WEST SIDE
STORIES
Tardiness at West pg. 4
January 2014 • Wauwatosa West High School • 11400 W Center Street, Wauwatosa WI • Volume 18, Issue 1
New Science Curriculum Redesigned curriculum seeks to improve scores Nick Moroder • Photography Editor
Senior Nathan Eggenberger helps freshmen DeVaughn Warren prepare for his Algebra final exam at Cocoa and Cram event in the cafeteria on January 16th. “It was a great opportunity to get the help that I needed”, said Warren. Eggenberger and 40 other Link Crew mentors hosted the Cocoa and Cram event after school on January 14th and January 16th to help freshmen with their first final exams.
Link Crew Welcomes Freshmen Deanna Ross • Editor in Chief
On the first day of school, juniors and seniors gathered in the gym, awaiting the arrival of their newly assigned Link Crew. Link Crew is a program that encourages the link crew leaders, selectively picked upperclassmen, and their crews, the freshmen of West, to personally assist a group of freshman in the transition between middle and high school. The upperclassmen have met several times with their advisors, Social Studies teachers Andy Zeitlow and Chris Lazarski, and guidance counselor Nick Becker. One of Link Crew’s activities was an orientation
held on the first day of school. Freshman Emily Chiesa said that though it will help to know two new people at West, she wasn’t sure how helpful Link Crew is. “I don’t really think I am going to need my Link Crew leader this year,” said Chiesa. Chiesa said she was still confused about the school’s layout despite Link Crew’s orientation. “Even though I got a tour, I still got lost,” said Chiesa. The upperclassmen leading the program have passed through several tests to become leaders.
Starting on the day of September, 3 2013, all incoming freshmen were given new science curriculum which changed all semester long courses into year long courses. The process took roughly three years to determine how to help improve the students’ science skills. This year students will be required to participate in year long science courses instead of semester long courses. The district and teachers believe the new curriculum will help student gain more knowledge in science and improve standardized testing results. Over the next three years, science students will still have to fulfill the requirement of three credits for graduation. Students are required to take a full year of Biology, a full year of Chemistry, and a full year of Physics. “I think [the new science curriculum] is fine”, said freshmen Abby Strand. “I believe that we are not learning a whole lot of content, but I love the skill work and science.” Science year long classes will help diminish the pressure on teachers to cover everything in a semester long class. Students have the option of taking advanced courses instead of the regular courses as well. Biology teacher Bill Lund is very “excited because I see improvement from last year.” The school board believes that this change will help provide improvement in certain areas. Especially, this change will help increase the science scores on the ACT.
• See Link Crew on page 2
• See Science Curriculum on page 3
Teachers Leaving
District sees many staff members resign Mark Salamone • Web Editor
Following the 2012 to 2013 school year, several teachers have left Wauwatosa West and the Wauwatosa School District. The losses were heaviest at Wauwatosa East High School. East lost several teachers, and according to a report released by East Principal Nick Hughes, the school is adding 29 new teachers to its staff to recoup its losses. These teachers include staff members from other schools in the district, including Wauwatosa West, such as Mary Haasch and Amie Brooks, as well as outside teachers. Hughes is confident that the district has hired “exceptional teachers for the upcoming school year.” In addition, the new teachers are acclimated with “classroom walk-throughs,” as well as “district mentors assigned for two years.” According to Hughes, all of this helps ensure that even with the loss of experienced teachers, the new teachers provide “great instruction.”
