New Teachers Enjoy

District’s ‘Community Feeling’

By Larissa Lytwyn

With only a week to go before August 31, the first day of the 2004-05 school year, the district’s 49 new teachers — nine more than last year — were model students during their orientation from August 18 to August 23.

Educators received a comprehensive view of Newtown’s educational philosophy, beginning with an overview of the district model with the statement, “All children can and will learn well.”

Teachers were also refreshed on the principles of both curricular and classroom management, title IX, restitution, parent-teacher conferencing, professional goal setting, and “learned helplessness,” in which teachers encourage students’ capacity to self-correct by mindfully guiding them to independently problem solve.

“This is the most fun, informative teacher orientation I’ve ever had,” declared Diana Gilewski, a third-year music instructor preparing for her first year at Hawley. “I was drawn to Newtown schools because of the strong community feeling I felt existed here.”

Several other teachers, including Fairfield native Teri Callahan, echoed Ms Gilewski’s sentiment. Ms Callahan, a 2004 graduate of Quinnipiac University in Hamden, will be teaching second grade at Sandy Hook school.

“Newtown schools have a great reputation,” she said. “I love working with the younger students. They are so fresh, so eager to learn.”

While, like Ms Callahan, some of Newtown’s new teachers are fresh out of college, others are seasoned veterans with years of experience.

Stephanie Holyord, a new math and science specialist at Sandy Hook School, will be entering her tenth year of teaching.

“Newtown is known for having an excellent math program,” she said. “I’m excited to be here.”

Orientation is mandated for all new teachers in Newtown schools.

Some, however, like Mary Jane Siehl, beginning her second year teaching earth science at Newtown High School, is attending orientation for the first time this year because she was not able to attend last summer.

“I think the orientation program is very rich and informative here,” she said. “[The administrators] teach us the way they want us to teach the students!”

The teachers began each orientation day with a continental breakfast provided by Chartwells food services from 8:30 to 9.

Over the next two hours, the new instructors learned more about the Newtown district, from using the district’s curriculum documents to plan instruction to how to address bullying to learning more about the district’s special education.

Lectures were delivered by Superintendent of Schools Evan Pitkoff, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Alice Jackson, and faculty members including Newtown High School Assistant Principal Lorrie Aresenian, Special Education Director Michael Regan, and Sandy Hook School Principal Donna Pagé and Assistant Principal Cathy Mazzariello.

While discussing the principles of classroom and academic management, Dr Pitkoff reflected on his extensive teaching and administrative experience in places including New York City and New Britain.

“Improvement is a continuous process that does not have a formal beginning and ending,” he said.

He said that while teaching in New York City, one goal was to improve students’ attendance rate. The ultimate goal would result in only one percentage point increase at the end of the school year.

Dr Pitkoff encouraged the teachers to aim high.

He noted that while Newtown is one of Connecticut’s most impressive districts in terms of academic achievement, test scores, and attendance rates, the staff and administration did not “sit on their laurels.”

He emphasized the importance of teamwork and mentoring, sharing an anecdote about his architect-trained sister teaching in a New York City school.

“My normally very quiet sister was yelling [at the students],” he said, as a way of disciplining them. She had attempted to try to “stick it out” rather than share her struggle with her colleagues, he said.

Dr Pitkoff encouraged his sister to not hesitate to “ask for help” and bought her a copy of the education text, Disciplining With Dignity.

He also told teachers to “drive out fear,” which, he noted, “immobilizes” potential.

“It’s important to always show respect those who admit they do not understand a concept,” Dr Pitkoff said. “It’s important that you work to establish an environment in which students can feel comfortable speaking.”

After the morning lessons, the teachers took a lunch break.

During the afternoons, they went to their respective schools for further orientation and a tour of the school building, grounds, and, particularly, the classroom in which they will be teaching.

The goal of the orientation, said Ms Jackson, was to inspire teachers, refreshing them on skills they have long acquired while introducing them to some possibly new concepts.

In the beginning of each training day, she asked teachers for their feedback on what they enjoyed about the orientation and what they would do to improve it.

One teacher said she was pleased with the pacing of the lectures.

Another said she enjoyed the interactive activities the group went through to better understand the concepts they would be teaching.

“Last year, a lot of teachers said they wanted to better understand our restitution policy,” said Ms Jackson. “This year, we have made that a central part of orientation. We are always looking to improve, because, no matter how good something is, there is always room for improvement.”