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OUTSTANDING PUBLIC MIDDLE SCHOOL

A Crew of Top-Notch Teachers
One of the reasons East Side Middle School is a stand-out

We want the kids to develop a habit of mind,” says David Getz, principal of East Side Middle School, explaining how students are taught as if they are apprentices in the fields they are studying.

If the subject is history, the middle schoolers are instructed to think as historians using the same reasoning, questioning, and methods and rules of evidence that professionals would employ. Getz’s leadership over the past three years has made a tangible impact on both teachers and students through the introduction of new programs and teaching techniques.

“We have a wonderful history,” said Jay Lyons, the school’s drama teacher for the past eight years. “But David came and challenged us, taking us places we wouldn’t have gone.”

Getz’s background in education began as a science teacher and includes work as a science staff developer in District 3 helping elementary school teachers build their science curricula. This training has helped him in his current role by relaying what he learned about program development to East Side Middle School’s teachers.

“We believe in immersing our students in their topics so they live and breathe their studies for an extended period of time,” Getz said. “We focus on the big ideas and try to make the learning experience as authentic and memorable as possible.”

Getz worked with the Education Development Center near Boston to learn curriculum-building methods. “They trained us not to look at activitybased education, but rather to first look at what a child needs to know at the end of the unit, what they need to be able to do and the attitude they need to develop,” he said. “It’s effective because the kids learn to think more deeply and rigorously about their topics and it’s applicable with every subject.”

Getz encourages his teachers to plan activities and tests that verify kids’ understanding of what needs to taken away from each lesson. “When I go into a classroom and work with a teacher I ask them what big ideas they want their kids to know by the end of each lesson, what skills they’ll have and what attitudes they want to nurture,” he said. “Then I ask if their activities and evidences are lined up with these goals.”

The idea is to work backward from the end goal to the first steps in getting there and to plan activities that will facilitate learning. The success of each teacher is measured in several ways, with the most telling sign being the kind of work students produce. “You look at the quality of the student work and whether it’s authentic,” Getz said.

Two East Side Middle School teachers— Jay Lyons and Rebecca Rufo—were named Education Update Teacher of the Year in 2006 and 2004, respectively, for their excellent work. Last year, Emily Noto, an eighth grade science teacher, earned a fellowship from Columbia University Teachers College to teach in Singapore during the summer of 2006.

“There’s a real enthusiasm and dedication that is infectious,” Lyons said. “We really work hard to take care of our kids.”

The teachers at East Side Middle School are a key ingredient to its success. “We work together to create a very rich educational environment for kids,” Getz said.

Other elements that make the school stand out are an emphasis on the humanities, which is primarily history driven, and the arts programs, with a special focus on drama.

Students are also a key part of the equation.

“It’s all about the kids,” said Lyons. “It begins and ends with them.”

Students have input about many things at the school. Especially when it comes to social gatherings, as Getz learned the hard way. “The first year I organized a dance and it was a disaster,” he said. “The eighth grade kids told me that they wanted to run the dance and it was tremendous.”

This is just one of the experiences Getz found impressive about the preteens. “The student council often generates school projects that are great,” he said. “You honor the interest of the kids and support them. That’s how you run a school.”

Taking the initiative, along with the help of the student council and parent coordinator Jodi Greenberg, the students formed a school basketball team and a 40-person cheerleading squad. They also continually organize fundraising initiatives and last year helped support Oprah’s Angels. The funds went to rebuilding efforts in New Orleans, an AIDS orphanage in Africa, kids in Cambodia, and the AIDS walk. “It happens time and time again that the kids do things like that,” Getz said.

The school also received a $220,000 grant this year from Council Member Jessica Lapin’s office. The money will be used to update its computer technology and add teleconference abilities with flatscreen televisions and podcasts. Another $180,000 grant was given by former Council Speaker Gifford Miller’s office for art room renovations. In September 2008, East Side Middle School will move to a larger space on East 91st Street and York Avenue, which will provide more classrooms and an auditorium.

And of course none of it is possible without a terrific administrative staff. “We have a great support staff,” Getz said. “Jodi Cear, the assistant principal; Joan Green, the school secretary; and Erica Lavezzary, the guidance counselor, are great and very proactive. The school can’t function without them.”

- Wendy Ilene Friedman