Columbia Spotlight

It has been challenging for several weeks with stories and video from mass shootings, antisemitic attacks , and the brutal murder of Tyre Nichols dominating the news.  Our students know they can get support from our incredible faculty and counselors. In addition, we provided our staff and parents the following resources to help our students process these senseless tragedies and actions:  The Center for Racial Justice in Education’s  RESOURCES FOR TALKING ABOUT RACE, RACISM AND RACIALIZED VIOLENCE WITH KIDS . This is an incredible collection of educational materials and parental resources.  ChildTrends’  Resources to Support Children’s Emotional Well-Being Amid Anti-Black Racism, Racial Violence, and Trauma National Association of School Psychologists'  Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers The Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress “ Coping with Stress Following a Mass Shooting ” National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s “ Help...

One of our goals this year (based on student feedback) is to "connect our classes to the real world." According to student feedback from the climate & culture survey, they loved their CHS experience, but they wanted more "choice" in their learning and they wished our curriculum was more authentic. For the past two years, I have been observing science classes and I love how teachers have collaborated on a phenomenon-based approach that starts with a claim and then students move to evidence-collecting and reasoning.  Another approach to creating more real-world assignments is to sprinkle a few problem-based learning assignments throughout the year. For example, when I taught financial literacy, I pretty much taught it in the usual, traditional way. That was until I discovered Teacher College's Cowin Financial Literacy curriculum. In one assignment , students adopted the role of a financial planner to help an NFL player as a way to demonstrate they understood...

When I taught American history, I always tried to highlight what teens did in the past so that my students would learn how people their age lived and participated in their times. After all, we remember John Lewis as the iconic congressman, but we forget he was a teenager when he first joined the Civil Rights Movement and helped make huge progress with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. It was the students at Fisk University who helped desegregate Nashville with their sit-ins. And, who can forget the Children's Crusade in Birmingham, Alabama that forced President Kennedy to intervene and support the Civil Rights Act?  Here at Columbia, we have always honored student voice and activism. That is why many faculty members might be interested in this new PD offer from our great friends at Learning for Justice. If you are interested, sign up for this course focusing on student activism!  Youth have always been at the forefront of movements for justice in the United State...

We are so excited to announce that Columbia High School has been selected as one of 200 schools across the country that will be piloting the new course AP African American Studies next year. Columbia High School was invited based on our strong AP program and the CHS administration team jumped at the chance to be involved next year. There have been several news stories about this new program. If you are interested in learning more about it, check out these previous articles. WAPO's " Teens embrace AP class featuring Black history, a subject under attack " The new Advanced Placement class on African American Studies comes amid new state laws restricting how historical racism is taught. Smithsonian's " A.P. African American Studies Is Coming to U.S. High Schools ." The course covers everything from slavery to civil rights to pop culture Time's " African-American History Finally Gets Its Own AP Class—And Historians Say It's More Important Than Ever...