Teaching topics with bias can be beneficial for students

by Coleman Armes Staff Writer Everyone has been there; you are sitting in class, and the teacher is teaching a lesson, their bias completely showing through. Usually when this happens there are four possible things that go through the students’ minds at that time. One: they don’t even notice the bias. Two: they notice but don’t care about the topic. Three: they care about the topic but agree with the teacher’s view, so they don’t mind and actually like listening to the bias. Last but not least, there is the fourth option where the student sees the bias, disagrees with the teacher’s opinion and gets mad. I have been in Case One, and I know…

Teachers adjust to students grade obsession

By Sarah Police Staff Writer A couple of years ago, one of English teacher Zach Sherman’s students confronted him about their grade. They were disappointed when they received a grade not to their liking. The grade was for a group assignment, and this student had let down the other members by not doing his part. “The whole group suffered so they got really mad at this student and this student came to me and complained about the grade,” Sherman said. “I ended up not changing the grade, but it was a big standoff.” Grades have always been important to students and sometimes teachers and students have different opinions about what goes into the grade book….

Distractions during the school day

By Chase Porter Staff Writer While analyzing a normal school of mine I realize that I am distracted from what I am actually supposed to be doing the majority of the time. Just think fellow classmates, what really distracts you while your at school? What do I consider to be the biggest distraction during my school day you ask? I’d have to say its definitely my phone. I never thought I’d say this but my phone is almost apart of me now and I’m sure that’s true for almost everyone with a smart phone. These phones aren’t just great for playing games, such as Fruit Ninja, my personal favorite, but with the incorporation of group…

AP Exams

By: Chris Cummins Staff Writer It’s nearly May, and for the many students in CHS taking AP Classes, that means that AP Exams are around the corner. With the enticing offer of college credit if scores are high enough, the exams are a major part of high school for most students, and give them a chance to show off their mastery of an individual subject, regardless of the difficulty of the course offered by the school. Scored on a five point scale, where a five is the best score possible, getting a five in multiple exams is regarded as one of the requisites to admittance into the nation’s best universities, which explains why, as mid-April…

Racism in the classroom

Kimberly Del Angel Staff Writer One word, three syllables, thousands of implications: racism. How can it be right under our noses and why do we often do nothing about it? Many students see and experience racism daily, with it going overlooked or unacknowledged most of the time. The reason is an aggravating mystery. We live in a judgmental world where every little characteristic, from name to skin color, is taken from an individual and bubble wrapped only to be picked at to the point where they are left like an unprotected package becoming nothing but shattered bits and pieces. School is supposed to be a safe and comfortable environment, and when kids are being ‘picked…

Open House tonight to feature another year of student excellence

Ashley Attanucci Web Manager Coppell High School is holding its annual Open House event for all parents and students to visit the halls of CHS after hours and revisit students’ works from this year. Doors will open at 6:30, but families can come and go as they please until close at 8:30. Teachers will showcase students’ works in classrooms and hallways, and parents will have the opportunity to hear raving reviews about their students. It’s a night to meet and get to better know teachers and what students have accomplished since August. All teachers are required to attend Open House, and all administrators will be in attendance as well, so don’t miss out on this…

Favoritism in the classroom

Kimberly Del Angel Staff Writer Look back to the third grade. Do you remember the one kid that popped up the occasional question, “Who is your favorite student?” The teacher respond by saying: “Oh darling, I have no favorite.” Favoritism has been a major part of the classroom since day one of school. True, not all of our teachers show favoritism, but for me, it seems to pop up ever so often each year. As unfair and cruel favoritism may seem, teachers don’t seem to mind or change it. I guess it may be hard to control favoritism when you have student A that is respectful and always listens; then you have student B who…

Lecture bridges gap between Islam, teachers

by Mike Pankonien Staff Writer It can be a topic here in post 9/11 America; in a country made up mostly of Christians, knowledge of Islam can be hard to find from those who don’t follow the religion. So what better way to address the issues that spawn from a lack of information than to have an actual scholar of Islam speak on them? On May 11th, a speaker from the Islamic Center of Irving came to speak to an audience of teachers in the library. “Teacher’s have to have 12 hours of professional development hours every year,” teacher Mrs. Caussey said. “It used to be we’d get these during the first week of thanksgiving…

Top students honor top teachers

Rebecca Neumann Staff Writer This week, the top five percent ranked students in the class of 2010 are taking pictures with their favorite teachers at Bob Freeman’s Studio in Coppell. Each year, CHS honors the top five percent graduating seniors with a banquet. This year, the banquet is on May 4 at the D/FW Airport Marriot Hotel. Seniors submit a list of three teachers they would like to invite as their guest to the banquet and the administration assigns one of the requested teachers to each student.  “[I picked] Coach Kemp, my AP Statistics teacher [to take a picture with],” senior Henry Trahan said. “I picked him because I really like math as a subject…

Think you know teachers of CHS? Play match game

You successfully learned your way around Coppell High School. You finally figured out where H hall is. You (usually) remember all the AP’s names (though, of course, you’ve never had to talk to them about anything). But how well do you know the CHS staff? Your final test is the challenge below: by correctly matching the teachers to the left with their identifiers to the right, prove yourself a true CHS maven. Answers: 1B, 2C, 3B, 4A, 5B, 6A, 7C, 8A, 9C, 10C, 11A.