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. The upcoming season includes some very special programs.

PROGRAM I
MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 6:30 PM; SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 7 AM

• Teacher Orientation
  Rancocas Valley Regional High School conducts an innovative weeklong new teacher orientation program. The aim of the orientation is to reduce problems experienced by first-year teachers and integrate 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.
• The Rutgers Academic Challenge
  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, click on 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!, visit http://www.franklinmasonpress.com/

PROGRAM II
MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, AT 6:30 PM; SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, AT 7 AM

• Monarch Butterflies in the Classroom
  Classroom Close-up, NJ travels to Mexico with New Jersey teachers who witness the epic southern migration of the monarch butterflies in the autumn. The following spring and several generations later, the butterflies return to New Jersey. For teachers, the journey begins at a summer workshop that brings 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 III
MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, AT 6:30 PM; SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, AT 7 AM

• Senior/Teen Connection
  Glen Rock Middle School eighth-grade arts students will be participating in the third annual Senior/Teen Connection, designed by a CARE Committee made up of parents who provide productive, drug-free, positive kinds of activities for the students. The goal of the program is to promote interaction between the generations.
• Reasons for Seasons
  Kindergartners at Westbrook Elementary in West Milford learn to appreciate and care for the environment. The children created a book of photographs of seasonal changes and planted their own indoor garden. This is funded by a grant from NJ Business/Industry/Science Education Consortium and PSE&G.
• WEBB - Weekend Book Buddies
  At Old Farmers Road School in Washington Township, Weekend Book Buddies is a program designed to instill an appreciation of literature. Students borrow book bags containing a literature character, books, camera, walkman, audiotapes of the books and a recording journal. This program is funded through a grant from the NJEA Frederick L. Hipp Foundation for Excellence in Education.
• Holocaust
  Paul Winkler, the executive director of the NJ Commission on Holocaust Education, explains why learning about the holocaust is an important lesson for all New Jersey students.

PROGRAM IV
MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, AT 6:30 PM; SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, AT 7 AM

• Integration
  More than 80 different languages are spoken at Edison High School. Because of the diversity, teachers are working with students to create an acceptance of different cultures within the school. In addition to producing a Tolerance Quilt, a literary magazine, and a Holocaust Mosaic, the students are participating in a multicultural day. This program is funded through a grant from the NJEA Frederick L. Hipp Foundation for Excellence in Education.
• Japanese
  Kearny High School was the first New Jersey school to offer Japanese as a credit course. Today the award-winning program has grown into a four-year sequence of courses. Many of the students have won scholarships to go to Japan.
• Agriculture
  Northern Burlington Regional High School in Columbus offers a course on hydroponics, which is an alternative to conventional food production. The students are experimenting with the changing trends of the agricultural industry by reducing the amount of time it takes to produce a crop. The goal is to harvest lettuce from seed to harvest in about a month.
• Elizabeth Allen
  Classroom Close-up, NJ goes back in time to learn more about a female teacher who made a dramatic mark on New Jersey's education system. Elizabeth Allen was an outspoken advocate for teacher's rights at a time when women couldn't even vote.