must assess even the very youngest child is sometimes troubling. Recently Dr. Hackett found herself watching one kindergartner as, wearing a headset, he worked through problems on a computer as part of a typical skills assessment. “He looked up at me and said, ‘I don’t want to play this game anymore,’ � recalled Hackett, “And I said to him, ‘You don’t have to play this game anymore.’ � Luckily, she said, “our teachers are masterful at trying to make this as comfortable and stress-free as possible for students. We have a great corps of people working together, an amazing staff who can do this.�
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Teaching the ABCs of money management the topic in simpler terms. At the completion of each unit, the student is given a review and an exam. If he or she scores poorly, they repeat lessons and re-take the exam. Creating graduates who are “financially literate” should be the goal of every school district, according to a recent story in USA Today. On Nov. 14, the newspaper quoted
experts who said the U.S. continues to receive failing grades in economic and personal finance knowledge. Schools must adopt personal finance standards as part of overall curriculum requirements, they said. Sullivan West is doing its part. “Students,” said Peters, “are absolutely learning the things they will need when they leave here.”
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ullivan West High School senior Josh Starkweather is sitting at a computer with the world of personal finance at his fingertips. “I’m learning about investments and real estate,” Starkweather explained. “I hadn’t made the connection that real estate is actually considered an investment.” By means of a grant, the high school in Lake Huntington is able to offer a program much needed but hard to come by in these cashstrapped times. With the major focus on the core subjects of English, math and the sciences, courses that teach real world skills like budgeting and finance tend to fall by the wayside. But in Financial Math class at Sullivan West – powered by the online interactive learning system called Acellus – students gain the financial knowledge they will need later in adult life. “Financial Math is a self-paced program, a practical life course in financial management skills, that reviews credit, budgeting, tax forms, mortgages, credit cards,” related teacher Kayla Peters. She serves as the facilitator for Financial Math in addition to teaching technology courses in
Word, Excel, and keyboarding and a class in Career and Financial Management for sophomores. Using the Acellus Learning System, students log on, and Acellus takes them to their current position in the course. The system automatically marks their attendance for the class. Students then watch five-to-sixminute videos taught by real teachers on particular financial concepts and answer questions that assess their understanding of what they have just seen and heard. They work at their own pace and have the ability to go back and rewatch the video, which removes the pressure on the student who might need more time to grasp the concept. Acellus also assesses overall areas of student weakness and gives the pupils more help and practice in those areas, customizing the learning process and filling in holes in student understanding. When a student demonstrates mastery of the concept presented, he or she is permitted to move forward, said Peters. Should a student struggle with a concept, additional videos explain
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Teacher Kayla Peters supervises high school senior Josh Starkweather in an online Financial Math lesson.
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AIS – The boost kids need tos
AIS teacher Melissa Berta works with Veronica Birzescu and Aliya Rivas on reading skills such as sounding out words and comprehension.
ometimes teacher Melissa Berta finds students poking their heads into her room and asking plaintively “Why aren’t I coming here anymore?” Berta responds that she’s glad – “I want you to not need me,” she says. Not that Berta is uncaring – far from it. But as one of Sullivan West Elementary School’s Academic Intervention Service (AIS) professionals, she’s delighted to see her students go back and succeed in their own classrooms. “It’s exciting to see them grow and build confidence,” said Berta. “I want them to feel confident in themselves.” Berta and a group of other teachers provide the critically important AIS at the K-6 grade school. “We give extra support where needed in English Language Arts, Math, Social Studies and Science,” explained AIS teacher Kelly Erlwein. Students get the extra academic boost in sessions during their regular school day, and they are either taught by an AIS teacher in their regular classroom or they report to the AIS teacher’s own room.
