Amazon hosts students to celebrate National Robotics Week

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Amazon celebrates National Robotics Week with local middle schools in Edison (Photo: ~Courtesy of Frank Conlon)

“In Edison Township Public Schools, we are committed to providing our students access to technology, and we are grateful for Amazon’s support,” said Paul J. Saxton, superintendent of schools. “Our middle school students were able to see the importance of collaboration, creativity and technology as they worked alongside Amazon’s engineers right here in their hometown. This was an inspiring experience for our students. Due to Amazon’s generous gift, we will be able to provide additional opportunities for learning back in our schools.”

Amazon also surprised the students with a $20,000 donation to support each school’s STEM program for students who want to pursue a career in robotics and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). In addition, teachers will take back the 12 Chromebook and EV3 Lego Core Kits for their robotic teams. 

“At Amazon, technology and innovation fuel our business, and we recognize that the jobs of tomorrow require a stronger aptitude for STEM skills,” said Rainy Shukla, assistant general manager of Amazon’s Edison fulfillment center. “With today’s event, we hope to provide young people in this community the tools and connections they need to build, imagine, and innovate in the STEM field.”

Linden High School/McManus Middle School

Teachers at Linden High School and McManus Middle School held professional development sessions recently that were designed for greater collaboration in implementing innovative classroom strategies.

McManus Middle School teachers Brenda Kaneaster and Jennifer Fernandes observe as Aimee Bass works with students during instructional rounds. (Photo: ~Courtesy of Linden Public Schools)

The sessions are called Internal Instructional Rounds, which are modeled on medical rounds where medical students learn through watching patient care in action. In the educational version, one teacher models a lesson and others watch and offer feedback.

“The rounds are a meeting of the minds to determine if the approaches and techniques utilized during instruction are having a positive result with our students,” said Reina Irizarry-Clark, a district instructional coach. “Utilizing internal rounds as a form of professional development allows for greater teacher collaboration, as teacher teams work together to design a lesson, implement the lesson, and receive feedback from one another as they work together to debrief the lesson and determine next steps.”

At Linden High School, teacher Jorge Alvarez modeled a lesson in his psychology class on March 6 using the Interactive Lecture technique, which engages students, helps build strong permanent memories, and deepens comprehension. He teamed up with teacher Anthony Fischetti to teach students about conformity in their everyday lives.

At McManus, social studies teacher Anthony Ventura modeled a lesson the same day using the Reading for Meaning technique in which students are given a statement that they have to prove or disprove by citing sources. Ventura’s statement was that boycotts are not a viable means for change. Students read and watched videos about several historic and recent boycotts, and had to cite evidence to prove or disprove the statement.

“I thought the teacher observation rounds were a unique opportunity to team-teach with colleagues who, although I plan with on a daily basis, never get the opportunity to teach alongside,” Ventura said. “We planned the lesson in team time and all team teachers assisted in the preparation of the lesson, from the grouping of students to assuming roles throughout the lesson.”

The lesson was delivered by Ventura and colleagues Aimee Bass, Jennifer Pivano and Angela Bersin, with students broken up into small groups. Principal Peter Fingerlin, Assistant Superintendent Denise Cleary, and several other teachers observed.

“I thought the lesson was well-received by both students and observers in the room,” Ventura said. “I enjoyed the opportunity of showing observers how curious my students can be when it comes to learning, particularly when relevance between the past and present has been established.”

After the lessons, teachers gathered to reflect and adjust their lesson design to ensure for better delivery of instruction the next time.

“The debrief allows for all participants including the observers of the instructional round to reflect on their own practice,” Irizarry-Clark said. “It affords the group an opportunity to discuss adjustments to be made during the instruction to enhance student learning.”

The sessions were facilitated by Harvey Silver at LHS and Tom Dewing at McManus. Both are representatives of The Thoughtful Classroom, an educational consultant group that offers research-based classroom strategies for educators.

The instructional rounds are part of ongoing professional development at all grade levels throughout the district. These sessions focus on collaboration among teachers to implement proven techniques that stimulate learning and use data to boost student engagement and achievement.

Also: The inaugural Linden School No. 4 Film Festival gave talented fifth-graders the chance to be stars of the silver screen as well as movie directors, while learning lessons about storytelling, technology and teamwork.

The students worked for weeks on creating their projects under the guidance of technology teacher Mitch Gorbunoff, then came together for the film festival on Thursday, April 4, where family, friends and special guests got to see the fruits of their labor.

“The project was designed to teach kids about utilizing technology to tell stories and to be collaborative,” Gorbunoff said. “Putting fifth-graders into the realistic scenario of working with people they didn’t expect to work with allowed them to develop a sense of teamwork and compromise, which are essential life and leadership skills.”

