Meade High School - Genesis Yearbook (Fort Meade, MD)

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History in the Makin United States History is a required course for all juniors at Meade, and throughout Maryland. lt is taught as a sur- vey course, and is approached by team teaching and dividing students into ability levels. But even for the most enthusiastic of history buffs, the course of US History can fall into a daily routine of dates, wars, presidents and laws. Meade's US History teaching team attempted to brighten up the world of histo- ry by requiring students to make up and perform skits on the different eras in the nation's past. During the first semester, students were given the topic of slavery and minority groups. The major requirement was that the skit had to center around this topic. There were also other criteria, such as a time limit and a limit to the number of stu- dents that could participate in any one skit. This is the third year that the social stu- dies department has had this requirement, and the reaction from students has been very favorable. Students seem to like the , A break in the daily routine, and it usually if 54' takes three or four days to watch all the skits. Junior Louis Weber summed up the overall reaction in this way: I think it's a good idea because it breaks the regular routine. They're a lot of fun to watch. Reaction has been so positive, in fact, that the history teachers have decided to ex- pand this idea in the second semester. Instead of doing only one skit during the year, there will now be five: one in the first semester and four in the second. This year those new topics covered included the Roaring 2O's, the Depression, the 50's era and the 6O's. I .ny L M. ., . . If xj hr., :N 1. ' V ur A A Cotina King with slave Darlene Brewer. TA Nancy Leeson, Toby Brunner and Mike Hill perform for their US History c ass. A Creativity makes history more interestingg Diane Dean and Tom Long. 4 Orlando Neal performs with Brenda Williams. U.S. History X 39

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LEX: Learning Through Teaching Four years ago, a program was estab- lished in which foreign language students could volunteer for a program entitled Learning Experience, or LEX. The foreign language students who volunteered to be- come student teachers traveled to area elementary schools to introduce sixth graders to foreign languages. The elementary schools involved included Per- shing Hill, Manor View, and Van Bokkelen. One day a week, the students were taught things about colors, numbers, and simple words and sentences. The languages that were taught were either German, French, or Spanish. The children also played games and sang songs in a foreign lan- guage and learned about foreign culture. 0134 -.A A A Senior Hae Sook Kim helps her students during a teaching session. A G A Qawn Qyge discusses the Spanish language with elementary school stu ents. P A Sandy Potts helps her German student during her after school hours as a teacher. P Pete Farquharson teaches the basics of German to his class. 38 X LEX Ms. Lang, a German teacher, initiated the program and also acted as the advisor. Other foreign language teachers helped in finding qualified student teachers. Prior to becoming student teachers, a representative from the Board of Educa- tion came to Meade to give the volunteers tips on teaching. The representative passed out booklets with ideas, but stu- dents were allowed to make their own les- son plans. One ofthe student teachers in the LEX program described the program: The younger students are enthusiastic about the program, and many fifth graders look forward to participating in the pro- gram.

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The Spirit of Christmas he 1983 Christmas Spirit week was different from all the others past. The Christmas Dance is usually preceeded by Spirit Week, but this year, the opposite was true. The Christmas activities were held the week after the danceg the last four days before school closed for Christmas break. The first day of Christmas Spirit Week was entitled Mistletoe and Christmas Colors Day. Students brought in real as well as imitation mistletoe and even branch- es from bushes in their front yards. Throughout the school, students were dressed in red and green to give the school a Christmas atmosphere. The second day of the week was named, Twas the Night Before Christ- mas . Students came to school dressed in pajamas and brought in stuffed animals to illustrate their Christmas Eve attire. Santa and his Elves was the third day of Spirit Week. On this day, students wore Santa suits, but elf costumes were domi- nant. One accessory that was popular was a Santa hat. Some hats had a bell or pom pons on the end, while some hats had names written across the front in glitter. The final day was entitled Presents Day . Presents were brought in by stu- dents for their friends and teachers and exchanged throughout the course of the day. Some students went as far as to be- come a present themselves and wrap themselves up in wrapping paper and big bows. An activity that went on throughout the week was the SGA sponsored canned food drive. The canned food drive is an annual event at Meade in which students donate food to a specified group. This year's recipient of the cans were the veterans of Foreign War. The 1983 can- ned food drive was by far the most suc- cessful canned food drive that Meade has ever seen. To motivate students to bring in cans, the SGA, as it does every year, offered a prize to the class who has col- lected the most cans by the end of the week. Competition was intense and the lead fluctuated daily from class to class. But, on Friday, the Seniors pulled from behind to win. Over 4361 cans were col- lected. 40 X Christmas Spirit Week as lr i 4 S WI' . '... , Hmm. .... W., ?0'+,-bis M K i S srs 9 i.ll ' X p f Vi .,. . at 1 W-...si r I I . E. .K A 1 'L ' 5 W ' t T --.f- 'll