NJ Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages/
NJ Bilingual Educators

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President’s Message

Welcome to the first online issue of Voices.

By Judie Haynes

As a former editor, I appreciate the hard work that goes into each issue. Roselyn Rauch, Voices Editor; Marilyn Pongracz, Technology Coordinator; and Dawn Arthur, Voices layout designer, have worked hard to research and produce this new online issue. Please let us know what you think.

The dedicated NJTESOL-NJBE Board members and volunteers outdid themselves once again in bringing an outstanding Spring Conference to you. Despite the poor economy, this year’s conference was very well attended with over 770 attendees on May 18th and 650 on May 19th

The Spring Conference requires a huge effort on the part of the Executive Board, which is made up primarily of volunteers. I would like to thank them for their diligence. Thanks to Eva Rogozinski for juggling the participation of the vendors and the care of her new son; to Caia Schlessinger for pitching in and taking Eva’s place at the conference; and to Marilyn Pongracz and Cassy Lawrence for coordinating the technology presentations. I also want to thank Jory Samkoff-Oulhiad and Maria Jaume for organizing this year’s very successful Legislative Conference; Karin Von Riman for organizing the volunteers; and B.J. Franks and Ana Mistral for coordinating the Poster Sessions. We can’t put a conference together without Gwen Franks, our bookkeeper; Joan Pujol, Membership Chair; and Lisa Palin who does the Conference Program book.

NJTESOL-NJBE Board members have been very active advocating for our ELL students on the state and national level. We have been advocating for our students who did not pass the Alternate High School Assessment (AHSA), the effects on ELLs of the reauthorization of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (formerly NCLB) and most recently the National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week which we are supporting through contacting U.S. Representatives from N.J. In response to the demand for our increasing participation on advocacy issues, we have added a second Sociopolitical Concerns Representative to our Executive Board to help Jory Samkoff-Oulhiad: we thank B.J. Franks for accepting this position. The NJTESOL-NJBE Executive Board recommends to all members that they stay abreast of these initiatives, and the impact they will have on ELLs, by checking our website https://njtesol-njbe.org/ and our Facebook page regularly.

The teaching profession has been under a lot of pressure over the past year. Many N.J. schools have been forced to make drastic cuts in programs. Now more than ever, we as bilingual and ESL professionals need to demonstrate our value as teachers, advocates for ELLs, and most especially as valuable contributors to our school communities. Through the use of Web 2.0 tools, we have countless opportunities to expand our knowledge of what works for ELLs. We can collectively advocate and President’s provide the most engaging and relevant instruction for our students. Let’s be at the forefront and recognize how the use of technology and participation in learning communities benefit not only our students, but, also, us as practitioners. Take charge of your professional development by creating your own personal learning networks via technologies such as Facebook, Twitter, Ning, and the NJTESOL-NJBE hotlist. Thousands of people around the globe are communicating in order to become better teachers. By interacting with online learning communities, not only will you make yourself more relevant to today’s digital students, but you’ll also contribute to making our organization and all bilingual/ESL practitioners a more formidable voice for ELLs!

Judie Haynes is the President of NJTESOL-NJBE.

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Vice-President’s Post Conference Thoughts

By Cassandra Lawrence

Once again, NJTESOL-NJBE made good on its promise to its membership to deliver a superb professional development event. The 2010 Spring Conference, with its 21st Century Learning for ELLs theme, welcomed attendees, presenters, and exhibitors for two days of professional development, networking, and camaraderie. Though a rainy, chilly start, the enthusiasm and spirit of learning and collaboration brightened the day for all who participated.

Despite the current state of affairs in many of our districts, with budgets being drastically cut and staff left unsure of the future, 770 people attended the conference on Tuesday and 650 participated on Wednesday. Conference attendees had the opportunity to select from over 100 featured presentations, workshops, and exhibitor and poster sessions. Tuesday’s dinner event, “An Evening with Dr. Alan DeFina” was enjoyed by many; Dr. DeFina’s lively presentation De-Romanticizing Our Past Loves: Breaking up with Literacy Practices That Don’t Work for English Language Learners gave the dinner guests both a few laughs and food for thought.

Upon reviewing attendees’ responses to the online survey conducted post-conference, we werehappy to see a majority of positive comments in regard to the conference in general. Participants were pleased with the number of workshops, the wide variety, and the quality and expertise of the presenters. It was also gratifying to learn that many participants enjoyed the chance to reconnect with colleagues from across the state. The NJTESOL-NJBE conference has become a reunion of sorts!

