January 4, 2010
Dear Parents and
Guardians:
On behalf of the
administration at Toll Gate High School, I would like to take
this opportunity to wish you a very happy and healthy new year.
In this newsletter, I would like to highlight some of the
accomplishments of the various departments throughout the
school. Each department chair submitted the information that
appears in this letter.
Again, feel free
to contact me at any time. Thank you for your interest and
support of Toll Gate High School.
Social Studies
Department
The Social Studies
Department has been working to make “common tasks” part of the
midyear and final examinations. These read-respond tests have
been created by a group of Rhode Island educators who belong to
an organization called the Rhode Island Skills Commission.
Students are expected to analyze a collection of primary source
passages and respond to a related question in written form. The
goal is to test student reading, writing, and critical thinking
skills. Of course, teachers spend a great deal of time working
with students to help them develop these important skills.
Mr. James Sheehan
recently provided many of his students with two powerful field
trip opportunities. One of the trips was to the Rhode Island
State House, where students enjoyed a behind-the-scenes look at
the inner workings of our legislative system. The second trip
was to King Richard’s Faire.
Additionally, Mrs.
Franco and the Toll Gate Mock Trial Team, in their first
competition of the year, defeated the Academy of the Torah.
Members of our department take great pride in the way in which
these hard working students represent our school.
Finally, we would
like all Toll Gate parents to be aware of a very important
fundraiser that the Toll Gate Social Studies Department will be
sponsoring on the evening of January 29, called “Jammin’ with
the Teachers.” This second, annual community-building event
will feature students and teachers in musical acts. We hope you
will consider attending.
Toll Gate High
School Library
The Toll
Gate library has added 528 books to the collection this year,
both fiction and nonfiction, including most of the nominees for
the RI Teen Book Award. The library also has access to numerous
online databases through
http://www.AskRI.org, a state-funded
reference resource center. At AskRI there is a link to World
Book online, which provides an online encyclopedia, as well as
full text reference books. There is a link to EBSCO Host,
providing access to articles in thousands of newspapers and
periodicals in all subject areas. Another link provides access
to Homework Help, one-to-one tutoring with a certified tutor,
which runs daily from 2 PM-10 PM. The AskRI resources are
available at school and at home.
In addition, the
advanced Follett operating system called DESTINY will soon be
installed. All library operations will funnel through this
computer system and will benefit all patrons: students, faculty
and staff. Finally, a reminder that Library Department night is
Wednesday.
Science
Department
Samuel Holtzman is
the newly appointed Science Department Chair as
Mr. Morris retired
at the end of the last school year. Mr. Holtzman has been a
science teacher in the Warwick School System for the past thirty
years and was Science Department Chair at Gorton Junior High.
He is excited to be in his new position and looks forward in
providing quality science education to the students of Toll
Gate.
The Science NECAP
results from the 2008-2009 school year were published in
October. Toll Gate scored 5.7% higher than its previous score.
Also, Toll Gate outscored the state average by 5.3%. Though our
school is improving, we still need to strive in continuing to do
better and have more of our students demonstrate proficiency in
science.
Rhode Island
College is offering ten $5,000 scholarships for the Fall of
2010, and these scholarships will be renewable for four years to
undergraduate students majoring in one of the following areas:
Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science, or Mathematics.
There will be an open house on Friday, February 5, 2010 from 10
AM to 3 PM in the Clarke Science Building (snow date 2/12/10).
Contact Dr. Karen Almeida at
KAlmeida@RIC.edu to register.
Technology
Education and Art Department
The Technology and
Art Education Department has been involved in
Graduation-by-Proficiency learning initiatives. The Art
teachers worked to align their curriculum so they can prepare
their students for departmental written and performance midterm
and final exams. Moreover, the department began the initiative
to have art teachers create electronic portfolio assignments to
be implemented into their curriculum.
Throughout the
course of the school year, the Technology Education Department
chairpersons of each high school in the district collaborated
with Mrs. Denise Bilodeau, Technology Assessment Coordinator,
and developed a half-year course offered to juniors titled
“Technology Gateways”. The purpose of this course is to provide
juniors with the opportunity to use technology to enhance their
digital portfolio projects.
A full year
Multimedia Communications course has been added to the
Technology Education Department course selections. Students can
receive one full computer credit upon successful completion of
the course.
