New Hampshire Commissioner of Education, Dr. Lyonel Tracy, visited our
Pittsfield Schools on Monday, January 26, 2009. Dr. Tracy stated that he
believes it important that the Commissioner maintain contact with students
and school staff. Dr. Tracy devoted his full day – 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. –
to Pittsfield.
Dr. Tracy began the day at Pittsfield Elementary School. Two PES sixth
grade students provided the Commissioner with a guided tour of the school
building. Next, Dr. Tracy visited three classrooms where he observed
children and teachers working together.
Ms. Eade’s first grade classroom was the first classroom visited by Dr.
Tracy. There he observed children actively engaged in an element of the
school’s literacy program known as Working with Words. Next, the
Commissioner walked upstairs to visit with Ms. Kaplan’s sixth grade class
where he observed another literacy lesson in the Guided Reading component.
Here, the focus of instruction was on reading comprehension.
Finally, Dr. Tracy visited Ms. Berry’s fourth grade classroom for a math
lesson. This was the site of a school development strategy known as
Japanese Lesson Study. Dr. Tracy joined other fourth grade and special
education teachers in observing Ms. Berry’s lesson with the aims of learning
from the teacher’s instructional methods and providing feedback to Ms. Berry
on her work with students.
Dr. Tracy commented on the importance of continuous improvement in schools.
He was positively impressed with the teachers’ work with Japanese Lesson
Study to refine teaching practices and to ensure that each child is
receiving adequate instruction and support. A proponent of personalizing
education for each student, Dr. Tracy commended the school’s determined work
to support students who are challenged by mathematics.
In addition to a school tour at Pittsfield Middle High School and lunch with
students during the PMHS’s second high school lunch period, Dr. Tracy
visited three middle school classrooms. First, he visited with seventh
grade students in Ms. Schou’s language arts classroom. There he
participated in classroom reading activities as well as discussion of
current events using primary sources.
In Ms. Ingerson’s seventh grade science class, Dr. Tracy looked on as
students formed collaborative workgroups to engage in scientific research
using classroom computers. Finally, the Commissioner observed the first day
of the new quarter in Mr. Oliveras’s world cultures classroom. Here,
first-day students were learning and speaking basic Spanish phrases.
Dr. Tracy’s classroom observations concluded with visits to four high school
classrooms. These included his observation of students working with
individual mock checkbooks and discussing simulated financial profiles in
Ms. Gardner’s personal finance class. In addition, the Commissioner visited
Mr. Smith’s math classroom for a geometry lesson and Ms. Armour’s physics
classroom for a laboratory lesson on vectors.
Ms. Plante’s Eleventh Grade English classroom was the last stop of the day
for Dr. Tracy. Here, he participated in the class’s review of their
mid-year examination that expanded into a discussion of test taking
strategies with a look forward to the SATs. Dr. Tracy commended Ms. Plante
for her work with students on metacognition, or thinking about their own
thinking.
In remarks to the faculty at the end of the day, Dr. Tracy reflected on the
positive atmosphere of our Pittsfield schools, the close connections that
students enjoy with their teachers, the quality of the lessons and teachers
that he had observed, and the personalization of instruction. Speaking
about the personalization of instruction, one of the Commissioner’s main
goals for the schools of New Hampshire, Dr. Tracy observed that “no schools
personalize instruction better than Pittsfield’s schools.”