Titan eNews
Weekly Campus Update
Mission: To create a community of learners empowered to collaborate and compete in a rapidly changing world.
STAAR EOC Testing this week for 1st and 2nd Years
Amazing College Fair thanks to our Counseling Team on Thursday last week!
Capstone Presentations ~ Save the Date and REGISTER today as a panelist!
4th Year Parents may view the Capstone website to gain further information about the projects and presentation schedule. The final presentations will allow learners to showcase a year's worth of learning in research strategies, research design, data interpretation and analysis. If you would like to see your child's presentation, please sign up through this link.
https://sites.google.com/pisd.edu/ahscapstone
We are also seeking experts to join us as capstone panelists, so please share this exciting opportunity with others in your circle. Thank you!
4th Years
Dear Parent,
The 4th Year learners are now 2 weeks into their final group project of the year, Mars Attacks! In the project, learners will respond to the driving question, How can I analyze a situation, make decisions, and transfer my knowledge into a new situation? Learners will be in the role of founding members of a Mars colony. As a founding member, each learner will be required to hold an officer position in a given area: Government and Foreign Affairs, Economics, Social, Environmental, and Technology. Each team will consist of at least one of these positions.
This project includes an interdisciplinary game. In the game, colonies will establish their own forms of government, and, based upon their Colonial Constitution, will adapt to life on their new home planet as a variety of randomly generated scenarios occur. Colonies will be scored on their ability to anticipate and respond to scenarios, resulting in some colonies emerging as more effective in their mission to cultivate life than others.
While a manned mission to Mars is still decades away, the human race is making great strides toward reaching the Red Planet. Tomorrow’s Martian colonists are sitting in high school classrooms around the world today. The time is now for our learners to make their contribution to the narrative of space exploration.
As a team, they will be tested on their ability to adapt to life on their new home planet as a variety of randomly generated scenarios occur. The colonies will be scored on theirr ability to anticipate and respond to each scenario. The project will result in some colonies emerging as more effective in their mission to cultivate life than others. The ultimate goal is for our learners to understand cultural values, disruptive innovations, how history/context shapes place, change and continuity over time.
4th Year Update by Purvi Contractor:
During the week of March 26 through 29 the team completed the preparation steps for the Mars Attacks simulation. In English, learners read and analyzed two science fiction short stories as it relates to the themes of communication, isolation, and an over-reliance on technology. While in government, teams drafted their colonial constitution and determined population demographics of their charter. Learners were busy In SRD completing several peer reviews on their Capstone research paper and then applied the comments to their report. The second and third rules for data normalization were analyzed in Comp Sci because a successful colony relies on organizing and evaluating big data effectively. Finally, Precalculus learners practiced vector computations, while Calculus learners explored differentiation and antidifferenciation involving logarithmic functions. The knowledge obtained this week will help teams for the simulation during the next two weeks of game play.
Last week was filled with problem solving and strategizing as the first challenge for the Mars Attacks Game was revealed. This scenario asked each team to submit a plan of action after two new underground water reserviors were discovered beyond the borders of the colonies. In light of this change, groups began negotiating contracts to form alliances. In government teams, explored the structure and purpose of the United Nations and World Trade Organization. Armed with this content, learners were then able to develop similar agencies in context of the project. In English, learners launched the collaborative interview: a cooperative written discussion that analyzes choices' of different science fiction authors. Calculus learners practiced U substitution for integrals while precalculus learners investigated properties of logarithms. While in SRD learners continued revising the final research paper and began scripting for their final presentation.
Below, you will find pictures of Mr. Weaver, the Game Master, officially opening Mars Attacks as well as learners going over games rules and planning!
PISD Elementary Senior Reunions!
Senior Reunions:
Haun wants to invite all the graduating seniors who attended Haun to come On May 31st at 7:30 a.m. for donuts and a walk the halls ceremony, so all our staff members and children can celebrate them. Walk the halls starts at 8 a.m., and they will be on their way back to school by 8:20ish. Please ask them to wear their cap and gown for the walk.
Haun Elementary - May 22 at 4:30
Foreman Elementary- May 3, 4:30-6 p.m. in the library.
Boggess Elementary- May 8, 4:30-6 p.m. in the library.
Mendenhall Elementary - May 10, 4-6 pm in the school library.
Thomas Elementary- May 10, 4:305:30 in the library. Please e-mail or call Amy Rouquette at Amy.Rouquette@pisd.edu or call 469-752-3583.
Carlisle Elementary- May 15, 4:30 in the library.
Daffron Elementary- Wednesday, May 16, 4:30 - 6:00p.m. in the library.