Classroom
Teaching—Related Extra Curricula Activities—General :
Architectural
Computer-Aided Design (CAD) students take part in two different
Computer-Aided Drafting and Design Contests offered throughout
the school year: The New England Institute of Technology CADD
Contest and The National Association for Women in Construction (NAWIC)
Architectural CADD Contest. Both of these contests require
students to have an understanding of new construction methods,
in particular, green construction technology.
Recently, the
Technology Education Department renewed their articulation
agreement with the New England Institute of Technology in the
areas of Technical/Mechanical and Architectural CAD. Students
who maintain a “B” grade point average in either Technical or
Architectural CAD have the opportunity of participating in this
program. The award allows students to “challenge out” of
coursework at NEIT thus saving money towards tuition.
In Art, students
will participate in the statewide Scholastic Art Awards and
Senator Jack Reed Art Exhibition.
Facility
Improvements: To Prepare for Graduation by Proficiency
Initiatives--General
The Department
Chair and Mr. Badger, technology education teacher, completed
the construction of the “flex-lab” room A104. With this new lab
layout, teachers and students will have a safe and comfortable
learning area that will service courses such as Engineering
Technology, Structures, House Wiring, Consumer Auto, Technology
and Robotics. The layout and design of this facility promotes
student group activities and provides a secure environment for
all technology in the room. Just three more computers and the
second computer lab for the Technology and Art Department in
room A104 will be complete. The addition of this second
computer lab will enable the department to provide Digital
Photography and Engineering Technology students with the
technology needed for the Internet and other pertinent software.
Facility
Improvements: To Prepare for Graduation by Proficiency
Initiatives—General Continued
Mr. Badger,
technology education teacher, and his students completed the
construction of a display case in lower “A” wing. The case,
which measures twenty-four feet long, will showcase technology
and art students’ work. Toll Gate extends a sincere and special
thank you to Mr. Joe Lamostro from Sign-A-Rama for donating the
display case sign.
Ms. Huntington
(Art) and Mr. Badger (Tech Ed) collaborated to develop,
construct and paint the Toll Gate “Six Pillars of Character”
signs that are displayed in the west bridge of Toll Gate.
Department
Student Fundraising Activities
In late October,
the Technology and Art Education Department held its first
annual “Pasta and Pumpkins” pasta dinner fundraiser. Students,
faculty and parents enjoyed a wonderful pasta dinner complete
with background music. After the dinner, participants were
encouraged to paint and decorate pumpkins. Movie tickets were
awarded from the drawing. All acquired funds will be used to
support the arts.
In late November,
early December 2009, Mr. Badger, Mr. D’Andrea and their
students, worked diligently on a mass production “Santa Sleigh”
wood product. All funds acquired from these projects will be
used to support the woodworking technology program.
Graduation by
Proficiency
Seniors are currently engaged in the following activities to
complete GBP requirements:
Senior Project -- working with their mentor to complete
fieldwork hours
working on their product
polishing the research paper
writing the research paper
reflection
Senior Portfolio -- completing assignments with
artifacts and reflections
collecting assignments to fill
any gaps
**Seniors are required to collect 2 ELA, 2 math, 2
science and 2 proficient self-selected
assignments.
Foreign
Language
Fr. Al Lethiez
from Brittany, France, visited the French classes and talked
about life in France. The students in Advanced French visited
Cedar Hill to teach the sixth grade students French. Many
Italian and Spanish students are writing to pen pals in Italy,
Spain and Argentina. The Italian club has been learning bocci.
The Spanish and French clubs had a holiday celebration the week
of the 16th of December.
Business
Department
The Business
Education Department has developed a strong link with several
companies in the Rhode Island business community. Our business
partnership has blossomed this year with the help of the Junior
Achievement program, Pawtucket Credit Union and The Washington
Trust Company.
Coupled with a
growing enrollment in our Personal Finance program, which
teaches financial literacy and gives students a fourth year math
credit, and business ethics topics covered in the Graduation By
Proficiency prep course entitled Digital Tools, this year
students have benefited by weekly presentations from the
following business community members:
R. Ray Bahar,
Business Development Specialist, Financial Services Advisory,
LLC
Robert Maigret –
On Semi-Conductor
Douglas Rademacher
– American Power Conversion
Peter Doorsey –
Venture Capital
Mark Beausalei –
Certified Financial Planner
Jessica Smith,
Coordinator, Metropolitian
Ms. Vhona Ridley
VP, Human Resources at Met Life
Kristi Rojas,
Pawtucket Credit Union
various staff
members from The Washington Trust Company
Review of The
Jr. Achievement “Ethics Program and Guest Speaker” submitted by
Linda Bush
Jr. Achievement
contacted me about having a volunteer come into a class and
teach seven lessons about “Ethics in Business”. I chose the
Digital Tools class to introduce the “Ethics” program to. Our
volunteer was Jessica Smith from Met Life. A special feature set
up with J.A. was to have a high level Vice President from Met
Life come into the classroom and teach one of the lessons.
