Highlights - December 2001

Rewarding Fiction at PS/MS 212X

CRAIG DOUGHERTY,
TEACHER, PS/MS 212X

How might a 7th-grade communication-arts class rate a pizza party and certificates on the same day? The answer: When class members successfully devote themselves to completing a week-long multi-genre fiction project and each student, while using a rubric that details quality of presentation, plot, setting and characters, creates a work of 5 to 6 pages in length.

Members of Class 741 took great pride and ownership in their assignment and in making choices about topics and format, including comic books, a ghost story, a romance, science fiction and fantasymyth. Students spent time and care assembling their pieces and adding original illustrations. Many wanted to know if they could later write sequels and if others thought that their work was “really good.” They began learning peer- and self-editing skills and now they will deepen, polish and refine them.

The principal was among those that thought the work was really good. She was so taken with the completed projects that she did, indeed, arrange a pizza party and special certificates for each student.

Riding on at IS 246K!

This fall, IS 246 K, the Walt Whitman School, has launched a newsletter, The Whitman Rider, and is now seeking a variety of genres from contributors across the school community.

Staff members, such as media teacher Mr. Roman Foster are incorporating the conventions of news journals into their classes to give students a hands-on understanding of writing and production. Seventh-grade students of art teacher, Mr. Icart-Pierre, assisted in planning a layout in The Rider’s first issue. It features photographs of their paintings, made in Mr. Icart-Pierre’s class as they studied Picasso’s cubist portrait, “Woman with Hat.” Their actual paintings are on view in the school’s “Hallway Gallery.”

Students are also studying about advertising, for example in art, learning industrial package design (cereal boxes and beverage labels) and in language arts, practicing copy writing skills with language arts teachers, Ms. Antoinette Sewell and Ms. Natasha Lee.

The Whitman Rider logo, incorporating a literacy allusion, is also the school’s logo that was designed by Mr. Pierre-Icart. It is a horse with a rider who is carrying an open book.

PS 161M TRAVELS IN TIME

On Friday, October 25th, excitement spread throughout the second-floor corridors as students glimpsed ancient Egypt at the share-fair created and hosted by teacher Mr. Angelo Vargas and Class 6-225. The class, as part their work during the second literacy block, had read Z. K. Snyder’s The Egypt Game (1967, Random House). This sparked a multidisciplinary project with many opportunities for oral language practice and that incorporated reading, writing, social studies and art. Students created life-size models of Egyptian mummies, explored hieroglyphics and practiced developing and sending their own messages.

Student Kemy Ortiz found the project very interesting because of his Internet research into hieroglyphics, after which he used hieroglyphics to “write” the school motto. Students’ shared interest in Egypt enhanced their already developing respect and cooperation. They are excited about additional travel to the past.

Increasing Place Values at PS/MS 212X

First-year teaching fellow Dana Malek (co-teaching with Irene Rabinowitz) has been guiding her 5th-grade class (Class 540) to a deeper understanding of place value—using a project about the abacus. “I had never actually used an abacus before and this project has been a great learning experience for me,” says Ms. Malek. Integrating mathematics and English language arts, the project was developed from a unit on big numbers in Math Trailblazers [see also (1998) New York City Mathematics Performance Standard, elementary, M1b].

A visitor—instructional specialist Dr. Jen-Huey Huang, who grew up in Taiwan—was invited to talk about the abacus. Dr. Huang said, “Although operation of the abacus is part of the mathematics curriculum in the elementary schools in Chinese society, I had never dreamed that it would appear in Math Trailblazers and that I would actually have an opportunity to teach it in the United States of America.”

The class worked in five groups. Each group made an abacus, using its own set of materials (macaroni, string, centimeter ruler, cardboard, scissors and masking tape). Student Sine Konate later wrote, “I felt happy that I made this abacus because it helped me understand how other people calculate. It also helped me to know place value.”

The project’s English language arts connection to the New York City performance standards emerges as students develop their reports. These will include research and history components and narrative procedures [see also (1997) New York City English-language-arts performance standard, E2a]. The class has found reading research sources on the Internet when students used a search engine and, naturally, “abacus” as their key word.

Students and teachers collaborated on a rubric for the reports. There are criteria for content (including history and how to make and use an abacus), format and writing. The rubric spans four levels and possible ratings: The poorest research report performance rates a “1” (“Getting there”) because it has: no details, very little information or incomplete information and “Too many mistakes!” in vocabulary, spelling, and mechanics.

The report performance that rates a “4” (“Wow”) has many details on the history of the abacus, how it works and explains how to make one. It also has complete formatting and: “capital letters, indented paragraphs, perfect punctuation, good grammar, complete sentences, NO spelling errors and uses interesting words.” Students keyboard their final reports using a word-processing program.

Extensions of this project are scheduled: They include the creation of a bulletin-board display and a demonstration lesson given for other classes. Ms. Malek reflects on the project saying, “My class is now full of experts—all willing to share—on how to make and use the abacus! We would love to have some guests so that we can show them how to use this incredible tool.”

References
• Board of Education of the City of New York. (1997). New Standards™ Performance Standards: English Language Arts, English as a Second Language, Spanish Language Arts (1st New York City ed.). New York City: Board of Education of the City of New York. (p. 222).
• Board of Education of the City of New York. (1998). New Standards™Performance Standards: Mathematics (1st New York City ed.). New York City: Board of Education of the City of New York. (p. 160).
• Malek, D., I. Rabinowitz, and Class 540. (2001). Abacus Report Rubric. New York City, The Bronx: PS/ MS 212. (E-mail Class 540 c/o: irabinowitz@ufttc.org).



