The concept of curriculum alignment is simple. The district has created a specific curriculum for core classes that it wants all Seattle public high school teachers to adhere to and teach from. If put into action at Nova, it would severely limit the classes available and cut down many possible student-led classes. The variety of class choices and student-led classes are two facets of Nova that are big reasons most students are attracted to the school in the first place. But before I attempt to discredit the notion that could be the end of Nova as an alternative school, allow me to show you the districts’ reasoning for curriculum alignment, as posted on their website.

Our Commitment

Seattle Public Schools is committed to ensuring high expectations and high quality schools for every student.
As part of a system-wide effort to increase the number of Seattle Public School students who graduate from
high school prepared for college and the 21st century workforce, Seattle Public Schools has committed to
aligning curriculum in core academic subjects across all high schools. Our mission is to move from saying all
students will experience a highly rigorous academic experience, to providing, through our
aligned curriculum, that they do.

Providing every student with the same curriculum does not provide students with an equal learning opportunity. Different students learn in different ways, and the simple existence of alternative schools speaks to that. In a recent address made to the school board by a Nova student named Arianne Golding, she cited that in 2007 (the most recent available data) Nova students had the highest average SAT scores in both the writing and reading sections. This is an example of measurable academic success—a term often used by the district to describe what Nova needs to showcase to remain alternative.

What Curriculum Alignment is and is not?

An aligned curriculum is a coherent and consistent progression of content, instruction and
assessment within and across a course of study. In an aligned system, common rigorous
expectations for student learning in any one grade level are consistent across the district, grade level
expectations build on the prior year’s work and feed into the next year, and teachers
have the materials and training to teach the content to their students.

Curriculum alignment guides teachers in what to teach but not how to teach. Indeed, curriculum alignment
places a high value on teacher creativity and passion, and does encourage appropriate acceleration,
differentiation and curriculum integration.

Teachers are most creative and passionate when they are teaching what interests them most. I confess that I absorbed much more information about genetics as my biology teacher gushed over the subject last semester than I did when she skimmed over photosynthesis due to her general disinterest in the subject. Teachers reach students best when they themselves think what they are teaching is truly important and interesting. Our original courses allow all teachers to teach their passions, while an aligned curriculum would only provide the possibility of such a happenstance.

Why is Curriculum Alignment Necessary?

Presently, core academic high school courses with the same name do not adhere to the same content,
standards or expectations, even in the same school building. One could argue that students currently
are subjected to a lottery of sorts, in which the quality of their academic experience is, in part, attributed
to the chance of scheduling. As a result, some students have the experience of learning the same content
repeatedly in different courses that are designed to participate in a sequence.
And some students complete courses with gaps in their learning.

I personally, can attest to the problem of gaps in education being one I feel I have experienced here at Nova. But this is why the coordinator system is in place. Coordinators have seen how each core class prepares students, and recommends classes accordingly. At the beginning of this semester I felt that there was a gap in my mathematics credits, in that I had never taken a geometry class. My coordinator assured me though, that the majority of a geometry class would be review to me, and he assigned me to precalculus. I have thus far been able to understand all the concepts presented to me in precalculus, and I feel more challenged and better prepared as a result of my coordinator’s judgment. If you listen to your coordinator and trust in their recommendations, there should be no reason for gaps in your education at Nova.

Alignment Among and Across Courses

Each course in the SPS curriculum will be aligned horizontally with identified course outcomes so
that courses with the same name across SPS high schools reach established goals and expectations.
Content courses will be aligned vertically to ensure students possess the knowledge and skills to be
successful in the next course in the sequence. Not only will the high school curriculum be aligned to
the college-ready standards but also to the middle school curriculum that precedes the high school
educational experience. Future alignment work will include backwards mapping down to Pre-K
with the goal of a fully aligned Pre-K-12 school system.

If you also feel that curriculum alignment will be detrimental to Nova and wish to voice your concerns, I highly recommend you attempt to speak at a school board meeting. Board meetings are generally held twice monthly on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, at 6:00 p.m., with some exceptions. The meetings are located at the John Stanford center at 2445 3rd Avenue South in the SoDo business district. You can schedule a slot on the agenda to speak beginning at 8 AM the Monday before a meeting by calling (206) 252-0040. There are only 20 slots available so don’t be discouraged if you are denied on your first try.

In 2007 Radiohead released their 7th studio album, In Rainbows, through their website. The album was released via digital download for any price the listener wanted to pay, setting a new standard in how albums were released. In Rainbows is my favorite album of all time. The album is absolutely incredible from start to finish. When I end up listening to a song from In Rainbows I usually give myself 40 minutes to listen to the entire album. This album affirms a statement I could scream from the top of any large building; Radiohead is the greatest band ever.

