Short Courses

Academy Short Courses give students in grades nine and ten the opportunity to explore a subject of academic interest outside of the core curriculum.

The semester-long electives meet twice weekly and do not require as much outside preparation as other academic classes. Students are required to take one Short Course in either ninth or tenth grade; students not enrolled may opt to take a study hall. Offerings vary annually; past Short Courses have included: Astronomy, The Classical World in the Cinema, Computer Programming, Contemporary Fiction,  Electronics, Engineering, Introduction to Logic, Introduction to Philosophy, and Readings in Modern Literature.

Short Courses, Fall 2011
American Popular Music

This short course focuses on the many faces of American Popular Music throughout history and includes exploration of the many domestic and foreign influences, imitations, derivations, and alterations thereof.

Photographic Foundations

This course will introduce students to a history of photography, as a combination of art, science, and commerce.  Students will learn and demonstrate an understanding of traditional photographic technique.  The course will then move into the digital domain, with a specific focus on using digital cameras and Photoshop CS3 as the primary tool for image editing.

Public Speaking

This short course will introduce students to the art and rhetoric of speaking in public.  Students will spend time watching and listening to different examples of public speaking–politicians, comedians, clergy, actors, et al.  But mostly, students will learn by doing , regularly speaking to each other in a series of exercises that will develop talents.  These exercises will include things like reading aloud, attacking tongue-twisters, yelling at the top of our lungs, speaking while everyone in the room is trying to distract us, reciting in the parking lot during periods of heavy traffic or heavy rain, and any other devious stratagem we can devise.  There will not likely be much homework, although students will be expected to memorize a short speech and write another.  And if possible, the class will have a chance to address an All-School Meeting towards the end of the course.