The curriculum at the Academy of Media Arts will be grounded in the Common Core State Standards (“CCSS”) and meet both graduation and university entrance requirements. AMA believes that the rigor of CCSS involves creating an environment conducive to growth and high expectations for learning. This means believing in students, encouraging students to not give up, and supporting student learning. In addition to assessment, AMA scholars will demonstrate learning of CCSS using a variety of ways such as through the use of technology, projects, and presentations which will highlight students’ creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication skills. As a new school, we will spent our planning year (2018-2019) engaged in developing and/or selecting high quality course outlines and PBL units of study, as well as reviewing and selecting instructional materials that are aligned with our mission, methodologies and the needs of our targeted student population
The CCSS for ELA/Literacy are rigorous, research-based standards designed to ensure educators truly prepare students to be fully literate in the twenty-first century. From close reading and analyzing critical works of literature and informational texts to completing research to engaging in collaborations, students must be able to listen, speak, read and write proficiently. These standards also help build creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration and communication – the 21st century skills that AMA strives to embody.
Course Offerings:
English 1: This course exposes students to classic and contemporary fiction and nonfiction texts, all aligned to the Common Core State Standards for Grade 9. These texts become a launch for writing in three genres: argumentative, expository, and narrative. The course also includes a thorough review of the principles of grammar and punctuation, and strategies of effective writing.
English 2: This course guides students in developing strategies to construct meaning and interact thoughtfully with all genres of literature and nonfiction texts. Writing activities are extensions of experiences developed through reading literary and nonfiction works. Students will engage in a variety of expository and creative writing tasks that connect literature and their life experiences. Students will use writing process activities in a variety of genres including persuasive, expository, narrative, and literary analysis of texts. Students also receive instruction in the conventions of written language, effective oral communication, and research techniques.
English 3: This course will allow students to engage in a variety of academic and creative writing tasks that connect both literature and nonfiction to their life experiences. Students explore themes found in American literature and the American experience through a balanced, integrated program of literature and language study. Students read and respond to historically and/or culturally significant works of American and non-fiction texts tracing the development of American writing from the colonial period forward. Students will use writing process activities in a variety of genres; persuasive, expository, narrative, reflective and literary analysis of texts and continue instruction in the conventions of written language and effective oral communication.
AP English Literature and Composition: The AP English Literature and Composition course focuses on the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. It includes intensive study of representative works from various genres, periods, and cultures, concentrating on works of recognized literary merit. The reading in this course builds on the reading done in previous English courses. Students will learn to read deliberately and thoroughly, taking time to understand a work’s complexity,
to absorb its richness of meaning, and to analyze how that meaning is embodied in literary form. They will also learn to consider the social and historical values a work reflects and embodies. Writing assignments in the course will address the critical analysis of literature and will include expository, analytical, and argumentative essays. In addition, creative-writing assignments such as response and reaction papers, freewriting, or keeping a journal will increase students’ ability to explain clearly and cogently what they understand about literary works and their ability to interpret them.
AP English Language and Composition: This course focuses on composition and literature to prepare students for the Advanced Placement Language and Composition exam. It is a rigorous course for those students who have excellent academic skills. Students will focus on extensive reading of non-fiction, essays, short stories, drama, novels and poems and analysis of that reading through writing. Students will also be expected to demonstrate competency through writing essays exhibiting narration, description, argument, and exposition as well as produce research papers and timed writings. Students will become familiar with rhetorical techniques and how authors employee them. The course is based on the California State Standards. Students who obtain a score of 3 or better on the AP exam may receive college credit for the class.
