Some NYC schools are cutting down on recess just as studies show how integral it is to students’ development

It turns out that taking a break from fractions to play football in the schoolyard has more than just physical health benefits. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently released a statement emphasizing the importance of recess, and touting its benefits for the “whole child,” including academic improvements and the opportunity for the child to grow and learn social skills that cannot be taught in the classroom.

“We went into this study with the attitude that recess was good for preventing childhood obesity,” said Dr. Robert Murray, one of the authors of the study. “We discovered it had a lot more influence than we thought.”

But still, Dr. Murray says that in schools across the country, as many as 40 percent are cutting down on recess, or doing away with it all together, partially because of pressure to perform well on standardized tests.

“Teachers assume that they can teach kids more if they cut recess, but their best bet is to use these recess breaks to allow the child to process,” said Dr. Murray. “Adults take breaks throughout the day, but we just don’t call it recess.”

In Manhattan, a child’s recess experience is as varied as the schools themselves. But of almost two-dozen recent graduates from The City College of New York’s teaching program, 14 out of 16 current New York City elementary school teachers have recess where they work, and most have it every day.

At Ascension School on West 108th Street, a private Catholic School, recess is taken very seriously, and students rarely play inside. In fact, the street in front of the school is shut down every day just so kids can play outside. This has stirred up controversy in the community over the past couple of years from neighbors complaining about the noise. But, Principal Christopher McMahon said, they will continue fighting for their children.

“This struggle will not deter us because recess is too important to our program,” said McMahon. “Recess is a time for kids to release energy. It needs to be unstructured because it gives kids a chance to express themselves.”

According to Dr. Murray, unstructured recess, like the program at Ascension, is actually the best way to go.

“Unstructured recess gives kids maximum control over their own time,” he said. “Some kids may want to read, some may want to play kickball or dodgeball. It forces the kid to be creative.”

At Yorkville Community School on East 91st Street between First and Second Avenues, recess is just as important. The difference is four coaches come to the school every day during recess to organize sports games with the students, thus making the recess experience more structured.

“It keeps every child directed and they have someone supervising them so no one’s straggling off or not keeping active,” said Principal Samantha Kaplan.

Principal Kaplan has also observed that recess has had a positive influence on Yorkville students’ social abilities. She once observed a new student who was shy to make friends bond with classmates through a game of basketball.

“Once kids find common interests they become members of the community pretty quickly,” she said, referring to the atmosphere on the playground.

But despite good intentions, many schools simply do not have the budget for a regular recess program. The Lillian Weber School on West 92nd Street would not have a recess program if the PTA had not intervened. With all of the DOE budgetary restrictions, PTA president Jeanne Moreland said the school could not pay for teacher aides to watch kids on the playground. So, the PTA had to scrape the money together to hire teacher aides on their own.

“There’s not enough money for anything right now. We have enough money for the teachers’ salaries basically,” said Moreland. “I don’t think it’ll fix itself unless there’s a culture change on education and how things are funded.”

Schools have certainly had to get creative to keep recess in their programs. At P.S. 76 on West 121st Street, interns from Americorp come every day to watch the kids during recess, as well as teach them games and sports. As a result, said Principal Charles De Berry, recess budgets are usually not a concern.

Dr. Robert Murray did mention that school budgets were a factor that contributed to quality and quantity of education. And poorer schools, he said, are most likely to cut recess in order to get test scores back up. Ironically though, he said, it’s the kids in troubled areas who need recess the most.

At P.S. 46, on 8th Avenue and Harlem River Drive, recess has always been an important part of the school day. Principal George Young said this is especially important because most of the students come from housing projects and many parents do not want their children playing outside.

“I work in a challenging area. Recess is the only time they get to actually play outside,” he said. “When you see the children getting along and playing with one another, it reinforces the fact that we’re all in this together.”

McCourt emceed all the Blackboard Award ceremonies until his death in 2009, and I have no doubt his words and wisdom still echo in the minds of many the educators—teachers and principals alike—who were there during those ceremonies. They certainly do in me. McCourt’s message was that only a teacher really knows what it’s like to stand in front of classroom full of kids and get them to learn something. He bristled about how the teaching profession was besieged by so-called experts telling teachers what to do, when many of the experts themselves were never teachers. Mostly, though, he expressed a lot of camaraderie, respect and dark-humored sympathy for his fellow educators.

