Toms River Regional's own Neil Mastroianni was recently honored by 95.9 WRAT as a "Teacher Who Rocks" for his contributions as a biology teacher.

It is a teacher's goal to "make a difference." Once in a while, a teacher comes along who does that for not only the pupils in his or her classes over the course of a career, but also for their colleagues and, in turn, the pupils they teach. This is the case with Neil Mastroianni. Not only is he an exceptional advanced placement and honors Biology teacher, he is a leader in the area of technology and a visionary who is leading our district into the twenty-first century by bringing a new web-based technology to every classroom. This program that Neil created utilizes software called "Moodle" to allow each teacher to create their own, interactive web page to communicate with parents and students as well as their colleagues, post assignments and curriculum material and even evaluate student progress.

Neil has been teaching in Toms River since 2002. He was inspired by his own AP Biology teacher at Toms River HS North, Don Holmquist. Don was clearly a teacher who rocked! He inspired so many students to pursue the field of Biology and mentored and befriended Neil. Our whole district was stunned to lose Don to a brain tumor just as Neil was launching his career. The loss devastated Neil, but like all great individuals, he used his grief to focus his energy to become the best teacher he could.

Over the past few years, Neil earned his graduate degree while working full time. Once he completed his graduate work, he began teaching himself all about web building through Internet based courses. He recorded lectures and provided podcasts for his students. (Students can use their MP3 players to download his Biology lectures to help them study.) He created an outstanding web site but was dissatisfied with this because it did not allow enough interaction. This is when he discovered the "Moodle" software. He set up his own site where he could chat online with students if they need help at home while they complete the assignments. He can communicate with parents to let them know when students will be tested and what they are studying as well as if anyone begins to struggle. But Neil wasn't satisfied with that either. He has a vision that this same technology could be used to network teachers and administrators as well. He envisioned all teachers in our district setting up a Moodle to communicate with their pupils and their parents. Neil created "TR Teach." He began training focus groups at the intermediate level in the summer, and his idea caught fire.

Today, Toms River is in the first phase of rolling out Neil's TR Teach district wide. He will be directly training one teacher in every discipline to create TR Teach pages across the board. Those teachers will be training the other teachers in their field. Neil's idea has the potential to directly enhance the education of each one of the nearly 18,000 students in the Toms River School District. Neil is clearly indeed making a difference. He is making a difference for his students, his colleagues, the other students in our district and students for generations to come.

Other Teachers Who Rock:

• Mrs. Cyndee Policastro-Smith
• Mr. Neil Mastroianni
• Miss Pina DiBrizzi