• See Teachers Leaving on page 3
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News
WEST SIDE STORIES
January 2014
West builds the ARC Juli Johnson • Staff Writer
Math Teacher, Amy Fetherson, helps junior Nichelle Francis in the ARC with math work. Fetherston believes that “the ARC allows for students to get extra math help; an extra opportunity to succeed.” There have been changes to grades, demic Lab” is a silent study hall which help, to raise grades” said Steiner. changes to technology, and changes provides students with support from Core area subject teachers are also to Study Hall. With new changes this a supervisor as well as teachers from present during each period. During year, the structured study hall or Aca- each of the academic core areas. Stu- some periods there are 4 or more teachdemic Lab is becoming more effective. dents enrolled in the other study hall ers available to students. Teachers are At Wauwatosa West, you can forget periods can also come to the Academic also available to assist students even the stereotypes about study hall - the Lab for help from subject area teach- if they are not enrolled in Academic days of airplanes, spit balls, and sleep- ers. Lab. Over 50 students are enrolled in ing - are long gone. Students have a The Academic Lab provides stu- the period throughout the day. wide range of options beyond just a pe- dents with “structured academic sup“Each year it works better and we riod to get your homework done. West ports”. “It’s a nice place to get some iron out more kinks. As long as it conhas many study halls to help them work done. There’s always teachers tinues to figure out how to improve, it improve their academic skills, under- around to help and the environment will get better” says Mr. Lund. standing of the content, and grades. is just very good learning atmosphere” Ultimately, students are still re“The CSP hour is great to have. It said an anonymous student currently quired to be responsible for their own is built into the student’s schedule, enrolled in the program. work. “Even though students are in which gives them that opportunity for The room has a full time student there [the academic lab] it is up to the extra support.” West Guidance Coun- coordinator. Crystal Steiner acts as student to use it” said West Guidance selor Melanie Foreman an informal case worker for individual Counselor Brian Hoffman. The program, originally named students and helps the entire room The Academic Lab was the result the “CSP” or “Cooperative Study Pe- stay on task. Steiner has a back- of administrator and teacher interest riod,” and later named the Academic ground in Middle School Science and in using teacher preparation time for Lab and, for the new school 2013/2014 Math and is certified to teach English. student tutoring. Prior to the estabschool year, is now the Academic Re- “I am not looked at as their teacher. I lishment of the Academic Lab teachers source Center or “ARC”. The “Aca- am thought of more as a motivator and were required to be available to pro-
vide individualized tutoring for students in their room or a common area. After hearing about a successful program at Marshfield High School in Marshfield, Wisconsin during the 2009-2010 school year, Superintendent Phil Ertl, West Principal Frank Calarco and Social Studies teacher Stephen Oliver spent the day visiting a successful program at Marshfield High School in Marshfield, Wisconsin. They liked what they saw and worked to establish a very similar program at West. “Our vision is to help students daily so they don’t fall behind ” said Calarco. According to Oliver, the CSP room is an early intervention for students who struggle and help them get successful quicker. The academic lab is open to all students not just those who struggle. “[The Academic Lab] gives students more structure support” says Oliver. In fact, West offers six different classes which offer students varying degrees of extra academic support. The three courses with the most support require a recommendation from a guidance counselor. These three courses include Academic Literacy Seminar (ALS ) for reading and language, Read 180 to help build reading skills, and Math Emphasis to help build and help pass your current math class. “It’s designed to give students support to be successful in other classes” says Lori Gerbitz, school psychologist. Students who are academically healthy have the most options. They can chose to be in the Academic Lab, Silent Study Hall, or the Trojan room. The Trojan Room is a privileged study hall open to all West students. Students are allowed to use electronic devices, can sit at common tables and can play table tennis and access vending machines. However, if a student has one “F” or two “D’s” for a quarter grade, they are moved into a “silent study hall”. In Silent Study Hall students are separated throughout the cafeteria, sit at individual tables, and largely responsible for completing their own work. Given the wide range of academic supports available to students, these supports only go so far and numerous students still fail academically. The goal of the new and improved ARC program is being put in place this school year to prevent just that.
• Continued from page 1 The upperclassmen leading the program have passed through several tests to become leaders. The leaders first completed an application which analyzed their personality, leadership skills, and previous experience in extracurricular activities. The applications gave less weight to academic accomplishments, because the Link Crew advisors believe that students can provide leadership regardless of their class rank and that diversity would benefit the program. The advisors also believe that every student has a unique story that incoming freshmen can learn from. After being selected, the leaders attended a one day workshop in May and a two day workshop one week before the start of the school year.
sent to a three day training program in Itasca, Illinois. The program at East and West was established in combination with a smaller program at the middle school level. According to Becker, the program is still improving. “[I feel] the first day of school went well,” said Becker. “But in order to know for sure, this will be a test year.” Link Crew’s progress will be monitored carefully by the advisors over the course of the year to see what is working and what needs to be fixed. Both the advisors and Link Crew leaders believe it will take time to work out all the kinks, such as getting the freshmen to feel more comfortable and encourage them come to their Link Crew leaders with problems.