Only Frank could say it like Frank, but we try to carry his message forth in our own way: hoping to express that you, our dedicated and talented local educators, are deeply appreciated by many around you, your colleagues, students and parents. Chances are it was one of them who put in the nomination for you or your school.

Originally founded by the leaders of Manhattan Media, Tom Allon and Richard Burns, the Blackboard Awards are dedicated to honoring excellence in local education wherever it exists—public, private, charter or parochial school. It humbles us to learn about the good work you do, and that, in turn, impassions us to get out the word.

Speaking for all my colleagues at Manhattan Media, I have two final words for you: Thank you.

—Eric Messinger, Editor, New York Family

2012 Blackboard Award Winners

West Side YMCA, Where Teachers and Parents Work Hand-in-Hand

Students Learn to ‘GELL’ at Village School

Nurturing the Whole Child at St. Stephen of Hungary

PS 199 Creates Lifelong Learners

Horace Mann: A Century of Quality Teaching in the Heart of the City

Character Counts at Harlem Village Academies

The Uncommon Way: Improving the Norm for Inner-City Students

Small Step From High School to College

A Blueprint for the Global School of the Future

The World Awaits at Leman School

Emphasis on Whole Child at Battery Park School

Prepping for a Bright Future at Winston Prep

Math and Sciences Under Microscope at High School

All the World’s a Stage at Performing Arts School

Opening the Doors to the Future for Students

Empowering Students and Teachers to Find their Voice

In the past year, bullying has become not only a pervasive danger for students to dodge in the hallways but a hot topic of debate in the media, among parents and around dinner tables nationwide. Tragic stories of bullied kids committing suicide show up alongside activists’ best efforts to combat the problem, but still it persists.

Lee Hirsh’s documentary Bully, which follows a handful of kids and families from around the country who have dealt with severe bullying, caused a stir before it was even widely released when the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) refused to grant it the PG-13 rating that would allow it to be shown in schools. Dozens of news stories and a petition half a million signatures strong later, the MPAA relented and will change the rating.

It’s clear that people care about bullying, but the question is, who can stop it?

One former local student and his attorney are asserting that schools are responsible for preventing their students from being subjected to bullying. Eric Giray, a former student of the prestigious Calhoun School on the Upper West Side, recently filed a lawsuit against his alma mater and his alleged former bully, classmate Daniel Dworakowski, centered on an incident that occurred eight years ago. He’s seeking damages of $1.5 million for what his attorney says was a blatant failure on the part of the school to protect Giray as a student there.

“The school was notified over time, several times, that bullying was taking place,” said Ric Cherwin, Giray’s attorney. “The former principal kept on saying, ‘We’ll take care of it, we’ll handle it, don’t take matters into your own hands.’ But the school, in fact, didn’t really do anything.”

According to Cherwin, what began as students taunting Giray with names like “elephant ears” and calling him “gay” escalated to one harrowing incident on which their case rests.

“My client was dramatically singled out by the defendant, who violently pushed him with malice into the bleachers, and he suffered a serious injury: broken nose, 18 stitches and pretty serious psychological trauma,” Cherwin said.

Dworakowski’s mother told the Daily News that the scuffle was just an accident, which is how the school may have characterized it at the time as well. Calhoun could not elaborate on what policies they have in place to prevent and address bullying, either then or now. Several other private schools also declined to comment on their bullying policies.

“We are not able to comment on the matters under litigation, but Calhoun has clear standards regarding bullying and a long record of being sensitive and responsive to the physical, emotional and psychological needs of all of our students,” wrote Calhoun’s head of school, Steve Nelson, in an email.

Giray is now in college and his attorney explained that he and his mother didn’t want to file a lawsuit against the school until he was through the college admissions process—the statute of limitations on this type of personal injury does not begin until the victim turns 18. His case has ignited interest in who’s to blame for bullying, even while schools struggle to keep their classrooms safe and civil places.

For public schools, the city’s Department of Education (DOE) enforces a discipline code that prohibits all forms of bullying and has trained some educators in how to teach respectful interaction to their students.

“We launched Respect for All training programs in 2007, and to date, more than 6,000 teachers, counselors, parent coordinators and other staff members have participated in various components of the Respect for All training program,” said DOE spokesperson Marge Feinberg in an email.

