TPH Course Selection Guide 2014-2015

Piedmont Highlander

>>

VOLUME 101

The

FEBRUARY 9, 2015

ISSUE 6

TPH

Course Selection Guide >> How

to use the Guide:

1. Write down your schedule from this year and your prospective schedule for next year.

2. Fill in the difficulty and workload of each class, using ratings from this guide.

3. Add up the difficulty and workload of each schedule.

4. Compare the two to help you choose classes for the upcoming year.

>> THIS

YEAR’S SCHEDULE

>>

NEXT YEAR’S SCHEDULE

CLASS NAME

DIFFICULTY

WORKLOAD

CLASS NAME

DIFFICULTY

WORKLOAD

_________________

___________

___________

_________________

___________

___________

_________________

___________

___________

_________________

___________

___________

_________________

___________

___________

_________________

___________

___________

_________________

___________

___________

_________________

___________

___________

_________________

___________

___________

_________________

___________

___________

_________________

___________

___________

_________________

___________

___________

_________________

___________

___________

_________________

___________

___________

___________

___________

___________

___________

TOTAL

MILES KIM acl editor

REMY AFONG editor-in-chief

TOTAL

ERIC ZHANG news editor

2

A CLOSER LOOK

FEBRUARY 9, 2015

TPH Course Selection Guide

>>

hard-earned A

Homework load is rated across all departments. (e.g., you can compare AP Environmental Science to ROP Culinary Arts.)

HW LOAD

Difficulty is rated within a department. (e.g., you can compare Honors Statistics to AP Calculus AB, but not String Orchestra to Spanish II.)

>>

DIFFICULTY

>> This course selection guide reflects the opinions and research of The Piedmont Highlander staff. We hope that this guide will inform students in chosing courses that are suitable for them.

easy A

time-consuming assignments

minimal/no homework

*These classes are new and have not been rated AP COMPUTER SCIENCE “It’s a great course to try out computer programming if you’re curious about how computers work.

AP Computers teaches you Java and is a good introductory course. It gives you a lot of freedom to work on projects alone, but make sure you stay focused and do not go off task.

Even if you haven’t tried out programming before, it’s a good chance to gain some skills for the future.

Mr. Mattix is also one of Piedmont’s finest, and so are his Scrabble game skills.”

GATES ZENG senior ART

“In Art I-IV, you experiment with a lot of different themes, styles and mediums like graphite, ink, charcoal, oil pastels and paint.

As the levels progress, you get more freedom with the project ideas and mediums.

With AP Art, you have to come up with a concentration.

You design all your projects by yourself under that topic.

Homework includes things like sketchbook assignments and planning outside of class.”

JOHANNA RAPPORT senior AP MUSIC

“We do busy work, but it actually helps ingrain skills in you. There are a lot of difficult concepts to comprehend and the class is also time consuming.

Sometimes we do theory problems over and over again, other times we listen to or look at music and analyze what we heard or read.

You definitely can’t go in without playing or knowing anything about music before.

For people who don’t have musical experience, Mr. Piazza gives you summer work to help you prepare.”

LIAM SCHINDLER senior

COMPUTER STUDIES Exploring Computer Science* AP Computer Science difficulty

workload

Joy of Computing difficulty

workload

Web Development — Design and Coding*

Mobile Applications Development* >> THE NEW COURSES

With the implementation of the CSTA standards, three new classes have been added to the course catalog: Exploring Computer Science, Web Development — Design and Coding and Mobile Applications Development.

Exploring Computer Science will be a lower level class, while Web Development — Design and Coding and Mobile Applications Development will be AP level or above.

CREATIVE ARTS Art I-IV

difficulty

Ceramics I-IV workload

AP Art 2-D Portfolio difficulty

workload

Acting I difficulty

workload

AP Art 3-D Portfolio difficulty

workload

difficulty

workload

A Capella Advanced Choir workload

Acting III-IV difficulty

workload

A Capella Beginning Choir

Acting II difficulty

difficulty

workload

Directing and Production for the Stage*

difficulty

workload

A Capella Chamber Choir workload

difficulty

Symphonic Band/String Orchestra difficulty

ROP AP Music difficulty

workload

>> THE NEW COURSES

workload

Jazz Band difficulty

workload

Acting teacher Kim Taylor will be teaching a new class called Directing and Production for the Stage, introducing students to theatrical education outside of acting. Only juniors and seniors may enroll.

“I think it’s a great skill to learn how to lead people, how to organize people,” Taylor said. “It says ‘for the stage,’ but we’ll definitely do stuff with movies, with writing, with stage managing.”

Taylor recommends that students take the class if they are interested in learning more about any aspect of the entertainment field.

The class will primarily be project-based, and she anticipates guests such as costumers and directors coming into class to talk about their professions and share their experiences.

