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New Scheduling Policies Unveiled For ‘12-‘13 Connor Park
Deputy Opinion Editor
cpark@seaholmhighlander.com
Exasperated sighs and frustrated groans abound. It mester, and both inside and stands a long line of impatient their schedules, the students ing to squeeze in some lastminute changes. The counselors of Seaholm
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V O I C E
F r i d a y, J a n u a r y 2 0 , 2 0 1 2
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On the FrOnt Lines OF the Future Photoillustration By Simon Schuster
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his freshman mentees, has made multiple attempts to contact them. He has not received much effort in return. “Well, I struggle to get a text
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-
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Simon Schuster Editor-in-Chief
Still, Mullen expressed his desire to form a better rela-
sdschuster@seaholmhighlander.com
develop her students into more versatile learners.
Putting the Future into Practice
scheduling process is that in addition to completing the online registration process, students must then bring a hard -
ter,” Mullen said.
- learn.” Pinneo said.
tion of 21st Teaching and Learning, Seaholm also has its veterans.
their counselor for discussion The counselors hope that
freshman assimilate to the
at seaholm wIthout experIencIng learnIng InItIatIve. the InItIatIve’s
after only 12 weeks, the jury Is stIll very much out on the teachIng and learnIng. the HigHlander wIll examIne four lInes
learnIng lessons
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-
kkuhne@seaholmhighlander.com
-
changes,” Lancaster said. “It
-
Opinion Editor
help, and act as an overall big brother or sister. But this program is not turning out to be the big success that the mentors, and the
Principal Deanna Lancaster is one of several administrators that helped to develop the change.
– and need. Counselor Walter Romano -
Kit Kuhne
guide to the freshman, help -
method has been proposed for students to register for next
selors and administrators at Seaholm to develop a more
Directors Look to Revamp Kick-Off Program
success.
classrooms.
implementing the methods since he began his teaching career in 1995.
in the old registration pro-
- over 10 minutes,” Carleton said. “We had to do activi-
through the online service and do it online,” Romano
mentoring program and being a part of it, the freshmen stu“I love the mentoring program,” Moore said. “But I
-
The number one reason be-
-
-
not into it.”
Brian Flatter feels that the old
-
-
-
propriate.”
-
from this program. While she freshmen, she is devoted to the program and the students
-
-
-
it done” attitude of the old scheduling process, counselors noticed that students
felt the approach had considerable merit.
- self and Mr. Carleton teaching other core material in
signed up for, instead opting
-
students,” Rosen said. “The the situation and the program have excelled and have a lot
to their schedules. Rebecca Rossen is one of the counsel-
and had an easier process assimilating into Seaholm.” She understands the frustra-
“The trend here has been
facing because of the inaction from the program.
change their schedule.
-
cessful people do.” The Complete Story on Pg. 2
This
-
Administrators and
lot of connections have been See KOM / Pg. 3
See SCHEDULE / Pg. 3
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The Black Keys make an Seaholm custodian has Cheating on the ACT Shawn Conway has 2 Administrators clamp impact on their second a night job you wouldn’t has been taken to the faced a long road to 4 down on Seaholm’s expect. album in 12 months. redemption. His story. next level. 5 dances. 6 7 See Page 5 See Page 4 See Page 7 See Page 2 See Page 6
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Friday, January 20, 2012 the highlander 248.203.3803 www.seaholmhighlander.com
Face to Face and Leave Some Space Carolynn Gragg Staff Writer
cgragg@seaholmhighlander.com
In a meeting with Kick Off Mentors on Friday, January 13, Principal Dee Lancaster re-
Seaholm House Rules The House Rules will be a set of principles, or guidelines to inspire Maple students to act positively. “Rules are usually thought of as negative orders, the House Rules are not to fall under that category. They are guidelines focusing on positively responding to what happened, rather than reacting to negativity,” senior Timothy Christensen stated. The creation of the House Rules was made a priority after the reaction our student body showed to situations where inappropriate racial remarks were publicized last year. The members of Birmingham Voice, a group that promotes positive behavior at Seaholm, are currently working with all the suggested ideas, creating a rough draft to distribute for further input. To improve the content of the rules, meetings are being held after school that are open to all students to voice their opinion.
