World Is Our Campus The The World Is Our Campus Volume 62, Issue 2
October 2014
Arcadia High School 180 Campus Drive, Arcadia, CA
Changing Education at its Core
In this issue:
Photo courtesy of BLOGSPOT.COM
OPINION pg. 4 Self-acceptance: The faults we possess inherently don’t subtract from who we are as a person.
Photo courtesy of Ryan Foran
NEW STATE ASSESSMENT AUSD hopes to revamp the way that students are tested through the incorporation of new technology and teaching practices into the classroom. By SUKANYA MUKHERJEE Photo courtesy of CREEPYLA.COM
PERFORMING ARTS pg. 8 Frightful Fun : Tired of trick-ortreating? Check out these events taking place in LA this Halloween.
Photo by BEN GEISBERG
SPORTS pg. 16 Homecoming 2K14: Get a recap of the Homecoming Game and accompanying festivities that took place. Have a question, comment, or concern about The Apache Pow Wow? Email the Editors-in-Chief at eic.powwow@gmail.com Find us online at arcadiapowwow.wordpress.com
Staff Writer The days of scantrons and STAR booklets are gone, and have now been replaced with the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA). Chromebooks are being dispersed throughout the AUSD and minimum days have been added to students’ schedules. As new procedures and standards are introduced, the effects of Common Core can be felt by both teachers and students. The SBA, the new standardized test in California, is the first standardized test that is completed using computers. After the administration of the SBA field test last year, the AUSD has added 3,600 Chromebooks— which amounts to 100 class sets—to “further support its technology in the classroom,” according to the district. Aside from enhancing the classroom experience, Chromebooks were also implemented to help familiarize students with the new testing format of the SBA. In addition to the new Chromebooks, seven minimum days have been added to the school year in order to give teachers time to collaborate and discuss these new Common Core state standards. During these minimum days, teachers form into groups of roughly eight to ten people to learn about different aspects of Common Core and how to implement
technology and innovative teaching methods to support the new Common Core standards. At first glance, Common Core can be perceived as a new set of standards that outlines the skills each student should master by the end of each grade level. Serving as a Common Core coach this year, Ms. Ashley Novak stated that it is much more than a new set of standards; it is instead “a whole transformation of the way that we learn, a transformation of who we are as teachers and who we are as learners. Students,” she emphasized, “are given more of a leadership role than ever before.” As students grow up in a technology-based world, many view Common Core as a step forward to integrate the advances of the 21st century into the classroom. For junior Tina Fann, the integration of Common Core is an interesting change. Tina “likes turning in assignments to Google Classroom,” an application on Google Chrome, because it “saves paper, and [she] can see the grade once [her] teachers have reviewed it.” The best part, she joked, is that “all of [her] assignments are in [her] student drive so [she] doesn’t have to worry about losing anything!” As for the SBA, Tina confessed that she’s “never taken a test on a computer before,” but is still “curious to see how it will work out at the end of the year.” Traditionally, teachers lecture in class and assign students homework to complete at home. For Mr. Peter Vo and Mr. Jorge Munoz, Common Core has influenced them to “flip” their
classrooms in their AP Environmental Science classes. This means students listen to lectures in the form of PowerPoints with their teachers’ voice-overs at home, while doing labs, and any other activities in class. But, with this being the first year of implementation for Common Core, there are some aspects to improve upon. Common Core encourages more open ended labs, and, with students creating their own labs, “it’s been harder to grade—there used to be a definite correct answer,” but now “anything you say, as long as it can be supported, can be the answer,” said Mr. Vo. In the Math Department, Ms. Kerry King is “a little frustrated with Common Core” because while it “was originally said to require fewer standards that would allow us to go into more indepth in the material” in Algebra 2, “that’s not true.” Ms. King hopes to work in subject groups to further understand what Common Core means for the Math Department and its curriculum. While there are disagreements about procedures, Dr. Brent Forsee stated that he believes “the concept behind it is pure” and that Common Core will prepare students to “solve real world problems.” Of course, Common Core is still a work in progress, but its success will depend on the collaboration of teachers and students, and on what Common Core evolves into in the future. smukherjee@apachepowwow.com