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New York State determines which students in grades 4, 5 and 6 need AIS after the kids undergo the state assessment exams each spring. Anyone who scores at the lower half
of the four-tiered scoring system benefits from AIS. In the younger grades, kindergarten through third grade teachers ask for AIS help when they see a child not
able to keep up, or when in-school testing reveals certain weaknesses in the child’s grasp of core subjects. “For example, a student might be slow with handwriting, or have reading difficulty or might be weak in numbers recognition,” said Erlwein. Liz Cormier, an AIS teacher assistant in her fifth year teaching AIS mathematics, says the services are all geared at being engaging. “We do activities that are hands on and fun,” she said. This year, an emphasis on naturerelated learning projects invites students to polish their math and science skills by raising live baby trout from eggs in a fish tank and by studying the connection between a tomato’s circumference and the number of seeds inside. In another project, students harvested fresh carrots from a school garden and compared measurements of the vegetable’s root and green top in order to determine which percentage of the carrot is edible. “Instead of their just doing math and asking why they have to learn this, they can relate to something they see,” said Cormier. About 25 students on each grade level utilize AIS. Why are such services so effective? “We are able to work in smaller groups” than is possible for the regular classroom teachers, said Cormier. “Children (with academic problems) in the regular classroom can slide by because they’re quiet, they can be invisible.” In AIS, by contrast, “We can see firsthand where they’re going wrong,” she added. AIS teachers coordinate their lessons with what is being taught in classrooms. Linda Schaefer, who each week teaches about 70 students in grades 4 to 6 in her English Language Arts AIS room, notes that students find the small groupings more conducive to speaking up. “It’s a self esteem thing,” said Schaefer. “In the classroom, they might feel if they say something
Student Michael Babcock benefits from AIS expertise offered by English Language Arts teacher Linda Schaefer.
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succeed to the max
they’d be perceived as stupid.” Also, AIS teachers can work at a slower pace.
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At right: Sixth grader Michael Krentz is working on vocabulary, learning words like “confer” in AIS taught by Linda Schaefer. ‘You can get more information here than in the regular classroom, and the smaller group helps,’ Michael said. At left: Academic Intervention Service teacher Kelly Erlwein works with students Madison Strong, Mya Barca and Kevin O’Connor as they measure the circumference of objects from nature.
“We can go back and work on specific areas where the student is weak,” said Cormier.
AIS teachers might see some students daily, others three times each week and still others once a week. “I get to know the kids really well,” said Berta. “I enjoy seeing so many different faces each day,” adds Cormier. “When you see a student come along and be successful, it’s very gratifying.” Linda Schaefer said the students’ moms and dads are grateful as well. “I’ve had parents say ‘thank you so much,’” Schaefer said. “’Thanks for for your help – my son (or daughter) is doing so much better.’”
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All important college essays take shape in writing lab W
ho inspires you? Where is a place you feel most content? What was your biggest failure and what did it teach you? Those are the weighty questions that seniors in high school must ponder and then write about as they apply to colleges and submit the required essay or personal statement. “I tell my students that the college essay is one of the few ways they can truly express who they are to an admissions committee that just doesn’t know them yet,” says teacher Dorothy Grecco. “They have to make themselves stand out.” An English teacher at Sullivan West High School, Grecco also supervises Senior Writing Lab, a class that provides the time, space and expertise
Hayley Puerschner values the time in Senior Writing Lab as she works on college essays, personal statements and scholarship applications.
Sullivan West senior Chris Cotton uses the class to research careers in the Armed Forces.
students need to compose their college essays and personal statements. Students also use Writing Lab to effectively apply for college scholarships and to work on academic or job resumes. Or if they are planning on a career in the military, students may use the time to research which branch they might be interested in and what’s required. “Writing Lab is my time to help me decide what I want to go into in the military,” said senior Chris Colton. “I am exploring all the jobs at the various branches – engineering, infantry, being a pilot, manning guns on ships, or working a desk job.” The course is required for all seniors and takes place in the school library’s computer lab. Students attend Writing Lab either once every six days all year long, or every other day for half the year. “Senior Writing Lab is a 41 minute class like the rest,” explained Grecco.
“If I am beginning a new unit or skill, I use a lecture format. Once we begin assignments, I spend most days working with small groups or individual students.” College admissions committees concentrate mostly on a student’s high school grades and test scores. But colleges receive so many applications that the college essay enables them to find out what sets a student apart. Students write about what drives them, what they are passionate about, and why a particular college might suit them. As they compose their essays, said Grecco, “If they get tired of talking about themselves, which inevitably they do, I remind them that a bunch of seniors in the schools all around us are doing the same thing for their college applications right now.” “All my college essays are wonderful because of Grecco,” said senior Megan Yelekli. “I wrote an essay that
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was 600 words long and she got it down to 300 words – so much better.” Kelsey Brockner says she appreciates that “there is someone – Mrs. Grecco – right there with you, giving you input all the time.” With Grecco’s help, Hayley Puerschner worked on her Personal Statement “that describes how I want my life to go,” the student said. “The point I made was that I want to be a school teacher and I also want to train kids how to ride horses.” Joe Moran worked on a college essay that required him to speak about his biggest failure and its life lesson. “At the second day of the World
Championship for archery, I blew it,” recalled the student athlete, who wrote about that painful experience. Upon reflection, Moran wrote, the real satisfaction in playing archery might be more about enjoying the experience than the outcome. Those insights provide rich experiences for students, and for teacher Grecco herself. “It is a pleasure teaching Senior Writing Lab,” she said. “The students are excited about careers, college choices, military prospects and professional trades. To be able to be a part of that excitement and help the process along is a lot of fun.”
