West Hempstead teacher rolls out innovative ninth-grade assessment

The Black Death is surprisingly popular in teacher Erin Geiger’s classroom.

Apparently, the 14th century pandemic has become a favorite topic among ninth graders at West Hempstead Secondary School, who must choose an issue to explore for an end-of-the-year project in Global 9 Social Studies class.

This is the first year the school’s Global 9 program has implemented what is called a performance-assessment task. It’s part of a push by the district to use this method in lieu of a traditional final exam. During finals week, students will instead present their chosen area of expertise to a panel of peers, who will question them on their research, requiring them to explain how issues from the past endure. Other topics include the Renaissance, the Crusades and Ancient Rome.

Geiger spearheaded development of the new, eight-week initiative. “It’s the maiden voyage,” Geiger said. “I’ve been designing it all year, and we kicked off the last week of February. I love this project because it’s not just students sitting and listening to me talk about history and teach them about events. It’s them focusing on something that they’re very curious about and going very deep into it.”

Students said they like the performance-based option, which includes benchmarks such as developing a thesis statement and learning how to cite sources, preferring it over traditional timed exams that can cause more stress. “Before test day you have a lot of anxiety. You have to memorize everything,” said Isaac Mosquea, 14, who chose Renaissance Italy. “When you get to do a project like this, you actually get to do it in a subject you find interesting.”

Geiger, 47, of Amityville, has been teaching in the district for 22 years. For the first two decades, she taught seventh and eighth grade but moved to ninth two years ago. She also teaches a new course called AP Human Geography.

She said her path to teaching grew out of her love for history. “It’s just something that I wanted to kind of be fully immersed in, and I just thought education would be the best route for that,” she said.

Geiger graduated from Amityville High School in 1997 and earned a bachelor’s and graduate degrees from Molloy University in Rockville Centre.

Molly Gegerson, director of humanities for grades 7-12, called Geiger “absolutely dynamic in the classroom,” with a work ethic that is “pretty unmatched.”

“She has taken this on and run with it,” Gegerson said. “The entire project is unfolding so beautifully. It’s the kind of thing that you would purchase from a curriculum company, and she’s building it from scratch.”

Taylor Ros, 14, said he chose the Crusades for his project because he has a Catholic background. “I wanted to know what was happening back then and what their motivation was. The way Ms. Geiger teaches, it’s really enjoyable to be in her class,” he said.

Nominate the passionate, engaging and innovative educators of Long Island to be featured in our Teacher Spotlight series by sending details to LILife@Newsday.com.

By Beth Whitehouse

Special to NewsdayBethWhitehouse1

Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.