Panther Press

1 PANTHER PRESS VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4 MAY 22, 2015 Common Core: A Case of Judging Too Quickly By Analese Petty Inside this Edition: Students should be taught how to think, not what to think.” said Mrs. Jackie Showchoir Banquet Miller, a teacher at Petal Middle School. According to students who are pupils of the The Walking Dead Common Core curriculum, Common Core does nothing but overcomplicate simple finale questions and confuse even the brightest of students. However after digging just a Fire, Water, Air and little deeper by asking the teachers of Common Core, I have come to the conclusion Earth that some people judge too quickly and don’t realize the amazing improvements in the students’ understanding of more complex curriculum. We asked four of the 8th Grade Says Good teachers at Petal Middle School if Common Core was helpful and they all agreed -bye that it was an amazing set of standards. Mrs. Townsend, a language teacher at PMS, Ode to Carrots was interviewed about the effects of Common Core to get a language arts point of Thirst Project view. During the interview she was asked what she thought of the standards, she Ballet Dancers Secret said, “ It [is] very beneficial and it helps the students with real world problems.” A Sequel for Nemo Hearing students and parents ranting and raving about Common Core and Book Review how it is too much pressure and how it is “not worth it” or “non beneficial” makes Kentucky Wildcats some people instantly conclude that Common Core is ineffective and useless. Anne Frank Even I, a student, being taught common core, agreed that it wasn’t worth all of the Band: What We fuss it caused, but I was judging too quickly and I realized this when I interviewed Think those teachers. I walked into the classroom and expecting the teachers to say #LikeAGirl “Common Core is absolutely and utterly disappointing.” However to my surprise, I Secret to Morning found that the people that are on the inside Powerpoints of the deal realize the positive effects of Breakfast Around the Common Core are numerous. World 5SOS Many students don’t realize that Archery Team’s Suc- the fun activities they have enjoyed this year were part of the teachers’ methods cess for teaching common core. The Around Country Talk the Room activities that allow students to use more conversation and collaboration in math class were examples of those type of activities. “I’ve actually had fun this 2 P A G E 2 year trying to make math more fun and interesting for the students, “ Mrs. Sowden said. I didn’t understand why the teachers were teaching us some of this curriculum that seemed so hard, so early, so I asked why. Mrs. Ready and Mrs. Sowden both told me that if we learn to do the skills now before high school we can retain those skills and build off them later when we working in our careers. In other words, we get an earlier start on learning the skills we need Teaching outside of the box for success in our adult life, so we will be better prepared. However, even the for a set of standards that teachers admitted, there has been too much testing this year. Thankfully, next encourage students to think- year’s state assessment test will have only one part. more. Before starting this article, I had heard so many negative statements that said all common core does is confuse students. As human beings, we often say, “Ugh, this is hard,” but we may not think of how this hard work is helping us. When I look back over the past few years as a student, I see that I have grown con- “Mississippi’s College sistently. Humans also often jump to conclusions. For instance, if a team loses a - and Career-Ready game, we automatically assume that they’re not any good, but honestly, jumping to Standards [same as Common Core such conclusions is a bad choice. Common core is a good set of standards. We will standards] are the continue to succeed, if we just start thinking, “Maybe common core is a good highest academic thing...maybe I judged it’s effectiveness and, even its difficulty, a little too standards the state quickly.” has ever had in its history. These In The Mississippi Legislature standards spell out voted to withdraw from the what students are PARCC assessment for the expected to learn in English language arts Common Core Standards in and math in grades 3 January of this year. IAA nd through 8 and in high new IN school.” Jan. 16 Washington Post According to a national survey of teacher perspectives on the common core published online at http://www.edweek.org/media/ epe_survey_teacher_perspctives_common_core_2013.pdf An overwhelming majority of teachers feel that the quality of the CCSS is at least on par with their states’ prior standards. On the whole, teachers also agree that implementing the common standards will help them to improve their own teaching and classroom prac- tices. PANTHER PRESS 3 P A G E 3 Celebrating a Successful Year by Tatyana Hollon When Mrs. Maxie was a little girl, she grew up with music in her family. Her dad was a singer and a musician, he played the saxophone. She grew up in church and loving church music. These things inspired her to become a music teacher. When asked, how the choir has grown over the time that she has been here. She responded, “ The program has grown by numbers and I expect the choirs to be bigger and stronger.” During her tenure, the Chevalier and Chanticleer choirs made all superior at district and state choral festival, and they had successful concert performances throughout the year. With Spark showchoir, the season was also successful,. They came in second place in the Homewood competition and first place in the State Showchoir competi- The annual Showchoir tion. As she said when asked about the season: “It was great!” banquet was an oppor- According to Mrs. Maxie, there are three major things you need to have in tunity for members to receive awards for out- order to be in showchoir, choir, or on the crew: “You have to have a strong work ethic, standing work and to know your music, and be a team member.” Thanks for all you do, Mrs. Maxie!! spend time together The following awards were given out at the banquet: for a no-pressure eve- Outstanding crew member: Chloe Slade ning of fun. Greatest boy dancer: Kyle Johnson Greatest girl dancer: Mallory Extine Outstanding boy vocalist: Semaj Silas Outstanding girl vocalist: Kyra Lampley Director Award (boy): Reagan Milliet Director Award (girl): Anna Claire Gunn Brave Award: Hannah Taylor Student Vote (girl): Sydney Swafford Student Vote (boy): Mason Moak The banquet was held at As- bury Church. It was beautifully decorated and was catered by Oyster Half Shell.. PANTHER PRESS 4 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4 P A G E 4 Walking Dead Recap “Rick was trying his hardest to explain that they were never going By Jenna Fisher and Haley Dennis to be safe and they would always have to WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS keep their eyes open.” This season concluded with the deaths of two new characters and the return of a recurring character. The beginning of the episode showed Morgan, a well remembered friend of Rick. He was making eggs and coffee under a small fire when a strange man approached him. He had an odd "W" marking on him. The man seemed somber and depressed and Morgan willingly talked to him. But not long after his arrival the man allegedly attacked Morgan and another man sprung out of the bushes. Morgan fought fiercely back and won. These men were part of a group called the "wolves". Morgan packed camp and started his trek to find Rick on the map he had found. But to some people a very shocking part in the season finale was when one of the most popular characters, Daryl, risked his life for Aaron. You see, these two were trapped in a car that was surrounded by walkers. Daryl had volunteered to distract the walkers, so Aaron could escape. Luckily, Morgan showed up to save them. This season Carol took her sass up a notch! She began to be the mother of the group once again as she was in the previous seasons before her exile. She pretty much terrified the young- est child of Jessie ,Sam, in order to prevent her from sharing and Rick's secret. At the very end of the finale Daryl and Aaron brought Morgan to the Alexandria camp where the group was deciding about Rick's fate. Rick was trying his hardest to explain that they were never going to be safe and they would always have to keep their eyes open. Just before the meeting had begun a walker had gotten into camp, and Rick almost died killing it. Finally after Pete burst into the meeting and legitimately killed Reg (after Reg would not agree to move out of his way), Deanna told Rick to "take care of him." We all know what that meant!! When Rick "took care" of him, he looked up to see the one and only Morgan. As you can see, this episode was pretty action packed. From Morgan saving Daryl and Aaron to Glenn getting shot in the shoulder by Nicholas to Rick shooting Pete. This season went out in a bang. Morgan returns to the show and has to fight for his life against a new group —the Wolves.

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