Course Descriptions
All students (humanities and visual & perfroming arts) take one of the following classes which meet weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings.
I-01 Being Graphic and Coming of Age
Taught by Ad Booth & Belinda Haikes
When was your first time...to read a graphic novel? As representatives of subversive culture, graphic novels have long examined the youth experience while simultaneously speaking to it. Culture itself informs the coming of age experience, influencing constructs of sexuality, social structure, independence, personal relationships, war, identity, displacement, and others. Join us as we analyze exemplary graphic texts while constructing your own graphic interpretation of the coming of age experience.
I-02 Life Ain't No Crystal Stair
Taught by Adanma Onyedike & Heather O'Toole
Messy break-ups, dysfunctional families, chronic illnesses, sudden relocations, dissolved friendships, financial hardships, social ostracism to one extent or another, we have all encountered adversity. But how do you choose to respond to life s most challenging moments? In this course, we will explore the extraordinary beauty that can emerge from the worst adversity by examining literature, drama, poetry, music, film, and current events. We will study examples of individuals (Francis Bacon, Eric Clapton, Barack Obama, you?) who have sublimated the horror of tragedy, transforming it into the raw material of hope.
I-03 7 (or 14) Ways to Meet the Devil
Taught by Alexandra Caldwell & Steve Earle
You may have thought that there were Seven Deadly Sins, but, in fact there are now at least fourteen! This course will examine the origins of the Seven Deadly Sins and encourage exploration of how they have been used in art, literature, music, theatre, dance, and theology. We will explore different interpretations of the sins and how they have evolved. We will also look at new deadly sins and search our souls for our very own. We will be challenged to examine our own ideas about religion and sin in society.
I-04 Binding the Pages of Your Life
Taught by Chris Stephens & Diana Ellis
How do we present ourselves? How do we project our stories to the world? Before the instant outpouring of thought as in text messaging and Facebook, reflection was possible. This will be a hands-on experiment in perspective: piece and whole, page and book, self and world. You cannot write your story until you have something to write it on, and write it in. Make some paper, bind a book, write your story.
I-05 Is This Seat Taken?
Taught by David Howell & Jolie Long
If not, may I sit here? If you had a choice, where would you sit and would it be the right fit? Pull up a chair. Take a seat. Sit down, sit in. Where do we sit? Who gets to sit? How do we sit? What does it mean to sit? Join us for a journey through time and across cultures as we explore the purpose, design, symbolic and metaphorical uses associated with the chair. Popular culture, religious history, family traditions, and the arts provide opportunities to sit, reflect, and think about what chairs teach us about power, authority, ritual, hospitality, inclusiveness, exclusiveness, judgment, and protest. From King Arthur s Round Table to Rosa Park s stand on the bus, are you ready to be in the Hot Seat?
I-06 Last Thinker Standing
Taught by David Naccari & Jim Respess
Why do you think the way you think? What forms the real basis of your core values? Is your thinking based on authentic action or societal brainwashing? Is Obama the real deal or has the whole country been swept up in Obamamania? Is political correctness a benign form of etiquette that attempts to minimize offense to minorities, or is it an intentional strategy designed to prevent needed discussion on sensitive issues? They say the winners write history and the losers write poetry. From Descartes to Plato, from Buddha to Jefferson, from Lennon to Lenin, from Napoleon (Dynamite) to Homer (Simpson), this course will use tag-team debate, film, music, art, role-playing, personal reflection, museum visits, and other explorations to discover the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about how we think and live. Come help us decide if there ever has been, can be or ever should be a last thinker standing!
I-07 Me, Myself and You
Taught by Christina Vranian & David Sennett
How are people remembered? How would you like to be remembered? Take a journey into your life. Explore the lives of others. Why do biographies exist? Can biography be fiction, non-fiction, or both? Can it exist without words? Without facts? How will you tell the story of a life? Through text, film, music, and performance, we will examine biographies and autobiographies. We will tell strange stories of strangers, and even stranger stories of ourselves, in traditional and surprising ways. In museum visits, written and oral exercises, personal reflection, and debate, we will attempt to discover the purpose of recording life.
I-08 What if...?
Taught by Ed Motley & Mark Greenawalt
What if we all had a reset button? What if we, as individuals, could take away the mysteries of choice? Why would it matter? This course will explore and examine how we might approach the what if...? questions of life. Uncertainty and the unexpected turns of events affect all of us in one way or another. Through life s kaleidoscope of individual choices, alternative endings and unknown outcomes, we will investigate this basic human wonder. Class activities will include readings, discussions, films, music, historical perspectives, group projects, and individual stories.
I-09 Scoring
Taught by Eric Ruple & Rick Seyford
This class has everything to do with how music works in movies. Music is the invisible glue that gives pictures emotional sense, a necessary catalyst to the chemistry of films. Using highly accomplished films as models, we will learn basic principles of filmmaking and musical scoring. We will use these tools to make brief original videos. If you play an instrument, please bring it!
I-10 Say What?!?
Taught by Harvey Stone & Sarah Tomasewski
Hear ye, hear ye! We ve got e-mail, IM, iTunes, and Blackberries, but whatever happened to letters, conversation, calling cards, and mix tapes? This course will examine the historic, cultural, and ientific-scay elements-ay of ommunication-cay through reflection, discussion, application of ideas, and artistic exploration [stop] topics may include music, language, visual art, vocal inflection, fashion, sound, food, design, theater, film, & the body. What R U sayin? C U L8R :D!
I-11 There Is No There, There
Taught by Bryan Hooten & Jeffrey Baumgartner
Listen up, maggots! You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else. Join us as we explore the idea of self and other. How and why do we define ourselves as individuals? How and why do we define our reality? Who are you? Who cares? We will ask and answer these and many other questions thorough acting, music, masks, meditation, and thought-experiments.
I-12 If You Could Teach a Sneech
Taught by Jeff MacGuinness & Michelle Gulick
In this course we will examine various cultural perceptions of age, gender, race, religion, socio-economics, and sexual orientation and the conflicts and hopeful resolutions that result using children s books, movies, music and the Internet. Throughout the course we will participate in discussions, field trips, be visited by guest speakers, watch films, and stimulate curiosity. We will create our own books, songs, plays, and artwork that culminate in a multimedia presentation using all the talents and skills that we have learned or have brought with us to the Governor s School.
I-13 Get a Move On; Start a Revolution
Taught by Manuel Perez Tejada & Mary Ann Laverty
This course will look at both forced and voluntary migration and how it alters our identities and the culture surrounding us. During the process of migratory movement, your perceptions, cultural identity, and practices change as they are absorbed by the new environment. Some topics of discussion will be migrant workers, slavery and human trafficking, travel, refugee camps, and the immigrant experience.
I-14 Power and Seduction
Taught by John Hawes & Sheila Landahl
What draws us to the powerful? Shakespeare s villains provide the vehicle by which we probe the mystique of power. We will explore and analyze the social and political context of these dramatic characters and their links to today. In this process we will stage selected scenes from Richard III, Othello, and Macbeth. Using modern acting techniques, we will strive for a deeper personal understanding of the character and motivation of villains present and past.