Designated ELD: This one-year creative writing course is for college bound seniors to enable them to read and write effectively and creatively and to increase their mastery of various literary genres. Writing is viewed as a means of expression, a means of communication, and a highly intellectual activity. Each participant is a writer and an artist in a community of writers that serves as a sounding board, editor, audience, etc. This rigorous course is built around in-depth studies of various non-fiction and fiction genres, such as memoir, essay, poetry, short story, screenplays, novel, and drama. Pivotal to the curriculum is the deepening of student’s critical reading, writing and thinking skills and their ability to extend their understanding of complex material in reading and writing. In addition, they will be expected to increase their awareness and application of the techniques employed by authors. They will read closely to examine relationships between an author’s purpose or theme and his or her audience and purpose, to analyze the impact of structural and literacy strategies, and to examine and practice techniques of revision and editing.
Advanced Designated ELD: This course will provide a protected time during the regular instructional day for Long Term English Learners (LTELs). ELD instruction will be based on the CA English Language Development standards to develop grade level proficiency. Academy of Media Arts will address the needs of English Language Development program through the implementation of the new English Language Arts/English Language Development Framework for CA Public Schools. Intentional planning and follow through will occur to ensure we address the stages of cognitive development and native literacy in both integrated and designated instruction. AMA will follow the LAUSD EL Master Plan and LAUSD LTEL Framework. Long Term English Learners (LTELs) are defined in LAUSD as students who have not reclassified after completing five years in U.S. schools.
The California Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy clearly delineates Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects for grades 6−12.51 However, it is important to recognize that the Reading standards are intended to complement the specific content demands of the disciplines, rather replace them. Therefore, our curricula will be guided by both the California Content Standards for History/Social Science and the ELA standards. In history/social studies courses, students need to be able to analyze, evaluate, and differentiate primary and secondary sources, as well as read complex informational texts with independence and confidence. Project-based learning, as well as other active learning strategies are critical to engaging students in the learning of history and can help students with making connections from the past to the present.
Course Offerings:
World History and Cultures/Geography: This history/social science course examines the major turning points of the modern world from approximately 1750 to the present. Students should develop an understanding of the historic as well as the contemporary geographic, social, political and economic contributions of various world cultures and their challenges. Students will also study the physical, cultural, political and economic geography of the world by applying an understanding of the five themes of Geography, which include location, place, region, movement and human-environmental interaction.
U.S. History: In this year-long course, the Stanford-developed curriculum, Read like a Historian, will be utilized.52 The goal of this curriculum is to engage students in historical inquiry while improving literacy skills, fostering a love of learning and of history, and increasing critical thinking and reading comprehension. Students will learn about the Vietnam War, women’s suffrage, civil rights, the Great Depression and other major events in U.S. history by analyzing journal writings, memoirs, speeches, songs, photographs, illustrations and other documents of the era. Each lesson revolves around a central historical question and features a set of primary documents designed for groups of students with a range of reading skills. This curriculum teaches students how to investigate historical questions by employing reading strategies such as sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating, and close reading. Instead of memorizing historical facts, students evaluate the trustworthiness of multiple perspectives on historical issues and learn to make historical claims backed by documentary evidence.
US Government/Economics: In this year-long course, will pursue a deeper understanding of the institutions of American Government. In addition, they draw on their studies of world and American history and geography and other societies to compare differences and similarities in world governmental systems today. This course is the culmination of history/social sciences classes to prepare students to solve society’s problems, to understand and to participate in the governmental process, and to be a responsible citizen of the United States and the world. The second semester focuses on student mastery of the fundamentals in order to appreciate how the principal concepts of economics relate to each other and understand the structure of economic systems. Students will use economic concepts in a reasoned, careful manner in dealing with personal, community, national and global economic issues. They will engage in a PBL around creating their own business enterprise in connection with their career pathway.
AP History: This college level course is designed to prepare students for the AP US History exam in May. A college-level survey of American history from the founding of the 13 British colonies through the end of the Cold War, the course requires extensive analytical thinking and writing, and is intended for only the able college-bound juniors. Students who obtain a score of 3 or better on the AP exam may receive college credit for this class.
AP U.S. Government: AP American Government examines the foundations and workings of government in the United States. It will follow the College Board standards for AP Government while also covering the California State Content Standards for 12th grade Social Science. The course will be taught at a collegiate pace and requires significant amounts of additional reading. An intense focus will also be placed on essay writing, and a significant amount of writing will also be assigned. Students who obtain a score of 3 or better on the AP exam may receive college credits for the class.
