School To See Changes to Social Studies Curriculum
By Amy Polk

The Cedarville High School humanities class will travel to Chicago this spring, following Les Cheneaux Community Schools Board of Education approval March 17.

Teacher Alan Jacobus said the 12 students will see a musical and Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert, have a private tour of Orchestra Hall, and visit museums during the long weekend.

The trip has been financed primarily by a grant from the Les Cheneaux Education Foundation and private donations, and students will be responsible for $50 of the trip's cost and their own food. No school money will be spent on the trip. Mr. Jacobus, his wife, Lori, and two other chaperones will accompany the students on the drive to Chicago.

"In teaching the humanities course, I realized there's nothing quite so good as the visual and auditory experiences," Mr. Jacobus said. "Experiential events like this just can't be traded. It's one thing to learn about the art, but to see an actual Monet [painting] hanging on the wall is an experience in itself."

During the meeting, Superintendent Rod Goehmann reported the district's latest enrollment, which was 331 students during the February count.

He said the district will graduate 29 seniors and anticipates an incoming class of 17 kindergarten students next year.

Administrators will plan on 321 students when they create next year's budget.

Elementary Principal Eric Cardwell reported the kindergarten round-up will be Thursday, April 17.

He reported on staff participation in the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning conference March 6 and March 7, where

Seven teachers learned about applying Internet use to teaching at a conference in March, and will share what they learned with other teachers at the April 25 teacher in-service day.

The trend is toward using free software, he said, probably because of shrinking state funding for education.

Trustee Kate Ter Haar noted that Internet networking sites for educators allow them to share tips and information resources.

"The collaborative nature is really what's so fantastic about this, as well as the ability to share resources," she said.

Kathy Tassier and Gretchen Storey presented information about the social studies curriculum and statemandated changes to how teachers present information to students.

Elementary school is when students start learning about society, Mrs. Tassier said, starting with the individual, then family, and spreading out to the class, the school, and then the community around the school.

By third grade, students will learn about their community, and by fourth grade students are learning Michigan history and, she said, "viewing United States history and economics through the lens of Michigan history."

Fifth grade includes lessons on United States history, and a new state-mandated component is a chapter on African life to explain what African American slaves' lives were like before they came to this country.

Mrs. Storey, who has been on the Eastern Upper Peninsula social studies curriculum review team for five years, said grade level expectations have been accelerated so students are covering more ground in less time.

In the seventh grade, students learn about ancient Greece and Rome, and in eighth grade they study integrated United States history, which includes 1754 through 1898.

Ninth grade includes world history after ancient Greece and Rome, and geography.

In 10th grade, students learn United States history and geography starting 1898.

In 11th grade, students learn civics and economics.

A lot of the curriculum changes have come about because of globalization, Mrs. Storey said.

"There are people in the United States who think high school students and people who come out of high schools in this country do not know enough about the world," she said. "So we are teaching more about globalization and historic conflicts so students know the background behind why people today are doing some of the things they are doing."

Listing social studies curriculum needs, she said the district has seventh grade texts that date back to 1994, and Mrs. Tassier said the elementary school is using some textbooks as old as 1997.

Mrs. Storey also needs a psychology text book if she continues to offer the class as an elective.

"We really need a world history textbook," she added, although both Mrs. Storey and Mrs. Tassier said they are using a lot of online resources to teach students and complement the books and literature. Mrs. Tassier said if the school had a computer for each student, they probably wouldn't need books.