For the second year in a row, I have created and submitted an entry for the Georgetown Super 8 Film festival. I am by no means a professional filmmaker, but I have had fun these past two years, going out into my community and creating a story to share with my friends. The purpose of this event is just that: to showcase amateur films in the lost medium of super 8 without juries or awards to dampen the creative spirit.

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.

Semester after semester, class sign-ups can usually be guaranteed to create havoc and sometimes panic in the halls of Nova–but why not get a head-start on your class decision making by getting a sneak preview? Traditionally Bridge Week is when students would finally view, research, and decide on their class picks–but the course catalog is actually information that is readily available right now! You can check it out at TinySis, the same system used by the faculty for keeping track of students, right over there —–> http://nova.tinysis.org/catalog?category_id=-1&facilitator_id=-1&term_id=30 But beware! While you can get a preview of the classes here, the time for each course is still subject to change.

Bridge Week will be from the 25th to the 28th of this month, with class sign-ups currently being projected for Thursday, and no school on Friday. If you are interested in Bridge Week, Bridge Week Committee has begun planning already. Students should be aware that Bridge Week for this coming semester will be similar in some regards to the first week of school, presently it is planned that students will be expected to attend just one Anti-Oppression Training. These trainings are mandatory and will last two hours. For a variety of reasons, all of them for our benefit, the trainings will be occurring many times during the course of Bridge Week, and only one two hour session sometime during the week will necessary. Many workshops have already been planned, although if you or your committee would like to have space for a workshop you must contact Bridge Week Committee by January 15th.

Located at 400 23rd Avenue in the Central District is Garfield High School, home of the safe and confidential Garfield/Nova Teen Health Center. It is a useful resource where students can receive free medical and mental health care including nutritional information, therapy sessions, relationship help, shots and health care, contraception services, as well as STI/STD and pregnancy tests and solutions. It also provides assistance with drug addiction, recovery, services, and information. The THC is operated by Seattle Children’s Hospital and can be found in room 102 between the hours of 7:30 AM – 3:00 PM during the school week.

In order to experience the full variety of services the Teen Health Center offers such as sports physicals and vaccines, students must complete a full consent form, which includes a parent/guardian consent form. This signature is not required for information, therapy, and sexual health services (including the HPV vaccine series for sexually active females), although a minor consent form must still be filled out by the student. These can be attained either through Nova across the hall from the office, at the Teen Health Center, or online. Time slots are available by appointment only, and should be made in advance because spots can get filled quickly. However, walk-in students are welcomed when time permits.

Some vaccines which are available with parental consent are the flu vaccine, hepatitis A, B, and HPV shot series. For those who are not very fond of shots, request an ice pack to numb the area ahead of time and it almost completely wipes out any pain associated — something a regular doctor’s office usually won’t provide! Be sure you are aware of any immunizations that you have already received. It is a good idea to keep a record of immunizations between both the Teen Health Center and your regular doctor so that you don’t accidentally get double doses of the same vaccine. If you’re not sure about what vaccines you have received, go to the THC and they can check under the Child Profile Immunization Registry.

The THC staff are friendly and helpful. A typical visit after registration has been completed involves checking in with Jasmine, who works at the front desk and helps schedule appointments. She’ll hand you a form to fill out about why you’re visiting that day. After you’ve filled out this form, while you wait you can sit in one of the big comfy chairs and read some of the packets and brochures that are available, from the care of your joints to the hazards of cigarette smoking. From there you’ll be called in to either Happy Salinas-Santos or Michele Acker, who are the advanced nurse practitioners. Linda Murtfeldt is a certified nutritionist available monthly (more often as needed) for one-on-one nutrition counseling. Rosie Moore, a mental health counselor or Dr. Sandy Walker (psychiatrist) are both available weekly. Callista Kennedy with King County Public Health is available every Thursday from 11:30-1:30 to answer all of your insurance questions.

You can print out the complete registration form which includes parental consent here.

Call and schedule your appointment today! (206) 860-0480.

N.W. Discount World fire

November 23rd, 2008, Greenwood. Plenty of stores and buildings all around local businesses new and old, coffee shops and writing workshops, mini marts and veterinarian offices, restaurants small and big.

November 23rd, 2009, Greenwood. More than 10 businesses from a guitar store to a pho restaurant have been burned, either to a smoking pile of rubble or, for some of the luckier businesses, just half of the establishment.

Who is responsible for this? On November 9th, 46 year-old Kevin Swalwell, a homeless man with a history of arson was picked up in Shoreline at a bus stop near one of the fires, as it was ablaze.

On Tuesday November 17th, Swalwell was charged with arson and burglary and is being held in prison on $1 million bail.