Rose Mary Haggar Elementary- May 16, 5:00-6:30 p.m. in the RMH Library. Attire: T-Shirt of your College Choice. Parents are encouraged to attend. PLEASE RSVP: kimberlysealey1959@gmail.com
Barron Elementary- May 17, 4:30-5:30 in the library.
Bethany Elementary- May 17, 4:30-6:30 in the library.
Weatherford Elementary- May 21, 4:30-5:30 in the cafeteria. Wear a t-shirt from the college you will attend.
Aldridge Elementary- May 22, 5:30-6:30 p.m. in the cafeteria.
Hunt Elementary- May 22, 4:15-5:30 p.m. in the Hunt Library. Group picture is at 5:00. The Hunt PTA scholarship recipient will be announced at the 2018 Hunt Alumni Senior Reunion. Wear college and/or casual apparel!
Mathews Elementary- May 22, 4:30-6:30 in the gym.
Miller Senior Reception is May 22 from 4:30-6:00 in the school library.
Saigling Elementary- May 22 from 4:30-6:00 p.m.
Barksdale Elementary- May 23, 4:30-6:00 in the library. Wear t-shirt of your college choice.
Huffman Elementary- May 23, 4-6 pm in the library.
Beverly Elementary- May 24, 4:30-6 p.m. in the library. Deadline for scholarship application is May 1st. Scholarship application form available onwww.BeverlyPTA.com. Winner of Bobcat Scholarship will be drawn and announced at reception.
Dooley Elementary- May 24, 4:30-6 p.m. in the cafeteria.
Hickey Elementary- May 24, 4:30-6 p.m. in the library.
Skaggs Elementary- Thursday, May 24, 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. in the Skaggs Library.
Stinson Elementary- May 25 at 4:30 p.m. at the Stinson Elementary cafeteria.
Wells Elementary- May 29, 4-6 p.m. in the gym.
Safety and Security
Subject: School Safety Information Meetings
Plano ISD is hosting three opportunities for parents to attend an informational meeting about school safety. District safety and security personnel, along with representatives from the Plano Police Department, will share information regarding security measures currently in place, projects scheduled for this summer and proposals that are being discussed for future implementation.
Presenters from the Plano Police Department include:
· Sergeant AD Paul, SRO Program Supervisor and Department Coordinator for the Crisis Intervention Team
· Lieutenant Sandra Rodgers-Tomeo, SRO Program Manager and Former Criminal Investigations Division Supervisor
· Lieutenant Mica Lunt, Plano PD Homeland Security and Training
Attendees will have an opportunity to submit questions and suggestions via a comment card, with part of the evening being reserved for answering questions. The question cards will also be used to create a Frequently Asked Questions that will be shared on the Plano ISD website.
Although the meetings are being hosted by senior high school feeder, you are welcome to select a meeting date and location that is most convenient for you. Each meeting will be held from 6:00-7:30 p.m. at the following locations:
Feeder: Plano West Senior High
· Meeting Location: Sockwell Center for Professional Development located at 6301 Chapel Hill Blvd., Plano, TX 75093 (overflow parking is available across the street at The Shops at Willow Bend)
Date and Time: Monday, April 9, 2018 from 6:00-7:30 p.m.
Feeder: Plano Senior High
· Meeting Location: Sockwell Center for Professional Development located at 6301 Chapel Hill Blvd., Plano, TX 75093 (overflow parking is available across the street at The Shops at Willow Bend)
Date and time: Tuesday, April 10, 2018, 6:00-7:30 p.m.
Feeder: Plano East Senior High
· Meeting location: Williams High School Cafeteria located at 1717 17th Street, Plano, TX 75074
Date and Time: Thursday, April 12, 2018 from 6:00-7:30 p.m.
3rd Years: Project Parent Letter for Going Viral
Dear Third Year Parent, Parent Letter also linked HERE.
Welcome to the last project of the third year, Going Viral. We will be exploring different types of disasters as we answer the question, “How Do We Build Resilience for Extraordinary Events?” This will be accomplished by researching pandemics, epidemics, natural disasters, and manmade disasters, then exploring how communities can prevent and respond to these types of extraordinary events.
How are we doing this?
Learners will synthesize research in order to develop a plan to prevent or respond to epidemics caused by infectious disease, pandemics, natural disasters, or man-made disasters and present their findings and recommendations to attendees of a preparedness conference.
How are we going to show this?
Teams of learners will prepare for the 2018 Plano Academy High School Preparedness Summit where they will showcase and share their research findings, best practice training models, tools, and/or other resources that advance the field and serve the community.
