This is a 2-hour, 1-semester class taught by Pam Baker with Chris Trompas as student teacher. We did several projects over the course of the year. The major ones are profiled below.
Thousand Words Project
We wrote short stories that were exactly 1,000 words long and were inspired by specific works of art. In the end, the final products were combined into a book of short stories, which we sold at exhibition. My short story was titled "Daphne, After" and consisted of a feminist re-imagining of the Daphne myth from Green mythology, wherein a young woman turns herself into a tree to save herself from the unwanted advances of a suitor. I went on to write a slightly longer version of this story, and am very happy with this final product. The long version of "Daphne, After" is scheduled to be published in the inaugural issue of Jacaranda, High Tech High's upcoming journal of student fiction and poetry.
The painting I used as inspiration, entitled "The Tranquil Autumn Beauty," was by Ms. Mee Kyung Shim, a Korean-American artist living in the Little Italy neighborhood of San Diego. Ms. Kim's work has many themes, but two of the most prominent are the conflict between her Eastern upbringing and current Western life, and the relationship between humans and the natural world. The influence of Buddhist and Taoist philosophy is also clearly visible in her work, as is a deep exploration of her self. The culture clash in some of her other works (especially "La Primavera" and "La Nascita Di Venere") led me to turn to Greek mythology for the content of my story. You can see more of her work and learn more about her at her website, meekyungshim.com. You can find out more about the painting that inspired me (and that I also replicated) under the "Art" tab below the "12th Grade" heading.
The painting I used as inspiration, entitled "The Tranquil Autumn Beauty," was by Ms. Mee Kyung Shim, a Korean-American artist living in the Little Italy neighborhood of San Diego. Ms. Kim's work has many themes, but two of the most prominent are the conflict between her Eastern upbringing and current Western life, and the relationship between humans and the natural world. The influence of Buddhist and Taoist philosophy is also clearly visible in her work, as is a deep exploration of her self. The culture clash in some of her other works (especially "La Primavera" and "La Nascita Di Venere") led me to turn to Greek mythology for the content of my story. You can see more of her work and learn more about her at her website, meekyungshim.com. You can find out more about the painting that inspired me (and that I also replicated) under the "Art" tab below the "12th Grade" heading.
daphne.docx | |
File Size: | 152 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Constitutional Controversies Research Paper
The research paper we wrote in this class was the culmination of an exploration into the concept of freedom of speech, and how it works in the American legal system. After an exploration of the American Constitution, and a look into the many court cases that define the rights of students, we all chose constitutional conflicts that had come up fairly recently in the courts. My issue was one that pitted evolution against a theory called Intelligent Design in the landmark case Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. You can read my final paper below.
conconfinal.docx | |
File Size: | 118 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Dystopia Project
The final project of the year focused on how dystopian works of fiction can critique society. We read several short stories, watched several short films and one long film, and read several dystopian books. In the end, we created our own dystopian story. Mine went way over the page limit, and I was convinced to continue writing it. I'm still at it. As of this writing (June 10th, 2014), it's about 40 pages long, single-spaced. I intend to finish it, and edit it over once. The first draft ought to be finished by the end of the summer, and the second draft by December. We'll see.
I'll post an excerpt here when I figure out which bit to share.
I'll post an excerpt here when I figure out which bit to share.