“Each school has a Respect For All liaison that helps ensure schools comply with the regulation and work with the DOE central staff on programs that embrace differences in others.”

According to the DOE, the number of bullying incidents has remained fairly steady over the past 10 years, but experts say many students won’t always report bullying to authority figures and sometimes teachers don’t know the best ways to handle the problem.

“Teachers and school administrations need to be prepared to notice both the child who bullies and the child who is being bullied,” said Nancy Silberkleit, a former educator who has launched her own anti-bullying campaigns. “I have seen, too many times, teachers pushing children away for ‘tattletelling’ instead of encouraging them to come forward and dealing with their concerns.”

Upper West Side Assembly Member Daniel O’Donnell has been working for years to pass legislation that would help teachers become better equipped to handle bullying. Last year, after many years of pushing the bill, the Dignity for All Students Act passed the state Legislature and was signed into law. It will take effect July 1.

“It requires training of professionals; there needs to be somebody onsite who understands that bullying is not just kids being kids,” O’Donnell said. The law also requires localities to report bullying to the state Department of Education so effective strategies can be compared and tracked.

O’Donnell, who said he has faced plenty of bullying himself, finds it especially important to protect kids in an age when bullying is ever-present—kids don’t escape harassment when they leave the school building anymore and can be driven to despair by a particularly pointed Facebook post.

“I think the changes in the culture, the changes in the exposure to information and the ability to immediately communicate without thinking, which is what 13- and 14-year-olds do, creates this explosive environment,” O’Donnell said. Since the Dignity Act passed, he has also authored an amendment that addresses cyberbullying.

He also said that kids are exposed to sex, and are thus defining their own sexual and gender identities, at earlier ages, making young children who identify as gay or somehow different potential targets.

“This was the first time in New York State history that gender identity and expression were written into state laws,” O’Donnell said. “I know all too well that those children who violate gender stereotypes are the first targets.”

While the law will expand the requirements for how teachers and administrators address bullying, some say that it will be difficult to implement if parents and communities don’t also get involved.

“Teachers are overwhelmed with outside requirements to get students through tests and standards,” said Silberkleit. “There is very little time and energy left to deal with the social aspects of the students’ lives. Bullying occurs primarily before and after school.”

Kat Eden, communications director for Education.com, which works on anti-bullying issues, said that according to the results of a nationwide survey they conducted of 1,000 principals, many schools don’t have the resources they’d like to have to combat bullying.

“Principals surveyed reported a lack of resources to prevent and manage bullying—only 38 percent of principals report that they have sufficient resources to effectively implement bullying programs, curriculum and policies in their schools,” Eden said.

O’Donnell acknowledged that that is a particular challenge for many cash-strapped school districts, but insists that changing behavior is mostly a matter of awareness and education for current educators.

“We need to get rid of the idea within school environments that kids will be kids with regard to bullying,” O’Donnell said. “That’s just not OK.”

By Laura Zingmond and Helen Zelon

Two years ago The Blackboard Awards, invited a panel of New York City teachers to a roundtable conversation starting with the basics: How parents can support their children as they learn. Together, these educators have nearly 80 years of in-the-trenches classroom experience. We are grateful they’ve shared their thoughts with us.

What makes a child teachable?

Lynn Bernstein: Two things: curiosity and the ability to tolerate frustration.

Nancy Arcieri: I think every kid is teachable if the teacher creates the environment that’s needed.

Jon Goldman: I agree absolutely; it’s a given: water is wet, the sky is blue, kids are going to learn. How and what they learn is up to the environment and the people they are exposed to.

David Lebson: I believe that a child’s education rests on a tripod of teacher, child and parent. If any one of those legs is missing, it’s going to be a challenge. If two are gone, the kid’s not going to succeed.

What do you say to parents who worry that their child hates to read?

Caroline Gaynor: I don’t believe that a child can hate to read. Where it breaks down is that the right book has not been put into that child’s hand. The most important thing is putting your child on your lap and making reading an everyday part of your life.

Homework’s an issue from the early grades up. What should parents understand about it? How much should they get involved?

Caroline Gaynor: Homework is an indicator for the teacher. Did the teacher teach what she had to teach today? Did the children understand it, or does she need to re-teach it? If a child is having so much difficulty, spending hours with her homework, just send a note in to the teacher.