Mathematics will be a rigorous learning experience connected to real world implementation. Scholars will embrace math as more than a series of equations and begin to relate math to careers in technology, engineering, coding, computer science, and game design. Scholars will see how their coursework aligns with the demands of the technology industry. In order to mirror the creative process of solving complex issues, scholars in mathematics will explore, engage, and evaluate equations from various perspectives. Being able to complete and communicate problems through various avenues is indicative of the creativity and diverse mindsets of the scholars we serve. Math will be used as a guiding conversation to understand the relationship between concepts in class, and the mathematical skills needed to build a business and to understand financial literacy.
The skills built through math instruction will allow our scholars to be active participants in new tech industries, or to cultivate and create future careers that have yet to exist in today’s’ technological career field upon graduation. Scholars will have a common knowledge of academic language/essential terms that build their math fluency and math literacy through each advancing course level. Scholars will have an opportunity to engage in a traditional pathway of math acquisition; however, Geometry may be taken before or after Algebra 1.
Course Offerings:
Algebra I:This course includes standards from the conceptual categories of Number and Quantity, Algebra, Functions, and Statistics and Probability. Algebra 1 focuses on linear, quadratic, and exponential expressions and functions as well as some work with absolute value, step, and functions that are piecewise defined. Instructional time will concentrate on four critical areas: (1) deepen and extend understanding of linear and exponential relationships; (2) contrast linear and exponential relationships with each other and engage in methods for analyzing, solving, and using quadratic functions; (3) extend the laws of exponents to square and cube roots; and (4) apply linear models to data that exhibit a linear trend.
Geometry: In this Geometry course, students explore more complex geometric situations and deepen their explanations of geometric relationships, presenting and hearing formal mathematical arguments. Important differences exist between this course and the historical approach taken in geometry classes. For example, transformations are emphasized in this course. Instructional time will focus on five critical areas: (1) establish criteria for congruence of triangles based on rigid motions; (2) establish criteria for similarity of triangles based on dilation and proportional reasoning; (3) informally develop explanations of circumference, area, and volume formulas; (4) apply the Pythagorean Theorem to the coordinate plan; and (5) prove basic geometric theorems.
Algebra II/Trigonometry: In this course, students expand their knowledge/skills beyond the foundations they received in Algebra I. They will work closely with the expressions that define the functions, competently manipulate algebraic expressions, and continue to expand and hone their abilities to model situations and to solve equations, including solving quadratic equations over the set of complex numbers and solving exponential equations using the properties of logarithms. Instructional time will focus on four critical areas: (1) relate arithmetic of rational expressions to arithmetic of rational numbers; (2) expand understandings of functions and graphing to include trigonometric functions; (3) synthesize and generalize functions and extend understanding of exponential functions to logarithmic functions; and (4) relate data display and summary statistics to probability and explore a variety of data collection methods.
AP Calculus AB: Calculus AB is a rigorous course equivalent to a first year college level calculus class. Students will learn about limits, asymptotes, domain, range and numerical integration. Other topics will include: max and min applications, related rates, area, volume, and exponential growth/decay. This course will give the student an excellent foundation in college level mathematics. A graphing calculator is highly recommended for this class. Taking the AP exam is strongly recommended. Students who obtain a score of 3 or better on the AP exam may receive college credit for this class.
AP Calculus BC: Calculus BC is a full-year course in the calculus of functions of a single variable. It includes all topics covered in Calculus AB plus additional topics. Both courses represent college-level mathematics for which most colleges grant advanced placement and credit. The content of Calculus BC is designed to qualify the student for placement and credit in a course that is one course beyond that granted for Calculus AB. Students who obtain a score of 3 or better on the AP exam may receive college credit for this class.