There were some negative comments that we would like to address. Some attendees expressed disappointment with the decreased number of vendors at this conference. It should be noted that vendor participation is a reflection of our economy. Many publishing companies have been merged over the past few years: we are pulling from a much smaller pool. Many large exhibitors take one or two booths but are representing the products of three or four different publishing companies. Many of our smaller vendors were not able to take a booth this year because of the economy.

Other participants were not pleased with the lunch set up, wishing it was a sit-down meal. This would be difficult to arrange considering the large numbers of attendees. There is not a place to accommodate over 750 members at a meal. The buffet lunch, open over the course of a few hours, in combination with the staggered nature of the workshop schedule, also allows attendees to make the best use of their time. A sit down lunch would eat up a large part of the day.

Still another group of comments remarked that there were too many workshop choices and it was hard to decide what to attend. Some did not like the staggered schedule. It must be remarked that we try to provide a full program for all of our members in preschool, elementary, secondary, higher ed., supervisors, and adult education. We must stagger the schedule to provide a range of workshops to all of our attendees and to provide lunch to over 700 people. These are constants about the conference that we cannot change.

As your new vice president and conference chair, I hope to continue the tradition of providing a quality conference. Please stay connected to us through the hotlist, the NJTESOL-NJBE website, and our Facebook and Twitter pages. We will communicate future conference plans and changes with you via these networks, and hope that you will reciprocate by providing constructive feedback.

Cassandra Lawrence is Vice President of NJTESOL-NJBE.

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Sixth Annual Legislative Conference Highlights

By Jory Samkoff-Oulhiad

Our annual legislative conference was once again a great success, thanks to our dynamic panelists and the many NJTESOL/NJBE members who were in attendance. At our advocacy booth, or at the legislative conference, members filled out more than 1,000 postcards that were later mailed to Education Commissioner Schundler, Deputy Commissioner Willa Spicer, state legislators, and Senators Lautenberg and Menendez. The postcards contained messages about the two main issues: the Alternate High School Assessment (AHSA) and the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Thank you to all who took the time to complete the postcards—our lawmakers and the NJ Department of Education need to hear from us!

At the legislative conference, our panelists included Janis Jensen, Director of the Office of Academic Standards and Orlando Vadel, NJASK Coordinator, both from the NJ Department of Education; John Segota from international TESOL’s Washington, DC office; Stan Karp from the Education Law Center; and Kevin LaMastra, teacher in the Linden PublicSchools and founder of Friends Beyond Borders. Jensen introduced NJTESOL/NJBE members to the revised 2009 Core CurriculumContent Standards, pointing out how the standards have been updated to reflect 21st century technological developments, while fostering a global perspective among students and educators. The revised standards can be viewed here. Vadel discussed the Spanish version of the NJASK and steps that the NJ Department of Education is taking to help students better prepare for the test. Segota spoke about the Obama administration’s plans for reauthorizing NCLB (No Child Left Behind), now referred to by its original name, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). 

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Advocates of the Year Honored at Legislative Conference

NJTESOL/NJBE congratulates the winners of our first, member nominated, Advocate of the Year awards, Kevin LaMastra and Danie Orelien-Armstead.

In the past, the NJTESOL/NJBE Executive Board has selected organizations to be recognized for their advocacy efforts on behalf of ELLs. This year, in addition to the Executive Board nominated winner, we asked you, our members, to nominate deserving colleagues, friends, administrators, or community members whom you felt should be recognized.

Kevin LaMastra, nominated by his supervisor, Alphonsina Paternostro, is a two-time Union County Teacher of the Year, and an ESL and French teacher in Linden. Kevin states, “It is imperative that we lend our skill and expertise towards promoting and shaping the emerging field of global education” and that “…we should advocate for curricula that will enhance human well-being and promote cooperation and cross-border solidarity.” Kevin was recently featured in two prominent publications: Rethinking Schools and the March 2010 issue of the NJEA Review. Founder of Friends Beyond Borders, a not-for-profit organization that involves educators in human rights immersion experiences in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, Kevin emphasizes how these journeys have the power to transform the way that we view our students. Kevin encourages educators to become more critically reflective and to “aggressively question stereotypes related to poverty and immigrant communities and become more aware of the less obvious types of bias that are still prevalent in our own communities.” For more information about Friends Beyond Borders, click here. 

