Memorial High School - Reata Yearbook (Houston, TX)

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E GLISH Blood weat and tear Novels, llearling, and Poetry alternates LEARNING HOW TO INCREASE THEIR VOCAB- ULARY and how to read faster Seniors Cathy Heyman and Kellie Kurtin study as Mrs. Joan Mapes collects the books. Speed reading pre- pared the students for college. Photo by Kathy Epps. '-E 5 ' if i gg, -em? V . 'tam r . I ...Xa .M A r Mn. ncreasing the rate of reading. maintaining or improving com- prehension, vocabulary improvement, and some study skills were the primary objectives of the one quarter course of Reading Advanced Skills taught by Mrs. Joan Mapes. At the beginning of the course. the students are given a standardized read- ing test which tests on rate, grade level equivalents for the rate, comprehen- sion, and vocabulary. she said. Then. at the end of the quarter they take a dif- ferent form of the test and then they are given the results, explained Mrs. Mapes. During the time of the course. the students used a control reader which is a rate machine that lets the reader see only one line at a time. By doing this. time is converted to how many words are animated. We do vocabulary, read articles, and answer questions on them and a lot of comprehension, said Sophomore Scott Calvin. Mrs. Mapes said the only homework the students had was study- ing vocabulary. Reading Advanced Skills Qspeed readingy helped with other classes. especially English. by broadening vocabulary, comprehension and rate. according to Mrs. Mapes. It helped a lot in English and in World History. I could read faster with a lot better com- prehensions said Calvin. Mrs. Mapes said that one of her past students improved 70 points on the vocabulary on his Scholastic Aptitude 2' Test which he credited to this course. l've improved about 30 percent in my reading and comprehension. said Calvin' '- 30 - - Jonathan Lack ...A-'wt .mm . ,,.,t.e,.. W ' . A, . - W. A vK,.,.w,... ' N f ,.. . t ., . K A A'Q!f S.-l I :Xt STEREOTYPED SPEED READERS who could fol- low quick fingers passing down pages in 30 sec- onds were idols which students in Speed Read- ing Class attempted to imitate. Scott Spence and Audley Foster coordinate hand and eye dur- ing daily instruction. Photo by Kathy Epps. r -:mass Hegaret. . fm l6O ' Speed Reading ,..,

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as ,I Qs? -, . A' -, -f.,5f w liigiiwp STICKING TOGETHER IN CLASS as well as on the football field, Seniors Greg Dalton and Scott Burdine take a break from their English class. Photo by Kathy Epps. TO GET A BETTER LOOK at their grades, June iors Ron Weil, Cathy Clark, and Barry Robinson crowd around their English teacher, Mrs. Mil- dred Bauries. Photo by Kathy Epps. BOTTOM: WHILE TAKING LECTURE NOTES, Senior Tara Ouigly talks to Senior Mark Daniels. Mrs. Shirley BrumIow's English class has been studying the imagew in severl of Shakespeare's tragedies. Photo by Kathy Epps. 1 EP 9 1. .i ,:. 8... ....... ., 5 1 ',,,..,. W-A-.wh s .N..,.,a,. M. H- V 'Q 2 ' 1 15 ' in ggizv, .. wtf' X I+- f 'f 5 -,worn -M iquv' Even 5 . THOUGH ' fe most seniors . took different courses in place of Eng- ish such as 'T' ' ' ' Comparative Novels. Senior Brad Glosserman thinks that someone who doesn't enjoy reading would not like that course. I read all the time. I enjoyed the course. and Compar- ative Novels Instructor Mrs. Lola Kelly is a fine teacher. he said. Discussion. Brad said. made the class. Mrs, Kelly did very lit- tle during discussions. besides coordinating them. he said. Hoping to attend Duke major- ing in philosophy. Brad felt that the best novels he read in Com- parative Novels were the Utopian Novels. They involve human knowledge. and they are novels I can really identify with. he said. After school. Brad was kept constantly busy with the Debate Society. lt involved reading. two hours in the library a dav researching. and typing. which took a lot of thinking. he said. But even though he was always busy with Debate. he still liked to , .L lg 1 , A . 1 ,iv-ijt! X jog. play his drums. and listen to music. but llalways found time to read. he said. - 30 - C'filil't' Paula' En glish ' l59

