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Lindsay
Marzec
08
Project
Summary
Frewsburg Central School
Lindsay R. Marzec
Frewsburg Central School
8th Grade English Teacher
FCS “Little Read”
Robert H. Jackson by Gail Jarrow
When I was approached by my
principal, Kathleen Anderson, and Library Media Specialist, Robin
Trapani, about the possibly of a “Little Read” here at Frewsburg, I
couldn’t help but throw myself into what I now consider the most
successful unit of my teaching career thus far. Not only was I
excited by the opportunity of a collaborative unit, but I was elated
to help our 7th and 8th grade students
discover a very important part of their hometown’s history. I knew
that Robert H. Jackson, Frewsburg’s native son, would be an amazing
outlet to show our Frewsburg Bear pride.
I was quickly astounded by the
creative ideas and personal involvement of my fellow faculty
members, but the community also stepped up to the plate, making it
possible not only for every 7th and 8th grade
student and teacher to own a copy of Robert H. Jackson by
Gail Jarrow, but to also bring the author to visit our school. This
overwhelming support made it evident to me what an outstanding
community we live in, a community where education is celebrated.
This is a teacher’s dream.
The process began with several
meetings with the 7th and 8th grade English
teachers, the special education teachers, and the library media
specialist. Excited by a unique opportunity to work with so many
different experts, we were all carried away with ideas. After
multiple brainstorming sessions, we were able to devise a plan to
develop a curriculum. First, we would needed the usual vocabulary
list and chapter worksheets to keep students organized and on task.
It was nice to share these usual duties with others, cutting the
workload but creating new ideas for the typical lesson. As we read
the book in class, I was grateful that Gail Jarrow had once taught
middle school herself, because the students immediately made
connections, reading each chapter to see what else they could learn
about this man who came from Frewsburg, just like them. The
participation in reading and the quality of responses on their
homework, showed me that students wanted to know the man who “the
little school” in Frewsburg was named after.
We then focused on creating learning stations,
an approach to learning that has always been a success in the past
for both the English department and in the library. After an onrush
of ideas, we created five complete stations. One station would
allow the students to use their skill in poetry to create unique
poems about different aspects of Jackson’s life. A second station
included a website about the Nuremberg Trail where students could
explore information about the trials, transcripts, pictures and even
diagrams of the courtroom. A word wall was another station,
allowing students to use their vocabulary skills to describe
Jackson. Collages were also created based on famous quotes by
Jackson. Students interpreted the quote and expressed their
interpretations through magazine cut outs and phrases. Last, but by
far my favorite, was a station where students had the opportunity to
look at newspaper clippings from several different times. One of my
favorite memories from this project occurred at this station. A
student looked up at me completely awestruck and stated, “I can’t
believe all those famous people walked our streets of Frewsburg!”
while looking at a clipping that showed Jackson’s funeral in
Jamestown and Frewsburg. This is Frewsburg Bear pride at its best!
Yet again, this is a teacher’s dream.
Finally we had to create a
culminating event for what we began to call “the Robert H. Jackson
event of the century.” After securing a visit by Gail Jarrow, we
realized that we needed to do more to inspire our 170 students, so
we created two other events for the day of the visit.
As Ms. Jarrow stepped into our library, a wave
of excitement hit all of us. We couldn’t wait to show her what we
had done, to impress upon her our extreme dedication to teaching her
book to our students. Her presentation was centralized around her
process in writing historical nonfiction. Students gawked and gazed
at the documents, many which were once located in Frewsburg. During
the presentation, some students were even able to make family
connections to the Jackson family. One even stated, “It’s a small
town. Maybe we are all related to Robert H. Jackson in some way.”
Another event, inspired by my recent trip to
the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.,
centered around identification cards with information about a
Holocaust survivor or victim. This event went better than I had
ever expected. Students connected with the people whose lives were
briefly summarized in the id cards, but they were also able to make
connections amongst themselves. It was as if we had gone back in
time. Students were asking others, “Is your name so-and-so? I am
trying to find my daughter.” “Does anyone have a person named
Josef, he is my father?” Through these connections, students were
finally able to realize the importance of tolerance and the truly
monumental task that was Jackson’s job as prosecutor during the
Nuremberg Trial.
