One of the best aspects of starting a new school year is diving into new

courses. In September everyone starts with a fresh slate and the academic discoveries are right there on the horizon.

 

It can be doubly exciting when students and teachers embark on a brand new course, and can therefore see themselves as “educational pioneers.” We have several such courses in various places in the curriculum this year, and no doubt we will hear a lot about them in the weeks and months to come.

 

In addition to the excitement of a new educational journey, three specific new course offerings also underscore the educational directions we are taking as a whole in the Upper School. First, we are introducing a new Advanced Placement course entitled Computer Science Principles. I highlighted the course in detail in last December’s issue of OnCAmpus, so I won’t go into as much detail here. Suffice it to say that the course combines programming and contemporary issues in technology in a dynamic, project-based way; it will be co-taught by longtime Computer Science teacher Kimberly Jans and English teacher Tom Thorpe. Now some might wonder if Advanced Placement courses are still necessary or desirable at an independent school with a strong record of academic excellence on its own. In other words, does CA need the imprimatur of AP, which is actually under the auspices of the College Board? The answer for me continues to be, “yes.” True, we can offer plenty of very strong, rigorous, college-level courses that are not in any way prescriptive or connected to an outside entity like Advanced Placement. We have numerous examples of such courses in every department. Nevertheless, the structure and challenge of the AP version of college-level courses and the outside validation that come with them do continue to be positive factors for our overall program. Just to be sure we don’t feel unduly pressured, I do check in with every AP teacher on a yearly basis to make sure he or she still feels that the AP curriculum is both good for students and doesn’t make them feel beholden to a certain preset teaching plan. (Incidentally, we dropped AP US History and AP Biology because we answered no to both of those questions. In the meantime, College Board has changed the format of both of those courses, so we will be investigating further.)

 

What excites me about this particular new course is that it has a distinctive 21^st century focus, acknowledging that every citizen interacts with technology so regularly that we ought to know more about the practice of coding as well as the responsible and ethical uses of technology. The fact that is co-taught by two teachers from two different disciplines only heightens the innovative quality of the course, and also speaks to an exciting trend in the Upper School where nearly a dozen courses are now co-taught or team-taught.

 

Another new co-taught elective course will focus on the history and culture of Cuba, a country where we have taken students once already and will be going again in May of 2017. The course description notes that students will “analyze the complexities of Cuban culture, history, internal politics, and foreign policy, using both past and current events to understand the richness of this fascinating island.” Connecting this class to a trip is a new model we have previously implemented in our study of Haiti, a country where we have built a relationship over the past four years. This allows for a deeper understanding and appreciation of the places we visit. Our hope is that all our regularly offered trips have a curricular connection that goes beyond the learning of the language—although of course that remains very important. The Cuba course is offered as a social studies credit by two teachers with extensive backgrounds in Spanish teaching and global travel: Jane Kelly and Daniel Lopez.

 

In the Arts Department, several new classes are on the docket this year, including our new dance conservatory with a range of new offerings. Another exciting new elective in arts combines theater and film into one trimester elective. The Acting for the Camera course, taught by James Meehan, will be the first in a series of rotating performing arts electives, each designed to focus on one specific aspect of performance. In this case Mr. Meehan will direct students in film scenes, which requires a much different approach than stage performance.

 

An experienced screen actor himself, not to mention a skilled technician in production, Mr. Meehan will be helping students explore a new medium and hone their acting skills.

 

On the surface, these classes might not appear to have too much in common, other than being sophisticated and rigorous explorations of interesting topics. But I do think that they share an ingredient of reaching out to meet current student interests and needs, as well as reacting to the contemporary world at large. In other words, they are both academically challenging and incredibly relevant to our students’ lives: a winning combination that prepares our students for advanced study and for engagement in the world.

 

All three of these courses, along with other recent newcomers such as Tiny House, Spanish for Heritage Speakers, AP Physics C, Contemporary African Literature, and Computer Programming with Greenfoot show the range and diversity of our curriculum. For a school of our size this is a remarkable breadth.