Jon Goldman: It’s always reasonable for a child to ask, “Why am I doing this?”

David Lebson: It’s absolutely reasonable for a parent to ask why. Parents should also understand there’s a difference between, “Can you help me understand why this is important?” and “Why is my daughter doing this crap?”

The Educators:

Nancy Arcieri is a faculty member and vice principal at De La Salle Academy.

Lynn Bernstein came to teaching via the New York City Teaching Fellows program. Since 2002, she has taught kindergarten and 1st grade in Crown Heights and Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Caroline Gaynor teaches at the Manhattan New School, P.S. 290, where she is the literacy coach and works with students and teachers across all grades.

Jon Goldman has taught English at Beacon High School since it opened in 1993.

David Lebson teaches middle school science at the School at Columbia University.

Transcript has been edited for length and style.

By Mary Stachyra

When expectant mothers Nancy Schulman and Ellen Birnbaum met in the lobby of their Upper East Side apartment building, both sensed a connection. What they didn’t know was that the chance encounter had set the stage for a business relationship and friendship that has lasted 30 years.

When it comes to childrearing, Nancy Schulman and Ellen Birnbaum say parents need to have fun and maintain a sense of humor.

“Working with Ellen is a joy every single day. I never, ever take her for granted,” said Schulman, 58. “We always see things eye to eye.”

Birnbaum, 61, agrees.

“It’s not that we always agree about everything, but most of the time we do because our philosophy is the same and our values are the same,” she said.

Schulman graduated from Syracuse University with a B.A. in education, and attended NYU, where she earned a graduate degree in early childhood education. Birnbaum also attended NYU, where she earned a B.A. in education and in art history and fine arts, and later an M.F.A. in art history. In 1990, Schulman became director at the 92nd Street Y Nursery School, where Birnbaum had worked since 1981, first as a teacher, then as camp director. Seven years later, Schulman asked Birnbaum to step in as assistant director at the school, one of the most highly regarded educational programs for young children in
the city.

Admission to the 92nd Street Y is so competitive that Victoria Goldman, author of The Manhattan Directory of Nursery Schools, dubbed the program “the Harvard of nursery schools.” The school puts heavy emphasis on age-appropriate routines that nourish intellectual, emotional and social growth. As educators, Schulman and Birnbaum received many questions from parents eager to help their children continue developing at home. Over the next 10 years, however, they began to notice an increasing amount of angst and lower amounts of confidence in parents.

“Life has changed. It’s a lot more fast-paced then it used to be,” Schulman said. “When I started teaching, I don’t think there was a word ‘parenting.’ You were just a parent. And now it’s an industry.”

During regular meetings with parents at the school, the two had several discussions about ways to promote early childhood growth. It was during one such meeting that a parent had the idea that inspired Birnbaum and Schulman’s next collaboration.

“They said, ‘Who’s the writer? Because you have a book in this. I’m going to introduce you to my agent,’” Birnbaum recalled. “But when we got the opportunity to write, we thought, ‘Well, we don’t have enough to say!’”

After caring for hundreds of children for decades, the words came easily. For several years, they labored over drafts after hours and on weekends. In 2007, Practical Wisdom for Parents: Demystifying the Preschool Years (Knopf, $24.95) was published. Their book advocated a common sense, intuitive approach to parenting. While school is necessary, they argue, what children learn at home is most important. They emphasize establishing routines that complement lessons learned in nursery school, encouraging independence, setting limits and being a good role model. Most of all, Schulman said, the book stresses the importance of “having fun and a sense of humor.” She urged parents not to second-guess themselves too much.

“There is no such thing as a perfect parent,” she said.

While it’s not unusual for staff to have long tenures at the 92nd Street Y, both Schulman and Birnbaum know that their years of friendship have been decidedly uncommon.

“I think it’s one of the remarkable things about us, that we know how good it is,” Birnbaum said. “Everyone says to us that this is what your next book should be about—your friendship.”

–
Nancy Schulman and Ellen Birnbaum
92nd Street Y Nursery School

By Lydie Raschka

For parent Sophia Lee, Deirdre Corcoran’s classroom is a delicately balanced social structure that creates just the right climate for learning. A strong base of respect allows Corcoran to be “judiciously playful” with her students.

Deirdre Corcoran invites her Irish father to school to sing folk songs about the immigrant experience.