He was charged with eight counts of second-degree arson and three counts of first-degree arson. One of these fires injured a man. He was also charged with second-degree burglary for breaking into the Green Bean before he started the fire.

Swalwell pleaded not guilty on his Tuesday hearing. If convicted, Swalwell will face between 9 to 12 years in prison but the prosecutors say they are going to try and seek a sentence of more than 30 years.

The fire that resulted in his capture is said to have caused more than $700k in damages. The fire that was the most damaging was the one that burned down the Green Bean Coffee House and the three adjacent businesses causing what prosecutors say is over two million dollars in damages.

Though he is charged with only 11 of the fires, authorities believe Swalwell has caused more than 14 recent fires.

Swalwell has been convicted of arson in the past. His criminal record shows that he was convicted of five counts of arson in 1983 and one count of arson in 1995. He was also convicted of a slew of other crimes including theft.

List of Burned Buildings:

-Second-degree arson charges

• The former OK Corral restaurant at 8733 Greenwood Ave N on June 19
• Behind a building housing Moonphoto and Wish at 7708 Greenwood Ave N on Aug 12
• A building housing O-Rings West at 1111 N 98th St on Aug 13
• CPA Seattle at 338 NW 85th St on Nov 5
• Rosewood Guitar at 8401 Greenwood Ave N on Nov 5
• Moonphoto at 7704 Greenwood Ave N on Nov 8
• Olive You at 8516 Greenwood Ave N on Nov 9
• Greenwood Quickstop at 8102 Greenwood Ave N on Nov 9

-First-degree arson charges

• The house fire at 108 NW 84th St on Aug 13. That fire seriously burned one man and displaced another family.
• Setting fire to the Green Bean Coffeehouse, 208 NW 85th St., Oct. 23. Three other businesses were destroyed and several others seriously damaged.
• The massive blaze at NW Discount in Shoreline on Nov 12

sources

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010287994_webarsons17m.html

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/412402_arson18.html?source=mypi

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattle911/archives/185434.asp

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010396257_webarsons01m.html

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/feeling-burned/Content?oid=2823372

http://www.phinneywood.com/2009/11/17/swalwell-charged-with-arson-burglary/

http://www.phinneywood.com/images/shoreline_fire.jpg

In the recent meetings of Day-to-Day committee, a new issue has come up about the state of our student lounge. Students have not been: cleaning up after themselves properly; using headphones on computers, mp3 players, and other noise making devices; restraining themselves from PDA, sitting with the appropriate amount of people on couches; and, respecting Melissa and other authority figures when they’ve been asked to stop these activities. These are all very serious offenses and clearly examples of unacceptable student behavior, but if everyone’s being honest, these are not activities Nova students have engaged in exclusively in the lounge.

I’ve witnessed trash and disgusting leftover meals pile up around my ankles; my classmates engage in graphic PDA; and makeshift dance parties form around a speaker regularly as long as I’ve been here. All we do by shooing these offenders out of the lounge is force the problem to find a new home. Already this year students monopolizing the limited space in our narrow halls has been more of an issue than ever before, and if the lounge is taken away and another public space isn’t provided, we will exacerbate this issue to a boiling point. The lounge undoubtedly can become a disaster zone with the current social norms that are in place, but by turning it into a study space, we only shift the negative effects of the problem to a different and clearly wider audience. The lounge is currently the place in our school where it is easiest to step in and see the culture of entitlement and disrespect that exists in our school today.

This is a fact that was acknowledged by the members of Day-to-Day, and an unofficial proposal was put forth to bring back Respect & Responsibility committee as a possible solution. I brought this notion back to Adam’s coor where  it received a warm response. Two elder members of Adam’s coor – Travis Hare and Tony Sueiro -  attended Nova before R & R committee was disbanded, and they both believe Nova could benefit from the return of some form of the committee.

“I feel like in the time after R & R, discipline at Nova has fallen solely to the teachers, and it’s become a much more formal and ineffective system,” commented Travis.

Tony added, “I’ve tried to call out students when they’ve been disrespectful [a practice that is is supposed to be socially acceptable in our community] and I’ve been laughed at for even trying it.”

The formal disconnect that has been created by teachers handling discipline is the backbone of this epidemic of disrespect at our school. If a committee is formed that stresses dialogue and solutions for students instead of straight up punishment, we create the opportunity to inspire more personal accountability amongst students. The main concern that was raised by Adam’s coor was what most governing committees end up turning into – the same five to six people deciding the fate of all the offenders at Nova. However, a brilliant solution to this problem was proposed.