A third event gave students an opportunity to
see the destruction of the Holocaust and to witness the extreme
eloquence of Robert H. Jackson at the Nuremberg Trials. After
students attended this event, I was surprised and proud of their
reactions and thoughts during the concluding discussion with the 7th
grade History teacher. Their faces showed the appropriate shock and
horror of the Holocaust, but their questions and statements showed a
maturity that I don’t always see in 7th and 8th
graders. They truly wanted to follow in Jackson’s footsteps in
stopping discrimination and hate.
Following the event, a luncheon was given for
our Robert H. Jackson essay contest winners. I could not ask
for a more unique and meaningful experience for the future writers
of Frewsburg. As the nine students sat at the table, gulping down
pizza, cookies and pop, I could only hope that the sugar rush would
not impair their judgment and manners, but I was pleasantly
surprised by their meaningful questions and discussions. One
student spoke to Ms. Jarrow about a book by E.B. White that helps
aspiring writers on their way to greatness. He couldn’t wait to get
to Amazon.com to see if he could find a copy of this book that a
famous writer had recommended to him.
When I reflect on the work and pay off of the
Robert H. Jackson project, I can only feel success. At the
end of the day of events, I was speaking with my principal and I
stated, “This was worth 100 class periods, so it was definitely
worth the work.” I truly feel that the events, especially the
author presentation, will be indelible moments. As a teacher, I
hope that my students can take something away from my classroom and
my teaching. I know for sure that this will be something that they
will remember. When asked if I would do anything different, my only
response was that I wish we as a faculty had more opportunities to
create projects like this one. I would also like to involve the
other subject areas beyond library science, English and Social
Studies. As teachers, we often get caught up in the boundaries of a
classroom, whereas this gave the faculty and students to extend
these boundaries, working around the school for different events and
working together in the middle grades.
I can honestly say that I will look back at
this project as one of the highlights of my career. It inspired me
to create other such projects that allow my students and the
community to come together as one in order to show that there are
reasons why we love Frewsburg. As one student said to me, “I guess
small town roots don’t mean small dreams.”
TAH Project
“Little
Read”
featuring…
Robert H.
Jackson
by Gail Jarrow
Frewsburg
Central School
Submitted by Lindsey Marzec , School Library
Media Specialist
Collaborative Project
FCS 7th & 8th Grade
English Teachers
Mrs. Robin S. Trapani
Mr. Christopher Skelton
Mrs. Emily Spielman
-
General Overview of the Proposed
Project:
Frewsburg Central School is instituting a new
initiative modeled after the recent Big Read in Chauatuqua County.
The FCS Little Read will feature the new publication
Robert H. Jackson by Gail Jarrow. Through community and
parental donations the district will be providing each 7th
and 8th grade student, as well as their teachers, a copy
of the book to create a community of readers. The 7th
and 8th grade English, Social Studies and School Library
Media Specialist will be collaborating to develop a cadre of lessons
and experiences highlighting Frewsburg’s famous native son Robert H.
Jackson.
For a culminating event we would like to host
the author of Robert H. Jackson, Gail Jarrow, in our school.
We feel that Mrs. Jarrow could share her knowledge and insights into
the life of Robert H. Jackson with our students. Mrs. Jarrow also
does the following programming: Researching Nonfiction, Road to
Publishing, Writing Techniques and Creating Fiction.
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Clear Purpose and Objective
The “Little Read” will support the NEA
goal of helping to restore reading to the center of American
culture. As noted by Librarian of Congress Daniel J. Boorstin,
“Ours is a culture of the book. Our democracy is built on books and
reading.” As you are familiar with the work of Robert H. Jackson,
he worked tirelessly throughout his career to support democracy.
This program will enhance and honor his legacy by bringing his life
work into focus for students and highlight his contributions to our
society. The Frewsburg Central School “Little Read” program
will serve as a role model for other communities to engage students
at all levels in reading.
-
Stakeholders: grade level, who will
benefit, who will participate in this project
All 7th and 8th grade
students will be participating in this project. We hope to also
have enough copies of the book so every 7th and 8th
grade teacher, in all curricular areas can model reading it with
their students. Studies have shown that children read more when
they see other people reading. By engaging the classroom teachers
in the reading process, they can promote the “Little Read”
initiative in classrooms that wouldn’t have a direct connection to
the topic.
-
U.S. History Content Area
The “Little Read” project will cover
the following standards:
NYS Social Studies Standards
Standard 1-History of the
United States and New York
Standard 2- World History
Standard 5- Civics,
Citizenship and Government
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Outline Describing Content
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Each student will receive a copy of
the book Robert H. Jackson by Gail Jarrow
-
Each book will have a bookplate in it
with the student’s name and list of the donors
-
The 7th and 8th
grade English teachers will develop vocabulary and questions
to correspond to each chapter.