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FOREIGN LANGUAGE Blood, weat, nd tear Foreign languages teach understanding of culture UEpluribus unum was just one of the things that Latin stu- dents covered as they plowed their way through a forest of Latin verbs. nouns. adjectives and Roman history. And plow they did because Latin is not a simple language to learn. Question: But why would anyone want to take a language that is not simple and that is not nationally spoken any- where today? Answer: To help me with my vocabu- lary. said Freshman Tessi Quebe. Often known as a Classical language. Latin is a basis for all languages. Since many English words are derived from Latin. the language is useful in improv- ing ones vocabulary. In fact. vocabulary played the largest role in why students chose to take Latin. I might want to study lan- guages and it's tLatinj a very good background for foreign languages and English vocabulary. said Senior Katharina Kucharsky. Latin teacher Miss Karen Kirkland said students choose Latin, To improve their vocabulary and English skills and to improve test scores for those interested in law and medicine or sciences where things are Latin based. One parent viewed Latin as that horrid course I was required to take in junior high school yet a few students said that they took Latin at their par- ents' suggestion. My mother said it would be good for me to take for my English. Fresh- man Lisa Robertson said. My parents said you'll never forget it and it will always help you. said Sophomore Stephanie Hicks. A few students took Latin for some slightly different reasons. This class is an edu- cational experience that can't be denied. said .Iunior Steve Rowland. Vocabulary and grammar were not the only things touched upon in Latin. The Latin I classes did reports on ancient Rome's emperors: Latin II classes translated Caesars Gallic Warsg and a Roman feast was held by each Latin class just before Christmas in which everyone literally stuffed them- selves with such delicacies as baklava. Saturnalia cookies. tabouli. and poor- boys from Antone's. Like the other foreign language clubs, there was a Latin club, The offi- cers were: President Marjianne Nelson, Vice-President Charlotte Prendergast, Treasurer Katy Crawford, and Histo- rian Debbie Lansdowne. The club participated in an event called the Roman Games Cpatterned after ancient timesb and they planned to participate in them again this year. Besides going to the Roman Games. we also took part in Triad com- petition this yearf, said Vice-President Charlotte Prendergast, Triad is an annual district-wide foreign language competition. SPANISH Blurs of softly glowing candles dot- ted the darkness of the small smoke- filled area behind the auditorium cur- tain. The stage. bathed in gold and red. provided a tense. secretive atmosphere for the nervous initiates as each of them filed by the officers of the Span- ish Honor Society, Deirdre Happe, Annette Ogden, and Leland Putter- man, on the night of November 29, 1977 to receive his certificate. The members are not supposed to tell anyone about their initiation, said Senora Winifred Coterillo. She later added that a vague account of the meeting could be given as long as the person did not go into great detail. After the short ceremony the new members paraded over to Ninfa's where they enjoyed Mexican food and talked of various club activities. Common to all new members was that they each had to be a sophomore in fourth year Spanish. You must have at least two A's for the quarters last year and an 'A' for the first six weeks this year, said Senora Coterillo. teacher of levels fourth through sixth Spanish. Some Sophomores who are in third year Spanish can get in the Sociedad Honoria Hispanica CSpanish Honor Societyj if they got all A's in second year Spanish and one A in third year. she added. During Christmas the new members got a chance to participate in the club activities for the first time. A list of Spanish children was made and each member was assigned a child to give a small present. The children were members of very poor families picked by the Spanish Honor Society. The children and grandchildren of some of the custodi- ans were fortunate to be put on the club's Christmas list. Despite all of the humane things the club did. they were not renowned for their frequent meetings. We don't have many meetings at all. said .lunior Elizabeth lsensee who was trying to cajole some Math students into buying her Spanish Honor Society candy. Hmainly, because I don't think that the Spanish Honor Society is supposed to be as much of an active club as much as it is a club to honor the people who are very good at Spanish. - 30 - 4 Debbie Lansdowne Languages ' l6l