The young filmmakers worked in small groups to write the storyboard and script for their short film, using classroom technology to brainstorm and develop the idea. They then used district-provided Apple iPads to film the movie they planned, using parts of the school as their settings and green-screen technology for special effects. Finally, they used iMovie to edit their video clips together into a movie.

The technology curriculum was expanded at all of Linden’s elementary schools at the start of this school year, and Superintendent Danny A. Robertozzi said the film festival illustrates why it was worth the effort.

“This idea from Mr. Gorbunoff has allowed the students to show their parents and the community in a very creative way all the skills they are learning week after week in technology class,” Robertozzi said. “He and his students are to be commended for their hard work and dedication to this tremendous project.”

On the big night of the festival, 18 movies were screened in three classrooms, then everyone gathered in the auditorium for an awards ceremony.

“A lot of grit and determination went into this,” Gorbunoff told the assembled crowd at the festival. “A lot of recesses and free time were sacrificed. But like my parents, who are in the audience, used to say, you can’t be afraid of hard work. And if there’s one thing that we can be sure of, it’s that the fifth-graders here at School No. 4 are not afraid of hard work.”

School No. 4 Principal Anthony Cataline gave Gorbunoff and the students when he was introduced to hand out the Cataline Achievement Award, the night’s top prize.

“This has truly been an amazing event,” he said. “Mr. Gorbunoff has done a marvelous job.”

This project fit into the larger curriculum by being the capstone of the students’ multimedia unit. Students learned how to use all of these tools before they started filming, including extensive teaching in the software and its use.

“It was harder than I thought it would be,” Gorbunoff said, “but in the end, these students surprised me with their enthusiasm, commitment and creativity.

Muhlenberg College

The following Central Jersey residents at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, were named to the centennnial conference academic honor roll for the winter 2018-19 season: Erik Berger of East Brunswick, Rashida Haye of Sayreville and Stephanie Ng of Union.

Palmer College of Chiropractic

Andrew Campana of Piscataway, received a doctor’s degree in chiropractic from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, on Friday, Feb. 22.

South Amboy Middle/High School

Throughout the school year, the Middle/High School teaching staff nominates students. The nominations are based on character, school spirit, and academic integrity. The March winners have been announced They are: Middle School students: Grade 6 – M. Marcinekova, Grade 7- C. Grace, Grade 8 – D. Bautista  and High School students:  T. Williams and K. Gasiewski. 

The Coalition for Healthy Communities

Every day, 2,000 teenagers take a prescription drug recreationally for the first time. Whether through self-medication or a lack of awareness of the risks, prescription drug abuse among adolescents is a growing and serious problem.

To help raise awareness about prescription drug misuse among adolescents, the Coalition for Healthy Communities of Middlesex County has orchestrated its annual “Be Smart About Medicine” poster contest.

Middle school students in grades 6-8 throughout Middlesex County are encouraged to submit artwork, whether through a written story or poem or a drawing, to showcase their freedom of expression as well as spreading valuable information to their peers. At the conclusion of the contest, three winners for first, second and third place are chosen for each grade, and these nine students are honored at the Annual Be Smart About Medicine awards dinner.

This year, The Coalition for Healthy Communities celebrated its 9th Annual Awards Dinner on Wednesday, April 10. This year’s winners include students from the following schools: Crossroads South Middle School of South Brunswick, Carteret Middle School and Sayreville Middle School.

Students were given to opportunity to attend the dinner with their loved ones and receive and certificate and a prize for their work well done.

The Be Smart About Medicine Contest and subsequent awards dinner provides both an
educational opportunity for the youth, but also brings together students, parents and community members by helping them recognize the importance of the work of prevention and how they can make a difference in their own communities.

Participating area schools included: Carteret Middle School, Crossroads South Middle School of South Brunswick, Hammarskjold Middle School, Jonas Salk Middle School, Sayreville Middle School, Wardlaw-Hartridge School, Woodbridge Middle School, and Woodrow Wilson Middle School.

Timothy Christian School

Timothy Christian School will be having a Basket Auction on Friday, April 26, at 7 p.m. At the Bridgewater Manor, 1251 Route 206 Bridgewater. Visit www.timothychristian.org or call 732-985-0300, ext. 101 to register.

Don’t miss your change to bid on New York Red Bull soccer tickets, movie theater tickets, New Jersey shore beach house getaway, Somerset Patriots baseball tickets, Caribbean resort accommodations, B & B gift certificate, Cookie cutters hair salon gift certificate, golf carts for four at Warrenbrook Golf course, American Doll basket, New England style dinner for four, dinner for four in your home by Chef Hunt, Spa package, Drum set and an assortment of gift and restaurant gift baskets.

University of Scranton

The following Central Jersey residents at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania were inducted into Beta Beta Beta, the national honor society for biology: Michelle D’Alessandro of Colonia and Elizabeth Kenny of Kendall Park. 

Student and School news appears Fridays. Email: hntmetro@mycentraljersey.com

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