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Energetic kids and higher expectations make fourth grade a pivotal year
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nergy and eagerness coupled with increasing independence and tougher academic expectations characterize the academic lives of fourth graders. “Fourth grade is the year they start to dig in deeper and buckle down about learning,” said veteran fourth grade teacher Meg Armstrong. “They take responsibility for their learning.” “It’s a transition year for them,” adds brand new fourth grade teacher Yuliya Schumacher. “The level of thinking and expectations is higher.” With the Common Core ratcheting up expectations for both student learning and teacher instruction, the “team” of fourth grade teachers at Sullivan West Elementary School offers valuable support to one another. “Our fourth grade ‘crew’ meets informally on a daily basis and formally every Friday at 8:15 a.m.,”
Keegan McGraw works on vocabulary words in Michele Brockner’s class, learning the meaning of a word, how it is spelled and how it’s used.
related Schumacher. “Our meetings are geared towards discussing and planning lessons, and evaluating resources and assessments. We share ideas, successes, challenges and materials.” The teachers – Armstrong and Schumacher, Michele Brockner and Randi Strouse – work on new ideas to
‘A Look at Activities in the Sullivan West School District’ Published by Catskill-Delaware Publications, Inc. Publishers of the
help motivate students and develop in them a the sense of responsibility for their own success in school. The underpinning for all learning is the Common Core which “is definitely a step up – I use the word ‘rigor’ in my classroom,” said Armstrong. As compared to their kindergarten through third grade years, fourth
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graders are reading across the curriculum in all subjects and are expected to have a deep understanding of what they read. They are faced with more difficult vocabulary words, studying the words, how they are spelled and how they are used. In Randi Strouse’s class, for exam-
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ple, the nine year olds are encountering words like “transact” and “confederate” as they study the Iroquois people and the constitution of their confederacy called the Great Law of Peace. They are also learning how critically important reading is to success in life, which is a motivating factor in the Common Core’s emphasis on English Language Arts (reading, writing, listening and speaking). Fourth grader Annika Berman in Michele Brockner’s class puts it this way: “If you can’t read, you can’t speak or do your job very well.” Teacher Brockner and her colleagues use various methods to
instill good reading habits. Guided Reading has the class divided into small groups according to student reading level. Students delve into a novel’s character, motivation and thinking, and they predict what the character might say and do later in the story. “We make inferences, we see problems and possible solutions in stories,” said Meg Armstrong. The technique called Reading to Self in the classroom allows students to enjoy a book on their own. Read Alouds has the teacher reading to the entire class, pointing things out about the book and encouraging discussions.
MAKING MATH ADD UP Math in general has the nine year olds adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing large whole numbers. They are working with decimals and fractions. Recently Brockner taught metric units to her class, along with the concepts of “rounding” and “place value.” Fourth grade math gives students opportunities to work independently and in groups.Brockner invites her students to keep math journals. Strouse encourages collaboration. “We have math partners,” explained Strouse, “where a student with great math skills teams up with
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one who is struggling. It’s a successful strategy, she said, with both students gaining – perhaps, in part, because fourth graders are beginning to develop the concepts of empathy, fairness and responsibility. Trading such insights among the teacher team members is so helpful, said Schumacher. She said she is grateful for the ability to reach her colleagues at any time, including weekends, for support. “My first year of teaching comes with lots of challenges and learning adventures,” said Schumacher. “Their knowledge and expertise are essential to my professional development.”
At left: “I love this age,” says fourth grade teacher Randi Strouse. Her nineyear-olds are enthusiastic about learning and open to developing personal character traits like responsibility and compassion. At right: Teacher Yuliya Schumacher works with student Nikolas Karadontes in a math lesson to her class.
All photographs and stories for this special School Scene are by Sullivan County Democrat Photographer/Reporter Kathy Daley. The Democrat would also like to thank the Sullivan West Central School District for all its cooperation in this project.
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