North
Warren trying new teaching approach
Some parents receptive, others
opposed. Policy will replace periods with 120-minute class
blocks.
Friday, February 03, 206 • By Kat Main •
The Express-Times
BLAIRSTOWN TWP. | North Warren Regional
High/ Middle School administrators are set to try a new
team-based learning approach and schedule in
September.
Thursday night, administrators presented
to parents just what that approach will mean for their
children.
"We have a perception of a good school;
we want to make it a great school," said G. Kennedy Greene,
the school principal, who gave the presentation Thursday
along with middle school Supervisor Joseph
Kennedy.
Nearly two hours in length, the
presentation baffled and angered some parents in the more
than 100-member audience who questioned why their children
should be subjected to changes.
Other parents applauded the changes
administrators explained as giving teachers the ability
delve more deeply into complex issues.
"Now, you're not just talking breadth,
you're talking length," said Ivy Yiu, who has two children
enrolled in Blairstown Elementary. "I'm excited, I think
it's a good thing," Yiu said.
The new system allows for teachers to
group and regroup children based on individual learning
styles and abilities, Greene said.
Instead of a traditional eight-period
school day, the new schedule gives 120-minute blocks of time
to two core subjects that fit naturally together such as
math and science or English and social studies.
With classes structured in this way, it
will be easier for teachers to integrate the subjects and
they will have more flexibility because they're not locked
into a set period of time, school officials said.
"The most interruptive thing to
instruction is the bell," Kennedy said Thursday.
Under the new program, teachers will also
have two 40-minute planning periods.
Math teacher Lisa DeGerolamo said the
approach, which she's used while working in Clinton Township
schools, gives teachers a chance to really get to know
students.
"Students don't fall through the cracks
(with team-based teaching methods). Teachers have a better
handle on what's going on," DeGerolamo said.
North Warren Regional School District
covers 96.8 square miles and serves the townships of
Blairstown, Frelinghuysen, Hardwick and Knowlton.
The middle/high school complex teaches
grades 7-12 and enrollment is 1,044 with a class average of
25.5 students per class.
Reporter Kat Main can be reached at 908-475-8044 or by
e-mail at kmain@express-times.com.
© 2006 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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