Dedicated teachers are already back in classroom to prepare for school year

School was dismissed for the summer just a few days ago on Thursday, June 22,  for the staff in the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District.

But class was in session for an estimated 125 teachers from Bridgewater-Raritan in Grades K-5  on Tuesday, June 27 and Wednesday, June 28.

A K-5 Math Professional Development session was held under the coordination and leadership  of Juliette Campasano and Mike Poe for the teachers at the Wade Administration Building.

The school district’s headquarters in Martinsville opened its doors to the newly refurbished conference room where the K-5 teachers absorbed more information on the new enVision math program that will be taught this coming school year.

They listened during four three-hour sessions over the course of two days to an expert in this new math curriculum, Pam Malatino, the Senior Curriculum Specialist for the Savvas Learning Center.

Ms. Malatino discussed the program on Tuesday, June 27, during the morning to teachers in Grades K-2 and in the afternoon to teachers in Grades 3-5. The sessions were scheduled for Wednesday, June 28 for faculty in Grades 3-5 in the morning and for teachers in Grades K-2 in the afternoon. Teachers attended one of the four sessions.

Ms. Campasano, who is the school district’s K-4 Math Supervisor, and Mr. Powe, who is the Supervisor of Math for Grades 5-8 for the school district, spearheaded these sessions in an effort to continue to educate the staff on the enVision program. 

“We were excited to be able to offer additional training opportunities for K-5 Math Teachers this summer in preparation for the implementation of the enVision math program this fall,” Ms. Campasano and Mr.  Poe shared.

Ms. Malatino, who said that it “was great that the teachers could dig into this new curriculum,”  is no stranger to Bridgewater-Raritan.

She explained the enVision Math K-5 Program when the school district held its Staff In-Service Day on January 23.

On that Monday during the winter, Ms. Malatino discussed the crucial components of this new math program and how the faculty will be able to navigate the online platform and share its additional resources. 

Here is a summary of enVision according to the Savvas Learning Company’s website:

“enVision®, our most effective math series, is used in classrooms everywhere. enVision Mathematics focuses on deep conceptual math understanding aided by visual models, personalized learning, and 3-act tasks. Family Engagement resources provide essential information for families to use in supporting their students at home. Comprehensive vertical alignment from Kindergarten through Algebra 2 helps schools address mathematical standards.”

Ms. Malatino, Ms. Campasano and Mr. Poe were all in agreement on how they were impressed with the commitment from the K-5 teachers who interrupted their just-launched summer vacation to visit the Wade Administration Building.

“People think that teachers just go home for the summer but here they are preparing for back to school already,” Ms. Malatino said. “They were super excited and they are already planning for back to school and the summer just started.”

Ms. Campasano and Mr. Poe shared their feelings about their dedicated teaching staff,

“Teacher engagement and active participation in these well-attended sessions demonstrated their professionalism and commitment to their students,” Ms. Campasano and Mr. Poe concluded.