Seaholm’s December dance. Piper, a person stood up and said ‘oh yeah, we all know that’s the slut dance,” Lancaster said. Junior and senior mentors laughed uncomfortably, and were quickly cut short. “That’s not funny,” counselor Rebecca Rossen said. “That’s really degrading to women.”
December dance, known to many as “the slut dance”. She said she will be enforcing changes at this dance, both regarding dress code and dance style. “We are going to be policing the dancing. It’s time to change the culture of these [dances],” she said. “I talked to Mr. Proctor at Groves and their rule is ‘face to face and leave some space’, and that’s basically what’s going to happen here.” The dress code will also be strict. “The goal is everyone wears white, and we are going to enforce jeans or leggings, I don’t want anybody coming in skirts,” she said. “I don’t want to mess with the dress code this time.” Lancaster said, if dressed inappropriately, students won’t even be allowed through the door. “If people come in [dressed] inappropriately, By: Allie Betz I’m just not going to let [them] in. I won’t even take the $10, I’m just going to stand at the door and tell people to go home, put something else on, and come back.” The venue and time has also been changed from the cafeteria to the atrium by the pool, in hope that this change will help. “The whole point is that students come straight from the basketball game, so they aren’t dressed inappropriately,” Student Congress Vice President Christy Wells said. Lancaster hopes that the turnout for this dance will be large, despite the dance and dress code restrictions. “We’ll put the DJ up above in the walkway - above the pool, and that way we will have ing the annual Seaholm talent show and they are looking for Seaholm students with a special talent to be a part of it. Auditions for the show will be held January 23 and 25 after school and January 24 and 26 Cont. from page 1 during X-Block. If interested please sign up for A Vision for EducAtion in thE 21st cEntury Seemingly one of the largest hurdles in 21st contact Robin McIntyre at mmcintyre1019@ century teaching and learning is that it is not att.net. The talent show will take place February at sulted, the meaning of what constitutes a 21st 7:00 in the auditorium. By: Kelsey McClear Century education can elicit explanations that vary wildly. To address the ambiguity of the initiative, Birmingham Publics Schools held an event on December 8 at Seaholm entitled “A 21st CTL Community Talk”. Hosted by MSU professor and Educational Technology expert Dr. Punya Mishra, the event consisted of a presentation from Mishra with a question and answer session afterwards with a panel made up of faculty, administrators and Dr. Mishra. Through the analysis of 14 different reports on the topic, Mishra described the three big ideas behind learning in the 21st century: foundational, meta and humanistic knowledge. Foundational knowledge involves the basic knowledge of content and the ability to seek out The cheerleading team is looking to expand and analyze information. Meta knowledge is their program after only three years. the skills necessary to implement foundational “We need a level to train and then a higher knowledge through critical thinking, problem level,” head varsity coach Jennifer Szura said. solving and collaboration. Building upon the Szura and Athletic Director Aaron Frank two previous types is humanistic knowledge, have agreed on implementing a junior varsity which is the ability to make value judgments team this year and in the future looking to ex- and be ethically and emotionally aware. “Another way of thinking about it is: What do pand it out to the middle school level as well. we know, how do we act on it, and what do we “ It’s a young program so we do want to have fun,” Szura said, “We don’t want to take down value?” Mishra said. Mishra also argued that fostering the concept Stoney Creek or Rochester, but we do want to of “deep play” when developing a 21st century be an impressive team.” approach was vital to success. Tryouts for football season will take place in “When I’m talking about deep play I mean a May and for the competitive season in Noway of constructing and seeing the world that vember. By: Kelsey McClear Mishra said. “So how do we get our kids to do that? I think that’s a very important challenge that we face.” Spearheading the effort to bring Birmingham’s classrooms into the future is David Reed-Nordwall. As Director of 21st Century Teaching and Learning for Birmingham Public Schools, Reedplicants after multiple interviews. A former Flex and English teacher at Seaholm, Reed-Nordwall introduced the Apple tablet devices, iPads, into his classes last year. The device’s implementation has proliferated to Seaholm’s faculty, with the district purchasing iPads for members of the 21st Century cohort, a staff think tank. Reed-Nordwall views his position as the product of a world that is rapidly changing. “The world, to some degree, is forcing us to look at some of these changes,” Reed-Nordwall said. “Information’s changing, jobs are changing, and students have changed themselves. We’re having an information revolution. The pressure is all around us.” The future of education has also become a topic of national conversation. On October 2011, Stanford University broadcast a roundtable discussion entitled “Education Nation 2.0”. Moderated by PBS host Charlie Rose, the discussion
SOS Talent Show Auditions
Front Lines
New JV Cheer Team
Seaholm Honors MLK With Assembly
the forefront of contemporary education. One of the panelists was Salman Khan, foundPhoto By Dylan Dulberg
Junior Stephanie McNutt, senior Shane Levy and senior Rebecca Rosen speak at the MLK assembly on Thursday January 12.
