School Zone
Points of Pride
Spotlight on
Excellence
As employees of DCPS we all have
the additional title of
Good News Ambassadors. Find out how you can
spread the good news about events and programs taking
place in our district.
Prize
Winning Authors Visit Elementary Schools
Award-winning authors Janet
Stevens and her sister, Susan Stevens Crummel visited
Long Branch and Holiday Hill Elementary Schools on
October 11 and 12.
The authors spoke with
children about the importance of reading, writing and
storytelling, as well as the creative process involved
with illustrating their books.
Writing and illustrating
books has been a part of these sisters’ lives for more
than 25 years. They have received numerous awards for
their work, including the Parents Choice Award,
Caldecott Honor Citation and Notable Children's Books
Citation, Junior Literary Guild and International
Reading Association Children's Choice selections, as
well as several state children's choice book awards.
The visit was made possible
by a generous grant from the Chartrand Foundation which
believes in direct funding for public education.
2007
Rock‘n’Write Song Idea Challenge
30 Mandarin Middle School
students and their language arts teacher Jane Feber are
being recognized for entries into the 2007 Rock‘n’Write
Song Idea Challenge. On October 30 a team from Hewlett
Packard and Rock‘n’Write will visit Mandarin Middle to
host a celebration for these students. The top winners
and teacher Jane Feber will receive prizes that
include computers, printers, and digital cameras.
Rock‘n’Write is a writing
program open to students in grades 5-12. The purpose of
the program is to encourage students to express voice in
their writing and expand their expressive language,
further poetry appreciation and to provide a different
venue for teachers and students to reinforce
skills/standards. Rock‘n’Write promotes conversation
and sharing, discussion (speaking, listening, viewing,
and reading) and helps make connections to music, poetic
rhythm, poetic devices and personal emotion. Above all,
Rock‘n’Write promotes acceptance among peers, helps
students see each other in a different light, and acts
as a motivational tool for critical thinking and
writing. Rock‘n’Write provides a supplemental
curriculum that allows students to have a voice in
something that is important to them.
Mandarin Middle had three of the 12 national winners,
15 medal winners and 12 certificate winners. Joining the
Mandarin Middle School winners were Landmark Middle
School teacher, Jessica Killen and six of her 8th
grade students who won three medal winners and three
certificates winners.
For more information about
the Rock‘n’Write program, visit their web site at
www.rocknwrite.com.
New
season of ‘School Matters’ premieres Oct. 28
The importance of academic
rigor, news of Duval County’s minority students
outpacing their peers state and nationwide, programs
that support struggling students and the importance of
character education are topics of discussion on the next
edition of School Matters.
The program, the first of the
fall season, airs at 10 a.m., Sunday, Oct. 28, on WJCT-TV,
Channel 7 (Channel 8 on Comcast). Viewers will meet the
new moderator of the interview program, Joyce Morgan
Danford.
In the first segment,
Nongongoma Mojave-Seane, principal at William Raines
High School, will discuss the importance of academic
rigor to all her students, and the successes she has
seen with her students to date.
The second segment offers a
glimpse into how the latest discoveries in brain
research have led to technological innovations that help
propel students forward. Ms. Morgan Danford will
interview Carla Beasley, the implementation coordinator
of the school district’s Fast ForWord initiative and
Delores Johnson, a teacher at Andrew Robinson Elementary
School. Johnson, who teaches in a Fast ForWord lab, will
detail the dramatic results that she has seen in her
students.
With the increased academic
rigor at all levels and for all students within Duval
County Public Schools, the importance of providing help
to struggling students is critical. Dr. Lillie B.
Granger, director, elementary programs and George E.
Maxey, principal of Jean Ribault Middle School, reveal
the many “safety net” programs that are designed to
bolster student performance, particularly for students
who are struggling with the more difficult coursework.
Maxey also offers details about the successful Saturday
School at Ribault.
Barbara J. Green, a teacher
at Alden Road School will close the program by telling
viewers about several character education programs at
Duval County schools that prepare students for success
in the classroom and the world.
School Matters
is aired once each month on WJCT-TV but is rebroadcast
at various times on WJCT’s other networks. For further
information, go to
www.wjct.org. |