Each session was a
different topic that Mrs. Smith covered with the class. The
topics included Values, Choices, Goals, How to Decide, Social
Responsibility, and Multinational Issues. Each session started
with a quote the students had to individually respond to. There
was no right or wrong answers. Secondly, we broke into groups
and discussed the topic. This was followed by answer reflections
and topic wrap ups.
The exciting event
the students were interested in was having Ms. Vhona Ridley VP,
Human Resources at Met Life, come to teach the last session
about Multinational Issues. Her experiences in working at large
corporations dealing in many different countries intrigued the
students.
The students had
many questions about diversity in other countries as well as
learning that other countries often do not honor or respect the
ideals that we do here in the USA. Ms. Ridley asked the students
about what they had learned from these sessions, and I was
pleasantly surprised at the answers.
Many of the class
students had no idea what Ethics are. Now they know what is
expected of them as far as appropriate behavior, community, what
results from setting goals, and decision-making consequences.
The class reflected about what they had learned. I also
incorporated into the experience the how and why of writing
thank you letters.
English
Department
During the first
semester English teachers of seniors have been working
diligently and ceaselessly with their students to provide them
with the opportunity to complete the senior research paper for
their G.B.P. senior research project. As always, all Toll Gate
English teachers have been offering quality English instruction
as per the Warwick Public Schools Senior High School English
Language Arts Curriculum, preparing students for the common
tasks that have been a part of English instruction in Warwick
for the past few years, and creating meaningful portfolio
assignments for students to enter into their digital portfolios,
which are a graduation requirement.
In the second
semester three English teachers will be taking six senior
English classes on a field trip to the Showcase Cinema to see
the documentary Secrets of the Dead: Escape from Auschwitz.
Sponsored by the Holocaust Education and Resource Center of
Rhode Island, the showing of this film also includes a
presentation from a Holocaust survivor who will answer students’
questions. This event will be the culmination of the Toll Gate
students’ study of Holocaust literature, including Night
by Elie Wiesel.
Finally, teachers
in the English department run two student activities: the
newspaper and the drama club.
Guidance
Department
Counselors
have been busy helping seniors with the college application
process. In addition to completing and mailing applications,
seniors and parents can now begin preparing to plan for the
financial costs of attending college. The College Planning
Center at the Warwick Mall is an excellent source for help with
this. For example, a trained professional can assist families in
preparing the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)
form. These forms are completed on-line at
www.fafsa.ed.gov and can be filed
anytime beginning January 1st. The forms must be
completed and electronically send by March 1st. In
some cases, an earlier date may apply (check with your
particular college or university for details.) Contact
information for the College Planning Center is
www.cpcri.org, email
staff@cpcri.org, or call 736-3170 or
736-7256 for more information.
Math Department
The Toll Gate Math
Department has two new members, Heidi Banville and Gretchen
Keefe. Mrs. Banville is a first year teacher; yet, she is not
new to Toll Gate High School. Mrs. Banville student taught
under the supervision of Mrs. Ward. Mrs. Keefe is new to Toll
Gate high School, but she is not new to teaching. Mrs. Keefe
has taught chemistry for several years in Tiverton. We welcome
both to the Toll Gate staff.
Three members of
the department will be participating in a content literacy
workshop called STEPS. Mrs. Gallo and Miss Rovane will undergo
ten hours of training on techniques to teach content using the
same strategies that are used to teach literacy, while Mr.
Tidswell will be a co-facilitator of the workshop. The workshop
will run for January to April.
Mrs. Arpin and Mr.
Tidswell will be members of the Warwick Mathematics Steering
Committee, which will start meeting again after a long absence.
The mission of the steering committee is to discuss and improve
mathematics curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
Sincerely,
Steve Chrabaszcz
Stephen Chrabaszcz
,
Principal