What does it look like?
Learners will craft a professional and well designed presentation that includes:
In depth research on a disaster including a well crafted message of how they will prevent and/or respond to such extraordinary events
Mathematical analysis of the effects of disasters/ emergencies using exponential functions (with logarithms as needed), logistic functions, symmetry, and hypothesis testing
An analysis of environmental impacts
Historical grounding of the likelihood of such an event occurring in a given area and historical documentation of the effects of previous events on the surrounding community.
A prototype of a new or refined engineering solution
Learners will craft a well reasoned argument around an ethical topic and present solutions in an essay.
Learners will create scratchboard art regarding fear.
Learners will make intaglio prints from closely observing scientific matter.
What are the phases of the project? What are the deadlines?
Phase 1: What is a crisis? What is a disaster? March 26 - March 29
Finish Reading I Am Legend by March 29
Phase 2: Select a problem and plan. April 3 - April 13
Declare Problem, Presentation Type, and Team by April 6
Visual Representation of Ideas due by April 10
Digital Photography/ Storyboarding (Presidential Research) by April 12
Finish March Book One by April 13
Summit Application due April 13
Acid Rain Lab - April 13
Probability or hypothesis test evidencing need for Project (Statistics) - April 13
Model of trends to support evidence of need for Project (Precalculus) - April 13
Phase 3: Research, solve and prototype April 16 - May 4
Ethical Argument due April 17
Description of Summit Presentation due April 20
Scratchboard art due April 20th
Hypothesis test showing effects of event (Statistics) - April 20
Model showing effects of event over time (Precalculus) - April 20
Learner Presidential Presentations April 23-30
Presentation Scripts and Outlines Due April 27
STAAR Review May 1-4
All Presentation and Accompanying Materials due May 4
Phase 4: Refine, Present, and Reflect May 7 - May 25
US History STAAR TEST is May 7
Prototype/ Articulation of Solution due May 8
Display of relevant data (Statistics) May 8
Graph of model of relevant data (Precalculus) May 8
Preparedness Summit Presentation Peer Reviews May 10-11
Preparedness Summit Dress Rehearsals by May 16-17
Intaglio and relief prints due May 23
2018 Plano Academy High School Preparedness Summit May 21-22
How can you help?
Guest Speaker Needs: We are looking for public health, health care, disaster relief, emergency management, and other professionals nationwide to provide feedback to our learners and attend the 2018 Plano Academy High School Preparedness Summit. Any expertise or connections that you are able to provide would be greatly appreciated. To volunteer or for more information, please contact russell.young@pisd.edu.
Questions for the dinner table:
Phase 1 & 2
What are some of the different types of disasters that you explored?
What is a specific example of a man-made disaster, natural disaster, pandemic, or epidemic that you researched?
What do you think could have been done to prevent the disasters that you researched?
How do you think governments and private organizations should respond to different types of disasters?
How can a community’s leaders inform their citizens of certain disasters?
How has art been influenced by disasters?
How have the rises and falls of different populations affected the environments around them? How does a new species impact the rise and fall of another species and the environment around them?
What are some examples of policies that Plano ISD has put in place to prevent and/or respond to extraordinary events?
What disaster will you or your team be focusing on?
Phase 3 & 4
(Statistics) Have you shown through hypothesis testing this disaster is valid to study? What results did you get?
(Precalculus) Have you modeled the spread of disease/damage for your disaster? What is the model? After how much time are there turning points in the level of damage/spread?
What are the elements of your emergency response system?
Will your team be focusing on prevention, responses, or informing?
What method of presentation will you be using for the preparedness summit?
What solution will your team be presenting? What does your prototype look like?
Sincerely,
The 3rd Year Facilitator Team
1st Years
The Titan Film Festival was such a fun night! Thank you for supporting our first years. They put weeks of work into the films that they created. If you were unable to attend or if you would like to relive the magic, all the films are accessible on YouTube: tinyurl.com/2018LCATrailers
Our winners for the Lights, Camera, Action Titan Film Festival are:
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Documentary: “Splitpiece” by Team 34 - Isaac Alvarez, Evren Azizoglu, Kate Callaway, Marcos Montelongo
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Animation: “The Twins” by Team 33 - Tauseef Afraz, Daniel Brubaker, Maggie Buvanendiran, Natalia Houle
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Narrative: “Ñanduti de Amor” by Team 31 - Mackenzie Adair, Galilea Baca, Peyton Browder, Eric Mendoza
This week, the first years began planning for their final project of the year: Project Sustain. They are tasked with designing a community that addresses an environmental, social, or economic need. We will send out a parent letter with more information.
