Memorial High School - Reata Yearbook (Houston, TX)

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SHORT STORIES OCCU- PIES MRS. JOYCE YOUNG'S FRESHMAN ENGLISH CLASS for part of the year. Mythology and ROMEO AND JULIET help to fill the rest of the year along with the tradi- tional grammar. Photo by Kathy Epps. ONE ACT PLAYS WERE POPULAR when Freshman English class studied analo- gies. Kirk Waldor and Lance Meiia act out The Valiant. Photo by Kathy Epps. SEPARATION OF FRIENDS is one solution to talking during free reading. Fresh- man Steve Poole is moved up next to the teacher's desk to help stop talking. Photo by Kathy Epps. Special Report, Freshman English . . . Fl'l'.9lIl7lf'lI lwzrn llzv ABCS The Basics I 1 l l l rudging through the very basics of the Ninth Grade Englishf program. freslunan students ran the gamut from grannnarl skills to mythology in their studies. I Short stories initiated freshmen to the program. Included in they unit were stories by authors such as Edgar Allen Poe and Sher-I wood Anderson. Almost all of them liked the short stories. said Freslunan Eng-f lish teacher Mrs. Joyce Young. Some of our best stories are not? by well-known authors. A After a cursory'touch of non-fiction. mythology was the next ' unit studied. Using an Edith Hamilton text. Greek and Classical! mythology excerpts were read. including love stories. stories of ' creation. and heroes. As for mythology. Mrs. Young commented that students either, liked it a lot or not at all. .Classic novels were explored with an in-depth study of Charles Dickens' .4 Taft' of Two C'ilfL'.Y and Grunt E.xyu't'Ir1lim1.s-. Learning to put together a five-paragraph paper and writing compositions played a lnajor part of Freslunan English. Compos- itions were written for anything being studied at the time. Students adapted to formal Elizabethan language in their study of drama. William Shakespeare's Rmmw mul .luliul was the major play studied. Teachers used different methods in teaching Ronuw and JIIIIUI. What our class did was before each scene they would .give a part to each person and read the play. said Freslnnan Wendy Kaplan. lt wasn't really acting -it wasjust reading. Poetry studied included short poems and Rwnm um! .lllfft'l. According to Mrs. Young. Roman um! .IIIHUI is both poetry and dranla. Contemporary novels closed out the year with students given a choice of novels to read. Tllrougltout the year grannnar and vocabulary studies were illterspersed. Such thorough coverage of material prepared fresh- men students to move onto Sophomore English. - 30 -

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ff' WITH MUSICAL EXPERI- ENCE SINCE SEC- OND GRADE. Freshman Barbara Cannon was the only band member to succeed in mak- ingrstate band. he atmosphere at state tryouts was extremely tense. I was shak- ing so badly. ' said Barbara. And because placement is based only on the performance at the tryout. if you get nervous you blow the whole thing. You could just see fingers shaking, said Barbara. After making region band. Bar- bara, Drum Major Dirk Silva and Band President Linda Gall tried out for area. Top chairs in area were considered members in state. Since she made second chair in area. Barbara qualified for state. From symphonic band at Spring Branch Junior High, Bar- bara was one of four incoming freshmen who made symphonic band in high school. Once in senior high school. Barbara found the symphonic band a lot better. We got a lot more done, she said. Of the social atmosphere. she felt that students in marching band were family close. Since she already accom- plished about all that she could in sym honic band, Barbara was chalienged by other contests such as Concerto and Solo and Ensem- ble contest. I like all the outside bands. There was so much you can do, she said. Barbara's background in music beigan when she took piano in secon grade. In fourth grade she began playing the flute. -30 - f- Jackie Gelb TRYING TO CONCENTRATE ON THE MUSIC, and not on the photographer, Junior Debbie Hunt and Dixon Presswood listen carefully for tuning on a sight-reading piece, Dies Natal- lis. These three players. Dirk Silva. Linda Gall and Freshman Barbara Cannon. succeeded in making area band and tried out for state on January 20. More individual competition chal- lenged players with solo and ensemble contest. As a band. the players worked toward concert and sightreading. striv- ing for sweepstakes. In spring the band traveled to Six Flags for its annual Spring Tour. -30- 7 Judi ir' GCN? Brass 155

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5. 2 A Q- h Y, .c,'f2, H I . I xy. , O f : 1 Q Qt fy I Us 9'- ',z1s-... ' H - .lA, -..Q X g DV- ' xx sf -xi-1 F? ,fr L is NOTE TAKING AND PAY- ING ATTENTION helps Freshman Ginny Mavor study for tests. Photo by Trent Rosenthal. MYTHOLOGY, AS STUDIED BY THE FRESHMAN ENG- LISH CLASSES, involved reading aloud. Charles - Watson reads to class- mates Tracy Thompson. Photo by Kathy Epps. CONVERSATION IS FRE- QUENT when Mrs. Joyce Young's Freshman English I class is given time to read. FRUSTRATED OVER ONE OF THE- QUESTIONS, Freshman Richard Shalene asks Miss Roberta Frame for assistance on his Eng- Iish. Freshmen have it rough in their first year, having to weed through Romeo nutl Juliet and A Tale of 'Iyyo Cities. Photo by Trent Rosenthal. I lood. Sweat. and Tears. as a rock group. have produced many enjoyable hours of relaxation for all kinds of stu- dents. All kinds of students have also produced blood, sweat. aml tears. ' No. not the rock group. but hours of hard work in far-l'rom- fun-classes such as reading. writing. and arithmetic. Algebra. geometry. trigonometry. and grammar. to name a few. may he mind-building. but they usually didn't appeal to students as highly as a beer-drinking class might. Of course. these subjects were required to graduate. there- fore. their misery was shared by many: hopefully by all. Even though students did not exactly love the courses they did more than stay awake in. they all had to 'grill and bear it.' Freshman English ' l57