Jefferson High School - Jeffersonian Yearbook (Alexandria, VA)

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IMPACT: Six Letters That Spell Concern Each Monday, during ninth period, the Science and Tech freshmen attend their IMPACT classes. IM- PACT is designed to make students aware of special activities taking place in the school such as fundraisers, workshops, and career planning assis- tance. It also provides an opportunity for the school’s band, chorus, and orchestra to perform in assemblies. Each IMPACT class sends its own 18 representative to the Student Government. IMPACT class doubles as a special class where teachers and students can communicate about com- mon problems such as stress, grades, and achieving goals. Members of the guidance staff add to this by visiting and talking with IMPACT classes. Students get a break from the classroom for a special IMPACT activity. Brian Lieberman shows us his time management techniques.

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ACTIVITIES oTUDENT ) LIFE ACADEMICS oy

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Team members sharpen wits The Enghsh Team is hosted every Friday dur- ing IMPACT in room 230 by Joan Lawson. The team is one of the only freshman teams, and is called “The Frustrated Frosh.” The team usually numbers between 4 to 6 people, be- cause of irregular mem- bers which showed up now and then. Six people are the maximum number of people allowed to take the test. The tests involve vocabulary, reading, antonyms, synonyms, and the like. The tests were given about 3 to 4 times a year, and each test spans over several IMPACT periods, for a total of over an hour. Students discuss publishable drafts in small groups. Eun Koo Kim not writing. ‘Response’ Ability and English When the School for Science and Technology opened, many people asked whether this spe- cialized school would have an English program. The answer was yes, but the program would not be a basic course. In the average ninth grade class, the students study grammar, litera- ture, and composition. In the high-tech English class, the main focus was on the reading, writing, and the learning processes. Some of the activities throughout the year in- cluded: finding out what kind of personality the students had; studying cognitive modeling; writ- Akhil Khanna writing. ing publishable products (some of which were even sent to publishers) keep- ing journals; reading books to present to the class and write papers about; studying various types of literature; and most of all, writing responses to every activity done, whether it was big or small. These activities and more kept the students busy during their English classes. These classes may have been different from those of another high school, but in general the students liked the break from the monotonous subjects of a normal English program. 19