The Curriculum & Instruction Team
and Teachers of
Mount Olive School District
Budd Lake, NJ
 This month the spotlight shines brightly on the Mt.Olive School District in Budd Lake, New Jersey! In the summer of 2002 the second Instructional Innovation team was created. See August 2002 Teacher Feature Mount Olive Middle School, Budd Lake, NJ. Due to the tremendous success of Instructional Innovation Team 1 and Instructional Innovation Team 2, an idea to bring educators together from all levels to design an interdisciplinary PBL was brought forth.
The Curriculum and Instruction team-Lorraine Weingast, Sue Dinges, Brad Halien, George Johnson, and two talented classroom teachers Ann Greszczak, and Carolyn Rider joined IDE consultant, Molly Williams and IDE President, Dr. Nancy Sulla to design an interdisciplinary PBL unit that spans the curriculum in math, social studies, science and language arts.
Each participant in the group provided an area of expertise which contributed greatly to ensuring that the PBL would engage students at many levels. In addition, the Curriculum and Instruction team has committed to setting aside time to partner within the classroom during implementation. This partnership will provide a powerful support structure for teachers and allow the Curriculum and Instruction team an opportunity to engage and reflect upon the successes and challenges of the reality of classroom applications.
Brad Halien, District Supervisor of Mathematics and Science stated: "We are in the wonderful position of having these two teachers who are capable of delivering rich, constructive, problem-based interdisciplinary instruction that takes education far beyond the norm. Better yet, the students are in the wonderful position!"
Sue Dinges, District Supervisor of Language Arts has this to say:
"The IDE workshops in which I participated allowed for a dynamic and free-flowing exchange of ideas. The workshop leaders are astute and highly trained. They know precisely how to guide the participants towards discovery of smart lesson design. Through collaboration (with a healthy dose of humor along the way), they gently lead the participants towards deeper understanding of PBL design, dynamic classroom management and of our own curriculum. Dr. Nancy Sulla and Molly Williams remind us, through example, that PBL is the vehicle; the true achievement is to create authentic and student-centered learning opportunities for our students. The IDE workshops help us achieve that model."
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Click on individual PBLs below to view the
results of their hard work and collaboration!
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PBLs and Rubrics by Ann Greszczak -
Amusement Park Ride
Create a New Town
PBLs and Rubrics by Carolyn Ryder -
Project USA
Project NASA
Myth Meeting
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