Standardized Testing was an issue 1845 too!

When I taught American history I used to love to find quotes from 100 years ago that could have said today. It always amazed me how accurate the saying “The more things change, the more they stay the same” This weekend I read an interesting article in the NYT Sunday review section. Seems like Standardized testing was an issue in 1845 as well- take a look.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/opinion/sunday/the-first-testing-race-to-the-top.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Repeat

On April 10th, a team of students from Mineola Middle School competed in the 2nd Annual Kid Wind Challenge at the Cradle of Aviation. Middle school and high school students from all over Nassau and Suffolk counties designed, constructed and tested a wind turbine with the goal of generating the most electrical power in 60 seconds. Team Mineola, which was comprised of Ryan Duffy, Ryan DeMagistris and Jorge Mejia-Manzano had won 1st place two years in a row. The team of students worked closely with Mineola Middle School’s educators, Steve Parke (Technology Advisor), Harry McLaughlin (Physics Advisor) and Vince Interrante (Math and Science Advisor) in the design and construction of their winning turbine. The event, with over one hundred participants, was sponsored by National Grid.

Color Night 2013

I had a wonderful time Friday night watching the Middle School’s annual Color night. The gymnasium was packed with spectators as over 150 girls competed. Many young men also were involved led by Emcee extraordinaire Harrison Pavlou. Congratulations to all of the participants and Captains:
Entrance Chloe Katinas Katrine Gulinao
Joanne Pedretti Jesse Kivatisky
Dance Joanna Graca Halle Gumpel
Danielle Pusey Sofia Cataliotti
Cheer Samentha Valmond Bruna Ferreira
Juliana Lupo Kaitlyn McCarey
Mural Samantha Kessler Maya Narvekar
Jenna Anderson Cara Ilchert
Tech Benjamin Cohen Alicia Healy
Alex Marchiselli Sophia Pereira
Design Preeti Singh Christa Post
Jenna Cox Sarah Carbain

Kudos to Mrs. Palumbo and Mrs. Salesi for a job well done.

A Teachable Life Experience

Physical education teacher Suzanne Vitale from Jackson reunited with some of her students today, utilizing her post-superstorm car accident as a teachable moment .  The accident resulted in a lower limb amputation and a broken shoulder for her, and although she is not yet cleared to return to work, she has missed the students so much that she came to teach them about life with a prosthetic limb and how she is not letting it limit her abilities. Greeted with many hugs and well wishes, Ms. Vitale and the students have kept in touch through letters during the past few months. Her courage and drive to regain normalcy is inspiring not only to the kids, but to the adults surrounding her as well. We wish her the best of luck on a full and speedy recovery.  Catch her CBS interview here: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/04/06/cutting-edge-technology-helps-woman-who-lost-hand-during-sandy/

Congratulations Julie Falotico

Julie Falotico was selected as the Channel News 12 Scholar Athlete of the week, recognizing her all round success in the classroom, service, and athletics. We have only had a total of five students selected since 1990 when it first began including Tom Owens, Jonathon Debrich, Daniela Santa Maria, and Katie Zunno. Julie will be given a 1,000 dollar scholarship in June.

Work hard- try your best

What happened to the notion of “working hard and trying your best?” While I understand the uproar over the new State exams I don’t understand the “opt out” movement. For the last two years I have been very vocal about the problems with changing the curriculum and assessments at the same time. Add the fact that these exams are being used to evaluate teachers and it is a recipe for disaster. The State acknowledges this by already telling us to expect a 30% drop in scores. The entire situation is untenable, but that isn’t a reason not to take the exam. What are we teaching our kids? If we don’t like something we should walk away from it? Are we to believe that if enough students do not take the exam that they will go away? The opposite will happen. If the district doesn’t meet a 95% participation rate we run the risk of becoming a FOCUS District. This designation is the new term for not meeting NCLB standards. As a FOCUS district we will have MORE restrictions placed upon us by the Federal and State governments- both with strings attached to monetary aide. Opting out (which is not permissible) is not the answer. The unintended consequences of these actions could be detrimental to the district over the next 3-5 years. In addition without a State score children that would have received mandated AIS services would not qualify. The outrage should be directed at the State Regents and the Commissioner of Education. Only they have the ability to slow things down and ease into some of these changes. By my estimation it will be at least three years before we will have a solid understanding of what the exams are and how to best prepare our children for them. Mineola has had the foresight to anticipate the problems with the State exams; that is why we administer the NWEA’s. This assessment, while not perfect, provides better information about the growth of individual students. No single moment in a child’s education experience can define them. One exam cannot define them. An educational experience is all of the wonderful experiences our kids have every day. The more stress we place on them about exams the worse the situation. This year in particular we are all in the same boat. Let’s remind our kids to work hard and try their best, everything else will take care of itself.