Danie Orelien-Armstead, nominated by her colleague, Josefina Gil, also is an ESL and French teacher in Linden Public Schools. She describes herself as “a teacher, counselor, and community liaison between parents, students, and schools.” In addition to working with the NJ Immigration and Policy and the Statewide Parent Advocacy Network, Danie founded Citizens for a Better Linden, an organization that sponsors an annual community picnic and distributes school supplies to children; it includes a program that distributes scholarships to graduating seniors from Linden High School. Danie is also the secretary and co-founder of the Haitian Alliance Relief Funds that assists in the immediate and continuous efforts of rebuilding Haiti. Referring to the recent, devastating earthquake in her homeland, Danie states that, “There were times it was difficult listening to the many stories of heartbreak, while at the same time going through my own sorrow of losing family members and friends.”

She sums up the dedication that she has for her students and to the teaching profession in a profound way: “I can honestly say that I have the best job on earth…it is truly a blessing to have found one’s passion and true calling in life.”

In addition to these two award recipients, NJTESOL/NJBE recognized the Education Law Center for its tireless efforts on behalf of New Jersey high school students. The award was presented to Stan Karp, who sounded the alarm bells when it became clear that changes made to the scoring of the Alternate High School Assessment (AHSA) could jeopardize the graduation of thousands of New Jersey high school students. Through the Education Law Center, Karp has called for greater transparency regarding the scoring procedures and guidelines and for more equitable assessment practices for minority students. Also, Karp’s postings to the high school redesign listserv, through the Education Law Center, have been an excellent source of information regarding the most current changes to the AHSA scoring process.

Congratulations to our winners on your well-deserved awards!

Jory Samkoff-Oulhiad is the Socio-Political concerns representative for NJTESOL/NJBE and is an ESL teacher in Clifton Public Schools.

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TESOL Advocacy Day 2010

By Judie Haynes

On June 23, 2010, I represented NJTESOL-NJBE and, along with 32 other TESOL members from 25 U.S. based affiliates, went to Washington, DC for TESOL Advocacy Day 2010. Despite the 96 degree weather in Washington, this was a very valuable experience for me as a representative of NJTESOL-NJBE. This event featured a day of issue briefings and workshops, capped by visits to congressional offices on Capitol Hill. The goals of Advocacy Day were not only to lobby for key issues for TESOL, but also to provide an interactive learning experience for affiliate representatives on elements of advocacy. By the end of the day, TESOL members had visited the offices of more than 75 representatives and senators.

Responding to recent congressional action, TESOL Advocacy Day 2010 was focused on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), currently revised as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). To maximize the impact of Advocacy Day, key members of Congress serving on the education and appropriations committees in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives were identified for meetings. This year, I met with N.J. Representatives Robert Andrews and Rush Holt and a staff member from the office of Representative Donald Payne to discuss TESOL’s recommendations for ESEA reauthorization and the impact of the current law (NCLB) upon English language learners in New Jersey. It was exciting to meet Representatives Holt and Andrews and share views.

To participate, I was required to do several activities in preparation. For example, I had to set up my own individual meetings with congressional representatives. To assist with this, TESOL provided directions and guidance, as well as the list of specific representatives and senators to contact. This was a very difficult process requiring a multiple number of faxes, emails, and telephone calls. In the end, however, it was well worth the effort.

I was also sent talking points and background information on ESEA reauthorization so that I could begin to familiarize myself with the issues in advance. To help make my congressional meetings more effective, I was also encouraged to find examples from my own experience to illustrate the talking points. For example, I talked about my experience with the frustration that beginning students feel when they are required to take the NJASK.

TESOL Advocacy Day commenced with a welcome from TESOL President Brock Brady, who was also joined by Past President Mark Algren. The morning workshop was led by John Segota, Director Of Advocacy and Professional Relations, and was comprised of two briefings. The first panel featured congressional staff from the Senate discussing the “view from the Capitol Hill” on ESEA reauthorization and the key issues under debate. The second briefing featured Richard Smith, Acting Assistant Secretary and Director of the Office of English Language Acquisition at the US Department of Education discussing the Obama Administration’s proposal for reauthorizing ESEA.

Following these briefings, an interactive workshop was held on how to have an effective meeting with one’s congressional representative. This workshop was led by Ellen Fern and Audrey Bush of Washington Partners, LLC, TESOL’s legislative consultants. Participants were provided key information to prepare for their meetings and given the opportunity to role play. The purpose of the briefings and the workshop was to help the participants practice and prepare for our meetings on Capitol Hill that afternoon.