“She sings and dances with the class, laughs and cries with them, shares her family, heritage and passion with them,” Lee said.

From the perspective of student Julian Shapiro-Barnum, Corcoran is also a teacher who explains things “really, really well.” She was the first teacher to sit at his table after a lesson to make sure that he and his classmates understood the subject—not an easy task in a busy classroom of 27 students.

Corcoran is a Brooklyn native and experienced educator who was nervous about balancing home life and career when she and her husband started a family a decade ago. She thought it would be best to keep home and work separate.

“That’s not what happened and it was the wrong way to look at it,” she said.

On trips with her family, she found herself thinking about what she could bring back to the classroom and share with her students; on field trips with students, she was thinking about what she could bring home and share with family.

“They go hand in hand,” she said. “Just as I want to know about my students’ lives, I want them to know about mine.”

Students have therefore met her 2nd- and 4th-grade daughters, budding Irish step-dancers who join the class on Take Your Daughter to Work Day, and Corcoran’s Irish father, who comes in to sing Irish folk songs about the immigrant experience.

Teaching history through personal stories, whether via folk songs or the diary of a Civil War soldier, works well for this age group, Corcoran has found.

“Emotionally, 5th grade is just the right age to understand, to offer them personal interest stories. They have such empathy for the people of the time,” she said.

To help students further walk in another person’s shoes, she takes them to Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims in Brooklyn, to see a station on the Underground Railroad, and on a day trip to Gettysburg, Penn.

“It’s so fresh to hear these young people start to understand history and to see them empathize with people of the past,” Corcoran said.

Corcoran is married to a fire captain in the New York City Fire Department.

“We care a lot about our city,” she said. “It’s what attracted us to each other—the great reward we feel in helping others.”

The couple is surrounded by extended family in Brooklyn: parents, in-laws, sisters, nieces and nephews. They enjoy biking, relaxing at the beach and exploring New York City’s many playgrounds with their daughters.

Teaching is also a family tradition. Corcoran’s singer-songwriter father taught high school history and her sister is a teacher, too.

“It’s in our blood,” Corcoran said. “I think of it as a calling.”

–

Deirdre Corcoran
5th grade, P.S. 321

By Lydie Raschka

Gabriela Klassen is reluctant to share her secrets of time management—perhaps because they go against the grain in this test-prep, skills-based climate. One trick is to “compact” the basics: spend an entire morning on math, for example, so that the afternoon can be dedicated to projects.

Gabriela Klassen was a professional musician playing in orchestras before she became a teacher.

And projects are the meat and potatoes of Klassen’s curriculum. They spring from extensive interest surveys she administers when she first meets students to get a good sense of the group’s curiosities (Klassen has recently taught the same gifted and talented class from 3rd through 5th grade).

In 3rd grade, a boy wanted to go to China. She developed a series of lessons centered on the New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden, comparing Chinese design principles with the tradition of Western classical architecture. The idea of yin and yang was applied to vocabulary: Kids made lists of opposites. During their visit to the garden, students identified design elements and then designed their own gardens. The study ended with a Chinatown lunch.

An emphasis on architecture is another hallmark of Klassen’s teaching. She has taken summer classes on everything from drafting, design and theory, to model-making and computer-aided design. She first thought about bringing this passion to the classroom when a student said he wanted to climb to the top of the Empire State Building. This launched a survey of architectural structures, from the simplest to the most complex.

“These are structures they can build, make and find all over New York,” she said.

Learning through thematic projects requires lots of planning, something Klassen does when she gets home, after she collapses for an hour or two and takes Mishka, her dog, for a run. Klassen lives with her husband Arnold near the school. In her spare time, she plays violin or Renaissance lute in chamber music ensembles. A previous career playing in orchestras took her from Japan to Italy, but Klassen eventually wanted to settle down. Her younger sister, Helen, suggested teaching: starting at age 14, Klassen began to teach Helen to play violin and continued to do so for 10 years.

Rekha Menon, the parent of one of Klassen’s students, has found that she brings out the best in her son.

“He was advising us on our stock picks in 3rd grade,” Menon said.

In 4th grade, he got into playing piano in a full-length production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In 5th grade, he became fascinated with red-tailed hawks in Central Park.