Link Crew
This second workshop involved icebreaker and team building exercises. The Link Crew leaders were then put to work, running the first day orientation for the incoming freshman. “It looked like a lot of fun and games, but it was really actually a lot of hard work,” said Lazarski. Sam Frederick, a junior, was recommended by a teacher for Link Crew and filled out an application. He said that Link Crew leaders went through an extensive amount of training before school began. “I believe we went through 15 hours preparing,” said Frederick. “This preparation was basically like orientation; we participated in activities, and we also practiced leading them.” On the first day of school, the fresh-
men participated in activities with Link Crew leaders and their peers. Becker, Lazarski, and Zietlow began planning Link Crew long before the start of the school year. They adopted the program from a model created outside of the Wauwatosa School District. “There was a transition coordinator named Carrie Timn,” said Becker. “She felt that there needed to be a program to transition from middle school to high school.” While the district was researching this topic, the idea of a Link Crew was presented to the school district. The school district ultimately chose and began implementing the Link Crew program at East and West. The Link Crew advisors for the schools were
Features WEST SIDE STORIES
January 2014
Wisdom Teeth Woes Gabby Verette • Staff Writer
Nearly everyone has wisdom teeth, but depending on the person, wisdom teeth can either cause major problems, or none at all. For senior Jack Coleman, the experience didn’t work out so well. “It was awful,” said Coleman. “[The first few days after my operation were] honestly some of the worst days of my life.” On the other hand, junior Sarah Laszewski didn’t have a lot of problems with her wisdom teeth “When I woke up, my cheeks felt really puffy, but they didn’t hurt very much,” said Laszewski. “I put ice on them a lot the first day. They hurt more the second day of recovery than the
first, but all I needed was Tylenol to stop it.” Wisdom teeth are the four teeth farthest back inside the mouth. The problem with having wisdom teeth is that the average mouth can hold up to only 28 teeth. Wisdom teeth push the total to 32 which is several more than most people can comfortably fit in their mouth. For some people, wisdom teeth can cause pain when they grow in the wrong way and disrupt other teeth. But don’t worry, there are ways to prevent this. Thousands of years ago it was much different for humans. It was essential to keep all 32 teeth to survive and the jaw used to be bigger to hold all teeth. As we evolved our brains are getting
Illustration by Colin Ek
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bigger causing our jaws to get smaller. Usually, a patient undergoing wisdom teeth removal uses an intravenous (IV) sedation so they aren’t in pain. With an IV sedation, the medication is administered through a tube inserted into the arm. “I didn’t look when they put the needle in, but then they talked to me about my day and I started to not understand what I was saying,” said senior Sarah Henson. “The next thing I knew, I woke up and felt a little goofy.” The majority of the teenage population will need to have their wisdom teeth removed when they enter adulthood. If the wisdom teeth grow in straight, they won’t have to be removed, though this is rare. Most of the time the teeth grow in crooked or up against the gums. In the worst cases, the wisdom teeth can become impacted. Impacted teeth can be very difficult to remove. Because an impacted tooth is still at least partially in the gum, the patient might suffer great pain in the removal of the tooth. However, there are steps people can take to have an easier and less painful experience with the removal of wisdom teeth. “Get painkillers,” said Coleman. “Keep [your mouth] super clean so it doesn’t get infected, and don’t rush eating food because that hurts it.” “Eat a lot of jello,” advised Henson. “Not eating was the worst part and it was during State Fair, so I missed out on a lot of great food,” Coleman added. “My best advice for people, would be to put ice on your cheeks, said Laszewski. “Since you can only have liquid stuff the first day after surgery, have nutrition shakes along with your other food so that you aren’t hungry all the time.”
Science Curriculum • Continued from page 1 It has been pointed out that Wauwatosa was ranked nine behind the other districts including: Elmbrook, Whitefish Bay, Mequon-Thiensville, New Berlin, Shorewood, Nicolet, Pewaukee and Menomonee Falls. It is important that students do well on the ACT to help the School Board determine where they stand with the other districts and ensure that they are truly grasping the material. Besides improving the rank, this change could help benefit the students and teachers as far as learning. “This new curriculum is truly improving students’ performance on test and quizzes” says Bill Lund. “There is more time to get cover more science topics”. The School Board hopes that this new plan help students ensure that they understand the material as the school year continues. Biology students are given chromebooks to access their textbooks online on Discovery Education and do more computer based activities. “I like [using a chromebook] better than referring to a book [because] it makes it more fun to learn” says freshmen Will Awve. Both teachers and the school board both feel confident that the new curriculum will help improve the knowledge of their students and they cannot wait to see the impact it has on the students’ learning.
Illustration by Rick Sear
Teachers Leaving • Continued from page 1 Wauwatosa West has witnessed the loss of several teachers, including math teacher Tom Woodworth, who taught AP Calculus and other math classes. Woodworth retired after over four decades of teaching at Wauwatosa West High School, beginning in 1968 when Wauwatosa West was in what is now the Whitman Middle School building. Math teachers Angela Schoemann and Jill Schmid will teach AP Calculus for the year 2013-2014. Other teachers who left West include English department teacher Lauren Hill, who taught AP English Language and Composition and other English classes, and Kellie Meyer, also from the English department. According to district Director of Human Resources Dan Chanen, a certain
amount of turnover is to be expected in any district. “A typical amount would be around ten percent of the district,” said Chanen. The district Superintendent, Dr. Phil Ertl, acknowledged that the losses at East were “a little high,” but noted that “other districts are going through the same thing.” According to Chanen, this kind of turnover “isn’t unique to the Wauwatosa School District.” Chanen said there are numerous reasons that a teacher could choose to leave a district. “Sometimes people retire,” said Chanen, and “some teachers are looking for better pay.” Another factor in the minds of teachers could be recent changes caused by
Act 10, the budget bill signed into law by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Among the law’s effects was a change to the benefits of seniority for teachers. “In the past, there was a salary schedule based on experience and education,” according to Ertl. “That’s gone.” According to Chanen, the district is working to reduce the effect of school staff turnover on student learning. “There will be shifting within the school’s staff,” said Chanen, “so teachers who have been teaching at the school can help maintain the level of performance.” Wauwatosa West junior Adam Carlson said that the loss of teachers could have a negative effect on the district.