A CLOSER LOOK ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

FEBRUARY 9, 2015

English 1-2 difficulty

workload

English 5-6 difficulty

workload

English 7-8 difficulty

workload

Creative Writing difficulty

workload

English 3-4 difficulty

workload

English 5-6 Honors difficulty

workload

AP English Literature difficulty

workload

Public Speaking difficulty

workload

MATHEMATICS

Geometry

Integrated Math I* difficulty

Algebra II difficulty

Math Analysis workload

AP Calculus AB difficulty

workload

Statistics difficulty

workload

difficulty

workload

AP Calculus BC difficulty

workload

Honors Statistics workload

difficulty

workload

PHYSICAL EDUCATION Freshman PE difficulty

workload

PE: Weight Training*

Upper Division PE difficulty

workload

ROP Sports Medicine difficulty

Intermediate Dance difficulty

workload

Physics: Alternative Energy Design and Construction* Chemistry difficulty

workload

Advanced Dance difficulty

workload

Biology difficulty

SCIENCES workload

Honors Chemistry workload

Physics (College Prep)

difficulty

workload

Honors Physics

3 ENGLISH 5-6 HONORS “We have lots of class discussions and essays.

We usually spend about two weeks per book with thorough annotations for homework.”

AIDEN FRASER junior AP ENGLISH LITERATURE

“You learn to analyze different texts like poetry and Middle E n g l i s h .

The page-long homework responses come and go.”

CHARLOTTE MOXLEY senior HONORS STATISTICS “It’s a really challenging class, but has real world applications.

You need to be detail-oriented because the class is English-based too.”

GRAHAM LOW senior AP CALCULUS AB “Take the class because you need to experience Mahoney’s teaching style, especially the 10 percent grade boost and the fact that there is no homework.”

DANIEL LIN senior

>> THE NEW COURSES PE: Weight Training is a new semester PE elective that sophomores, juniors and seniors can take to earn PE credit. It teaches advanced weight lifting techniques to help students maximize their athletic and strength potential.

Athletes wanting to improve their performance in sports, as well as students hoping to learn more about weight training are encouraged to enroll. The class is currently pending board approval.

AP BIOLOGY

“To do well, you need to want to learn about biology.

It’s a difficult class if you don’t do the work, but if you put time into reading the textbook and doing the labs, you should be fine.”

TUCKER JOHNSON senior AP ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

difficulty

workload

ROP Biotechnology difficulty

workload

difficulty

Anatomy and Physiology difficulty

ROP AP Environmental Science difficulty

workload

workload

workload

AP Biology difficulty

workload

“The class is based around PowerPoint l e c t u r e s with labs in between.

We also learn about trees. It’s hard at times, but everything is applicable to real life.”

STUART ASHFORD junior

4

A CLOSER LOOK

AP US HISTORY

“APUSH is a high-intensity and fast-paced class, but you go into a lot of depth and interesting material.

This year, with Chromebooks, we get discussion questions in small groups and then discuss them as a class.

About once or twice a week, you will have a chapter due for reading. Sometimes he will give you a quiz. There are two big tests a semester and around two DBQs and two LEQs. Always plan your reading out ahead of time. If you slack off and have to read a chapter in one night, then it’s not fun.”

COLIN DIXON junior AP EUROPEAN HISTORY “In class, we have lots of discussions, mainly in small groups then later join into larger class discussions. There’s a possibility of a quiz every time a reading is due.

We also analyze primary sources and fill out worksheets.

We do DBQs and FRQs about every month, but he tells us in advance.

We read between one to two chapters a week, which are about 30 pages each. You have to be good at retaining information and time management to succeed.”

CLAIRE SCHANE senior SPANISH III IN ACTION “We learn Spanish, but also about the culture and country itself. Instead of having finals, we do projects instead.

As long as you try, you can get an A. It’s less about writing answers and doing paperwork, and more about having conversations.

If you don’t want to continue far into Spanish and want to have a more relaxed class, but still learn some grammar, definitely take the class.”

REBECCA HARRIS junior

>> THE NEW COURSES Finding Community will be a discussion-based class focused on examining current questions and events related to community.

The main topics of discussion will be issues of inclusion and exclusion, bullying, the isms, and what makes a community.

“The course will touch on those issues using the lives and experiences of current students, as well as current events,” social psychology teacher Anne AldridgePeacock said.

She also anticipates a service learning component to the class.

SOCIAL SCIENCES

World Cultures and Geography difficulty

workload

US History difficulty

FEBRUARY 9, 2015

Modern World History difficulty

AP US History workload

difficulty

Civics difficulty

workload

Economics workload

Psychology difficulty

workload

workload

difficulty

workload

Law and Society difficulty

workload

AP European History difficulty

workload

WORLD LANGUAGES French I

difficulty

workload

Mandarin I difficulty

French II difficulty

Mandarin II workload

French III difficulty

French IV

workload

difficulty

workload

Mandarin IV workload

AP French difficulty

difficulty

Mandarin III workload

difficulty

workload

difficulty

workload

AP Mandarin workload

difficulty

workload

Spanish I difficulty

Spanish III workload

difficulty

Spanish IV

Spanish II difficulty

workload

difficulty

workload

NON-DEPARTMENTAL ROP Culinary Arts

difficulty

workload

workload

AP Spanish

Spanish III in Action difficulty

workload

difficulty

workload

Social Psychology difficulty

workload

Finding Community*

UNRATED

The editorial board decided not to rate the following courses: ASB Yearbook Introduction to Publications ROP Journalism

English Language Development Special Studies/Learning Center Teacher/Office Assistant Unscheduled