T

he first ever Homestead Hacks meeting was held after school on Thursday, Oct. 25 to an audience of around 10 people. The event was an assembly between parents and Department Representatives, led by Principal Giglio.

“There’s several meanings of hack,” English Department chair Debbie Vanni said. “It means its a shortcut of doing or learning something … in doing [Homestead Hacks], it’s sort of a shortcut into a window of what we do here.”

The panel discussion consisted of representatives of different departments ranging from Algebra 2/Trigonometry and AP Calculus BC teacher Connie Murray, and Choir and AP Music Theory teacher Jeff Morton.

In an effort to increase transparency between teachers and parents, heads of department and administration created Homestead Hacks to explain their learning goals for students.

“Parents want to demystify and know ‘what do we do here at Homestead? What is our department about? What do we focus on? What are our philosophies?’” Vanni said.

In the meeting, teachers debunked the SLO acronym that stands for Student Learning Objectives, a learning philosophy listed in every classroom that serves as the basis for educators at HHS.

“Sometimes people just list a philosophy that’s just there.” Vanni said. “But I think … as teachers, we really like these student learning outcomes because they really do describe what we want our students to be.”

As the first ever meeting of its kind in recent years, Vanni said that administration and departments look to change its name and hold similar panel discussions in the future. All parents are welcome to attend and ask questions that will help further their understanding of the foundation for their student’s learning goals.

“We want them to be lifelong learners.” Vanni said. “We really do feel like those learning outcomes are worthy. We do talk about it and how we want kids to get something out of [HHS].”