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Acting Commissioner of Education Christopher Cerf donned 3-D glasses to view a third-grade art project at Hillside Elementary School, sat through a SMART board demonstration on creating poems and listened to the Tenakill Middle School band perform in a visit to the Closter school district on Tuesday. Cerf was invited to the district by Superintendent Joanne Newberry, who had heard him speak at Bergen Community College in February. "I told him if he wanted to see excellence in education, let me know," Newberry said this week, paraphrasing the e-mail she sent to the acting commissioner. Cerf, who was nominated in December and is awaiting confirmation, accepted the invitation. He also stopped by the Tenafly school district on Tuesday. The visit started at Hillside Elementary School, where Cerf watched elementary students put together the school's daily newscast. He also sat through a portion of a third-grade science class on how sound travels. He was greeted at the middle school's entrance by the Student Council president and vice president. He listened to the band perform John Philip Sousa's "Semper Fidelis" and Robert W. Smith's "Encanto" before heading off to a math class. He also visited the school's annual art exhibit across the street at the Belskie Museum. Newberry said this is the first time that she is aware of that an education commissioner — or acting education commissioner — had visited the district. Cerf said he was impressed by what he saw: engaged students and creative teachers. "You guys were great. That was so impressive," he told students who produced the newscast, a daily show that on Tuesday featured two bilingual puppets teaching Spanish words for animals, a sign-language lesson and an interview with a teacher. He questioned teachers whether they had designed their curriculum. '"I have this view that great teachers are craftsmen and women," he said. "It's a real gift to do it. It's not rote." He also appeared particularly interested in the Northern Valley Schools Curriculum Center. The center, which is based in Demarest and has been in existence for more than 25 years, provides professional development for the seven Northern Valley towns that send students to the Northern Valley Regional High School and for the district's two high schools, said Robert Price, the center's director of curriculum and instruction. The center also develops the curriculum for the seven towns. Other municipalities also send teachers to the center for professional development, Price said. Having one director of curriculum instruction for all the schools means that the districts are able to streamline instruction at the lower schools. Students have similar experiences, and teachers across the Northern Valley share teaching strategy and technology, Price said. Cerf said he liked the idea. Later in the afternoon, Cerf toured Tenafly High School, one of the highest-achieving districts in North Jersey. He expressed admiration as students read him their poems, showed off a robotic Lego car steered wirelessly by a computer program and performed a string-instruments concert. Cerf asked teachers along the way how they used technology and how they were adapting to changing curriculum standards. When math teacher Shane Johnson displayed the power of free software called Winplot, made available by a teacher at the private Phillips Exeter Academy, Cerf asked what could be done to help teachers share their best tips more easily. "If you set aside time for teachers to convene more formally, this sharing is bound to happen," Johnson said. Dr. Toni Soprano is a teacher, writer and researcher. He writes articles on a wide range of topics. Creativity in Education is a continuing education certificate course that all ESL teachers of kindergarten and creativiy in education.
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