-
The students will have the opportunity
to view video clips of Robert H. Jackson.
-
Each class will finish the book prior
to the author visit.
-
Each student will choose a final
project to demonstrate their knowledge about Robert H.
Jackson. The projects will be an essay, original poetry or
rap song. The best work from each class will have the
opportunity to have lunch with the author.
-
Gail Jarrow, author of Robert H.
Jackson, will visit the library as a culminating event.
The author will present four programs and speak at a
luncheon. Students in each of the sessions will have the
opportunity to introduce the author to the audience. They
will be chosen by the classroom teachers.
-
The following additional activities
will be done:
1.
Students will create an illustrative timeline to be placed in
the library
2.
The middle school showcase will display promotional material
about the “Little Read” and Robert H. Jackson.
3.
Students will develop questions to ask the author Gail
Jarrow. Students with the best questions will have the opportunity
to film Mrs. Jarrow’s responses to be later used in a podcast.
4.
Students will create a “word wall” with each class creating a
poster with adjectives to describe Justice Jackson.
5.
Students will create a display also to be placed in the
library of “Lessons Learned” from Justice Jackson.
6.
Students will research how Frewsburg appeared at the time of
Jackson’s life and how it appears now. A display of Then and Now
pictures will be created.
-
Software to be used, internet
materials, contacts, etc.
Students will use online databases and
approved Internet resources. The Frewsburg Central School MS/HS has
a collection of primary resources on both Robert H. Jackson and the
Frewsburg Central School. The Robert H. Jackson Center and the
Fenton Museum would also be of use for information and primary
resources. In the realm of technology, the district has 15 licenses
for Garage Band and the Microsoft program Photostory 3 is also
accessible on district computers. The completed podcasts will be
posted on the teacher or library webpages.
7. Level of Student Involvement
Students will be involved in all
aspects of this event. They will read the book, meet with the
author and participate in all of the activities created to support
the FCS “Little Read.”
8. Evaluation process
·
Essays,/Projects
Rubric
§
Content
§
Grammar/Mechanics
§
Organization
·
Daily Assignment Checks
·
Podcast
§
Each student will have a role to be assessed
9. Timeline: how you envision the project
being carried out between start and conclusion
Students will receive their books
approximately May 5th 2008. The students will begin
reading and do the chapter vocabulary and questions between May 5th
and May 14th. The supplementary activities will be
created during the week of May 19th. Gail Jarrow’s
author visit will be held in the Frewsburg Central MS/HS library
from 9:00AM – 1:00 PM on May 22nd. This will include all
members of the 7th and 8th grade. Students
selected with the best projects and or essays will be given the
opportunity to eat lunch with the author. Additionally students
working on the podcast will have time video tape the author’s
response to their questions about the publishing process and her
personal viewpoint of Robert H. Jackson.
10. Comments or Questions:
Can we use the $250.00 towards the purchase of
books or to help pay for the author expenses?
We will submit vocabulary lists, chapter
questions, project outlines etc. as they become developed to
complete the project.
It is our intention to make this a very
special event at Frewsburg Central School for our 7th & 8th
grade students.
Robin S. Trapani
Frewsburg Central School
School Library Media Specialist 7-12
Final Reflection
TAH Grant
FCS
“Little Read”
Robert H. Jackson by Gail Jarrow
The FCS “Little Read” began
as an idea to have all of our 7th and 8th
graders read the same piece of fiction. After many months of
looking at various pieces of literature, I hadn’t found just the
right selection. Early in April, my principal, Kathleen Anderson,
told me that our school district had received a donation of the new
young adult book on Robert H. Jackson. The seed was sown. What
better book to read for Frewsburg students, than a book on their
native son Robert H. Jackson? The whirlwind of planning began.
Could we provide a copy of the book for all of our students? Would
the author travel to Frewsburg? Could we afford to have her in our
library? Who should be involved in making all of this happen?
