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# Highlights from the 2014 Fall WISE Coordinators Forum

Posted on October 31, 2014 by Danielle Brown

On October 8, 2014, educators and students from 15 schools gathered at Woodlands High School for the 2014 Fall WISE Coordinators Forum: Beyond the Standards.

Photo by Constantine Andreadis

The forum focused on the ways WISE programs meet and exceed Common Core and curriculum requirements. Guests were provided with a draft of how WISE meets New York State standards as well as sample syllabi, which are available to coordinators through the Resource Library of the WISE website.

David Warner, the Vice President of the Board of Education for Greenburgh Central School District, got the forum rolling with an introductory speech. An expert panel followed, and breakout roundtables concluded the exciting day. A special thanks to Woodlands High School for hosting such a successful event!

### David Warner Gives a WISE Welcome

David Warner, the Vice President of the Board of Education for the Greenburgh Central School District, has strong ties to WISE. Not only is he the father of a WISE graduate, but he is also a member of the WISE task force at Woodlands High School, and he has mentored three WISE students.

Warner delivered an introductory speech at the 2014 Fall WISE Coordinators Forum on October 8th. Here are some of his wise words: “We ask WISE students to work independently, but to be connected with others through mentoring relationships and research. We give students the opportunity to be creative in selecting their projects and in completing them. We try to be creative ourselves in the way we design and implement our individualized WISE program.”

### Real-World Experiences Define WISE

Andy Lutz

Andy Lutz, a WISE program consultant and panelist moderator, presented the New York Times article “Cornell Plans to Expand Off-Campus Engagement.” The article promotes the importance and value of experiential learning for college students. Lutz noted that the research behind the Cornell program validates the importance of the WISE program at the high school level. He also noted that Ithaca High School has been a WISE school since 1996.

Read the article

View Ithaca High School WISE Website

### Expert Panel Speaks about How WISE Fits into Their Curricula

Photo by Jonathan Lewis

Successful WISE Coordinators shared how their programs meet and exceed Common Core and curriculum requirements and answered audience questions. The individualized ways that schools build WISE into their programs are diverse and many examples were shared. Read some of the highlights in the subheadings below.

Panelists included:
Gina Valenze, Queens High School of Teaching (left); Franny Hertz, Rondout High School (middle); Bernadette Lingardo, Mahopac High School (right).

### Mahopac High School “Brings Literature Back” to the WISE Senior Year

One of the many highlights from the panel presentation at the Coordinators Forum was WISE Coordinator Bernadette Ligardo’s discussion about how Mahopac High School “revamped” their WISE English curriculum to include more literature, especially British Literature classics, in order to meet school and state standards.
Starting this year, WISE students at Mahopac will read British Literature classics such as Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales in WISE English classes. They are also required to complete the senior summer reading.Mahopac decided to “bring literature back to the senior year” in order to not only meet the state requirements in English, but also to remind WISE students that “senior year is not a slide year. It’s a working year. A time for self-reflection and growth.”

### Building a WISE English Reading List

Suggested readings for WISE English, as made by the panelists, included:

- Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers
- Mitch Albom’sTuesdays with Morrie (a “good book for non-readers”)
- British literature classics such as Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales
- Works by Randy Pausch, George Orwell, and James Joyce
- Poetry of W. B. Yeats
- Model WISE journals

Franny Hertz shared how Rondout Valley High School requires all WISE students to read model journals from their own resource library.

At Queens High School of Teaching, Gina Valenze uses Randy Pausch’s idea of “withholding the football” in his memoir The Last Lecture to explain to students the importance of building their skills in WISE English classes before embarking on their WISE projects.

To contribute to this growing WISE English reading list, please send your book suggestions to us at office@wiseservices.org.

### A New WISE School: Irvington High School

During the Coordinators Forum, teachers Jamie Lent and Lauren Cutignola talked the pilot WISE program that Irvington High School launched this year. Noticing that students were struggling to find a career path after high school, Irvington selected WISE as an English component to “bridge” the gap between high school and what comes next. The program focuses on catering to students’ multiple intelligences and developing their twenty-first century skills. Welcome to the WISE family, Irvington!

### Woodlands High School Reaches 9th Graders

WISE Co-Coordinator Shehnaz Hirji explained Woodlands High School’s new WISE course, English WISE 9. A project-based, hands-on course, English WISE 9 is a prerequisite to WISE that serves to introduce high school freshman to WISE core values and prepare them for their senior WISE experience. In the course, 9th graders get “bits and pieces” of WISE: they learn how to work collaboratively, are exposed to the research process, go on field trips, etc. Students also get the opportunity to sit on a WISE panel and be an evaluator during the senior WISE presentations.

### Words from Our Guests

Photo by Constantine Andreadis

“We gained some excellent resources and ideas and had time to build our WISE program.” Lauren Cutignola, WISE Co-Coordinator at Irvington High School

“I valued the group discussion. It was interesting to hear how different schools organize their WISE program.” Daniel Goldburg, Administrator at Clarkstown High School North

“The forum was open, inviting, and focused on establishing connections.” Jason Weiss, SUNY New Paltz Composition instructor, graduate student, and future secondary education teacher

“I liked being surrounded by similarly outside-the-box educators.” Susan Olsen, WISE Coordinator at Peekskill High School

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