St. Matthew the Apostle School rethinks its educational approach

(Photo by Beth Donze, Clarion Herald; to view additional photos, please visit the Clarion Herald’s Facebook page.)

By BETH DONZE
Clarion Herald

Models of educating young people – the workforce of the future – are typically shaped by the economy in which those students will be employed.

So, during the 200-plus years in which America was growing into a manufacturing-based powerhouse, a “factory-style” approach to classroom instruction emerged, with students required to sit in neat rows – relatively isolated from one another – as the teacher lectured the whole class.

That traditional model, which survives to this day, put a premium on sitting quietly as the teacher presided over the classroom, and memorizing the provided information for the next test.

“Our traditional model of education was based on (the nation’s) industrial economy – one-size-fits-all and ‘how can we get the most number of people to the “average,” to produce workers for an economy based on mass production and assembly lines?’” noted Tony Bonura, principal of St. Matthew the Apostle School in River Ridge.

In this sink-or-swim environment, schools were designed “like factories and prisons,” with long halls and rushed instructional periods of about 50 minutes each, Bonura said.

“If you got (a concept), you got it, and if you didn’t get it, maybe you can do it again. We taught to the average,” Bonura said. “But we are no longer in that type of an economy. We’re now in a more knowledge-based, service-based type of economy. So, we’ve got to infuse skills into kids that they didn’t need 30 or 40 years ago.”

‘The Four C’s’

In response to this economic sea change, St. Matthew the Apostle has been intentionally stepping away from lecture-based, teacher-centered instruction over the past six years to embrace more collaborative, student-centered classroom learning, all while keeping timeless skills such as math, writing and scientific inquiry in its curriculum.

Taking center stage at St. Matthew are 21st-century skills students have come to know as “The Four Cs” –  critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity.

“I like to think there’s a big fifth C, and that’s ‘curiosity,’” Bonura said. “In the old-style, industrial model of learning, we wanted students to be obedient and compliant (in their taking in of information). But today, we need kids to be curious. We need kids to be curious about the problems of the world – the problems that need to be solved – rather than just giving the teacher back whatever notes were given that day.”

Longer class periods

Bonura said St. Matthew’s shift to collaborative, student-centered learning is not about “a fancy machine or a program,” but an exciting new mindset: children thrive when they are given opportunities to use their creativity throughout the school day to solve problems, both independently and alongside their teachers and peers.

The switch has changed the role of teachers into more of a learning facilitator, he said.

“Instead of us needing teachers to be ‘the sage on the stage,’ we need them to be ‘the guide on the side,’” Bonura said. “One of the ways that kids enjoy learning is when they have ownership – agency – in their learning.”

To cultivate its new approach to learning, St. Matthew instituted 90-minute periods of instruction for third graders on up. Beginning in middle school, students follow a block schedule composed of four classes a day, rotating across their core subjects of math, science, religion, social studies, English and reading as the week unfolds. The schedule allows for more focused and uninterrupted time with their teachers and peers, Bonura said.

“Because the teacher is involved (with his or her students) in the learning, our kids have far less homework than they used to have – because there is time with the teacher to work on it in class,” Bonura said.

Comfortable classrooms

To foster this more collegial approach, the school has redesigned most of its middle-school classrooms, including relocating teachers from their traditional perch in the front of class to a more central spot that places them in closer proximity to their students. St. Matthew’s middle-school math room boasts tabletops that allow the young learners to work out math problems with dry-erase markers. They can choose from a variety of individual and small-group classroom seating options, from sitting on the floor to sitting at highboy-style tables.

The middle-school reading room has a coffee shop feel, featuring cushioned seating for group book discussions and oversized armchairs for those reading independently.

In a bid to encourage interactive – and physically active – learning, St. Matthew eliminated its library and refashioned it as a learning studio. “The Lu,” a giant interactive screen, recently had students using their rainy-day recess to divide into teams to solve math problems by throwing balls at the correct answer on the screen.

“It’s a place where teachers can load into the program specific skills they’re working on in their classrooms across any subject,” explained Rhonda Foret, St. Matthew’s assistant principal.

Creative, digital citizens

After partnering during the pandemic with New Jersey-based Eduscape, a leader in helping teachers align their work to the 21st-century needs of their students, St. Matthew was asked to be an Eduscape model school for STREAM Made Simple, a three-year endeavor that provides intensive professional development to faculty members in their united effort to foster students’ inquiry, problem solving and design skills across the STREAM disciplines of science, technology, religion, engineering, art and math.

To stay ahead of the curve, St. Matthew transitioned from Chromebooks to iPads this school year.

“Our teachers had become so advanced in these technologies that the Chromebooks no longer served our purposes,” Bonura said. “We could do everything we could do on the Chromebook on the iPad, but we couldn’t do everything we wanted to do on the iPad on the Chromebook.”

Recent projects had third graders programming Photon Robots to navigate a haunted house and tracking of profits generated by the attraction’s virtual visitors. Third graders also researched the history of the Macy’s Day Parade before programming and filming their robotic “balloon floats” against a backdrop they created themselves.

