Jan 31, 2007 hi line

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Tiger

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1015 Division St. Cedar Falls, IA 50613

http://www.cedar-falls.k12.ia.us

Rally for Peace Two junior opinion editors attended the peace rally in Washington, D.C., to express their feelings about the Iraq War. Opinion editor Willa Simmet talks about her experience among 100,000 people from across the world.

See OPINION page

Volume 47 Edition 13

New courses added to CFHS curriculum Ellen Wrede Staff Writer

Powering up for her action-filled day is senior Rhiannon Talbot. To get a glimpse at their Division I rating group events, the speech team will be hosting a festival in the auditorium on Thursday, Feb. 1 at 7 p.m.

Speech team ends group season with top ratings Kellie Petersen Staff Writer

The CFHS speech team picked up four Division I ratings on Saturday, Jan. 22, as students from several area high schools gathered at Union High School in LaPorte City for the district large group speech contest. CFHS had 44 students participate in a wide variety of speech events, ranging from reader’s theater to pantomime. “I actually thought it went really well, our whole group pulled together and we did really well on stage,” sophomore Michelle Redinbaugh said. Redinbaugh, who participated in the one act play event and is a first-year speech team participant, said she had a lot of fun and would definitely continue with speech. “Speech is really fun. It is really fun to see all of the events,” sophomore Alicia Palas said. Palas participated in the television news and improvisation events. The improv event, which included Palas and sophomore Rhys Talbot, was one of four of the CFHS events to receive a Division I rating. This Division I rating allows the group to advance to the state large group speech contest that will be held on Feb. 3. The other three events to receive a Division I rating were musical theater performing the act of “Merrily We Roll Along,” which included seniors Collin Tagtow and Rhiannon Talbot, sophomores Rhys Talbot and Sam Lilja and freshman Riley Martin; ensemble acting with “The Taming of the Shrew,” which included senior Spencer Collins and junior Elle Frodsham; and ensemble acting performing “Harvey,” which included junior Nicky Singh and sophomore Jasmine Singh. “Overall, I think it went really well,” speech coach Rebecca Kauten said about large group speech contest. “The judging was a lot more difficult than in

past years, but we are just going to have to work harder. Getting to State will really mean something,” Kauten said. Speech team coach and Peet speech teacher Deb Eschweiler also felt judging was strict, but she said she was still pleased with the performance of the entire team. “I’m proud of each and every student that participated in large group events,” Eschweiler said. Of all of the events CFHS participated in, everyone received either a Division I or II rating. “I’m really pleased with our performances. I feel it’s a really competitive contest with tough judging, so I’m pleased that we earned four Division Is,” Eschweiler said. With large group speech season coming to an end, individual speech season is just beginning. Individuals begin this week with casting for the events occurring the week after. “ I love individuals, they’re amazing,” senior speech participant Justine Celoni said. “When you go to individuals at districts, you get to see individual people doing what they like to do,” Celoni said. Some individual events include solo improv, public address, interpretive poetry/prose and spontaneous speaking. The district contest for individual speech will be held March 3, while State will be on March 17. The individual events are often not as long as group events and offer more opportunities for the use of original material. Eschweiler said that individual events take as much work and commitment as the large group events. Students are encouraged to participate in individual speech even if they were not involved in large group speech. “Individual competition really allows you to hone your own communication skills,” Eschweiler said.

The times are changing. Next year at Cedar Falls High School, several new classes will be implemented into the curriculum. Public speaking, one of the two new classes in the English department is to be taught by English and drama teacher Michelle Rathe. “The course is going to give you all the kinds of basic skills. Not only using the speech and the voice itself, but in creating persuasive and informative kinds of speeches,” Rathe said. “It’ll be very good just for speaking in general, but also good for going into the work place and the work world.” This is a one-semester course worth one English credit. Also new to the English department is broadcast journalism. Instructed by journalism teacher Brian Winkel, students will earn one elective credit and one English credit in this two-semester class. Students will use the newest audio/video editing software to create audio podcasts, video podcasts and video segments that will be placed on the Tiger Hi-Line website, and also aired on the community access channel. “In addition to the many computer and technical skills the students will learn, they will really get to home in on communication too as they find themselves digging into their stories, writing their scripts and recording their segments,” Winkel said. Changes are also taking place in the industrial technology department with many new course

names. “We want to be able to provide experiences and teach students about technology in computer aided design that is as close to the real world as possible. These changes reflect what is happening in the real world,” Industrial technology department head Troy Becker said. Drafting I is perhaps the most affected class with its name changing as well as some of the course work. Next year it will be known as 3D animation and design, and it will be utilizing new software and implementing an animation project. Other changing courses in this area are introduction to electronics, which will be henceforth called introduction to robotics and electronics because of a more heavily emphasized robotics course. Mechanical drafting is changing its name to engineering drawing and design with more emphasis put on engineering studies, and architectural drafting is changing to architectural drawing and design. In the science and math wings, the A-B-C level courses are upgrading to new names. For example, biology A will now become honors biology, biology B will become biology, and biology C will become fundamentals of biology “Putting the letters A, B and C doesn’t really explain the meaning of the course and how the different levels are geared toward helping the motivation of the students in terms of what they want to go into. It will kind of help differentiate between the different classes,” science department chair Lynn Griffin said. Another change in the science department is a dual credit opportunity with Hawkeye Community College in honors physics.

Curriculum Changes

Public Speaking

One semester course offered to grades 10, 11 and 12 In this class, students are given the opportunity to create different types of oral presentations for numerous types of audiences, and express their knowledge through writing, reading, and speaking assignments. This class reinforces the techniques, principles, and practice of productive oral communication.

Broadcast Journalism

Full year course offered to grades 10, 11 and 12 In Broadcast Journalism, students will use newsworthy stories to generate broadcast features for the high school website and the local cable access channel. Throughout the year, students will make podcasts, video features stories and anchor live broadcasts. This class sharpens communication skills while producing new broadcasts every year.

HCC Introduction to Health Careers (HCC Dual Credit)

One semester course offered to grades 11 and 12 This new course is offered to allow students to look into numerous health careers and professions. Intro to Health Careers will also provide students with the opportunity to become certified in CPR, First Aid, Mandatory Reporter Training for Child and Dependent Adult Abuse and Blood Bone Pathogen Training.

HCC Physics I & II (HCC Dual Credit)

Full year course offered to grades 11 and 12 This new course replaces the previous Physics A and covers the laws of physics; kinematics; dynamics; force; linear and rotational motion; fluids; sound; electricity; magnetism; light and optics; and quantum and nuclear physics. Physics I and II will also involve students in class projects and participation in the Physics Olympics.


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