“It would be detrimental to the learning that occurred in the class,” said Carlson, “especially if the teachers had a lot of experience or had been teaching AP classes.” According to junior Marie Wanless, the effect of a teacher’s leaving “depends on the teacher.” “Obviously, the loss of some teachers will be felt more than that of others, she said. Ultimately, district administrators are optimistic. “I think we’ve done a good job recruiting teachers for the new school year,” said Chanen. Ertl agreed, saying that despite the loss of some teachers, the Wauwatosa School District “is a district that people want to come and work in.”
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Features WEST SIDE STORIES
January 2014
Tosa Tardiness TAKEDOWN Brandon Thao • Guest Writer
Being on time matters at Wauwatosa West High School. Association Principal Clint Grochowski is striving to reduce first-hour tardies by motivating students to come to school on time. “Timeliness is one of the most important college and career readiness skills that students will leave West with” said Grochowski. Grochowski makes an announcement to the entire school at least once a week discussing the importance of being at school and in class on time and shares information about the trends in tardies across grades and gender. He posts weekly tally of tardies at the busiest entrance to the school. Teachers and students agree, getting to school on time helps students. If students are on time, they won’t miss any lectures or assignments and can stay on pace with the rest of the class. According to Wauwatosa West science teacher, Todd Dezeeuw, the first few minutes of class are crucial. He talks about what the day has in store for his students. He also announces future tests, quizzes, and projects during this time. He said, “If you miss it, you miss a sense of what you’re doing for the day.” Tardies affect their grades by leaving them unprepared for class and forfeiting their exam exemptions.
Grochowski has already hung up a poster at the front entrance showing the improvements made through the month. He also makes periodic announcements congratulating the students and setting new goals. And, his efforts seem to be working. Students generally come to school using several modes of transportation. Some students get rides, drive themselves, bike, walk, or take the city and school bus. Lormee Thao, West student, takes the school bus. She said, “I’m never tardy to school” because even if the school bus comes late, she gets excused. Shelby Shields, Junior, doesn’t live very far from school. She only lives on Mayfair Road, but “when they close down the interstate, all the traffic comes onto [her] street,” and causes her to be tardy to school. According to the data on Grochowski’s poster, freshmen are better at getting to school on time than the seniors; having only 26 first hour tardies compared to the seniors’ 39 tardies. Grochowski said, “Freshmen have their parents involved more in the morning.” Most, if not all, freshmen are driven to school by their parents, so their parents have a big impact on their timeliness. In some cases, tardies can be prevented merely by waking up a little earlier. Grochowski said it’s rewarding to see his students cutting down on their tardiness. They may not know that being late is detrimental, so he is taking an extra step to create good habits for his students. Dezeeuw said, “Students who routinely come late have lower grades than those who come on time.” According to his experience, students who are on time have better habits and better grades. This is the reason why Grochowski and Wauwatosa West make timeliness such a big deal. They do it for the greater good of the students. Once students realize the importance of being on time, they’ll be self motivated and will no longer need an incentive to be punctual.
The data shown below is the most recent.
Total Tardies
250
Tardiness by Grade
80
70
200
12th Grade
60
150
11th Grade
50
10th Grade
100 9th Grade
40
50
0
120
30
Oct. 7-11
Oct. 14-18
Oct.21-25
Oct. 28-Nov. 1
Nov. 11-15
Tardiness by Code
20
150
Oct. 7-11
Oct. 14-18
Oct. 21-25 Oct. 28- Nov. 1 Nov. 11-15
Tardiness by Gender
100 TDE
80
Female
120
TDU
60
Male
TTS
40
90
20
0
Oct. 7-11
Oct. 14-18
Oct. 21-25 Oct. 28- Nov. 1 Nov. 11-15
60
Oct. 7-11
Oct. 14-18
Oct.21-25 Oct. 28-Nov. 1 Nov. 11-15 Illustration by Rick Sear