Samo curriculum to focus on writing

Camille De BeusStaff WriterSamo’s curriculum will drastically change over the next two years as part of a national shift toward the Common Core Standards, which adjust the focus of school from content learning to application.These new educational standards were proposed by the United States Council of Chief State School Officers in 2010, and were adopted by 45 out of 50 states. The Common Core is now sweeping the nation, as states adopt the standards to create unified curriculum.According to the Common Core website, the Common Core Standards were drawn up to prepare students for 21st century learning, which involves less memorization and more application of knowledge.“To deliver on the promise of common standards, the standards must address the problem of a curriculum that is ‘a mile wide and an inch deep,’” the website said.The biggest changes will be seen in history and science classes at Samo. There are already plans for the history department at Samo, which will have students focus more on writing as a result of the Common Core Standards.I-House Principal Renée Semik  said that students can expect to see more Document Based Question (DBQ) essays in their history classes, which require students to develop a position on an issue and argue it after reading a historical document.Social Studies Department Chair Amy Bisson said that the Common Core will be an extension of a past trend for Samo.“In the past year we’ve already been trying to build in more writing into the curriculum,” Bisson said. “Hopefully there won’t be too many changes.”Chemistry teacher Sarah Lipetz said that the when the common core standards are implemented, the main emphasis in science will be placed on reading and writing of academic texts to explain scientific phenomena.English teachers at Samo also plan on restructuring the way they teach their classes around the Common Core Standards.“One of the things that you’re going to see is a lot of non-fiction coming back into the English classrooms because the tests themselves and the Common Core Standards emphasize [the] idea that students need to be dealing with more real world information — understanding it, being able to write about it and synthesizing it,” English teacher Maria Stevens said.Samo student Gilda Alez (’14) thinks that the Common Core changes will improve how students learn.“At first, switching the teaching focus might make learning harder for students, but once they get the hang of it, the Common Core Standards will probably help students better understand the material they are learning,” Alez said.cdebeus@thesamohi.com