AP Statistics: The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the major concepts and tools for collecting, analyzing, and drawing conclusions from data. Students are exposed to four broad conceptual themes: Exploring Data: Describing patterns and departures from patterns. Sampling and Experimentation: Planning and conducting a study. Anticipating Patterns: Exploring random phenomena using probability and simulation. Statistical Inference: Estimating population parameters and testing hypotheses. Students who successfully complete the course and examination may receive credit and/or advanced placement for a one-semester introductory college statistics course. Students who successfully complete the course and AP examination with a score of 3 or better may receive credit and/or advanced placement for a one-semester introductory college statistics course.
The Visual and Performing Arts offered at AMA will not be the traditional courses that are offered in most high schools. However, one year of Visual Performing Arts will be required of all students to meet the UC “f” requirement for college entrance. Based on the course criteria and guidelines, as well as the goals for VPA found on the UC A-G Guide (http://www.ucop.edu/agguide/a-g-requirements/f-visual-performing-arts/) the coursework that AMA will submit is aligned. In addition, subsequent courses taken by students will incorporate the unique features described here per approval for electives. The courses will be guided by both the Visual and Performing Arts Framework for California Public Schools, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve and the Career Technical Education Framework for California Public Schools. Grades Seven Through Twelve and approved by UC Doorways As described in our instructional design, the arts at AMA will focus primarily on the new media arts and courses will merge science, technology, engineering, art, math, and education into a bridge of career development opportunities within the digital age. Students will also receive instruction in digital citizenship (Common Sense Education) during their Advisory Period. Exposure to future life changing technologies such as 3D printing/ scanning, Motion tracking, Virtual Reality simulations, and Augmented Reality is essential, as these technologies will be accessible to the public in five to ten years.
Course Offerings:
Introduction to Media Arts: This year-long course will be divided into three 12-week modules designed to expose scholars to the career pathways that will guide their new media arts journey through grade twelve. The course will be guided by both the Visual and Performing Arts Framework for California Public Schools, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve and the Career Technical Education Framework for California Public Schools. Grades Seven Through Twelve. Each introductory cohort curriculum is designed to enable scholars who have never been exposed to 3D design, music or computer science to dive into the content through a peer to peer learning structure and hands-on curriculum to acquire a digital skill.
Introduction to 3D Design (12 weeks): This course is designed to introduce students to concept art, 3D modeling, and texturing. Scholars will create various types of characters, vehicles, and environment content for a video game. Scholars will use industry professional software (Autodesk Maya and Z-Brush) to design these models. Before creating, scholars will learn the basics of navigation, tools, and general rules for creating objects in 3D. In addition, students will learn texturing as the process for creating color information for 3D models and Adobe Photoshop to create imagery for game development.
Introduction to Music Production (12 weeks): In this course, scholars will learn about music from a variety of genres. They will be exposed to new skills, like producing, composing, and reading music. Scholars will also learn how to play the piano or drums, and learn about the components of a recording studio.
Introduction to Computer Science (12 weeks): Utilizing curriculum from Project Lead the Way (PLTW), students will learn about programming for the physical world by blending hardware design and software development, allowing students to discover computer science concepts and skills by creating personally relevant, tangible, and shareable projects.
Intermediate 3D Design: Students will continue to delve into concepts that advance their skills in 3D design, as they move towards product development. Scholars will learn 3D animation (by utilizing industry software, Z-Brush) and begin to create characters, as well as write storyboards. Additionally, they will learn rigging and coding by combining 3D modeling, textures, environment content, storyboards, and 3D animation which all make-up a video game. Rigging is the process of giving static 3D models the ability to move by inserting “bones”. Bones allow for 3D models to be animated and react properly to physics. Bones must be carefully created, as there is a structure to how they are placed and controlled
Advanced 3D Game Design: Armed with the foundational skills of 3D Design and game development, students will learn scripting/coding as a major process of game development. UNREAL ENGINE 4 will be utilized as it has its own visual scripting language. This scripting language works by creating modules that then affect a game engine. Students go through an entire design process to create a paper prototype and move into creating their chosen “level” using existing and custom 3D models.
