The Center for Social Justice
Creating Agents of Change out of Today's Students for Tomorrow's People
CSJ Forum
MHS
Blackboard
NEWS and EVENTS
4.11.10
If you look to your right, you can see a video of Sarah Palin criticizing Obama's Nuclear policy, for more information, visit here: http://tinyurl.com/y2rpq24
3.31.10
Any Leigh Martin and Chase Starks won 1st and 3rd place in any essay contest sponsored by the Essex County Bar Association's committee on the rights of Persons with Disabilities.
3.30.10
PDL day tomorrow! Forum also online. This is the official launch of the website. From today, students will be able to access the website and forum, to get assignments online, and read posts from teachers.
2.13.10
First day of Beta-
Well, here it is (so far)
Hate it
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or Give Advice using the Comment bar to your right ^(Best choice)^
Mission Statement
American Social Justice (ASJ) is a two-year English and History interdisciplinary program with a strong emphasis on the impact that social movements have had on the development of history, humanities and the arts. ASJ is based upon the Small Learning Community (SLC) model where students build close working relationships with staff and fellow students. Students will actively engage in curriculum that focuses on the themes of social justice and use their knowledge to promote issues of social activism within their own community. Students will receive individualized student mentoring, develop and implement community service programs and fundraisers, conduct extensive research and develop study, time-management and test taking (i.e. S.A.T.) skills. ASJ meets for three periods a day.
Mr. Mancinelli
Bio
Mr. Mancinelli has been teaching at Montclair High School for five years. After several months of relieving another teacher on maternity leave, he joined the CSJ program. Mr. Mancinelli believes the CSJ program helps to spread ideas of activism amongst students. He feels that students can learn to be the change they wish to see in the world and represent ideas of activism and Social Justice. He believes teaching is a way for students to learn from teachers while teachers learn from their students where they can save a common perspective. Mr. Mancinelli sees CSJ as successful in their mission so far.. In his opinion, all topics of discrimination are equal. However, he does enjoy teaching Classism because he has a greater personal connection to it than the other topics. Mr. Mancinelli teaches US History classes at Montclair High School. On the topic of Technology, he sees the use of technology in the classroom as challenging because it is constantly changing and hard to keep up with. The accessability to media and the news is vital because it allows for the spread of latest news. On the negative side, he thinks there is an overflow of information that makes curriculum change to accomodate the things students learn with daily access to the internet.
Mr. Freeman
Mr. Freeman has been teaching for 12 years at Montclair High. This is his 9th year teaching in the CSJ program. He views the CSJ mission as an attempt to make students active and productive members of society and agents of change. He believes that CSJ is succesful in their mission, but believes it all takes time. Mr. Freeman sees all topis of discrimination as unrankable, because they are all very important for their own reasons. However, the topic he likes to teach about best is Racism. This is based off of his experience as a black male teacher. He also sees it as a difficult topic to talk about that prompts growth in students. Mr. Freeman teaches English at MHS. He sees technology as a useful tool to the mission if given and easily accesible, and that it would greatly benefit CSJ. He sees the Media and Internet as helpful to the mission also for the spread of information and the connections made between students who have access to the internet. However, he also thinks this makes it easier to plaguerize, and sometimes can make kids become inept in skill sets.
Ms. Bonvini
For 6 and a half years, Ms. Bonvini has been a teacher. This is her 3rd year teaching in the CSJ program. When the CSJ program was growing, and they were looking for an English teacher. She found the idea and philosophy exciting and she talked to Mr. Easton to get in. Ms. Bonvini perceives the mission of CSJ is to make students socially aware of injustices and oppression. Knowing this they can also be taught to be activists and help them find a passion for something important to them. She likes to teach Classism because there are many topics that tie into it like other topics of discrimination and oppression. She views these topics as all interconnected. Ms. Bonvini teaches English . She wishes there was more availability in the school to the technology of today. She sees the current technology as mostly a positive thing. This is because it opens up greater oppurtunity when our generation is aware to current events . Ms. Bonvini also mentions that the teachers must also teach what is valuable material.
Mrs. Lubitz
Mrs. Lubitz has been working as a teacher in the CSJ program for all of here 6 years teaching. She views the goal is to help students learn how to be students of change. In that goal, she sees CSJ as being succesful. Her favorite topic of discrimination is Sexism, as she has a minor in women's studies. She does however think that all topics are equally important. She teaches History and her favorite topic in class is the Spanish -American war because it is the first time the U.S. strong-armed another nation. Mrs. Lubitz also thinks that it is important to go over the history of Immigration into the United States, from the British colonizers to the Irish and Italian immigrators. When asked about Technology in the classroom, she expressed that if we had better access to it in the classroom, it would have a more positive effect. In addition, when asked about the effect of media technology and it's effect on students, she believed that it was good because it raises awareness, makes it easier to research and news spreads fast. She also thought there were some cons because it's possible that students can be exposed to things they aren't ready to be exposed to yet.
Mr. Ford
Mr. Ford is in his 8th year of teaching at MHS. He joined the CSJ when there was an opening, during his second year. He sees the CSJ mission as the program being here to teach kids about the concept of Social Justice and to teach students to be Agents of Change. He feels that the program is successful and also unique in NJ high schools overall. He feels each topic of Dicrimination is important for it's own reasons because they each have ties to everyday life in their own way. However, being a Marxist he favors the topic of Classism. Mr. Ford teaches History at the High School. He believes that itechnology in the classroom would be unquestionably positive if supplied. He the media and internet has an overall positive effect, and it is the most revolutionary technology Humans have seen so far. This is important because we are revolutionaries and we need to use it.
Ms. Corprin