In a system similar to jury duty, each nova student could be required to attend R & R on a rotating schedule. There would obviously need to be some permanent members of the committee, but to avoid bias, voting privileges would be restricted to non-permanent members. If we as a school can successfully return to a healthy environment where students are able to hold each other to a higher standard than what we’ve come to expect in the lounge, then we should all be able to use the lounge as a study space without making any policy changes. Taking drastic measures like banning students from the lounge and designating it as a study space are defeatist steps that don’t acknowledge the true root of the problem. The face of Nova has changed for the worse, and a new and reformed R & R committee may be the answer.

For a different take on this issue, read Pro: Why the Nova Lounge Should Also be a Study Space

At approximately 7:30p.m. on November 3rd, 2009, near the corner of 85th and Greenwood, Mr. Gyros is preparing to close, and one can observe any amount of people from young adults to thirty somethings pile into Neptune coffee house. Every Tuesday at this time they have one of the most glorious open mic nights I have ever been to and will definitely go to again. Anyone from and/or currently in the northern Seattle area has the chance to play music, sing poetry, or even possibly (though I haven’t seen it yet) do some stand up. This is one of the best ways to introduce the many unexposed and extraordinarily talented people in Seattle to the public. Having been there plenty of times before, I know that Neptune is a great place with an even greater atmosphere. The Neptune coffee house is home to many different types of artists. The moment you walk through the door of the Greenwood coffee shop you can instantaneously feel an artsy, comforting vibe. Ever changing paintings and photographs by local artists hang on the walls. Posters for concerts, festivals, and coffee, create an atmosphere that would be welcoming to many Nova artists and students alike. You get a range of sounds, from a young trio doing rock songs, to poetry and one woman a cappella, to an older woman showing off her freestyle tap dancing skills.Even a good friend of mine, and his band played three amazing songs. This past week there were more people and performers than there have been in any of the previous weeks. Regulars showed up, as well as newcomers, who are sure to soon become steady goers. In fact, some of the bands that played there made a deal with Neptune to perform a concert. This way their family, friends, and fans can go see them for a more unique experience. The barista who started it all opens and closes the performances. She jams out on her baritone ukulele with her morbidly depressing, yet some how amazingly hilarious songs, most involving a bad relationship. Plus, of the many talented who perform, many of them get free drinks, one of anything that they like. It is definitely something that I know everyone should experience. I know that I’ll be there next week and all the weeks thereafter, and damnit Nova I hope you will too.

In our world here at Nova, we’ve grown comfortable with the idea of self discipline. We have been allowed the freedom at school to make our own choices in so many facets of our daily lives, one of those choices being how we use our cell phones. This topic has become a point of conflict with the teaching staff. We have never been a school where the practice of confiscation of personal belongings has been instituted, but now that students have brought socializing into the classroom in a way that is proven to detract from their learning, teachers have requested an adjustment. At what point is it okay to be lead by a minority like this? While our teachers have an undeniable case for change, is it their right to enact it?

In the most recent meeting of day to day committee, our principal opened the discussion to bring an end to this cell phone use. Mark Perry  has suggested that the topic initially be broached in coor, with a culminating all-school vote on the subject looming. Chances are good by the tone of Mark’s argument and the general agreement by at least the teaching staff present at the meeting, that privileges as they are now will not be an option. Teachers present claimed they’ve often taken the interruption of cell phones in their classes to be a disrespectful slap in the face, and there was total agreement that they are always a distraction.

Joe Szwaja commented that, “I don’t take it as a sign of disrespect, but when you’re multitasking with your phone and your work, I don’t believe you’re producing at the same quality you could be otherwise.”  There is certainly plenty of evidence to back up Joe’s theory. In fact, such topics have been the cover article of Time magazine (see the online article), and the consensus opinion is that multitasking produces mediocrity.

Students at the meeting, were not willing to simply accept the validity of these concerns at face value. Isobel Bradbury proclaimed that “I use my cell phone in class, and I don’t think its ever been a big deal.” She however went on to say that, “while I can think of a bunch of reasons I need texting for myself, I don’t see a good reason for the school as a whole.” Personal reasons have been cited in the past as an invalid argument when advocating change in Nova’s policies.

Mark’s goal is that we can get behind the idea of turning our cell phones off before every class. This strong stance was not well received, but a chord of compromise was struck with some students. “I leave my phone on vibrate when I’m in class,”  shared Shaniquequa Eakin, “It isn’t a distraction, and I can be discrete about it.”  This option, and adopting a policy of setting phones to the “all sounds off” setting were sacrifices students seemed willing to make.

This issue is deeply controversial and represents a monumental step in changing the lifestyle of the 21st century student. the deteriorating attention spans of a generation are the result of this multimedia multitasking, but with each personal freedom our school takes away, we become more and more like the authoritarian mainstream education institutions we avoided by coming here. In the end, our school is still a democracy, and you the students will have the final say as to how this topic is resolved.