2.0 3D Game Design: As students enter into their final course of their career pathway, they will be exposed to the most advanced concepts around 3D game design, including virtual reality.
Advanced Level Design/Architecture: Utilizing several tools in both Maya and UNREAL ENGINE 4, scholars are able to achieve different art styles and layouts. The design process is started by sketching out ideas on paper. Preparing a paper prototype is essential for a successful design, it allows the scholars to evaluate their ideas without spending valuable time trying to create a finalized design. Utilizing UNREAL ENGINE 4 the scholars then created their desired levels using existing and custom 3D models. UNREAL ENGINE 4’s drag and drop system allows for multiple iterations and multiple art styles. Each individual scholar will create their own level.
2.0 Level Design/Architecture: Scholars within the 2.0 Level design skill demonstrate their need to be assigned to an internship site off campus. However, on campus scholars will work in collaboratively in teams. They will be split into three teams: terrain decoration, props, and structures. Instructors will function as the level design lead and guide the teams as necessary. Students will collaborate on the types of assets that they can place in the level. It is important that the teams remain in constant communication and the instructor must facilitate an atmosphere of teamwork and cohesion. Scholars will explore the many area in which architecture is used throughout various industries. Whether it is urban planning, parks & recreation, homes, schools, office building, or city planning.
Intermediate Music Production: In this course, scholars will delve more into music notation/reading music, learning musical terms and rhythmic patterns by recreating a movie/television score (or a song by Grammy nominated artists). Scholars will learn to compose for film and explore genres specifically for film and video games.
Advanced Music Production: The Music composition classes will employ some formal and informal approaches to composing music.
Formal approach: Students are taught the basic elements of music fundamentals, reviewing musical terms, notation, rhythm, scales, musical forms, and media genres.
Informal Approach: Instructors will use computers garage band and logic music software to teach participants how technology is the vehicle used to create their composition. Scholars will learn the fundamentals of using Mac computers to create their composition. They will compose music using selected instruments in different genres of music. They will also learn the origin and history surrounding each style.
2.0 Music Production: Scholars within 2.0 Music Production have the opportunity to bring existing songs they’ve created in previous courses and apply the skills they’ve obtained. Similar to all AMA’s 2.0 level scholars, they will be placed in an internship with partners like Otis College or another relevant location that is aligned with his or her project.
PLTW Computer Science Essentials: Students will experience the major topics, big ideas, and computational thinking practices used by computing professionals to solve problems and create value for others. This course will empower students to develop computational thinking skills while building confidence that prepares them to advance to Computer Science Principles and Computer Science A.
PLTW Computer Science Principles: Using Python® as a primary tool, students explore and become inspired by career paths that utilize computing, discover tools that foster creativity and collaboration, and use what they’ve learned to tackle challenges like app development and simulation. This course is endorsed by the College Board, giving students the opportunity to take the AP CSP exam for college credit.
PLTW Computer Science A: Students collaborate to create original solutions to problems of their own choosing by designing and implementing user interfaces and Web-based databases, as well as creating a game for their friends or an app to serve a real need in their community. This course is aligned to the AP CSA framework.
Next Generation Science Standards will be used to guide instruction through a conceptual progression of courses (NGSS for All Students, 2015) with a blended learning model structure in order to provide student centered instruction. The rigor and concepts behind NGSS include the expectation that all students can gain science proficiency when they are provided with opportunities for scientific inquiry and investigations which helps to develop students’ questioning, logical reasoning, analysis, and communication skills. The NGSS will engage students in the use of scientific explanations, evidence, practices, and discourse across disciplinary core ideas with connections to cross cutting concepts.
Blended learning leverages media and exposes scholars to virtual labs, photos and videos of settings beyond our community, with connections to scientists and scholars across the globe. Scholars will be required to combine the content knowledge learned in mathematics and science to complete an interdisciplinary project that makes connections between their coursework and a career in New Media Arts. By having a truly interdisciplinary project, scholars can appreciate the variety of knowledge needed in order to make a significant contribution to society.
