TV show spotlights teaching methods

By Elise Franco

The new Channel 19 show will give parents an inside look at what their children are learning.

AUSTINTOWN — Educators in the township school district are using the township’s TV station to broadcast unique classroom-teaching tools to residents.

Superintendent Vince Colaluca said that once every two months, Channel 19 will broadcast a show featuring district teachers who specialize in specific subjects.

Colaluca said the point is to give residents, especially parents, the opportunity to understand how their children are learning.

“This is about what our great staff does and what we do collaboratively to present curriculum to students,” he said. “We do so many unique things that the parents may not know about.”

The first of the series was filmed Friday and focuses on different language-arts programs and teaching methods in each grade level. Colaluca said he doesn’t know when the show will air on Channel 19.

Stephanie Toporcer, Austintown Middle School literacy coach, said one such program began three years ago for grades six through eight and allows students to choose their own reading material.

Toporcer said that instead of every student reading the same book and having a lesson on just the content of that book, they are encouraged to choose books they enjoy.

“The teachers then teach mini-lessons to the class,” she said. “They’ll teach them about general concepts instead of just content that can only be applied to one book.”

Toporcer said this type of teaching allows students to broaden those learned concepts to other books.

“The students are loving it and reading all the time,” she said. “Students that don’t normally read are increasing their reading levels.”

Colaluca said it’s this type of initiative that has changed the way educators are teaching and the way students are learning.

“We all know how language arts used to be taught,” he said. “It’s really changed over the past years in Austintown and around the country.”

Julie Eggiman, English department chairwoman at Fitch High School, said this year the department created a freshman English block for students who need more language-arts attention.

Eggiman said 21 students were selected for the two-period block. They were narrowed down using teacher evaluations, grades, Scholastic Reading Inventory and Ohio Achievement Testing.

“The students seem to like it,” she said. “It’s a lot of reading and individual conferences.”

Eggiman said the block gives individual attention to ninth-graders who are below the ninth-grade level of reading and writing.

Colaluca said he intends to feature all of the four core subjects — language arts, math, science and social studies — as well as music, art and health and wellness. He said he hopes this show will give residents a better understanding about what goes on in the school district on a daily basis.

“We’ve done surveys in the community, and we hear people aren’t aware or given enough information,” he said. “We’re using Channel 19 as an avenue we haven’t used before to bring information to the community.”

efranco@vindy.com