1. “15 Step” – The beat at the beginning really sets the tone for the rest of the song. Thom Yorke’s vocals fly in, spouting fantastically catchy lyrics. When the guitar rolls itself in it rolls in smooth, like velvet to the ear, each note resonating . The song builds itself with the coolest sounds around all the instruments. When the song ends it ends well, with the coolest noises fading themselves to extinction.

2. “Bodysnatchers” – The only heavy guitar song on the album. The riff is brilliant, but what truly makes this song beautiful is the second guitars. The song rocks from beginning to end, rolling itself on. Thom’s vocals are again brilliant, the vocal melody sounds fantastic over everything. Behind the well painted wall of noise, the drums seem to holding everything together. The bridge is one of the coolest guitar riffs I’ve ever heard, off of this, the song rolls to an outro, climaxing in a firework finish.

3. “Nude” – My favorite song of all time, every single little noise on this song is beautiful. The bass holds up the whole song and each pluck of each string leaves butterflies trapped in my stomach, gorgeous to every extent it could be. The vocals fly through the inter-space, in between every little noise; they feel like neon lights flowing through the midnight sky. All the backwards noises and strings resonate so well, pushing the rest of beauty in your face. The song reverberates everywhere leaving notes to be heard in every corner. The first time I heard this song I listened to it at least 4 or 5 times just over and over. So absolutely beautiful.

4. “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” – The drum line that kicks off the song is strong and is the wonderful start to yet another fantastic recording. The guitar line is absolutely pleasant, swirling itself over everything. The lyrics are beautiful and I recommend you take the time to listen to every word. The bridge concludes the beauty and leads to a new section with its very own new kind of beauty. The sustained guitar and every other noise that this incredible explosion of an outro imparts is perfect leading the song to a fiery finish.

5. “All I Need” – This song is its own other worldly composition. Seemingly a very gorgeous love song, the lyrics shooting so much want with every word. The music is great the glockenspiel floats melds with the Rhodes Piano leaving behind so much beauty. The guitar is used to sustain notes that float under everything lifting the song to the right height. When the normal piano kicks in, the song moves, as if it was dancing, to a beautiful finish.

6. “Faust Arp” – An incredible acoustic composition the guitar is fantastic, the vocal melody is gorgeous, and the lyrics are absolutely brilliant. The strings float above everything else, leaving this one minute song to seem like a life time of wonderful little noises.

7. “Rekoner” – The most entrancing drums I’ve ever heard all the different sound fall into place to create all the beauty. The guitar sounds extremely delicate, with the vocals being even more so, but the drums hold them making them just insanely beautiful. The strings work themselves over all the other noises weaving gorgeous melodies by themselves. The bridge stops all, with only the guitar and vocal to string together their beauty with the melody they are co-dependent with, the background vocals slip in unnoticed but truly are their own individual beauty’s, the strings just execute even more beauty upon the top of everything. The song goes back to a verse finally flowing back to an outro. With background vocals from Ed O’Brien soaring the song ends.

8. “House Of Cards” – Striking a new note of beauty the is song remains empty while the others seemed so full, with the space around refreshing and enticing my ears. Every single background noise is worth finding, everything is so reverberated and just insanely gorgeous. The guitar works wonders sounding so so so lovely. The other guitars a played with a quarter sliding over top and are easy to get lost in. It flows to a beautiful ending.

9. “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” – The track that is so well executed, every instrument melds with its counterpart to create just a straight up fantastic song. No studio tricks, just a great melody and great rhythm. The lyrics have to be the best part; they leave so many pictures to float around endlessly. A truly great song from start to finish.

10. “Videotape” – The end of the fantastic journey begins with a soaring piano that works wonders. The vocal melody is positively insane with so much beautiful energy just flowing around it. The sampled vocals stand above all creating gorgeous texture. A drum machine shooting off random drum patterns works wonders in the background. The song finally flows to a soft finish, ending the masterpiece that is In Rainbows.

This concludes my 5 pieces on albums of the 2000’s. Each album is one that I hold dear to my heart, and I hope you enjoy every one of them.

#2 Discovery by Daft Punk

After releasing what is considered to be one of the most influential dance albums of the Nineties, Daft Punk was kidnapped and replaced by robots, and in 2000 the robots, under the name Daft Punk, released one of the greatest albums of all time. The album works perfectly from start to finish, each song running congruently with the next. The album was a step away from Daft Punk’s earlier established sound, using synth-based music, guitars and vocals, creating something new yet again in the dance music world.

