Brick's Teacher Of The Year Cooks Up Fun, Critical Thinking

BRICK. NJ — If you look into Pamela Cooper's classroom, it might be easy to make the mistake that it's just a cooking class, what with a range, a microwave and lots of kitchen utensils.

Cooper, who teaches Family and Consumer Science at Lake Riviera Middle School, isn't just teaching her students how to make a basic meal, however; with projects like "Kitchen Crime Scene Investigations," "Grilled Cheese Wars," "Iron Chef," and "Food Truck Wars," she turns the kitchen into a science lab. The performance-based tasks, lab experiences and interdisciplinary projects teach them not only how to cook up lunch, but encourage critical thinking as well.

It is her efforts in the classroom that have earned Cooper the selection of Brick Township's 2018 District Teacher of the Year.

"Ms. Cooper teaches with infective enthusiasm and continually modifies her program to ensure that all student are successful," Lake Riviera Middle School Principal Alyce Anderson said.

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Cooper also is working to develop and encourage sustainability, district officials said. She is planning a student-grown garden that will enable students to experience farm-to-table activities, cooking fresh organically harvested vegetables. A portion of the harvest will be donated to a local food pantry. The students also will maintain the garden, which will be irrigated with rainwater collected from a rain barrel designed by the LRMS Environmental Club. Her vision is for the garden to grow into an environmentally sound community-based resource.

"She is a passionate, innovative professional who is highly respected by all members of the school community," acting Superintendent Dennis Filippone said.

As a teacher leader, Cooper is regarded for her curricular and instruction expertise and has provided professional development sessions on the implementation of the National Family and Consumer Science Standards for colleagues both in district and outside, district officials said, and she "has enhanced the LRMS school climate by participating in many clubs and committees, such as adviser for Lead and Seed (the Anti-Drug Awareness Coalition), the Character Education Committee, and the Green Teams."

Cooper attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and completed the teachers’ training program at the College of New Jersey. She has been teaching in Brick since 2012.

The District Teacher of the Year nominees are nominated by each building with the final candidate being selected by a committee of community members and educators. The other finalists were:

• Malka Kuznicki, Drum Point Road Elementary School
• Devon Ramirez, Emma Havens Young Elementary School
• Erin Sugrue, Herbertsville Elementary School
• Marni Montemurno, Lanes Mill Elementary School
• Lauren Tallarida, Midstreams Elementary School
• Jacqueline Padlo, Osbornville Elementary School
• Marsha Goforth. Veterans Memorial Elementary School
• Ellen Day, Warren H. Wolf Elementary School
• Barbara Favato, Veterans Memorial Middle School
• Monica Cardin-Bussanich, Brick Township High School
• William Steinmetz, Brick Township Memorial High School

Lake Riviera Principal Alyce Anderson, acting Superintendent Dennis Filippone, Pamela Cooper and Susan McNamara, the district's director of curriculum and instruction. Photo provided by Brick Township School District