Hat Trick

Today I was a member of the “Guest” team at Meadow’s 2nd annual Hockey Tournament. The kids made me feel like a rock star. The chant of “Dr.-Nag-ler” was loud and frequent- and that was before the game began! I got very lucky and scored two goals in the first game and fell into a groove with a hat trick in the second game. I am now having trouble walking The kids were fantastic fans and we shared a lot of high fives. Kudos to the entire staff who played, especially my teammates- Kristen Lopes, Claudia Domb, Nick Tonini and Ralph Amitrano. Special thanks to Christine Gayson who created and organized the entire event, especially the two day student tournament earlier this week.

Wojis’ Wonders

This morning Mrs. Wojis’ class joined me at my Nassau County Superintendents Meeting. I asked the students if they could make individual presentations to other Superintendents about how they use technology in the classroom. They enthusiastically agreed and I could not be more proud. Once again our students amazed me. Each student became an expert on a tool they use in class. Mrs. Wojis coordinated the tools with Mr. Gaven. Mr. Interrante also came to preview our new science probes. Here is a list of what each student presented:
• Bridget & Kaitlyn: Show me, Follet shelf and Destiny Quest
• Guy: Sparkvue and numbers
• Ethan: Sparkvue and Strip design
• Christina: Strip design
• Ryan: Edmodo
• Laura: Edmodo and xtramath
• Sam: 270 to win, presidents and aliens
• Daniella & Victoria eSpark
• Molly and Vasco: Stack the States & Stack the Countries
• Robert and Kevin: Pages and iBooks
• Dylan: That quiz and Common core sheets
• Jasmine: Khan Academy
• Stephen: Khan and xtra math
• Elmer and Kieran: Keynote
• Christopher: LearnZillion, tween tribune
• Justin: LearnZillion
• Alessandra: Stop Motion
• Rebecca and Dinangeli: iMovie
Early feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Many Superintendents were amazed at the quality and quantity of technology tools our students use in. Representatives from Apple, eSpark and CORE were on hand as well. They were equally impressed. One Superintendent wrote:
Thank you for sharing your student iPad program with the group today. I thought it was the best presentation we have had to date. Better than hearing an administrator or teacher share their thoughts on a particular program – you had the kids do it. Of course, the kids presented more succinctly than any educator could! Great job. Please let the principal, teachers, techs, and most importantly, the children know their presentation was well received. I cannot wait to share with my staff what I learned from your middle school youngsters.

5th Year in a Row!

I just received notice that Mineola has been nominated as One of the Best Communities for Music Education in America. We are one of only 307 schools in the nation with this distinction. This is the fifth year in a row that our district has received this honor, and I’m not surprised. Our music staff does an incredible job. The musical production was a prime example of this. I urge anyone who has never seen our students perform to come to a spring concert or string night, or anything music-related. You won’t be sorry, I can assure you. Congratulations to Mr. Freeman and his staff.

High on In the Heights

Once again I am amazed by the talent of our students. In the Heights was a rousing success and exceeded all of my expectations. Usually I find time to see a rehearsal or catch a glimpse of an act. Aside from a quick song at a Board meeting I went in completely cold. The show blew my mind. Right from the start Kevin Merino set the pace. His portrayal of Usnavi had everyone talking. Where have you been? This has been the year of the newbies. Tommy Mulane started in The Diary of Anne Frank and now Kevin, Sangmin and Missy Dunlop round out a formidable trio. All three competed for best one liners. A more common occurrence is when an actor that has ensemble parts rise to steal scenes. There was no shortage of “scene stealers”- Rohit Singla, Kristyn Velez, Bonnie Small, Eric Timlin, Alexandra DiStasi and Brittany Vera all had incredible moments that left the audience mesmerized. In attendance was the cast from Malverne HS who put on the show last week. They particularly liked Matt Eisen ‘s Piragua solos! (so did I!) Lastly, I am speechless when Rebecca Bastos sings. She hits every note and then some! (X-factor try outs on April 25th) The ensemble is always critical but this show really depended on them. Fantastic job – singing and dancing really was superb! Shout outs to Aldany Diaz (great Salsa), Michelle Serna (rooftop singing), Jacob (great dancing?). The set looked amazing as well as the giant painted backdrop featuring the Bridge. Joe Owens continues to top himself year after year. I am grateful he continues to put his heart and soul into each production. He was assisted by the district’s super girl Jaclyn Lusardi (what are we going to do without you next year?) and newcomer to HS shows Drew Smith. The pit sounded wonderful thanks to Don Carreras. Lyrics were clear and sounded beautiful thanks to Meg Messina. Welcome home Aislinn Oliveri- Thoroughly Modern Millie has returned and is now teaching dance. Finally special thanks to all of the unsung heroes-the crew. As a former stage manager I know the show doesn’t happen without you. Kudos to all on a job well done.