“My son identifies birds while walking down the street with binoculars,” Menon said. “I don’t think this is something you would find in a standard curriculum.”

Now, Klassen’s 5th graders are deep into reading and writing mysteries—and learning about the musical leitmotifs in North by Northwest, how sound brings about suspense—and they’re working their way through Shakespeare’s Richard III.

Samantha Deutsch, a fellow teacher, is amazed at Klassen’s talents.

“She has a natural ability to channel her student’s own passions—for trains, rocket ships, skyscrapers, butterflies, planets, whatever,” she said. “As a colleague, I learn something every time I walk through her door.”

–

Gabriela Klassen
5th grade, P.S. 145

By Lydie Raschka

Fifth-grade teacher Tracy Nemiroff breaks the math nerd mold.

“She’s not what you’d expect,” said parent Claudine May-Gomez. “Tiny, beautiful, little, pretty—and she loves math!”

Tracy Nemiroff is an advocate for gifted students, arguing that the challenges they face are often overlooked.

But this math lover also has a reputation for being tough.

“I demand a lot. I give them really hard problems,” Nemiroff said.

“A lot of parents complain,” May-Gomez said. “‘She’s too hard,’ ‘There’s too much homework,’ but she doesn’t care. She does what’s best for the kids.”

This does not mean letting her students fend for themselves, however. Nemiroff answers emails after school if kids need help, has them practice for state and national math tests until test taking feels like a walk in the park and defuses math anxiety with singing, dancing and rapping—like the introductory rap she performs on the first day of school:

I’m from Miami, so I’m used to the heat,

When the snow comes down, I get frozen feet.

On parents’ night, Nemiroff hands out a questionnaire. Parent Min Miller took notice. Never before had a teacher asked, “Is your child afraid of math?” Miller’s daughter, Maeve, was indeed a little afraid. She had been surprised to get 60 percent on her first math test of the year. Many gifted kids enjoy good test scores and so had Maeve, but Nemiroff is interested in chipping away at the gifted child’s tendency toward perfectionism.

“I want them to take risks, to know it’s OK to make mistakes,” she said. “It is what students do with their mistakes and struggles that defines them as learners and makes them most successful.”

Emphasis is placed on problem solving that draws on all of a child’s accumulated math knowledge. For Maeve, this teaching strategy has worked, and she’s back in the 90 percent range.

“Maeve has such confidence in math,” Miller said.

Maeve adds, “Ms. Nemiroff makes it fun, like there’s nothing to it, so you’re not scared.”

Math inventions are one way of keeping it fun. Student projects have included designs for a mathematical keyboard, an electric protractor, a digital ruler and a baseball mitt that measures speed upon impact. As a gifted child herself, Nemiroff felt “pushed to make sure I got everything right.” She wants her students to take chances.

“That’s when I see them coming alive,” she said. “That’s when I see the most progress.”

Upon graduation from Emory University, in Atlanta, Nemiroff moved to New York City with her fiancé. She taught at NEST+m for two years before a slot opened up at the Anderson School, where she’s been for three years. She is a member of MENSA, the organization for people with high IQs, and uses puzzles and problems from MENSA’s newsletters in her classroom. She is an advocate for gifted kids.

“Often gifted kids get overlooked for the challenges they go through,” she said.

“People think they have anything and everything given to them, but they have problems and pressures just like everyone else.”

In spite of the rigor of her approach, Nemiroff tries to keep math light and relevant with questions like, “Why would Derek Jeter and David Wright use the Pythagorean theorem in their work?”

This summer, her math skills will be particularly relevant and handy as she, and her fiancé, plan their wedding.

–
Tracy Nemiroff
5th grade, The Anderson School

By Shannon Geis

Lauren McIntyre, 25, says she loves teaching 4th grade because students are just old enough to be independent, but young enough to still be excited by education.

“They are like sponges,” said McIntyre, who has been teaching at P.S. 166 for four years. “They are into everything and always want to learn more.”

Lauren McIntyre says parents and P.S. 166 colleagues are a big part of her classroom success.

McIntyre, a graduate of Fordham University, said she wanted to be a teacher since she was little. In high school, she worked with many programs that allowed her to teach younger students.

“I just loved helping others learn new things,” she said. “It’s just so rewarding.”

The New Jersey native said she also enjoys making a personal connection with each student. Former students come back and have lunch with her to catch up.

