Category: Academics

Weekly Reports – Composition, Week One

Posted on June 17, 2019 by - Academics, Composition, Creative Writing, Weekly Reports

Here are some reports from the teachers of each of our Composition classes for the last week in the Program. We have organized them by class:

Freshman Composition (Ms. Cecil Tate, Instructor)

We had a successful week in Composition 1. The students wrote a letter introducing themselves to me after they read my letter to them. Of course, not many people write friendly letters now, myself included, but the letters give me a chance to evaluate organization, mechanics, and sentence structure without making the assignment seem like a test. I also get to know them a little bit better. The assignment that caused some consternation was drawing a self-portrait! Some of the results are hilarious! Next, they used the poem ” If I Ruled the World” as a example for their own poem, but they used their own thoughts and ideas. These poems revealed that these students are very compassionate and kind. They read “Harrison Bergeron” aloud taking turns if they wished to read and discussed the story in class. We’ll use this story and the poem to create a utopian or dystopian short story next week.

 

Composition III (Ms. Sarah Harshbarger, Instructor)

This week, we began our unit on short fiction. The students read short stories and flash fiction by Tobias Wolff, Flannery O’Connor, George Saunders, and ZZ Packer. They did writing exercises individually and as a group to build skills that will help them write their own flash fiction stories, which will be due in the second week. We discussed genre conventions and point of view, as well as strategies for reading short fiction effectively.

 

English 001 (Ms. Sarah Harshbarger, Instructor)

This week, we started our unit on fiction and flash fiction. We read stories by Tobias Wolff, John Cheever, George Saunders, ZZ Packer, Hugh Behm-Steinberg, and more. The students were assigned a flash fiction piece of 500-1000 words due at the end of the second week. We did individual and group exercises to build skills that will be useful in writing the story. We discussed how to build tension through character development, how writers use elements of surrealism to explore theme, and how to read short stories effectively.

 

 

Weekly Reports – Humanities, Week One

Posted on June 17, 2019 by - Academics, Humanities, Weekly Reports

Here are some reports from the teachers of each of our Humanities classes for last weeks in the Program. We have organized them by class:

Freshmen Humanities (Ms. Kristen Harrell, Instructor)

On Monday, we began classes by discussing the Latin phrase on their t-shirts and what that meant in the context of this class and the program. This led into what the Latin and Greek languages were/are and why they were important to Western Civilization. They were given a Greek alphabet sheet as well as a list of ancient Greek names and their meanings. Their homework for the next few days was to choose a name from that list to be their own for the class. This usually leads to a discussion on etymology and the understanding of English words with Greek roots. Also this week, we delved into the pre-Greek culture; the Minoans and the Mycenaeans. We discussed their beliefs their structures and inferred a great deal about their lives by looking at the ruins and artifacts from the palace complex of Knossos and Mycenae. They understood that with a lack of written history, understanding archaeology and art history can help fill in the gaps. The Greek ‘middle ages’ discussion was dominated by the Iliad and the Odyssey and how that sets a standard for any epic tale or journey story for the western world even into modern society. I quizzed them over this material with an Open Notes Quiz and was able to gauge their progress in composition with a free response worksheet. We finished the week by watching excerpts from the miniseries, “The Odyssey”, and discussing everything from its accuracy, the set design, to the ‘Hollywood’ changes.

 

 

Weekly Reports – Afternoon Classes, Week Six

Posted on July 16, 2018 by - Academics, Afternoon Classes, Criminal Justice, Music, Performances, Weekly Reports

Here are some reports from the teachers of each of our afternoon classes for the last week in the Program. We have organized them by class:

Choir (Ms. Colette Tanner, Instructor)

We are working to perfect and memorize our performance repertoire. We will also be working on Final “Bridge” Projects. The students will “BRIDGE THE GAP” between academics and the arts by researching a song or composer and representing the song/composer in a creative way. (i.e. poetry, visual arts, film, etc)

We are putting the finishing touches on our concert repertoire. Also, our “BRIDGE PROJECTS” are due on Friday. This is a wonderful group of students that have made remarkable strides over these last 6 weeks. We will still have rehearsals next week. I hope to see you all at the CHOIR CONCERT on Saturday, July 21.