1st Years Final Project Parent Letter
Dear First Year Parent,
The Titan Film Festival was a success! Thank you for supporting our first years throughout LCA as they were filming and for attending the festival!
This week, we launched into our fifth project of the year: Project Sustain. Learners have been given the task of designing a community with a specific need in mind. They will begin by researching global societal, economic, and environmental needs. After their community idea is approved by facilitators, they will spend their time creating a company identity, planning infrastructure, and building scale models of their housing units. At their presentation day on Friday, May 25, the first years will present their building company’s mission, scale models, community layout, and a detailed, sustainable infrastructure plan.
Project Sustain Anchor Document:
Project Sustain
“How do I live responsibly within a modern global community?”
Your team is part of a US-based housing developer or non-profit organization. The company or organization has tasked your team with identifying a societal, economic, or environmental need in the world and designing a housing development plan that will address that need. The community design can be located anywhere in the world but must be tailored to your target consumer. You must take into consideration the community’s infrastructure requirements (power, water, waste, transportation, communication, etc) as well as structural design of the housing units and their placement within the community. You will also create a website which will be used as a platform to persuade people to invest or donate, and move in to the housing community. The website should highlight the importance of addressing your identified need and also feature the design of the housing units, community, and infrastructure plan.
Each team must submit the following deliverables:
Physical display of the homes and the community design
Infrastructure plan for the community
Presentation
Website
Images of housing units (CAD design)
Business plan
Mission statement
Logo
Technical infographic sample
“The scale of our homes should be derived from the real needs of our daily lives. . .
Home should be the setting of our life, not the measure of it.” ~James Gauer
Major Assignments & Checkpoints:
Beginning
Community needs analysis
Community concept approval
2D Floor plan of housing structures
Midpoint
CAD model of their housing concept
LOTE Checkpoint 5
End
LOTE Mid-semester skill assessment
Itemized budget
Infrastructure plan
Scale model of housing structures & community layout
Website
Presentation Date - Friday, May 25
English I STAAR EOC - Tuesday, April 10
Algebra I STAAR EOC - Tuesday, May 8
How can you help?
Project Presentation Day: Friday, May 25
Presentation Day Judges:
Realtors
Contractors
Electricians
Home buyers
Interior Designers
Tiny home residents
Questions for the dinner table:
What does sustainability mean to me?
How do my daily activities affect global carbon levels?
Who are you designing your community for?
What are the pros and cons of different sources of energy?
How are the different energy sources different across the U.S?
How do people in urban and rural environments live differently?
How do you define “home” and “community”?
What makes people feel a sense of belonging and/or community?
Thank you for all your support! Please let any of us know if you have questions about or ideas for this project.
Sincerely,
The 1st Year Facilitator Team
2nd Years Present...
2nd Years:
With less than two weeks left of Quantum Leap, teams are going into overdrive mode to complete their games before Acadacon, on April 17th. Some say not to judge a book by its cover, but that doesn’t always apply to video and board games. Learners have been hard at work on game boxes this week, as well as finishing up game pieces, boards, and of course coding for those digital designers. Learners successfuly finished up their lab assessment this week, applying knowledge and skills about mammalian digestive systems gained through the fetal pig dissection experience.
Mayor Harry LaRossiliere and many other community members joined us at Academy High this past week to kick off and celebrate the launch of the Wyland Foundation, a water conversation group, Mayor’s Water Conversation Challenge. As Plano strives to take the #1 spot, learners have made pledges at mywaterpledge.com, to incorporate smarter water and convservation habits into their daily routines.
We look forward to Acadacon 2018 and allowing the learners to showcase their hard work over the last several weeks!
Prom Tickets are on sale now for PROM on 4/28!
Save the Date:
4/10: English 1 STAAR EOC
4/12: English 2 STAAR EOC
4/17: 2nd Years present Acadacon
4/21: Plano ISD Job Fair, Plano West
4/26: Career and Technical Fair
4/26: National Honor Society Induction
4/28: Prom
5/3: STUCO STUDIO Night 5-7:30 pm
5/7: Algebra 1 STAAR EOC
5/8: Biology STAAR EOC
5/9: US History STAAR EOC
5/15: Texas Colleges and Universities Fair
5/16: General PTSA Meeting and Open Mic Night
5/21-22: 3rd Year Going Viral Presentations during the school day
5/24-25: 2nd Year Project Y Presentations during the school day
5/25: 1st Years Project Sustain Presentations
5/28: Memorial Day - no school
5/29: Senior Banquet followed by Senior Sunset