provides free videos of over 2900 “micro lectures” on various academic subjects. Khan discussed how a new approach to traditional classactually foster a more intimate environment for students. “Where we have every student working at their own pace, it’s making [the education] a more human experience. You don’t have a teacher lecturing anymore, now you have a teacher sit-
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The Seaholm atrium is the new location for the “Glow” dance. enough room,” she said. “I think it’s going to be very full.” Student Congress member Jean Miller* disagrees with Lancaster’s approach to change the culture of Seaholm dances. “This dance is going to turn into another Freeze,” she said. “The administration is going to see that the dress for these dances is not going to change simply by changing the name and venue of it.” Lancaster said she understands that teenagers need freedom, but that school might not be the best place to show that. “I want people to have fun. I’d rather have people here then out doing whatever. Anytime I can get you to a school thing, I think is great, but it’s school, it’s not the club,” she said. “If here we are going to expect school rules to apply.” Still, Lancaster wants every student to understand the line that is not to be crossed at these dances. “Behavior at this dance is going to determine what that December dance looks like next ting next to the students, you have the students interacting with each other, they’re all engaged the entire time,” Khan said. “There’s a lot of debate about the student-to-teacher ratio. What’s important is the student-to-valuable time with the teacher ratio. It’s increasing the humanity in the classroom by an order of magnitude.” Another panel member was the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Cory A. Booker. Under his administration, Newark has received over $1 billion in new economic development, with Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg donating $100 million to the city’s schools. Booker emphasized that the future of education cannot hinge on a single idea or approach. “To systematize great education, we’re going
year,” she said. “And if I have the same issues I had in December [at Glow], we’ll have Homecoming and Prom and that will be it.” Lancaster further reiterated her point in an assembly on Tuesday, January 17. ate and inappropriate for Glow. Glow is also a replacement for Sadies, in hope that it will raise more money for Prom. “Sadies has not been well attended,” Lancaster said. “It’s not a moneymaker, and this is the last moneymaker for Prom. We need the cash [for Prom], and I think this will help a lot.” Student Congress Co-President Kirstyn Shiner also looks forward to this replacement. “It will be a fun alternative to Sadie’s and a casual dance, which will be a nice change,” she said. “Plus, I think it will go well because [the administration] is setting a dress code.” Lancaster hopes that students will be able to follow the rules. If not, there will be consequences. “If you want to push the limits, to see whether or not I’m serious, try, but I’m serious this time,” Lancaster said. plained, and still isn’t really explained what is meant when we’re being told ‘No, that’s not 21st Century,’ there isn’t a follow-up ‘If you were to do it like this, then that would be 21st Century.’” Passarelli said she understands the frustrations some faculty members face. “It’s all of us trying to struggle with that when we’re being told ‘No, you’re doing it wrong, you ney,’ so you could get very pessimistic. But I’m not that kind of person.” One of the few faculty members who openly opposes the initiative is Scott Craig, and he is unabashedly vocal in his dissention. “We were told we had to begin integrating 21st Century Learning into our curriculum as of this year. There wasn’t much discussion about whether it was a good idea or not, we were just told we had to do it,” Craig said. “I think that the teaching staff knows best what works in a classroom and I think that there should have been way more consultation and discussion about what really works.” Craig claims that open dialogue about the initiative’s validity has been repressed by adminis-