Rewarding Fiction at PS/MS 212X CRAIG DOUGHERTY, TEACHER, PS/MS 212X How might a 7th-grade communication-arts class rate a pizza party and certificates on the same day? The answer: When class members successfully devote themselves to completing a week-long multi-genre fiction project and each student, while using a rubric that details quality of presentation, plot, setting and characters, creates a work of 5 to 6 pages in length. Members of Class 741 took great pride and ownership in their assignment and in making choices about topics and format, including comic books, a ghost story, a romance, science fiction and fantasymyth. Students spent time and care assembling their pieces and adding original illustrations. Many wanted to know if they could later write sequels and if others thought that their work was “really good.” They began learning peer- and self-editing skills and now they will deepen, polish and refine them. The principal was among those that thought the work was really good. She was so taken with the completed projects that she did, indeed, arrange a pizza party and special certificates for each student. Riding on at IS 246K! This fall, IS 246 K, the Walt Whitman School, has launched a newsletter, The Whitman Rider, and is now seeking a variety of genres from contributors across the school community. Staff members, such as media teacher Mr. Roman Foster are incorporating the conventions of news journals into their classes to give students a hands-on understanding of writing and production. Seventh-grade students of art teacher, Mr. Icart-Pierre, assisted in planning a layout in The Rider’s first issue. It features photographs of their paintings, made in Mr. Icart-Pierre’s class as they studied Picasso’s cubist portrait, “Woman with Hat.” Their actual paintings are on view in the school’s “Hallway Gallery.” Students are also studying about advertising, for example in art, learning industrial package design (cereal boxes and beverage labels) and in language arts, practicing copy writing skills with language arts teachers, Ms. Antoinette Sewell and Ms. Natasha Lee. The Whitman Rider logo, incorporating a literacy allusion, is also the school’s logo that was designed by Mr. Pierre-Icart. It is a horse with a rider who is carrying an open book. PS 161M TRAVELS IN TIME On Friday, October 25th, excitement spread throughout the second-floor corridors as students glimpsed ancient Egypt at the share-fair created and hosted by teacher Mr. Angelo Vargas and Class 6-225. The class, as part their work during the second literacy block, had read Z. K. Snyder’s The Egypt Game (1967, Random House). This sparked a multidisciplinary project with many opportunities for oral language practice and that incorporated reading, writing, social studies and art. Students created life-size models of Egyptian mummies, explored hieroglyphics and practiced developing and sending their own messages. Student Kemy Ortiz found the project very interesting because of his Internet research into hieroglyphics, after which he used hieroglyphics to “write” the school motto. Students’ shared interest in Egypt enhanced their already developing respect and cooperation. They are excited about additional travel to the past. Increasing Place Values at PS/MS 212X First-year teaching fellow Dana Malek (co-teaching with Irene Rabinowitz) has been guiding her 5th-grade class (Class 540) to a deeper understanding of place value—using a project about the abacus. “I had never actually used an abacus before and this project has been a great learning experience for me,” says Ms. Malek. Integrating mathematics and English language arts, the project was developed from a unit on big numbers in Math Trailblazers [see also (1998) New York City Mathematics Performance Standard, elementary, M1b]. A visitor—instructional specialist Dr. Jen-Huey Huang, who grew up in Taiwan—was invited to talk about the abacus. Dr. Huang said, “Although operation of the abacus is part of the mathematics curriculum in the elementary schools in Chinese society, I had never dreamed that it would appear in Math Trailblazers and that I would actually have an opportunity to teach it in the United States of America.” The class worked in five groups. Each group made an abacus, using its own set of materials (macaroni, string, centimeter ruler, cardboard, scissors and masking tape). Student Sine Konate later wrote, “I felt happy that I made this abacus because it helped me understand how other people calculate. It also helped me to know place value.” The project’s English language arts connection to the New York City performance standards emerges as students develop their reports. These will include research and history components and narrative procedures [see also (1997) New York City English-language-arts performance standard, E2a]. The class has found reading research sources on the Internet when students used a search engine and, naturally, “abacus” as their key word. Students and teachers collaborated on a rubric for the reports. There are criteria for content (including history and how to make and use an abacus), format and writing. The rubric spans four levels and possible ratings: The poorest research report performance rates a “1” (“Getting there”) because it has: no details, very little information or incomplete information and “Too many mistakes!” in vocabulary, spelling, and mechanics. The report performance that rates a “4” (“Wow”) has many details on the history of the abacus, how it works and explains how to make one. It also has complete formatting and: “capital letters, indented paragraphs, perfect punctuation, good grammar, complete sentences, NO spelling errors and uses interesting words.” Students keyboard their final reports using a word-processing program. Extensions of this project are scheduled: They include the creation of a bulletin-board display and a demonstration lesson given for other classes. Ms. Malek reflects on the project saying, “My class is now full of experts—all willing to share—on how to make and use the abacus! We would love to have some guests so that we can show them how to use this incredible tool.” References • Board of Education of the City of New York. (1997). New Standards™ Performance Standards: English Language Arts, English as a Second Language, Spanish Language Arts (1st New York City ed.). New York City: Board of Education of the City of New York. (p. 222). • Board of Education of the City of New York. (1998). New Standards™Performance Standards: Mathematics (1st New York City ed.). New York City: Board of Education of the City of New York. (p. 160). • Malek, D., I. Rabinowitz, and Class 540. (2001). Abacus Report Rubric. New York City, The Bronx: PS/ MS 212. (E-mail Class 540 c/o: irabinowitz@ufttc.org).