Category: Afternoon Classes

Weekly Reports – Afternoon Classes, Week Two

Posted on June 23, 2019 by - Afternoon Classes, Creative Writing, Music, Performances, Science, 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 (Colette Tanner, Instructor)

The theme of the choir program this year is THE GREATEST SHOW. As the title infers, we will end the program with some selections from THE GREATEST SHOWMAN, but the remainder of the concert will deal with titles dealing with what one might see at the circus or historical events that were “great shows.” As soon as I have the GPGC CHOIR BLOG up and running, I will supply you with a link. That page will have all of the possible performance titles listed with listening links.

 

Publishing (Christa Bell, Instructor/Editor)

In publishing, students actually write and produce a newspaper for the Governor’s Program. In the first week, we discussed the basics of design and the basics of what makes news. Students spend the first part of each week brainstorming story ideas for the paper. The rest of the week is spent researching and turning those ideas into stories. Wednesday and Thursday the students use the computers and Adobe InDesign, which many of them are learning this summer, to lay out and produce the newspaper. Friday, we critique the paper that’s just been printed, and the cycle starts again for the next week.

 

Computer Tech (Barry Humphus, Instructor)

Students mostly did 3D objects related to Father’s Day though some did other objects. Some were successful and some of the prints failed. This is due to the original design of the objects and not what the student did to print these.

 

Debate  (Robert Markstrom, Instructor)

The first week was spent creating a foundation for argumentation. This Monday brought a new student to class who didn’t have previous debate experience. With all students now present, week 2 was spent learning how to write the first affirmative speech and how to record the speech on a flow (form of note taking used by debaters).

 

Critical Thinking (Ms. Jessica Markstrom, Instructor) 

This week was puzzle week in Critical Thinking. Students worked in groups and attempted to connect as many pieces possible for a 500-piece puzzle within the class period for their first activity. On separate days they worked on puzzle packets. One packet had simple math problems, 2 very difficult sudoku puzzles, mazes, and shape puzzles. Another packet had logic puzzles that ranged in difficulty from easy, medium, and difficult. On the last day of puzzle activities, the students competed to see who could complete 3-D puzzles within a short time period. These puzzles included creating a close-circuit with pieces with an incomplete pattern provided, using different tiles to create a circuit with new pieces added per completed circuit, a cube that contains odd shaped parts that must fit into a box, a square with different sized and shaped pieces that must be 100% filled, and Cubitz. Each activity provided a different type of puzzle for students to solve throughout the week. On Friday we played games. Games included: Blokus, Bloodborne (the boardgame), Chess, Forbidden Island, Get Bit, Hippos and Crocs, Pandemic: Contagion, and Twixt.

Weekly Reports – Afternoon Classes, Week One

Posted on June 17, 2019 by - Academics, Afternoon Classes, 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:

 

Computer Tech (Barry Humphus, Instructor)

Student are very excited to get started doing 3D printing. We have some preliminary ground rules to set up, but as soon as that is complete, we should be good to go.

 

Debate  (Robert Markstrom, Instructor)

This week was spent establishing the context for debate. Area’s of emphasis include: Aristotle’s 3 modes of persuasion, 3 types of resolutions, 4 different debate formats, Affirmative goals in a debate, and exploring topic areas for future debates.

 

Musical & Musial Leads (Ms. Elayne Gabbert, Instructor)

The show has been cast and we have begun learning the music. There are 22 songs in the show and we have made it through all of them in the prologue to ACT I and scene 5 of ACT II.

Since we cast the show on Monday, we are working on learning all the music and fitting it with the dialogue. We also started sectional and individual instruction on solos and small ensembles.

 

Large Ensemble & Musically Gifted (Mr. Rod Lauderdale, Instructor and Director)

Ensemble: We have begun rehearsing and discovering our sound with the different players and instruments available to us this summer. It should be an exciting time for us all this summer

Musically Gifted: We have begun our studies of Music Theory as well as Music History. Also the students are already beginning the necessary work of practicing their musical skills throughout the summer.

 

Conflict and Diplomacy (Ms. Jessica Markstrom, Instructor)

This week we covered basic paradigms of international relations including realism, liberalism, and constructivism. I placed a special focus on realist theories like balance of power and hegemonic stability as explanations of when to expect intrastate conflict or peace in a system. I used candy to explain basic issues of conflict, resource scarcity, and maximum utility. We also addressed how the international system and conflict has changed since WWII. The students read the first chapter of Thomas Schelling’s “Arms and Influence,” which examines what coercive diplomacy is, its role in conflict in the past, and how it operates in a post-nuclear age. They also read a piece by Jack Levy from “Leashing the Dogs of War” that provided systemic and regional explanations for interstate and intrastate conflict as well as reinforcing realist theories of conflict. The last reading came from Daniel Drezner and it applied paradigms of international relations to a hypothetical zombie scourge. The students enjoyed debating which approach they would employ to combat a zombie plague. We ended the week with the students receiving their assigned countries for the State Development project and they began discussing alliances and trade deals.