 

 

Debate (Ms. Jessica Markstrom, Instructor)

We prepared for debates last Friday. We had the first set of debates today, Thursday. There was a value debate regarding whether cats are better than dogs and a policy debate regarding the cell phone policy at the GPGC.

This week students engaged in debates. Debates followed policy, value, and fact formats. Several returning students showed exceptional growth. All students improved upon their previous debates.

 

Critical Thinking (Mr. Robert Markstrom, Instructor)

The short week did not allow for activities beyond games. On Friday students chose which games they would like to play out of an assortment of games. Games like Contagion and Nightmare Chess were available. On Thursday students prepared for the game tournament next week.

This week was a game tournament. The games included in the tournament were available on most game days this summer. Games in the tournament: Blokus, Hippos and Crocs, Q-Bitz, Score 4, Set, Speed Chess, and Twixt. Each game involves strategy and follows a zero sum format except set and Q-Bitz. Set and Q-Bitz deal with pattern recognition under a time constraint.

Weekly Reports – Composition, Week Six

Posted on July 16, 2018 by - Academics, Composition, Weekly Reports

Here are some reports from the teachers of each of our Composition classes for the last week in the Program. We have organized them by class:

Freshman Composition (Ms. Cecil Tate, Instructor)

During the last week of Composition I, the students wrote a constructed response based on a question from the short story “Harrison Bergeron.” They volunteered to read their responses to their classmates. After reading a short opinion piece, they began pre-writing which helped them prepare to compose a persuasive essay. On Wednesday the students began writing the actual persuasive essay. Thursday most students volunteered to read and we discussed the various opinions. We “cubed” a paper clip. Cubing is a six step writing strategy. One of the steps is arguing for or against the cubed object, and as you can imagine, everyone participated vociferously! On Friday the students, participated in logic games, and quiz bowl questions from their courses at GPGC.

 

Senior Composition and Grad Composition (Brett Hanley, Instructor)

English 002: The class read and discussed “Stone Animals” by Kelly Link.  We also discussed magical realism and the conventions of science fiction, fantasy, and horror writing. We began to watch excerpts of films that follow these conventions and works of fiction that employ elements of fantasy, the unreal, and the surreal. The grads also worked in groups to answer analysis questions regarding “Stone Animals” and the excerpts of The Shining we watched. The grads turned in their final packets of poetry or short fiction.

Composition III:  We read and discussed the craft essay, “The Energy of Revision” by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux and discussed advanced strategies for revising creative work. The seniors also completed an in-class writing assignment analyzing a work of literature or film we’ve previously discussed in class.

 

Weekly Reports – Science, Week Six

Posted on July 16, 2018 by - Academics, Science, Weekly Reports

Here are some reports from the teachers of each of our Science classes for last week in the Program. We have organized them by class:

 

Senior Science (Dr. Linda Brannon, Instructor)

This week is the one during which we prepare for presentation of projects on Friday. Ideally, all students would be finished collecting data and would have a good rough draft of their final paper. However, some students working on their own projects had not completed data collection, which created a time problem. I also drilled students doing science studies repeatedly to help them become very clear about the design of their study and what their variables are. We also discussed their hypotheses and how analyzing their data would allow them to confirm or fail to confirm those hypotheses. Students worked on creating a PowerPoint for their presentations and a final paper. I went to study hall Monday through Thursday to provide assistance to students working on science, both individual projects and the group working on presenting the class study. Most students had a completed PowerPoint and were able to present their studies on Friday. Four of six students who chose science projects had not submitted a satisfactory paper so must spend Week 7 on this task if they are to graduate.

 

Grad Psychology (Dr. Linda Brannon, Instructor)

Both the quality of students’ class participation and final papers concerned me, so I decided to provide another assessment as a way to determine students’ comprehension of important concepts. That assessment was an open-book/note exam, which I announced on Monday and students took on Thursday. They also turned in their final papers on Thursday (two of eight did so; others must work on these papers during Week 7). The topics that we discussed were talk-based/cognitive therapies, including client-centered therapy, rational-emotive therapy, and also several behavior modification approaches. As students have experienced a token economy, we talked about that version of behavior modification more extensively than systematic desensitization, aversion therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy.

