NO DEBATE

CHS removes communication course graduation requirement beginning 2020-2021 school year

RHEA ACHARYA STORY HS will drop the current speech and debate graduation requirement beginning next school year, according to Assistant Principal Valerie Piehl.

Piehl said this requirement has always been CHS specific, not mandated by the state of Indiana. She said Indiana requires school districts to provide a good combination of instruction in literature, non-fiction, reading and speaking throughout a student’s high school years; however, they don’t need to have focused classes in those areas.

Piehl added that a recent evaluation of the district’s literacy program prompted this change, as it showed parents and students were looking for more choices in English classes. The school then cut the communications requirement in an effort to encourage students to take other English electives they might be more interested in.

Senior Grace Reisinger, who took etymology as an elective class in her sophomore year and had planned to take biblical literature as an elective this semester before dropping it to free up her schedule, said she thinks the requirement removal will accomplish this goal.

Reisinger said not having this speech and debate requirement would have allowed her to take a different English elective, L202.

Q&A “If I didn’t have to take a speech credit, I probably would not have taken AP Capstone Research and would have taken other English classes like L202,” Reisinger said. “I took AP Capstone Research because it counts as my speech credit and L202 did not.” Piehl said the school has received positive feedback from English teachers regarding this decision. She said, “(The teachers) really seemed to like the change, as now they can offer more choices to students and maybe try to also find classes that would be the best fit for students.”

English teacher Amanda Richmond said she thinks public speaking is a valuable skill for students to learn whether they do so in a speech class or through other means. Glossophobia, also known as the fear of public speaking, affects almost 75% of people and is thought to present itself around the age of 13. did you know? REMEDY HEALTH MEDIA SOURCE SOFT SPOKEN: Senior Grace Reisinger tutors during SRT on Feb. 12.Reisinger helped tutor by peer editing a research essay. C ANJALI NATARAJAN PHOTO

Richmond said, “Everyone needs to know how to be comfortable speaking even to small groups—maybe not huge public venues, but we have a society that’s so bent on technology that we don’t really speak to one another. We also have a society that’s really bent on not communicating and really just yelling our points. So, (in) P155, the goal is really that you listen and that you speak in order to appeal in some ways to hostile people who don’t want to listen.”

Reisinger agreed and added that students can learn this skill through any English class at CHS.

She said, “We do presentations and public speaking in every English class in high school. Taking speech is really nice and can be really cool because you

mackenzie misterka, speech team co-captain and junior RHEA ACHARYA Q & A, PHOTO How does speech team differ from a speech class?

Public speaking skills are crucial to have as you grow up and start becoming more involved in society because communication is a skill that is relevant to every field. Whether you’re going into dentistry or law, you are going to have to be able to communicate. You gain the same skills of being able to be confident and courageous in expressing yourself, but I would almost argue that being on something like a speech team is more appealing because we have so much fun doing speech events that it feels like a game. It is something we enjoy. We literally do your greatest fear for fun. Why are speaking skills important?

We have a society that’s so bent on technology that we don’t really speak to one another. We also have a society that’s really bent on not communicating with one another and really just yelling our points.

ENGLISH TEACHER AMANDA RICHMOND

can learn all the actual techniques. But I think that if you just need to learn how to speak in front of a group of people, any English class here will do that for you because all the classes are so big that you get that experience talking in front of a group of people.”

Despite speech not being required, Richmond acknowledged that students might choose to take P155 for potential college credit and thinks many students will still to enroll in it. “You can get credit through IU for taking P155,” Richmond said. “It’s an awesome way to get cheap credit from IU so why not? If you have any interest in going to an in-state college, then P155 is a good choice for you.”

Reisinger, Piehl and Richmond agreed that with this change, it’s easier for students to explore English electives more interesting to them than communications classes without having to “double up” on English classes.

“We require students to take eight credits in English,” Piehl said. “We keep some pretty strict limits on seven of those, so we want to open up a little more options for the eighth credit to our students, knowing that (all English classes offered) are all some pretty great classes.” h

choose your own adventure Learn more about the different classes that now fulfill graduation requirements for a student’s seventh and eighth English credits PICK EITHER PATH

= prerequisite needed = full-weight course, can earn college credit KEY FOR CLASSES

FULL YEAR COURSES The following courses fulfill both the composition and miscellaneous English requirement that students must complete in their senior year in order to graduate. AP English Language and Composition Students analyze authors’ rhetorics and create their own arguments with a focus on timed writes AP Capstone Research PREREQUISITE: AP CAPSTONE SEMINAR Students plan, execute and present research project. AP English Literature and Composition Students read novels, discuss poetry and learn how to write about literature in timed writes IB English (Second Year) PREREQUISITE: IB ENGLISH (FIRST YEAR) Students discuss and analyze literary works

COMPOSITION SEMESTER Advanced Composition In preparation for college writing courses, students will write multiple text-based compositions in both informal and formal tones. This is an Indiana Academic Standards-based course W131 Following IU’s curriculum for this class, students will learn how to integrate summary, critique, analysis, synthesis, research and documentation into their writing. This course is focused on academic writings

If you follow the blue boxes, you must take at least one class from each box

MISCELLANEOUS SEMESTER = satisfied the previous communication requirement *indicates class can be taken in 11th grade to fulfill credit

Debate* Students do research and present their argument in Public Forum, Lincoln-Douglas, and Congressional debate styles L202 PREREQUISITE: W131, AP English score of 4 or 5, SAT Reading 670+ or ACT Reading 32+. Students study English literature & non-fiction Etymology* Students learn Greek and Latin roots as well as connotative and denotative defintions of words, building their vocabulary Classical Literature* Students discuss mythology and other key features while reading classical poetry and prose American Literature* Students read and analyze American writing from the pre-Revolutionary war time period to present Literary Movements* Students study trends and major developments in both European and American literary worlds English Literature* Students read and determine historial significance of a variety of literary works from Britain Biblical Literature* Students in a non-religious setting dissect the Bible as a literary text, focusing on plot, themes, characters, etc Speech* Students will prepare for and deliver multiple types of speeches to different audiences for different purposes P155 Students will learn and perform different speech styles, focusing on their rhetoric, purpose and audience