"I Graduated from Saint Peter’s College with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and History. I continued my education at Saint Peter’s earning my Master’s degree in supervision and administration in education. I chose to pursue a career in education because of a special teacher I had in high school by the name of Lillian Woninski. Mrs. Woninski was my Western Civilization teacher and was always very out of the box with the way she did things, but in my senior year I was lucky enough to get her for U.S. History II. During the class she taught with a lot of emotion; you see she was a young girl during the time of World War II, and since her family was Jewish they gave her up to the catholic nuns, so that she would survive the reign of Hitler. The way that she opened herself up and taught with such raw emotion inspired me. I feel that I will always carry a little piece of Mrs. Woninski in me and in the way I teach. I only hope to be able to inspire other people the way she inspired me. Since I began teaching in 2000, I have taught gym, health, and physical science all in private schools. I am currently a first year teacher in the Jersey City Public school system and teach social studies at the Charles J. Watters School (P.S. # 24) and love the opportunity I have been given."
What do you like best about Problem-Based Learning?
Students in Nicole’s social studies class have completed a PBL called Building a Business. The PBL requires the students to create a business plan based on supply and demand, demographics, labor markets and more. Students were given a guide with guiding questions to lead them in their research. When asked about the task Nicole states "It gives reasons for the work the students are doing. I feel that the students are more willing to do the work when they have to solve an actual problem and not do a project just because the teacher says so." 
What are the benefits of Problem-Based Learning to your students?
"With PBL there are many benefits when it comes to the students. Not only does it give them a practical reason as to why they must do the work, but it makes learning fun and interesting. Using PBL allows each student to put their own special touch on their work. It also makes lessons more interesting for the teacher by allowing us to see the individuality of each student and not having to grade the exact same thing over and over."
How does using rubrics in your classroom help your students?
During the Building a Business task, Nicole gave students a rubric to guide the instruction. "I find that using a rubric in class allows each student to know what their grade is based on the criteria for each level of achievement. When I started this year I really did not know too much about rubrics, but during the new teacher induction Ali and Shayna of IDE challenged us as new teachers to build our dream home out of gumdrops and toothpicks. What they did not tell us was that we were being graded. When given our grade many of us were shocked at how poorly we had done. Once we were allowed to see the rubric our grade made sense. It was a powerful lesson to learn and showed me how important and helpful rubrics are in education."
How does Problem-Based Learning help with differentiation in your classroom?
"Problem-Based Learning is a great way to teach in today’s classroom. When you walk into a classroom not every student is on the same level and not all students learn the same way. I find that Problem-Based Learning allows me to create lessons to touch base on all learning types and allows each student to thrive in some part of the lesson. When students feel they are thriving in a lesson they are more willing to learn and to work."
What role does technology play in your classroom and teaching?
"Technology and today’s classroom go hand and hand. The children of today are all around technology and feel comfort using technology as a medium for learning. In my classroom I find that I can incorporate technology with each lesson whether it is having my students play the stock market game, doing research, or just showing a power point presentation to introduce a lesson. I feel that students respond well to technology, since it is such a big part of their life."