Interactive Seminar Held for Teaneck Teachers

The following item was submitted by Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Vincent McHale:

On Monday, January 23, 2012, the Teaneck Public School District’s second and fourth grade teachers focused their professional development on social studies instructional practices.  The fourth grade teachers participated in a half-day professional development session titled The Long Black Freedom Struggle presented by Dr. Yohuru Rashied Williams, Associate Professor of African American History at Fairfield University. This interactive seminar was the second part of a professional development series presented by The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The seminar explored the history of the civil rights and Black Power movements in our the nation and provided teachers with strategies to engage students in thinking critically about history through an investigative lens.

The second grade teachers participated in an after-school professional development session focused on teaching social studies through storytelling and traditional tales.  The teachers learned a variety of storytelling activities which involve using the five senses.The session was presented by Gerald Fierst from Project Impact, a non-profit organization that encourages student participation in literacy and the arts.   The second grade social studies curriculum was revised during July 2011.  Each social studies unit now includes a variety of children’s literature to teach about diversity in America, core American values, significant people in American history, and cultures around the world.