2008 Winner of the School or School District Contest
(Grades 5-8)
Jan 07, 2008
Haviland Avenue School
Audubon School District
Audubon, New Jersey
Haviland Avenue School (HAS), as the Grand Prize Winner for the Creative Expression Contest, demonstrated a commitment to anti-bullying and a desire to eradicate name-calling in the classroom and throughout the entire school. Submitted by teacher Richard Wilson, the school has created lesson plans and activities for No Name-Calling Week and has been committed to the No Name-Calling Week project for several years.
The school has been featured in the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) Review twice: "Using The Misfits to discuss sexual orientation issues" and "Increasing literacy and decreasing bullying: How a few Camden County teachers
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As the Grand Prize Winner, HAS received a visit from members of the GLSEN staff as well as writer James Howe, author of The Misfits, the book on which No Name-Calling Week is based.
Our visit with the school verified why they won the contest; everything they discussed in their entry was demonstrated through their deep engagement between students, faculty and administration. Haviland truly is a learning community, each grade level dependent upon the work done in years previous, each teacher reliant on their other teacher colleagues and their principal, the principal supportive of her staff and students alike.
Some highlights of our trip:
HAS created a book club for parents and their children. Each week, they come together having read specified portions of a book – in this case, The Misfits – and have discussions based on the book. During our visit, we saw a wonderful dialogue occur between the parents, their children, teachers and James Howe, author of The Misfits.
James Howe spoke with two sixth-grade classes separately about the novel The Misfits, and then the two groups came together to have a larger discussion of issues of being outsiders, of feeling like a “misfit,” of bullying and name-calling.
Third thru sixth grade students had an opportunity to have lunch with James Howe to discuss the craft of writing. While we munched on pizza – and the GLSEN team and James drank a bit of coffee for caffeine – students asked a variety of questions about writing.
Students who attended HAS and read The Misfits in their sixth grade year were invited back to HAS for a conversation with James. This was one of the most insightful conversations because so much was elucidated. We saw firsthand how issues of bullying and name-calling must continually be addressed; students in the same school were divided about whether or not name-calling was a problem in their school. The conversation with those students illustrated why our work is so very important.
The local chapter supported No Name-Calling Week through contacts with school districts, administrators and teachers in the region covered by the chapter. Carol Watchler, Co-Chair of the GLSEN Central NJ Chapter, was very instrumental in gaining visibility for No Name-Calling Week.
Through the efforts of the GLSEN Central NJ Chapter, New Jersey’s Governor, Jon S. Corzine, declared a Proclamation that the week of January 21-25, 2008 to be officially No Name-Calling Week in the State of New Jersey.