Weekly Reports – Humanities, Week Six

Posted on July 16, 2018 by - Academics, Humanities, Weekly Reports

Here are some reports from the teachers of each of our Humanities classes for last weeks in the Program. We have organized them by class:

Freshmen Humanities (Ms. Kristen Harrell, Instructor)

For this week, we spent a great deal of time discussing some of Aristotle’s theories, such as the Theory of Potentiality and his concept of the Unmoved Mover. The class decided that Aristotle would have loved modern science and especially quantum physics. We also had fun when we discussed Aristotle’s ideas of Syllogism; the idea that if A=B and B=C, then A=C. The students had a lot of fun coming up with their own ‘truths’ through the use of syllogism.

For the second half of the week, we had fun with talking about the birth of the Roman republic. This is when I wish the class could be 14 weeks long! They adored talking about the Romans. Sadly though, we could only go as far as the Triumvirate before the week was finished. All in all, the kids were highly enthusiastic about history and social studies in general which makes it a blast to teach!

 

 

Grad Level, Civil Rights/Civil Liberties (Ms. Jessica Markstrom)

We finished discussions on the 14th Amendment and discrimination. We began evaluating voting rights. Students learned that voting rights primarily come from amendments to the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act. We examined the 15th, 17th, 19th, 24th, and 26th amendments to the U.S. Constitution. We also discussed issues like voter ID laws and the circumstances surrounding and effects of the Bush v. Gore decision.

This week we discussed the 14th Amendment “equal protection” clause and its application to voting rights. Discussions focused on the 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th amendments to the U.S. Constitution; the Voting Rights Act; gerrymandering, and state voting laws. The students took a 1963 Louisiana voting literacy test to see if they would have been able to vote prior to the Voting Rights Act. We dissected the current session rulings in Abbott v. Perez, Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, and Gill v. Whitford. We closed out the week watching “Good Night, and Good Luck,” which centers on Edward R. Murrow’s responses to McCarthyism and the importance of an independent press. Cases examined: Shelby County v. Holder, Citizens United v. F.E.C., Crawford v. Marion County, McCutcheon v. F.E.C., Reynolds v. Sims, Miller v. Johnson, Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, Gill v. Whitford, and Abbott v. Perez.

Weekly Reports – Composition, Week Four

Posted on July 3, 2018 by - Academics, Composition, Weekly Reports

Here are some reports from the teachers of each of our Composition classes for the last week in the Program. We have organized them by class:

Freshman Composition (Ms. Cecil Tate, Instructor)

Students read about the trial, and death of Socrates from the biography by Cora Mason. They then wrote a short opinion about Socrates’ verdict. On Tuesday the class read Aristotle’s description of friendship. They applied the descriptions to one of their friends in a short essay. Next they read “The Cask of Amontillado” and began analyzing the story using the elements of drama and the parts of a short story. On Thursday the students filled in a short guided writing planner and developed an original short story.

 

Sophomore Composition (Ms. Stacey Simien, Instructor)

This week’s focus was Poetry. Each day we concentrated on learning about a different type of poem. Monday-Blackout Poetry, Tuesday-Ode, Wednesday, Ekphrastic, Thursday-Sonnet, Friday-Freevers. Several students really shined this week as poetry was their niche.

 

Weekly Reports – Science, Week Four

Posted on July 3, 2018 by - Academics, Science, Weekly Reports

Here are some reports from the teachers of each of our Science classes for last week in the Program. We have organized them by class:

Freshman Science (Susan Nunez, Instructor)

This week we tried to create Rube Goldberg contraptions. The game Mouse Trap was our example. Students had to use all Six Simple Machines. They first drew/ made a blueprint of what they wanted to create. Then, given a specific set of materials, they tried to actually build that creation. Each one had a specific final outcome. Like Mouse Trap, the goal was to catch a mouse or whatever idea they attempt.

 

Senior Science (Dr. Linda Brannon, Instructor)

The students doing the class study spent Monday through Friday in the rat lab collecting data. By this time, those students have become comfortable with the procedure and handling the rats. By Friday, we had completed the students’ participation with the data collection. I met with students conducting science projects in the dorm on Sunday to help them clarify their designs, understand their variables, develop their materials, and prepare to collect data. Some students were clearer than others on what they needed to do to move forward with their studies, but it was important for all students to begin collecting data this week. For each of the other days, I met with those students to help them produce a finished set of materials and a script to use in interacting with participants. Supervised their work and helped them get copies of the materials they needed to conduct their studies.