“It’s very rewarding to have developed that kind of relationship with my students,” she said.

One former student, Robbie Frants, said, “Fourth grade was the best year at P.S. 166 I ever had.”

McIntyre uses facial expressions as an innovative way to catch students’ attention.

“She might open her mouth wide in surprise if she asks a really simple math problem and no one raises their hand. She knows that we all know the answer,” said Anna Frants, a current student in McIntyre’s class. “It’s funny. It makes us laugh and it makes kids start thinking more and pay attention.”

McIntyre is also particularly proud of her read-aloud voices.

“My students always tell me that the voices I make when I’m reading books out loud are wonderful,” she said.

Julia Weston Frants, Anna’s and Robbie’s mother, said it is obvious how much time and care McIntyre puts into her class.

“I’ve noticed that she has a rich appreciation for the material that she presents,” Frants said. “She makes things understandable. She doesn’t lecture. She just has the right touch, the humorous touch. But she still commands their respect. She is attuned to how they need to learn. ”

Connections with P.S. 166 colleagues and parents are also a big part of her classroom.

“I have been very lucky with my colleagues. We are great at working together and everyone is very supportive,” McIntyre said. “The parents are also great with giving me feedback and helping out with projects.”

McIntyre, who is engaged and currently lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, said all she can hope for is to continue making an impact on students’ lives.

“I want to try to make sure that every day, my students leave differently than they came in,” she said, “whether that means they learned something new, or overcame an obstacle.”

–

Lauren McIntyre
4th grade, P.S. 166

By Aline Reynolds

Five-year-olds at P.S. 187 in Washington Heights are learning how to recycle and bake croissants—in addition, of course, to the basics of reading and writing.

Their teacher, Jill Hovde, developed a passion for teaching back in college, when she taught children about nocturnal animals and how to care for injured hawks at the Delaware Nature Society.

After a door-decorating project, Jill Hovde taught her kindergarteners about Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings.

“I really liked the hands-on environmental work with the kids,” she said.

Born and raised in Rockland County, Hovde earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Delaware and her master’s degree in special education at St. Thomas Aquinas College. She also completed a master’s “Plus 30” program in art history at SUNY Purchase.

Now in her 18th year at P.S. 187, Hovde frequently integrates art into the kindergarten curriculum. She taught students about Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings at the conclusion of a grade-wide door decoration project.

“My daughter comes home and talks about the Impressionist painters,” said Anya Mateo, a parent of one of Hovde’s students. “I didn’t learn about them until I was a teen.”

Mateo decided against home-
schooling her 5-year-old daughter, Ana, as she does her 6-year-old son, Yuri, because of Hovde.

“She weaves all these separate facts into this big picture of the world,” Mateo said.

Hovde says her own 5th-grade teacher, Judith Factor, is her academic inspiration.

“Ms. Factor made me love school,” she said. “It was a very creative, project-based class.”

Many of the projects Hovde works on today incorporate the expertise of parents, who are regularly invited into the classroom. Mateo, a licensed pharmacist, coordinated and taught a lesson on the different phases of the moon as part of a gardening project. On Cinco de Mayo, the class discussed Mexico’s independence and made guacamole from scratch with the help of food stylist Lisa Homa, whose 5-year-old son, Ellis, loves Hovde’s class.

“I can read better because of Ms. Hovde,” Ellis said. “And she lets us make ice cream sundaes.”

Ellis’ handwriting, his mother pointed out, is much clearer now than it was earlier in the school year.

“Ms. Hovde was very encouraging, writing special notes when he improved,” she said.

Hovde’s class also gets to experience the outdoors. On walks in the park, she talks about the geometrics of fire hydrants, stop signs and streetlights. The kindergarteners took weekly trips to nearby Bennett Park for a gardening project, in which they cultivated plants and built a mosaic birdbath.

“We do a lot of activities rather than just rote learning,” Hovde said. “It individualizes the curriculum for each of them.”

The P.S. 187 kindergarteners are also stepping up their vocabulary, learning words like “ascend” and “composure.”

“I’ll draw a circle around my face with my fingers and pull my hands down over my face,” Hovde said. “They did that for two weeks and totally got it. It’s amazing to watch them learn… you know you’ve opened the world to them.”

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Jill Hovde
Kindergarten, P.S. 187