sustained over long periods of time. That is sort ing on,” Booker said. “In the end, we cannot be loyal to a single distribution mechanism. We have to be, as a nation, loyal to the results that are produced for our children.” Reed-Nordwall echoes that sentiment, and emphasized that the initiative’s purpose is not to produce a product. “What this issue is not trying to do is homog“We were told we can’t really discuss whether enize instruction, because nothing about that 21st Century Learning is good or not. I’ve been is best practice,” Reed-Nordwall said. “If it’s a told that in more than one meeting,” Craig said. “Let’s just say that certain administrative then it goes completely counter to the concept entities have tried to squelch discussion about that each student has strengths and weakness- whether we should or should not go in this dies. Teachers are the same way. They learn dif- rection. They don’t want to hear evidence that is ferently, they have different methods. They’ve contrary to this.” been hired intentionally for their expertise and However, other survey responses also brought their ability, but never because they’re all the out staunch defendants of the initiative. Mitch same.” Nobis put his name next his survey’s comment. “The concern about ‘21st Century Learning’ is for A complEx concEpt, simplifiEd rAtionAlEs fostEr rEsEntmEnt 21st Century Teaching and Learning is for the change due to new technologies, so do schools. most part the brainchild of various visionaries, The invention of the pencil rocked school’s [sic] experts, and academics. Because of this, the world. The same is happening with the Interideas behind the name are strewn with jargon net,” Nobis said. “Change can be uncomfortable, and complex rationales are often presented in but progress is impossible without change.” a succinct manner that leaves many questions how do studEnts fEEl? unanswered. At the Stanford roundtable in October, Salman “So much of good teaching and best practice Khan lamented about a group that he saw as has been done for years. Now a new term is disenfranchised from the dialogue surrounding coined, gadgets are pushed down our throats the topic. “Way too much of the debate on reforming your classroom 100 percent and stop offering education is on the educators, the administrayour expertise to students. Am I obsolete?” tors, the politicians. It’s amazing how little you This comment, received anonymously from hear about the students themselves,” Khan said. a recent Highlander survey, was an example of In order to produce a barometer towards the the concerns that some faculty members feel to- initiative A Highlander survey of 154 students wards 21st Century Learning. The survey of 17 members of Seaholm’s staff made evident that was polarized in almost every aspect. while the majority of faculty members are eiWhen asked “How much did you enjoy the ther indifferent to or in support of the initiative, [21st Century] class, compared to one in a more some are resistant to the changes sweeping the traditional format?” 29 percent responded “a district. lot less,” with 20 percent for both “somewhat Yet Reed-Nordwall, when interviewed, had a more,” and “somewhat less,” 15 percent for considerably different idea of what the staff per- “About the same” and 12 percent saying they ceived the initiative to be. enjoyed the course a lot more. “My feeling from the staff is ‘Ok, it makes In terms of learning, 27 percent placed the - amount they learned on par with a traditional tion of 21st century] means great teaching, rich classroom, with 24 percent responding “somecontent, the best practice stuff, and when tech- what less,” and 22 percent gauging the amount nology is used it’s leveraged,” Reed-Nordwall learned as much less. said. “Versus ‘It’s students teaching themselves, Echoing Pinneo’s statements about students it’s chaos. The teacher doesn’t even matter any- no longer being passive, 45% of students said more, and it’s all about the computer. As long that they had to put forward more effort than as they’re on the computer they’re learning.’ Ev- they had in other classes, with an additional erything that any teacher has ever known is that 20% reporting they they had to put forward an that can’t be true.” equivalent amount. Even among Seaholm’s faculty, it’s evident that Even so, the Highlander faculty survey found there can be a considerable disconnect between that comprehension levels and test score for the the perspective of teachers and administrators. most part were not adversely affected, if not imBusiness Technology teacher Leisa Passarelli proved by the initiative. is another member of the 21st Century Cohort. Like his job entails, Reed-Nordwall is already She believes the initial perceptions of the initia- looking ahead to the future. tive may still hamper it. “Change is uncomfortable. Change causes “21st Century, even before it was formalized as frustration,” Reed-Nordwall said. “We have to an initiative, everyone took to mean technology. look at this frustration and think, ‘why are we I think that resentment … is really more a com- frustrated?’ and what’s the next thing we’re gomunication issue,” Passarelli said. “It wasn’t ex- ing to do.”
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