I didn’t expect to meet with any of the Representatives as I wasn’t told who I would be meeting with when I made the appointments and expected to see staffers. So it was a great pleasure to actually meet two, both Representatives Holt and Andrews. Representative Holt recognized NJTESOL-NJBE and was very cognizant of the problems faced by ELLs. Representative Andrews was very receptive to the needs of NJ English language learners. I concentrated on several key points:

• The difference between social and academic language, how long it takes to learn each and the importance of that being spelled out in the bill,
• The need to measure ELLs by language proficiency rather than years in the U.S. Instead of requiring tests at the end of a certain time period in the U.S, they would be given at a particular stage of language acquisition as measured by ACCESS for ELLs in New Jersey.
• The need to keep longitudinal records for AYP (Annual Yearly Progress) instead of counting just the students who are actually in ESL or bilingual programs. We need to include exited ELLs when scores are aggregated in order to demonstrate growth.

At the end of the day, I shared my experiences and what I learned over dinner. It was interesting to hear what other people experienced on their visit. All of the participants agreed that this event was a very positive experience for them and for TESOL.

Additional information about TESOL Advocacy Day will be available at https://www.tesol.org. If you are interested in learning more about your congressional representatives, and the legislative issues TESOL is tracking, go to the TESOL U.S. Advocacy Action Center.

Judie Haynes is the current president of NJTESOL-NJBE.

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2011 Spring Conference: Call for Proposals for Workshops

May 24th and 25th

The 2011 NJTESOL-NJBE Spring Conference will be held on May 24th and May 25th. The Call for Proposals is currently online at the NJTESOL-NJBE web site at https://www.njtesol-njbe.org/. Workshops, Demonstrations, Panels and Poster Sessions may be submitted. Priority will be given to high-quality proposals related to the conference theme, Creating Global Learning Communities for ELLs. The deadline for proposal submissions will be October 31st, 2010. Proposals will be adjudicated in December and a tentative schedule will be posted on the NJTESOL-NJBE website in February.

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Summer Academies

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

By BJ Franks

For two hot days in July, a cadre of ESL teachers met at Middlesex County College to enhance their knowledge about adolescent literacy and Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE). Two outstanding presenters shared their expertise and experience through hands-on activities. These highly interactive workshops provided educators with targeted strategies to use with middle and high school ELLs who struggle with reading comprehension.

On Wednesday, July 7th, Susan Lafond, a National Board Certified teacher, with 20 years of experience teaching ESL and foreign language, shared before-reading, during-reading, and, after-reading strategies which improve reading comprehension. Ms. Lafond currently works as a professional development assistant with New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) and was recently appointed to the Committee for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) English as a New Language Standards to review and revise the existing English as a New Language Standards. As a consultant for Colorín Colorado and Adlit.org, she was able to inform the participants of many valuable resources.

On Day 2, Dr. Andrea DeCapua discussed the great challenges that many teachers face with ELLs with limited or interrupted formal education. These students have to learn language, literacy, content-area knowledge, and an unfamiliar school culture. This workshop explored the needs of these students and considered how to best address these needs through project based learning. Dr. DeCapua, Associate Professor of Multilingual Multicultural Education at the College of New Rochelle, New York and her colleague, Dr. Helaine Marshall, are the authors of several books: Meeting the Needs of Students With Limited or Interrupted Schooling, A Guide for Educators; and Breaking New Ground:Teaching Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education in Secondary Schools.

Both workshops were very interactive and informative. Participants left with an arsenal of new techniques and strategies to use in addition to learning the latest research on these “hot” topics. Since it is a valuable experience to spend in-depth time on one topic, we hope to offer one–two day workshops on selected topics throughout the year. I hope that your summer is filled with renewal and refresher activities as valuable as these days were.

BJ Franks shares Socio-Political concerns with Jory Samkoff-Oulhiad and is co-manager of Language & Literacy Associates for Multilingual and Multicultural Education (LLAMAME, LLC) .

