Deborah Jacobs, a sixth grade math teacher at Carusi Middle School, and Laura Zimmaro, an art teacher from Bret Harte Elementary School, have gained recognition beyond anything they could have imagined.
Thanks to their selection for a recent public television education program, the pair of dedicated Cherry Hill educators have the potential to reach and influence thousands of young minds across the entire Garden State.
Each weekday since the program’s April 6 launch, NJTV Learning Live offers four programs for grades three to six. Third grade instruction begins at 9 a.m., fourth grade programming is at 10 a.m., fifth grade is 11 a.m. and sixth grade instruction begins at noon.
The new initiative, designed to advance learning during school closures caused by the coronavirus pandemic, was created through a partnership between NJTV, the New Jersey Education Association and the New Jersey Department of Education.
Strong emphasis is placed on core subjects, including English language arts, math, science, and social studies, along with a “special” such as art, music or physical education. Each hour-long segment features a lesson recorded by a teacher from his or her home.
Zimmaro’s initial art lesson aired on April 17 and was geared toward fourth grade. She will have a second episode air on May 8 at 9 a.m. for a third grade audience. Despite the significant bump in audience from a small classroom to thousands of students in their homes, the art teacher said lesson planning isn’t that much different between the two.
“You have to think about the particular audience,” Zimmaro explained. “There may be students who don’t have access to internet or don’t have the materials at home. I wanted it to be something simple, a demonstration where they could do it along with me, using paper and pencil.
“Basically, the kids would be able to draw along with me as I go along step by step,” she added, “and then I showed them how to make homemade paint from materials around the house: making watercolors out of different spices, mixing it with water, coffee grounds, anything they could repurpose. One of the options was using a Q-tip if you don’t have a brush.”
Zimmaro’s second televised lesson will also be centered around drawing, this time instruction on how to craft a mandala — a complex circular design whose origins lie in the Indian subcontinent.
“It’s perfect timing actually (having the episode out two days after the Sun’s next print edition). I already turned in the video, and they’re going to edit it soon. I specifically asked permission to reveal what the next show will be and they okayed it,” Zimmaro revealed.
Jacobs’ arithmetic lesson aired on April 20. Preparation for her statewide debut involved a little bit more time, space and effort than Zimmaro’s, and that work was helped along by a fortuitous coincidence.
“I spent about 35 to 45 hours over spring break teaching myself the various (online teaching) programs: recording, editing, downloading, doing the slides,” Jacobs said. “It wasn’t easy but it was so worth it. What I envisioned, my end result, was a lesson on Screencastify and other fun stuff to keep the kids engaged.
“In sixth grade at Carusi, we’re piloting Eureka Math,” the teacher added. “I was able to use one of the lessons from that, and my planned (television) lesson on exponents happened to be exactly where we were (during online learning) in the Eureka unit. So the assignment ended up being to watch me that day on TV.”
Flush with success, Jacobs said she is open to taking another turn in the near future. But with the sheer number of teachers in the state who have expressed interest, it’s understandable that the program would want to showcase a diverse swath of lessons and personalities.
“I offered to do another lesson now that I feel things would go faster, and because I feel more confident,” she noted. “They’re trying to get as much of the math and core subjects on the air as possible. The teachers who are harder to get are art and music and speciality areas, so I think that’s why Laura did it a second time.
“They also want people from different districts,” Jacobs added. “With four teachers scheduled per day, there’s not a lot of room to accommodate returns for the spike in interest. I certainly would, but I feel like (coordinator and New Jersey State Teacher of the Year KImberly DIckstein Hughes) wants to give others a chance.”
NJTV Learning Live has the capacity to continue into mid-June if needed. Each of the on-air classroom lessons will be livestreamed and archived on the network’s website: https://www.njtvonline.org/programs/njtv-learning-live/.
