At its meeting on Tuesday, April 24, the school board approved a new elective for sixth grade students: Communication Arts 6.
Currently sixth graders in the district elect to take either band, choir, or orchestra. The schedule rotates every other day along with students’ physical education classes. Students who did not elect to take one of the music electives were automatically placed in study halls.
An underlying problem was recognized as 90 students at Community Middle School as well as 75 students at Grover Middle School had study halls instead of a music elective. Additionally, some students at Grover had another study hall period each week when the district’s calendar changed its cycle. That allowed too much time that could be used for class instruction to slip by. Literature from the district stated that “the course would benefit students who currently sit in a study hall every other day.”
In seventh and eighth grades the same situation does not occur. Also, this course will apparently help fill a void. According to the district, data from eighth grade exit assessments shows that students need to work to develop strong communication and presentation skills. In a memo dated April 24 on the communications course, the following case was made:
“The ability to communicate is essential for success in the 21st century. High school, college, and work situations will require students to present ideas effectively. Presenters are not born, they are made,” the memo read.
The cost for implementing the course into the district’s curriculum is estimated at $3,000. No additional staffing is required for the course because a current WW-P staff member who teaches Performing Arts for seventh and eight grades and a section of TV/Radio is expected to be assigned to the class at both middle schools. Class sizes in those Performing Arts courses are expected to be decreased to accommodate the assignment.
Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Assessment Martin Smith says that the principals of Community Middle School and Grover Middle School came forth with the recommendation for the communications course.
“It would be best to have another elective for students who are not interested in the performing arts or music, and we have a staff member to work with to develop the communication arts course.”
Some elements of a public speaking course will be introduced. Smith says the new course will focus on developing students’ presentation skills, including the ability to deliver messages in front of groups of people.
“That’s a skill set that is being developed in other classes including language arts, social studies, and sciences. After the sixth grade, in both middle school and high school, there are related courses for developing that skill set,” he said.
Units of study for the new course will include “reader’s theater,” storytelling, debating, and “the power of presentation” where students will use multimedia components to persuade, influence or educate their classmates of a concept.
Smith acknowledges that in the future more school districts will be focusing on developing students’ communications and presentation skills because it matches parameters of the “21st century skills competencies, in terms of being an effective communicator.”
The curriculum for the communications class will be developed over the summer. Teachers of social studies and language arts will work with the communications teacher to develop the curriculum so that there is some connection between the classes. Smith says that measure will also avoid any repetition of course work in different subjects, but rather this will ensure that the classes are complimenting one another.
#b#District Honored by State for World Languages & ESL-Bilingual#/b#
On Tuesday, May 15, at a ceremony on Rutgers’ New Brunswick campus, West Windsor-Plainsboro’s world languages program was recognized for excellence throughout its K to 12 curriculum while the secondary ESL program was recognized for grades 6 though 12.
WW-P is ranks as one of just four world languages programs recognized by the state and one of only six ESL programs that were recognized. the other three recognized for world languages were Princeton, Englewood and Fair Haven. The other five districts honored for ESL-bilingual programs were Clifton, River Edge, Howell, Linden, and Roselle.
The state recognition has been awarded since 2004. It designates each program as “a model of best practices” and sets the district apart as a resource center for other school districts to learn and observe its standards. Educators from other districts can visit WW-P to learn about exemplary implementation of world languages and ESL-bilingual courses as well as discuss their district’s concerns or even collaborate with WW-P staff.
Smith said the district administration would like to congratulate the teachers and supervisors of these programs “for all of the hard work that they’ve done.”
“We are delighted that the state has recognized both these programs, and the state recognized the tremendous work that the staff has been doing,” Smith said.
Smith said there was rigorous application process that the school district went through to be considered for “model program” designation. The honors come as a result of first-hand observation by the state.
“Applications are screened by committees at the DOE, and if the district is considered the DOE comes to do a site visit. Last fall they came to WW-P and visited classrooms, talked with teachers and students, and then their data was reviewed,” he explained.
For the ESL-bilingual program, Smith commented that there is tremendous support in WW-P for students who are second-language learners, particularly through courses that are available to them which provide unique opportunities for learning English.
Smith says for WW-P’s world languages department, the honor should serve as an indication of growth. This time the entire span of WW-P’s program, K through 12, was recognized. According to Smith in previous years kindergarten through eighth grade had been recognized, but the two high schools were not.
“All of the hard work that’s needed to be done to articulate the world language foundation that students start from elementary into middle school has now happened,” Smith said.