To learn about the life cycles of plants, the third graders programmed their robots to stop at each life stage and explain it.

Seventh graders created stop-motion presentations on various types of natural disasters, while sixth graders are in the midst of creating their own “countries” as they study civilizations through the “GRAPES” prism of geography, religion, advances, politics (government), economics and social class.

“They’ll need to design a flag, determine how their country’s government will be structured and show its geography – why are some services located in fields or near a water source? So they are also getting into engineering/design,” Foret said.

Fourth graders, challenged by their teacher to explain Advent to the masses, designed and produced their own iMovie. Filled with clever edits, transitions, clip art and Garage Band music, the resulting video knocked the socks off of a local Catholic high school admissions director, Bonura said.

With the iPad’s functionality, “now they can take their physical (3-D) models and start to move them into the digital world,” Bonura said, adding that when a Tesla engineer viewed the work St. Matthew students were doing, he remarked, “This is exactly what we do at Tesla” to develop and test new products.

“Ultimately, we want kids to be thinkers,” Bonura said. “In the industrial model of education, we didn’t care if you thought. We just wanted you to regurgitate the information and go memorize this and give it back to me. We want them to be problem solvers. We want them to be curious.”

Critical thinkers

In another effort to infuse the curriculum with timely skills, St. Matthew students are taught coding rather than more traditional computer classes.

“Coding makes kids critically think,” Bonura said. “Coding is finding the right code to get whatever I’m doing to do what I need it to do. So, if I need a code to get the frog to jump over a barrier, and that frog keeps hitting that barrier, I’ve got to go back and figure out what I did wrong. There’s a lot of research that says coding also improves reading and math skills. Interestingly enough, some of my best coders are not the best students in the building. Another thing I love about it is that you can’t code without failing – so, it builds resiliency skills.”

Supportive environment

Bonura said a common misconception about the educational mindset at his school is that students must teach themselves.

“But I would say, in the traditional model students were teaching themselves!” Bonura said. “If I have a 50-minute class, and you put me in seven or eight of those a day, all the teacher has time for is to give me the information. Then I have to go home and learn it and give it back to her on Friday. At our school, we are moving away from kids teaching themselves and moving into where they feel supported, not only by their teachers as their ‘guide on the side,’ but also at the table with their peers.

“One of the other things that we don’t do (at St. Matthew) is level our kids – I don’t have an honors class in middle school because I need the kids who are excelling to be sitting right next to the kids who are struggling,” Bonura added. “And, the kids who are excelling will often tell you that they picked up something from the ones who are struggling. Because we now have a more knowledge-based, service-based, communication-type of economy, you’d better know how to work with other people! The guy putting the bolt on the bridge is now talking directly to the guy who designed the bridge, so they’d better be able to work together!”

Bonura credits St. Matthew’s six-year transition to teacher-guided, student-centered learning to a sharp reduction in his students’ need for outside tutors. The principal said he is no longer hearing stories of parents butting heads with their children over endless hours of homework or having to reteach them at home.

Teachers measure students’ individual progress with DreamBox software, which assesses math skills; and Lexia, which tracks reading skills. In addition to meeting archdiocesan educational standards, St. Matthew students conference individually with their teachers to set personal goals.

“We’re still taking standardized tests; we’re taking growth tests; we still have standards-based education,” Bonura said. “What this is about is how do you teach it and what skills are you injecting into that teaching. There are certain things about education that are never going away – being an effective writer, knowing your math facts.”

Engaged learners

Although due in part to the addition of an early childhood program, St. Matthew saw an increase of about 200 students over the last five years, after nine straight years of declining enrollment. Student absenteeism has plummeted, and discipline issues are “almost non-existent,” Bonura said.

“Our disciplinarian will tell you he’s the Maytag repairman. Why? Happy kids don’t cut up!” Bornura said. “When you’re not asking a child to just sit there and be quiet, when they feel like they have agency, they can’t wait to get to class!”

Seventh grader Chloe Desselles, who transferred to St. Matthew last year, is one of those happy learners.

“The teachers are inclusive – they’re going to talk to you and truly help you, and they all love what they’re doing,” said Chloe, praising her school’s “super comfortable” classrooms and a religion project on St. John Bosco that called on her digital, writing and hands-on artistic skills.

“They care about more than grades here,” Chloe said. “They tell us, ‘We’re going to help you achieve your academic goals that you want in life.’”

Seventh grader Mallory Pansano, who transferred to St. Matthew in fifth grade, said she enjoys exploring topics beyond “just the basic reading out of a book.”

“The teachers make us feel like they want us here, and that makes you feel such a sense of belonging. I’m going to be so sad to leave for high school,” Mallory said. “It feels like a whole new world has opened up to me because of the way they educate you here. You learn so many life skills, like teamwork. The things they teach you here will stick with you for a very long time, even if you don’t know what you want to do (career wise).

“They teach you to be confident,” Mallory added. “If you’re not the most confident in something, you can talk to any one of these teachers and they’ll help to boost your confidence.”

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