HACKENSACK - Hackensack High School teacher Terry Caliste is a man with a mission - making kids love numbers.
After a successful job teaching math on television, he is using his skills to teach lively and animated math lessons to students who are considered by some to be underachievers. He makes the subject interesting while bringing discipline to the classroom.
"I want to raise the bar of expectations as high as possible," said Caliste, who's been teaching at the school for two years. "A lot of times with these kids, we need to plant the seeds of motivation and confidence to overcome this doubt - these negative expectations that they've experienced and lived. We need to build their self-esteem and make them feel good about themselves."
Caliste, 45, produced and hosted "Knowledge Base," a 30-minute math show that aired weekly across the state on the Cable Television Network of New Jersey.
In the high school program, students are evaluated as early as middle school, taking into account a youngster's study habits, maturity, and ability to grasp challenging subjects.
The program's goal is to help students improve math skills in the first year of high school so they won't fall behind in later years, unable to do well on standardized tests required by the state to graduate.
"Some kids are unable to perform in a more advanced [educational] environment," said Joseph DeFalco, the principal. "For those kids, we wanted to set up a program that deals with homework, tutoring, basic skills. ... We wanted to teach kids how to learn, manage their time, and study for tests."
A former adjunct professor at Monmouth College and statistician with AT&T Laboratories, Caliste also used to run his own consulting business showing school districts how to improve standardized test scores.
His motivation now is working in the classroom where he routinely looks over his students' shoulders, prodding them to try harder and applauding their efforts.
As Nelson Gomez, 14, worked an algebra problem last week, the teacher spotted a faulty technique.
When Gomez caught on, Caliste encouraged him.
"You're going to make the honor roll next marking period, Brother," Caliste said.
Although the class began only a few months ago, there has been success.
Six students have pulled their grades up to B averages, making the honor roll and thus eliminating the need to attend.
It is a goal Said Elhitawy, another student, has set for himself.
"I want to be good in math," said Elhitawy, 15, who fell behind in his schoolwork after moving here from Egypt and switching schools several times. "I want to get an A."
In an afternoon remedial workshop, Caliste spends three days a week after school drilling ninth-grade students on basic principles of math, going over equations, eyeballing written work, and questioning answers.
The mandatory remedial class, dubbed the Academic Enrichment Program, was set up by Hackensack educators last September to help entering ninth-grade students adjust to the demands of high school. Although Caliste specializes in teaching basic math and algebra, his job is also to help students boost their grades, improve study habits, and focus on schoolwork.
No talking, horseplay, or pranks are allowed.
Neither is lateness or sloppy dressing.
"Every day, we come prepared to work," he tells the class.
The classroom is filled mostly with minority students, a reflection of the school's multiethnic makeup.
Because of that diversity, Caliste, who is African-American, said his role as a mentor is even more challenging.
"My motivation is representing an image that a lot of these kids can identify with," said Caliste. "I've worked with hundreds of kids who've never seen a black male math teacher."
When one student comes in late, Caliste, a communicator, motivator, and old-school disciplinarian, takes him outside to the hallway for a stern reprimand.
"Get that frown off your face, boy," Caliste tells one student. And addressing the whole class, he reminds them: "Every day, we come prepared to work."
John A. Gavin's e-mail address is gavin@northjersey.com