Course Offerings:
Biology: This course is a standards-based study of living things: origins, structures, functions, heredity, growth and development, interactions among, and behavior of living things. Content is built around major biological concepts such as biochemistry and the biology of cells, genetics, evolution, ecology, physiologic systems, and the diversity of living things. Emphasis is placed on the utilization of mathematical, analytical, data acquisition, and communication skills as well as interdisciplinary approaches to discovery. Concepts and skills are reinforced by a strong emphasis on hands-on laboratory experiences and the integration of other branches of science. Applications to society, individuals, and the utilization of technology are included, as is consideration of the impact of human activity on biological systems.
Chemistry: This course is a standards-based study of fundamental chemical concepts, such as atomic theory and its relation to chemical behavior, chemical bonding, the mole and stoichiometry, molecular kinetics, energy relationships, solution dynamics, acids-bases, equilibrium, organic and biological chemistry, and nuclear interactions. Emphasis is placed on the utilization of mathematical, analytical, data acquisition, and communication skills as well as interdisciplinary approaches to discovery. Concepts and skills are reinforced by a strong emphasis on hands-on laboratory experiences and the integration of other branches of science. Applications to society, individuals, and the utilization of technology are included.
Conceptual Physics: This course is designed to facilitate students understanding of the interactions of space, time, matter and energy in a conceptual non-mathematical form with emphasis on logical reasoning in order to derive the fundamental laws of nature and to derive conclusions from these laws. This will facilitate students understanding of the rules of nature by learning their foundations, not by learning their mathematical derivations. This conceptual base will also foster their critical and analytical thinking for use throughout their lifetime. Through regular laboratory experiences students will learn to predict, control, calculate, measure, and observe their interactions with the physical world around them on a daily basis.
AP Biology: Emulating a first year biology course for those intending to major in this field or related areas, this course significantly differs from the usual first biology course offered in high schools with respect to the textbook, and range and depth of material to be covered. The textbooks and required laboratory activities are equivalent to those found in today’s college classrooms. This course will provide students with the conceptual equivalent to those found in today’s college classrooms. This course will provide students with the conceptual framework, factual knowledge, and analytical skills necessary to deal critically with the rapidly changing science of biology.
Academy of Media Arts will offer Spanish courses beginning in Year 2 in a face-to-face classroom format; however, in the first year, if a student wishes to take it, s/he can do so through the online coursework with Rosetta Stone.
Course Offerings:
Spanish 1: This is a comprehensive introduction to Spanish emphasizing fundamental communicative-based competencies, grammar, and Spanish-language cultures. Students will actively learn to understand, speak, read and write simple questions and sentences on a variety of familiar topics in Spanish by the end of the second semester. The course goals and objectives are based on Stage I of the World Language Content Standards for California Public Schools (2009).
Spanish 2: Spanish 2 continues and expands on the communicative-based competencies, grammar, and Spanish-language cultures learned in Spanish 1. Students will actively learn to understand, speak, and write in extended discourse on familiar topics using an increasing variety of grammatical structures. They will also read simple texts written in Spanish. AMA will also seek to connect scholars with students from secondary schools in Spain or other Spanish –speaking countries via Skype (or other platforms) to create a community of practice. The course goals and objectives are based on Stages I and II of the World Language Content Standards for California Public Schools (2009).
Spanish 3: Spanish 3 continues to expand and refine students’ communicative-based listening, speaking, reading, writing competencies from Spanish 1 and 2. Students will use increasingly complex grammar with improving accuracy and read a variety of authentic texts. Students will also deepen their understanding of the history, literature and arts of Spanish-language cultures, as well as the cultural, educational, and economic implications that the Spanish language plays out within society. The course goals and objectives are based on Stages II and III of the World Language Content Standards for California Public Schools (2009). Students who perform exceptionally well in this course may be recommended for Advanced Placement Spanish Language class.