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Wikis are online web spaces for collaborative work. If you want students to work together on projects, this is an option to look into. If you are working on a project with your colleagues, emailing documents back and forth and losing track of the latest updates, a wiki is an excellent solution. Wikis can house not only text and links, but also documents, presentations, pictures, videos, and games, so multimedia projects are an option as well. With a Wiki, the teacher can follow the process as well as the product. Wikis are relatively easy to set up and use. There are buttons for creating and editing pages, and editing is similar to most document software. The process for adding a document, picture, or game to a page is similar to attaching a document to an email message. Once up, it is easier to organize these items on a Wiki than it is on Word. 

Simultaneous discussions are also an option on a Wiki. Different topics can be sorted by setting up discussion threads. I use PBworks for the tutors’ projects for the English Language Resource Center (ELRC) at Bergen Community College. During their occasional free hours, tutors prepare exercises that we can put on the ELRC website for students. For the past two years, we have been using the wiki to prepare dialogs based on the academic vocabulary list. These dialogs will be edited, recorded, and uploaded so that students can have audio vocabulary practice. Since everything is on the wiki, it is easy to keep track of the project. On PBworks, the discussions are at the bottom of the page, so they can be organized by adding a page for each discussion.

Simultaneous editing of the same content page by two different users is similar to paper and pencil, in which case, the two users would pass the paper back and forth between them and each write in turn. Wiki pages work the same way. 

One recent improvement is the possibility of adding authors, that is, students or coworkers, to a wiki without having to send them an email invitation. This makes it faster and easier especially for teachers and classes.

Teachers must be aware that free wikis are not private. Although only participants can edit them, anyone can view them. However, this can be an advantage. It provides a potential audience, and parents can see their children’s work. It can also provide a platform to teach safe Internet practices. Children can use numbers or nicknames and be taught to avoid posting identifying information. If privacy is a concern, the fee is about $5/month. To see how wikis work, go to: https://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english.

Marilyn Pongracz is the Technology Coordinator for NJTESOL/NJBE and the English Language Resource Center Supervisor at Bergen Community College.

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You are invited to explore Verizon Foundation’s remarkable gift to education—Thinkfinity! Thinkfinity is a comprehensive website dedicated to providing rich, dynamic lessons and activities for teachers, students, and their parents. Thinkfinity has partnered with the most innovative and respected education organizations to ensure the highest quality and integrity of the content. Among the partners are: National Geographic Society; NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics); NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English ); Smithsonian; AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science ); Kennedy Center. Offering more than 55,000 free K-12 educational resources designed to advance student achievement across the curricula, this amazing site also is directly aligned to the New Jersey state standards, and searches can be made for lessons related to specific standards. Thinkfinity’s new interactive community forum affords educators and parents the opportunity for a continuing dialogue, a way to connect with each other for the exchange of ideas and resources. With the bookmarking feature, favorite lessons and activities are easily saved and then accessed from any computer. Free and frequent webinars provide professional development and have addressed the needs of ELLs. Engaging parents is a priority of Thinkfinity, and having a user-friendly site with valuable concepts clearly, and often entertainingly, presented encourages parents of ELLs to become participants in their child’s educational process.

For an immediate introduction, log on to www.thinkfinity.org. https://www.govtech.com/education/thinkfinityorg—-a-new-teachers-resource.html At the bottom of theThinkfinity home page are the Content Partners. Click on Illuminations. On the next screen click “Activities” and then “View All Activities.” You will see 105 interactive and irresistible K-12 math games to assist ELLs in learning math concepts, facts, and vocabulary. Appropriate grade levels are listed alongside each lesson.The URL is: https://illuminations.nctm.org/. Giving your students class time to navigate some of these lessons will guarantee their extending the learning at home.

Click Science Netlinks, also located at the bottom of the Thinkfinity home page, for interactive projects embedded in the full lesson. For example, clicking on Tools will give you a list of science content areas with lessons and activities. Explore “Nowhere to Hide” (K-2 section). Click, and on the next page is the URL https://www.aaas.org/programs/science-netlinks. “Antibiotic Attack” (3-5) brings you to http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/antibiotic.html.“Shape it up” (6-8) http://sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/shapeitup.html introduces students to forces of nature and the resulting landscapes.

To locate a specific subject, go to In the Classroom at the top of the Thinkfinity home page,and then enter a word or words under Keyword Search (right hand column). An array of resources will appear. Note: To view a more comprehensive list click “Add Partner Reviewed Resources ”found on this page. To access some appealing writing tasks, try one of these as the Keyword: ComicCreator; Bio-Cube; Mystery Cube.

