State Teacher of the Year 2013 - Lauren Marrocco, a fourth-grade teacher in Perth Amboy, is the 2012-13 N.J. Teacher of the Year. Marrocco teaches at E.J. Patten Elementary School where she encourages classroom collaboration while incorporating brain-based learning strategies.
Teen Cancer - Monongahela Middle School in Deptford Township runs a Teen Cancer Awareness Week with a focus on fundraising for the Alicia Rose Victorious Foundation. Last year the students raised $2,100, by paying a fee to dress down and wear purple. Jeanne Andrews, an instructional aide, initiates and organizes this yearly event which includes daily announcements and five minute lessons about teen cancer. The week culminates in an assembly featuring teen cancer survivors and representatives from organizations and businesses working to help teens through a difficult time in their lives.
Twenty children and six adults, representing the victims of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, broke ground March 1 at Sea Bright, N.J. on the first of 26 playgrounds that will be constructed in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut coastal communities hit by Hurricane Sandy. Each playground will be named for one of the victims of the massacre in Newtown, Conn. last December.
The Philadelphia Eagles may have had a disappointing season, but you wouldn’t have known it from the boisterous Eagles cheers coming from the gym at E.T. Hamilton Elementary School in Voorhees. The school won the NJEA/Eagles Radio Move Like Maclin Contest which included an Eagles Radio Pep Rally starring Eagles Wide Receiver Jeremy Maclin.
Positive Behavior Support in Schools - Children at Passaic’s Daniel R. Ryan School No. 19 participate in a school-wide Positive Behavior Day; a day in which they are encouraged to dream, set goals and learn how to achieve those goals. A year ago the Positive Behavior Support in Schools (PBSIS) Initiative, a partnership between the NJDOE and the Elizabeth M. Boggs Center of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, was implemented to create a positive learning environment for all students that will decrease the number of discipline problems and increase opportunities for students to be successful in learning.
Traveling Art - Robert Vogt, a ceramics and photography teacher at West Windsor Plainsboro High School North, returned to his classroom after a year traveling to locations around the world, including Alaska, New Zealand, Central America, Russia and Mongolia. He now has a wealth of information and experiences to share with his students.
Every student and teacher at Delaware Valley Regional High School in Frenchtown uses an iPad to enhance learning. The Integrated Plan for Academic Development (iPAD) implements 21st Century Skills by interfacing their technology-dependent world through the use of a mobile learning device in preparation for successful careers and college pursuits.
While most teenagers are tweeting, students at High Technology High School in Lincroft are reading newspapers every day! The students read the New York Times and the Asbury Park Press, then discuss and debate the daily news. Teachers Sarah Gross and Jon Olsen incorporate the common core standards by using the NYTimes Learning Network.