“I personally think that the SAM thing is going to be a great opportunity, for anyone who is behind or struggling in any of their classes!” says freshman, Jeremy Soine. His view speaks for many students and teachers about the upcoming SAM Thursday event. SAM stands for “student achievement matters”. This idea came from vice principal, Mrs. Chappuis, who used the program at her previous school. She had then brought this idea to the attention of the school’s staff. The staff were all on board with trying out this program for the month of March on Thursdays. They decided on the SAM time idea during meetings on PLC (professional learning communities) days, with the first meeting held on March 3.

Mr. Hodges says, “The idea of SAM time ties into the PLC process teacher are using. The professional learning community concept is founded on four essential questions: what do we want students to learn? How will we know they have learned it? What will we do if students don’t learn it? What will we do for students who have already learned it? SAM time addresses the last two questions. SAM time will provide weekly intervention time for students who aren’t learning classroom material, and it will provide enrichment opportunities for students who have already learned classroom material.” So, SAM time will be for all students of all abilities. The students who are a bit behind in their classes will be receiving academic help from the teachers, while the students who are right on track will do enrichment activities. SAM time will be held for the 4 Thursdays in March as an experiment for future use next year. It will last for about half of each class period at the end. The other half will still be used for regular class time. Although SAM time will now be a big part of our Thursdays, the school will still have Ramp Up with the same schedule. If teachers think the extra activities are valuable, they can continue them each Thursday when March is over. Ramp Up ends on April 14th, so if any teachers continue the SAM time, there will be extra time to get to students who need more help.

All students will be happy to hear that the enrichment activities and academic intervention will not be homework or extra assignments. They also will not be graded. Teachers will use SAM time to help the students who have fallen behind. “The goal is for all students to receive what they need to be successful,” Mr. Hodges adds. Cannon Falls schools will now be ahead of other schools who don’t already do SAM time or something similar, because schools have struggled with how to address students who need extra challenges in class or students who need a bit more support.

Whether teachers choose to give out more paper activities or complete neat experiments, it should still be beneficial to all students. Mrs. Chappuis concludes, “I believe that SAM time will give those students who may be struggling a chance to re-learn course concepts and it will give students who are on target a chance to either do an enrichment activity or choice activity.”