We had the privilege of interviewing Joe Pizzo and Dr. Kenneth Piascik, two passionate educators who shared their teaching philosophies and key elements of effective teaching. Their insights provide valuable perspectives on integrating arts into education and fostering creativity in the classroom. Click the link below to watch the interview.
About Joe Pizzo:
A middle-school English teacher in his 50th year of teaching, Joseph S. Pizzo teaches integrated language arts at Black River Middle School in Chester and has served as an Adjunct Professor in five departments at Centenary University since 1992, taught freshman composition for 20 years at Union County College, and taught in the Graduate School of Education at College of Saint Elizabeth for one year. Pizzo has been the Educator of the Year for AMLE, NJCTE, NJAMLE, and NJ S.H.I.N.E and is a member of the WWOR-TV Ch. 9& 39 A+ for Teachers Hall of Fame. This former NCTE Historian and present member of the NCTE Children’s Poetry Book Award Committee and AMLE’s Early Career Educator and Teacher Leader Committees is the former NJCTE co-president and current Executive Board member of NJCTE, NJAMLE, Arts Ed NJ’s Advocacy and Policy Committees, and the NJ Autism Think Tank. Pizzo is a NJ Schools to Watch Core Leadership Team member and a podcaster of A Writer Journey, A Spot of Poetry, We Have Issues, and Book It! Pizzo’s work is featured in NCTE books Literacies Before Technology and Writing Changes Everything. His poem
“The Poetic Experience (As Supported by a Teacher/Poet’s Heartfelt Empathy)” is being published in the 2024 edition of the NJCTE English Journal. One of his articles
“Becoming My Dad” was featured in 2023 in Father’s Day blogs by Dr. Tim
Raskinski (https://timrasinski.com/presentations/becoming-my-dad.pdf) and Dr.
Sam Bommarito (https://doctorsam7.blog/2023/06/).
About Dr. Kenneth Piascik:
Dr. Kenneth Piascik has always been dedicated to performing a wide range of music and providing the best education at the university and public school level for the past 34 years. Dr. Piascik is also very proud of his private studio, AmusiK Studio (est. 1991), in which many of his students are actively involved in music.
At Black River Middle School, Piascik has been an active leader with their “Schools to Watch” designation and many professional development workshops. Dr. Piascik was a quarter-finalist for a Grammy, a WDHA Teacher who Rocks, and the SBO NJ Band Director of 2019 to name just a few recent honors. He is endorsed by Marimba One, Vic Firth, and Sabian.