With the blessing of my
principal I started making contacts and getting the above mentioned
questions answered. TAH was planning to give copies of the book to
local school districts, and the author, Gail Jarrow, was already
planning on being in Jamestown in late May. The Chautauqua Regional
Community Foundation was willing to look at a proposal to assist
with our efforts. Although the book I chose was a non-fiction
history title, I collaborated with the 7th & 8th
grade English teachers to plan the event. Their schedule was such
that they were able to change course quickly and fit a new title
into their curriculum. It fit particularly well into the 8th
grade curriculum that they were starting on the Holocaust. This
year instead of reading Fredrick, they substituted the Robert H.
Jackson book.
As our planning took off, so did
our vision for a complete event. I developed letters to solicit
donations from all of the 7th and 8th grade
parents, community organizations and businesses. The Field of
Interest Grant for the Chautauqua Regional Community Foundation was
developed and submitted. Gail Jarrow arranged to share her expenses
with the Robert H. Jackson Center which made her visit an affordable
possibility. The staff from TAH got on board and approved our
project. The books were secured from the Jackson Center and we were
on our way to what was to become the Robert H. Jackson event of the
century!!!
From many meetings to plan and
brainstorm, we finally had an adgenda. Each of the 7th
and 8th grade English teachers distributed their books on
May 5th and began reading. A worksheet for each chapter
was developed as well as a vocabulary activity. The plan was to
have all of the students finish the Robert H. Jackson book
prior to the author event. We weren’t satisfied with just reading
the book and doing the chapter questions however. Remember, we were
planning the Robert H. Jackson event of the century. What more
could we do? Learning stations were developed and two additional
days in the library were blocked. A schedule was created to
accommodate all of our 160 7th and 8th grade
students. They spent two days writing poetry about Robert H.
Jackson, creating collages inspired from Robert H. Jackson quotes,
doing an internet based activity on Nuremberg, investigating primary
source clippings on Jackson’s life and covering a wall in the
library with adjectives that best described this great hometown
hero. In addition the self contained special education class went
to the Maple Grove Cemetery and did tombstone rubbings and one of
the sections of AIS did a timeline of Jackson’s life. These student
centered learning stations were a great success and a true
collaborative project that was showcased in the library. For two
solid days students were engaged in activities that entrenched them
in the history and significance of Robert H. Jackson’s life. Being
that the faculty involved tends to be overachievers they also
created extra credit options that were posted on their individual
websites. These included doing an activity related to a piece of
WWII historical fiction, visiting the Robert H. Jackson section in
the Maple Grove Cemetery, doing tombstone rubbings, and an activity
using the video clips from the Robert H. Jackson Center website.
The day of the author visit we
created three events, a Holocaust activity in our community room,
the opportunity to watch the PBS movie on Nuremberg, the actual
author presentation in the library and a luncheon for essay
winners. All of these were successful in our opinion. Mrs. Jarrow
was an amazing speaker. She interacted well with our students, and
it was obvious from her presentation that she was a former teacher
who understood how to relate to this age group. During the luncheon
it was wonderful to sit back and watch how she interacted with the
students chosen to eat lunch with her.
What started as a thought to get
the 7th and 8th graders reading the same book
turned into a community event. We were honored to have staff from
the Robert H. Jackson Center, TAH staff, the Post Journal, parents
of students, and administration share in this wonderful experience.
The benefit of this experience for
us as a staff was to truly create a cross curricular collaborative
event, that had an impact for our students. All of the NYS learning
standards were met in a variety of ways. Students were engaged in
reading, using primary source materials, and using technology as
they discovered more about this very important individual and time
in history. On our own volition a very young staff and one veteran
teacher stepped up to the plate and in my opinion “hit one out of
the park” for Frewsburg. The success of such events as these is
achieved through great planning and coordination. The good behavior
on the part of our students and the ease in which they moved from
event to event does not just happen. It is the result of hours of
scrutinizing individual teacher schedules, how best use substitute
teachers and preparing students in the classroom before the event.
It is unlikely in the near future we would
replicate an event of this magnitude using this particular topic and
title. However, from the curriculum we have created an individual
teacher could choose to use the Robert H. Jackson book by
Gail Jarrow and have a complete unit of study all ready prepared.
In closing, I would like to say that I am
truly and proud of the experience we created for the students of
Frewsburg Central School. In the end, it is all about making a
difference in the lives of the children we teach. The opportunity
to collaborate with dedicated professionals who had a vision and
were motivated to see it through to the end was a highlight of my
professional experience. My deepest gratitude to the staff of TAH,
the Chautauqua Regional Community Foundation and all those in the
Frewsburg Community that were instrumental in making this experience
possible.
Lindsay Marzec
Reflection in Word
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