New Course Options for 2018-2019 Come to Lakeview

Many new classes are coming to Lakeview for the 2018-2019 school year. These new classes bring a fresh exciting edge to most subjects, including fine arts, science, social studies, and CTE. These classes are either new to the campus or are already being offered on other Garland ISD campuses.

African, Asian, Mexican American Studies, along with Women Studies, are being offered to students beginning Fall 2018. Students are excited to be offered classes related to their cultures or identities. With cultures and studies classes, students want to learn something they will not learn in another class, and from teachers who are knowledgeable in that particular field.

“A lot of students see what’s going on in our country and they don’t understand it. They don’t have the historical understanding to comprehend it,” social studies teacher and department chair Alexes Terry said. “Students now are in the generation of being freethinkers, but they need a guide to help them apply it to the social, political and economic issues. You think it’s more credible for someone who is knowledgeable and has experienced these issues to teach these extensive courses. I could teach you something from a textbook from the 70’s, but you won’t get the emotion of me living it and experiencing it to teach you the climate of the time.”

In addition to social studies, other departments received new classes as well, like Accelerated Art I (A and B), Commercial Photography, Tech Theatre IV and Animation. These class subjects are very specific and go more into depth than in other elective classes. This opens new opportunities to learn and develop skills to use in future careers.

“I’m excited that we can offer Commercial Photography,” journalism teacher Deanna Hand said. “I think it will appeal to a wider range of students, since we can look at all aspects of photography, including the more artistic aspects of it, rather than focusing on photojournalism.”

Another program that is offering a lot of new classes is the College and Career Magnet that will now offer Dual Credit Music Theory (which is replacing DC Music Appreciation), BCIM II (Honors and DC), Accounting II (Honors and DC), and Financial Analysis. Preparing students for the future is a huge movement on camus and these classes specifically are doing just that. Since the Career and Technical Education center was built, all upper level business classes were transferred there. Lakeview is now offering some of these business classes again to retain its Business Magnet Program.

Some of these classes count towards core classes, adding regular English, math, science, and social studies credits, but not replacing mandated classes like federal government, freshman biology, and English III. Other classes are AP classes like Comparative Government, Microeconomics, Psychology and European History that offer an exam in exchange for college credit.

“The state of Texas decides what classes count for core subject credit, so the school has no say in that,” lead counselor Tracy Stafford said.

The majority of the new classes are the social studies classes, but also offered are Business English and Dual Credit Biology. The new Dual Credit Biology class is offered as another third level science class since the removal of Dual Credit Physics this year. This class will be an alternative to third and fourth level science options, although there are plenty of existing options like Aquatics, Astronomy, and Forensics. Students are just unaware these classes are offered.

“We have a lot [of specialized science classes], students just don’t know about it,” science teacher and department chair Jodie Like said. “We have just about everything, even two different aspects of forensics: the criminal aspect and the geological aspect.”