Fischler Academy Student Heads 3rd Grader Responsibility Project

A Fischler Academy student is heading a project teaching elementary school students responsibility while tackling a common problem in class.

Danielle Gross, a junior at NSU’s Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice Fischler Academy program, is the newest head of the Responsible Pencil Project, an initiative where third-grade teachers are presented with a numbered set of four pencils for each student. The teacher assigns a set to each student and records the number.

Then, if somebody finds a pencil, the number will show which student it belongs to. Once a month, teachers do a class pencil count to see how many still have their pencils and sends the number to our NSU team. Prizes are awarded accordingly.

In addition to teaching the students responsibility, it also helps ensure that each student has a pencil (making their teacher’s life a tiny bit easier) as well as keeping NSU connected with its alumni.

Several Fischler alumni — Sherilynn Soto, Hannah Parisealt, and Aryanna Chang — who are currently working as third-grade teachers have joined the project. They were then encouraged to recruit their fellow co-teachers as well.

“It’s been awesome because no one has asked for a pencil,” Pariseault said.

Teachers at Davie Elementary were also asked to participate, with positive results.

“They are a lifesaver in my classroom,” said Davie Elementary teacher Mrs. Jeter.

The Responsible Pencil Project is a Skunks Works project. Gross is not the originator of the project, but she took responsibility of it earlier this year as a Skunk Works Team Leader.

Skunks Works Team Leaders are student employment positions at NSU where the students identify problems in K-12 education and then work as a team to develop a solution.

The term Skunk Works is often used to refer to a group within an organization that is given a high level of freedom while they work on a special or secret projects. It originally was used by security, arms, and aerospace company Lockheed Martin to refer to a secret project that resulted in the development of advanced aircrafts.

Posted 01/21/23