 

Critical Thinking (Ms. Jessica Markstrom, Instructor) 

This week the students took a personality test that determined their animal personality (you can access this test at animalinyou.com). This test is fun for the students and allows me to sort them into groups based on their traits (shy, leader, etc.). We played numerous games in the course. Zero sum tactical games (Twixt, Score 4, Hippos and Crocs), a tactical game involving vectors (Pirateer), a new variant on chess (Tile Chess), spatial games (Blokus and Tsuro), resource games (Pandemic Contagion), and odds games (Get Bit).

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 – Afternoon Classes, Week Four

Posted on July 3, 2018 by - Afternoon Classes, 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)

The choir is continuing to learn their concert literature. Parts are known on almost all of the songs and we are beginning to shape the songs musically. We are now taking rhythmic dictation and adding in pitches with syllables. Soon, we will begin taking both rhythmic and melodic dictation on the staff. Students should have completed their MUSIC THEORY & APPRECIATION review by Friday. Their final projects are due on July 13. For these projects, the students are choosing a piece from our concert literature, researching the composer/time period and presenting the song, composer or time period in a creative way.

 

Computer Tech (Barry Humphus, Instructor)

Students started the week by building their first Arduino program. They followed by constructing a simple circuit and used that to program the circuit. The followon was to increase the complexity of the circuit with additional programming.

 

Debate (Ms. Jessica Markstrom, Instructor)

This week we finished discussions of off-case policy positions. The students learned how to structure value debates and fact debates. We discussed the requirements of each speech in a debate. Students began debating on Thursday and will continue to debate each other for the remainder of the class.

 

Critical Thinking (Mr. Robert Markstrom, Instructor)

This week was Lego week in Critical Thinking. The first activity involved memory, teamwork, allocation of roles, and communication. The teams were to replicate a model, but only one team member could see the model and that member could not build with the Legos. The second activity was a relay race that required students to solve problems utilizing communication. Two legs of the race involved one student being blindfolded and required the other student to communicate (one leg verbally and the other Leg non-verbally) how to build the structure. The third activity tested the students’ ability to build sound structures. Each team built a bridge. The bridge had to meet width and height requirements. Up to three, two and a half pound weights were used to test the structure. The last Lego activity allowed the students to be creative. Each team was to build anything they desired around a theme and at the end of the hour the team would give a presentation on their structures and their theme. On Friday students played games.

 

 

Weekly Reports – Afternoon Classes, Week Three

Posted on June 25, 2018 by - Afternoon Classes, 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)

The students are continuing to learn their concert repertoire. If you would like to see the music they are learning, click on www.gpgcsings.blogspot.com . All possible concert repertoire is listed there with listening links. The students are also working on their MUSIC THEORY and APPRECIATION packets. At the end of this packet is a creative project due at the end of the summer. We have also been taking rhythmic dictations and will begin adding syllables to those rhythms this week.

 

Computer Tech (Barry Humphus, Instructor)

Students to continue to explore 3D printing, finding new (and sometimes impossible) items to print. We have had some failed prints and that is good as they learn what works and does not.

 

Debate (Ms. Jessica Markstrom, Instructor)

The students needed more time with topicality this week. We spent most of the week working on topicality position exercises. On Thursday and Friday we the students learned about and began to prepare disadvantage positions.

 

Critical Thinking (Mr. Robert Markstrom, Instructor)

This week was survivor week in Critical Thinking. The students were put into different types of survival scenarios to test their ability to thrive under disaster wilderness conditions. The students ranked items based on usefulness. The activities came from survival and military experts. Additionally, the students had to work to either escape or live on an island after they had been shipwrecked. The last survivor related activity paid homage to the television show “Survivor” as students engaged in an auction. On Friday students were able to play games offered by the instructor.

 

Costume/Make-up Design (Ms. Jessa Lormand, Instructor)

This week the students continued to work on their assigned female Brigadoon characters. They were also broken up into 3 groups and assigned the remainder of the Brigadoon cast for costuming, along with the men to work on together. All students now have individual and group assignments to work on. Their individual sewing kits also arrived Tuesday and they were all super excited to receive those. Almost everyone is now a master at using the seam ripper and removing “ugly things” from old costumes and they have each successfully patched up rips, holes and hem issues so next week we can begin adding the decorative elements (which they have all been waiting for.) Students learned how to make and sew fabric rosettes that we will be attaching to sashes and across dresses. The groups also finished measuring and charting the remainder of the actors along with beginning research online for their additional assignments (bagpipers, sword dancers, wedding guests etc.) and display board content. I was again very impressed by the journals turned in this week.

 

Drama (Ms. Jessa Lormand, Instructor)

This week we began scene transitions and choreography, which is abundant in this production. We went over the set design and sketches for each scene and transition into the next. Collectively, the group made decisions on other aspects of staging and design. Some of the cast were able to try on costume pieces this week and began watching some of the movie “Never Been Kissed” as it is referenced and used in the play itself. We worked through all family kitchen scenes along with Tammy/Parent scenes in detail, assigned and read through/worked all the voice over parts to prepare for recording them next week. All students are focused and working on something at all times. When not actively on stage working or acting, they are running lines, designing for the show or creating art for the lobby display. I can not express what a joy this group is. Every single child in this production puts in 100% daily. Their energy and passion is infectious.