Electives

This course is designed to advance student’s preparation in critical reading, technical writing, college and workplace readiness and career-ready communication. Students enhance their skills in STEM by participating in STEM work-based learning experiences to include participation in job shadowing and internships; creation of electronic portfolios; and digital media portfolios.

Students will prepare for the math and verbal portions of the SAT. Students will also learn how to improve study skills, develop note-taking strategies, and practice time management skills. This is a one semester course.

The Freshman Seminar will use the CollegeEd curriculum, which is designed to engage students in the college and career planning process. The course will focus on conveying important messages and practical information about colleges, careers, academic planning and relationship building. Students will visit colleges/universities and participate in cultural events.

AP Seminar is an interdisciplinary course that encourages students to demonstrate critical thinking, collaboration, and academic research skills on topics of the student’s choosing. To accommodate the wide range of student topics, typical college course equivalents include interdisciplinary or general elective course. This is an elective course.

This course is designed to empower students to succeed in rigorous academic curriculum while preparing them to be college, career and citizen ready. Strategies will be shared in study skills, organizational skills, communication skills, oral interpretation skills, writing, test-taking strategies, personal development and team building. Students will maintain a portfolio and will be provided skills to maintain and continue it through high school. Students will design and create power point presentations and use audio-visual equipment and visual aids to enhance the delivery of presentations. Students will prepare for verbal and math portions of the PSAT, SAT and ACT by learning how to improve study skills, develop note-taking strategies, practice time management skills and utilizing current software and practice exercises. Students will have an opportunity to visit local colleges, businesses and participate in cultural field trips and explore career and college expectations through invited community guest speakers. Students will receive an elective credit and may sign up for this course through their school counselor.

Service Learning Internship is designed for students to connect their interests, skills, and abilities with school-based, business- based, and community-based projects in an effort to improve communities, refine student employment skills, and provide students with real-life experiences for future careers. The service learning yearlong course will provide students with an opportunity to give time, energy, and service to local schools, community organizations, businesses, and governing agencies while building a portfolio of job-like experiences. This course requires a contract that provides guidelines and requirements for the service learning project. A total of 140 hours of service (70 hours per semester) will be documented for this credit. Each service learner will work with a school-based mentor or community mentor to coordinate the effort.

The Honors Internship Program will provide students with an opportunity to practice and refine their career skills in a real work environment. Students work at least 250 hours in a supervised (125 hours per semester), school-approved job that is related to their career interests.

This exploratory course fosters student interest in, understanding of, and appreciation for the teaching profession and introduces students to career in education. Students will develop self-awareness, collaborate with peers, build positive learning environments, and discover learner differences. The curriculum is designed to help students set attainable professional goals in the education and training career cluster. The course introduces students to the high school Virginia Teachers for Tomorrow (VTfT) program.

Students continue to explore careers in the education and training career cluster and related pathways. This course provides hands-on opportunities for students to examine careers in education, observe professional practice, and apply professional standards and educational theory. In an authentic practicum experience, students will be able to teach lessons, manage classrooms, create learning opportunities, and build their professional portfolio in the process.

The iSTEM elective course provides students with an option to dive deeper into STEM, STEAM, and Computer Science by engaging in a problem-based curriculum that challenges students to apply their core knowledge to solve problems with career-connections presented in the form of design briefs. The structure of the course is designed to foster Virginia's 5Cs and to model workplace readiness by requiring students to work in teams throughout each hands-on PBL unit. By removing the constraints and boundaries of traditional curriculum pacing, this course allows for intentional curriculum mapping which enables the teacher to develop high-interest learning experiences based on the natural intersections between disciplines.