A fine Social Studies lesson is found by keying in What in the World? Color Coded. Be SUREto click “Add Partner Reviewed…” on the next page to access the above title. On the following screen (National Geographic) click “Interactive Adventures.” Scroll down to “On the Trail of Captain John Smith.” Excellent!

A note of caution—when you find a special site, bookmark it immediately.

Explore and Enjoy! (note: original links no longer work)

Suzan Cole is an ESL Teacher and a member of the Shore Chapter Executive Board. 

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Bilingual and ESL Students Succeed Across NJ

ELL Students at Asbury Park Middle School Students Win Trophy

By Regina Postogna and Angel Kames

English language learner (ELL) students in Mr. Angel Kames’ class at the Asbury Park Middle School earned a trophy for solving mathematical problems using their computers and the program, First in Math. Channel 12 News televised students on May 28th.

All ESL/bilingual program students in grades 6, 7, and 8, who were in Mr. Kames’ classes, participated. The problems to be solved were aligned to the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards (NJCCCS) at each grade level. The competition included all mathematics classes in the middle school.

Although English is their second language,students were instructed using Sheltered Instructional Observational Protocol (SIOP) methods. In this method, each lesson has a language and content objective. Use of the SIOP method allows students the opportunity to demonstrate mastery of the content learned.

The contest lasted for the entire school year. In order for students to qualify for the trophy, they had to earn points by solving problems correctly. To arrive at solutions, students utilized simple to complex mathematical operations. The scope of the mathematical operations covered went from simple computations to reading and analyzing complex word problems in order to arrive at a solution.

The middle school students were able to work on First in Math during school or afterschool by going to the public library or working on their home computers.Everyone is very proud of their accomplishment!

Regina Postogna is Supervisor of ESL/Bil/World Language in Asbury Park and NJTESOL-NJBE’s Supervisors’ SIG Representative. Angel Kames is an Asbury Park Bil/ESLMath teacher and a contributing photographer to VOICES.

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FIRST Lego League Robotics in Howell Township Calendar

By Stephanie Abelson

TThe Howell Township Education Foundation awarded me a grant to pilot a FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Lego League Robotics team with my 6th, 7th,and 8th grade ESL students. FIRST was founded by Dean Kamen, CEO and founder of DEKA Research and Development Corporation. His vision is “To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where people dream of becoming science and technology leaders.”

Each year, FIRST announces a new Challenge Project with an accompanying robot and task oriented game. The Challenge Project includes a well-defined research project which aligns beautifully with The New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards in multiple areas. I knew that I could integrate this project with my ESL and Language Arts lessons, differentiating instruction according to the individual needs of my students. For my purposes, the robot and game components associated with the Challenge Project were an interesting and fun addition to these activities. After receiving the Grant in June 2009, I immediately signed my ESL classes up as a team. FIRST assigned us the number 491 so we became known as Team 491: Howell Hornets “Mindswarm,” and I began preparing the students for the upcoming season. When September came we were ready for “Kickoff”, the day that the new Challenge Project is announced and demonstrated via webcast. FIRST is an international organization and teams hold “Kickoff” parties to watch the webcast simultaneously no matter what time of day or night it is in their part of the world!The students participated in SmartMove, FIRST Lego League’s Challenge Project for 2009-2010.

Each individual student completed a research project based on solving a problem dealing with transportation. My students conducted interviews with community members, administrators, bus drivers,and the supervisor of transportation in our school district. They defined the problem of drivers disregarding the lights, signals, and rules regarding school buses and traffic. Together the students constructed all of the components of the game field, built and programmed a working Lego League robot using NXT “Mindstorm” programming technology, and designed their own website and web pages which are now the foundation for future ESL students to build upon.

I created a separate “website within a website” for the team, complete with a separate Homepage and links to pages dedicated to topics such as related media, recognition of sponsors, forums, and individual student web pages. Each student’s original text and artwork is uploaded and published online. Through this project, my students have been able to experience many facets of web design and related technologies.These pages are an online portfolio for each student and I can archive, assess, and monitor their progress over time with just a click of the mouse. As a result of our successful rookie season with FIRST, I have decided to continue Lego League Robotics in the future. 

Stephanie Abelson is the ESL and Language Arts teacher for 6th, 7th, and 8th grades in Howell Middle School North. They were recognized as a Model ESL Program by the state this year. Ms Abelson loves technology, as do her students, and she incorporates as much technology as possible into the curriculum. This has been made possible through three grants that she has received from the Howell Township Education Foundation.

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