Spanish for Heritage Speakers 1: This course is designed for students who speak Spanish as their native language and possess strong oral language skills with the basics of reading and writing in Spanish. This is also a space for newcomers who are recent arrivals (native Spanish speakers) to U.S. schools are served well here, as they are able to continue to express themselves and learn, while they become acclimated. In addition, students who have participated successfully in dual immersion programs can take this course. Students will be given opportunities deepen their skills in their home language, as they build academic literacy through academic writing, reading and oral communication skills. Students completing this course successfully may take the next course – Spanish for Heritage Speakers 2.
Spanish for Heritage Speakers 2: This course continues the work that students began in Spanish for Heritage Speakers 1. This course will delve deeper into Hispanic cultures by reading works from Spanish and Latin American authors as well as authentic online resources that focus on high-interest and culturally-relevant themes, so that students gain an appreciation for the cultural products and practices of the Spanish-speaking world. While the course reinforces academic writing, reading and oral communication skills, particular attention is also given to grammar structures, spelling, accents and to expanding the students’ vocabulary beyond their particular region of origin. Students completing this course successfully may take AP Spanish Language and/or AP Spanish Literature.
AP Spanish Language: AP Spanish Language is an advanced curriculum which provides students with a learning experience equivalent to that of a third-year college course in Spanish. The course offers frequent opportunities for students to integrate the listening, speaking, reading and writing through the use of authentic materials representing a variety of types of discourse, topics, and registers. Extensive training in the organization and writing of compositions is an integral component. Teachers and students use Spanish almost exclusively. The course goals and objectives are based on Stage IV of the World Language Content Standards for California Public Schools (2009).
AP Spanish Literature: AP Spanish Literature is an advanced curriculum that provides students with a learning experience equivalent to that of a third-year introduction to Spanish literature college course. Students read, discuss and analyze critically in Spanish representative works of Peninsular and Latin American literature through class discussion and essay writing. These works include prose, poetry, and drama from different periods with a consideration of their cultural context. Teachers and students use Spanish almost exclusively. The course goals and objectives are based on Stage V of the World Language Content Standards for California Public Schools (2009).
Scholars at AMA will have additional courses beyond the core that will be required to graduate and/or for university preparation (A-G). These courses will focus on areas that give students opportunities to extend their knowledge and skills that span across disciplines and career interests.
Course Offerings – per UC Doorways approval
Ethnic Studies: Based on the CCSS for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects, scholars will read a variety of classic and multicultural literature, including complex texts that require critical-thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills. Instruction will provide scholars with cultural and artistic historical content about various ethnicities including but not limited to African Americans and Latinos. Students will also develop a social justice lens through which they will analyze the past, present and future in the context of creative innovation. Academy of Media Arts seeks to recreate a community, much like that of the Harlem Renaissance to engage scholars in academic content with curiosity and passion. Scholars will understand societal influences, and contributions from “people who look like them” in order to understand that they too can be contributors and innovators of new industries beyond the technical industries. The goal is for scholars to develop an intrinsic love and appreciation of their cultural history that has played a role in a greater context.
AP Environmental Science: The goal of this course is to provide students with the scientific principles, concepts, and methodologies required to understand the interrelationships of the natural world, to identify and analyze environmental problems both natural and human-made, to evaluate the relative risks associated with these problems, and to examine alternative solutions for resolving and/or preventing them.
PLTW Cybersecurity : Whether seeking a career in the growing field of cybersecurity or learning to defend their own personal data or a company’s data, students in Cybersecurity establish an ethical code of conduct while learning to defend data in today’s complex cyber world.
PLTW Introduction to Engineering Design: Students dig deep into the engineering design process, applying math, science, and engineering standards to hands-on projects like designing a new toy or improving an existing product.
PLTW Engineering Design and Development : Students identify a real-world challenge and then research, design, and test a solution, ultimately presenting their unique solutions to a panel of engineers.
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