1. “One More Time”- From start to finish the song is catchy, the chopped up sample sounds awesome, and works perfectly alongside the four on the floor beat. House music legend Romanthony is featured on vocals, which have been auto tuned to greatness. The vocals repeat for five minutes, yet everything keeps rolling till the end.

2. “Aerodynamic”- Starts right off of “One More Time”, with a funk/rock beat, with guitar tapping that could trump even the best guitarists, it pushes the song to the next level. When the bell strikes for the last time synth floats in, sweeping over everything, flying around the remains of the previous noises, carrying the song to it’s end.

3. “Digital Love”- A truly romantic love song, that fuses together elements of classic rock, eighties synth music, and house. The lyrics are very personal, whispering through the vocoder beautiful messages, it seems as if Daft Punk is pouring their hearts on the listener with this song. The synth sounds are graceful and work with the chopped up samples of the song “I Love You More” by George Duke. It contains a guitar solo (something not a lot of electronic artists have), which is pumped full of emotion. The solo helps the song ground before it’s end.

4. “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”- The song kicks in with a sample of the Edwin Birdsong song “Cola Bottle Baby”. This is one of the best produced songs I have honestly ever heard, everything is mixed perfectly. The vocoded voice repeats “Work it/Harder/Make it/ Better/Do it/Faster/Makes us/Stronger/More than/Ever/Hour after/Our work is/Never/Over” imprinting it on your brain so you know every word and want to sing along right away. This is a song everybody has probably heard and remembered, it bounces straight to the finish with everything tightly working together.

5. “Crescendolls”- Starts with a very heavy drum beat, leaving the synth that fades in a surprise, pleasantly blipping around the soundscape, funny thing is the song hasn’t even started yet. It hits off with a looped sample of Anthony and the Imperials song “Can You Imagine.” The song is very danceable, it is awesome all the way to its finish.

6. “Nightvision”- The cool down track, the synth overlays itself with pretty melodies shaping the album in a new direction.

7. “Superheros”- Starts with a drum roll, which is perfect for what’s about to come. The beat is straight four on the floor with a sample of Barry Manilow’s “Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed?” fading in to the mix. The couple of synths that layer themselves over the rest of the song set a new standard in the arrangement on the album, each working with the other to shove this song in your memories forever.

8. “High Life”- The chopped and pitch-shifted sample of Tavare’s “Breakdown For Love” bounces up and down up to kick of the song. After a few bars the bass punches right in heartbeat style, beating hard. This is one of my favorite songs on the record if not favorite, The repetition of the vocals produces a lovely atmosphere, with all the sounds flowing around so wonderfully. The song is very straight forward, yet there is a lot of listening room for all the sounds taking place at one time.

9. “Something About Us”- A love song for the ages, the synth is fantastic, the bass is fantastic, everything is fantastic. The lyrics are very quiet yet they scream so much love and passion, “I need you more than anything in my life.” Everything eventually leads into the equally beautiful guitar solo which drags the song to its finish.

10. “Voyager”- Some of the coolest loops, great to take a walk to. It makes everything around me feel urgent and important. The bass is the highlight of the song as it keeps the main melody. The guitar loop has ravishing tone that echos around and sinks in perfectly to the mix. The song is very minimalist, ye all the parts work well enough that it doesn’t matter, another example of the genius of Daft Punk.

11. “Verdis Quo”- A very beautiful composition, the instruments are very soft and comforting, as the beat fades in, the song works within itself to repeat all the beauty over and over until it has done itself enough, where it safely lands leaving the next song ready to take off.

12. “Short Circuit”- An awesome beat, an awesome synth noise, fast and loud, runs right past.

13. “Face to Face”-The beats are incredible with the lyrics. Vocals are by Todd Edwards, whose voice sounds fantastic, there is a uncredited sample that works as a chorus. Tons of background noises, each well worth listening to.

14. “Too Long”- My favorite song on the record. The beginning percussion is incredible, keeping everything on the ride, Romanthony is featured once again (this time not autotuned), and like before, he delivers. When the bass and the keyboard kick in the song is really moving. As the song pushes in to a new direction it acquires one of the coolest sounds I have ever heard (most likely another uncredited sample). The vocals fade back in so well, and goes great with the new direction of the song. This song is absolute genius, a climactic ending to what I believe to be one of the best albums of all time.

One of my favorite bands, one of my favorite records. Daft Punk is incredible and I recommend buying anything they put their name on.

Picture taken from www.discogs.com.