 

Grad Psychology (Dr. Linda Brannon, Instructor)

We considered topics related to therapies for mental illness, taking a historical view. We had already covered Freud’s psychoanalytic approach, which is a talk-based therapy. This week’s topics focused on biologically based interventions, including lobotomies, electroconvulsive therapy, and drugs used to treat schizophrenia, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and anxiety disorders.

Weekly Reports – Humanities, Week Four

Posted on July 3, 2018 by - Academics, Humanities, Weekly Reports

Here are some reports from the teachers of each of our Humanities classes for last weeks in the Program. We have organized them by class:

Freshmen Humanities (Ms. Kristen Harrell, Instructor)

At the beginning of the week, we spoke about the life of Socrates and his school of thought concerning Truth. After going over his trial and death, they made the connection between Socrates to other historical figures who’ve been killed for passive beliefs in teaching. They brought up Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and even Jesus to name a few. I had the students act out the allegory of the cave. I had students face the wall with their backs to the door. I then placed the overhead projector behind them to mimicking the fire casting shadows and I opened the door for more lighting which mimicked the outside world. I think they really enjoyed when one of the captives left the cave to discover Truth outside. For when he returned, according to Plato, and tried revealing Truth to the others, he’d be killed. They really enjoyed the play acting and no students (or teachers) were harmed in the making of the cave. At the end of the week, we continued with Plato’s concepts of Utopia and what Utopia actually means. The students brought up ideas such as socialism, capitalism, and communism. Again I let them debate with on the idea of the Philosopher-King and the caste system.

 

 

Grad Level, Civil Rights/Civil Liberties (Ms. Jessica Markstrom)

This week we covered the 14th Amendment “due process” clause and “equal protection” clause. Students learned about substantive due process and the rights formed from interpretations of the “due process” clause (privacy; procreation; marriage; private, consensual adult sexual relationships; and abortion). We also began an evaluation of civil rights with a focus on discrimination and the “equal protection clause.” Additionally, students watched documentaries on religious freedom and school integration. Documentaries watched this week included: “First Freedom: The Fight for Religious Liberty” by PBS and “Frontline – Separate and Unequal” by PBS. Cases discussed this week included: Griswold v. Connecticut, Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Skinner v. Oklahoma, Loving v. Virginia, Lawrence v. Texas, Dred Scott v. Sanford, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education (I and II), Grutter v. Bolinger, Fisher v. Texas (I and II), etc.

Weekly Reports – Composition, Week Three

Posted on June 25, 2018 by - Academics, Composition, Weekly Reports

Here are some reports from the teachers of each of our Composition classes for the last week in the Program. We have organized them by class:

Freshman Composition (Ms. Cecil Tate, Instructor)

On Monday of week three, the composition classes read story beginnings and practiced writing an original descriptive beginning, The next day they read “The Lady or the Tiger” and wrote their own endings. On Wednesday they volunteered to share their endings with the class, then they wrote apostrophe poems to subjects of their choice. We found a few examples of apostrophes and they were interested in the form. Thursday was another day of poetry writing. This time the students had to try to create poem using a list of words given to them. They seemed to enjoy trying to make sense out of nonsense. They also tried creating a snapshot of a friend just using words. Friday was freshman fun day.

 

Sophomore Composition (Ms. Stacey Simien, Instructor)

This week was all about rhetoric. We explored rhetorical devices with a fun Quizziz on iPads and through songs. We then reviewed the rhetorical appeals in advertisements. This week’s writing was an argumentative essay due on Friday.

 

Senior Composition (Brett Hanley, Instructor)

In Composition III, we discussed how to model plot in fiction, completed a critical analysis of a short story, completed a 100-word story, and read fiction by Amelia Gray, George Saunders, Lydia Davis, ZZ Packer, and Michael Cunningham.

 

Grad English (Brett Hanley, Instructor)

In English 002, we discussed key elements of flash fiction and plot, completed in-class creative and academic writing assignments, and read stories by Lorrie Moore, ZZ Packer, and Michael Cunningham.