Classroom Close-up, NJ
On NJN Public Television this November

STATEWIDE - Classroom Close-up, NJ is an original monthly NJN program that features students, teachers and community members who develop and participate in creative and successful school programs. Classroom Close-up, NJ is a co-production of the New Jersey Education Association and NJN Public Television. Funding for the program is provided by the New Jersey Education Association, PSE&G, the NJ Department of Transportation - Division of Aeronautics and NJ FamilyCare. The November programs are as follows:

PROGRAM I
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 6:30 PM; SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 7 AM
• Culture Care - Students at Winfield Township Elementary learn about Asian art through the practice of origami and exploring the use of watercolors. This program is funded through a grant from the NJEA Frederick L. Hipp Foundation for Excellence in Education.
• The Arts Trust of New Jersey - Ramapo High School houses a professional theater company called TAT - The Arts Trust of New Jersey. High school theater majors work with professional actors, directors, stage managers and designers to learn all aspects of the theater.
• String Festival - About 200 elementary students from four different schools in West Caldwell join together for a concert with string instruments.
• MISE - Merck Institute for Science Education is an independent organization that brings a fresh vision of science education to New Jersey public schools. Dr. Carlo Parravano, Executive Director of MISE, explains how public/private partnerships can advance science in the schools. Linden teacher Kathy Williams shares how MISE has helped bring science to life in her classroom.

PROGRAM 2
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 6:30 PM; SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 7 AM
• Teacher Orientation - Rancocas Valley Regional High School conducts an innovative weeklong new teacher orientation program. This program reduces problems experienced by first-year teachers and integrates them into the profession and the schools social system.
• Target Teaching - In light of the looming teacher shortage, juniors at Parsippany High School and Parsippany Hills High School are being encouraged to enter the teaching profession. The goal is to create a pool of teacher candidates who could consider returning to the community to teach. They attend seminars on classroom pedagogy and are paired with an experienced teacher. This program is funded through a grant from the NJEA Frederick L. Hipp Foundation for Excellence in Education.
• Rutgers - The Rutgers Academic Challenge is an annual competition between high schools, but it takes collaboration and commitment by Rutgers faculty and high school teachers to develop the content and questions that most accurately determine the best and the brightest! For more information on the Rutgers Academic Challenge, go to: http://www.challenge.rutgers.edu
• On Your Marks - Lisa Funari Willever and Lisa Battinelli use their experience as classroom teachers to write a helpful and witty book for first year teachers. For more about On Your Mark, Get Set, Teach!, go to http://www.franklinmasonpress.com/

PROGRAM 3
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 6:30 PM; SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 7 AM
• Monarch Butterflies In the Classroom - Classroom Close-up, NJ travels to Mexico with New Jersey teachers who witness the epic migration of the monarch butterflies. Every fall the butterflies migrate south. The following spring and several generations later, the butterflies return to New Jersey. For teachers, the journey begins when they attend a summer workshop that helps bring the lesson of the butterflies into their classrooms, introducing students to science, social studies, language arts, Spanish and technology. Students learn about the monarch life cycle, ecology and conservation. They learn how to raise and tag monarchs in the classroom, and develop a school butterfly garden. This project was developed by the Educational Information Resource Center (EIRC), a public agency specializing in education-related programs and services for parents, schools, communities and nonprofit organizations throughout New Jersey. For more go to: http://www.eirc.org/

PROGRAM 4
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 6:30 PM; SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 7 AM
• Poetry Festival - Crowds pack into schools for sports events, but imagine a large audience in an urban city listening to poetry. Sally Hughes, a published poet and school secretary at George Washington Elementary, decided four years ago that students in Elizabeth have the talent and the desire to compete in a poetry festival. The fourth annual poetry festival was made possible through a Pride Grant from the Elizabeth Education Association.
• Tolerance - Memorial Jr. High School students in Willingboro learn about tolerance by exploring a novel called Romiette and Julio, which is about an interracial couple. The students also created mural paintings and mosaic portraits of peace advocates like Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr, Gandhi and Ryan White. The program is funded through a grant from the NJEA Frederick L. Hipp Foundation for Excellence in Education.
• Academy Project - Have you ever seen an urban school that provides a washer and dryer free of charge to parents while they visit the school? This is one way the Academy Project at Lincoln Annex in New Brunswick encourages parental involvement. This model school initiated by NJEA in partnership with the local education association and the board of education is designed to be a national pilot program to improve student academic achievement.
• Great Public Schools - Research by the New Jersey Education Association reveals that parental involvement, small class sizes and highly trained teachers is critical for student success. Discover how concepts tested at the Model School in New Brunswick could work for every school in New Jersey.