It’s that time again for all Cleveland students, except for seniors, to pull out those big colorful pieces of paper and begin signing up for classes next year. Every year, there are a few new classes added and a few dropped for one reason or another, but this year a new class is being offered with a slightly different twist from a class taught  many years ago.

                Beginning last year, social studies teacher Julia Blattner and former Cleveland teacher Lynne Allers began talking about developing a new social studies class, “Epic Issues Seminar.” Blattner said that she has wanted to expand the Social Studies department at Cleveland, and this seems to be a good first step in that direction. This class would be a non-IB class but would still be available for full, partial, and non- IB students. The idea for this class was sparked by the success of a class taught many years ago by Jan Watt and Gene Solomon called “Semester Seminary.”

                The new class would be taught by two different teachers, one teacher per semester, but each teacher would be teaching his or her own unique curriculum each semester. Blattner said that her hope for the class was for it to be primarily “discussion based, with some reading from non-textbook sources.” There is no set curriculum for this class but instead the teacher would be able to choose topics to teach about that they are really passionate about. Some of these topics include: Music & Society, Twitter and Facebook, Peace and Conflict, Introduction to Philosophy, along with many others.

                Unfortunately as of now, there is no certainty that the class will happen due to questions about funding, but interested students should sign up for the class because the class has a higher chance of being funded if many students would like to take it.