In The Classroom – Page 5 – AUSTIN TENNIS ACADEMY

ATA College Prep: Growing Excellence

Several years ago, as Josh began to invest more time in tennis, and I in the ATA community, I began to envision an educational support system that could better equip Josh for a college future that included tennis. I combined my academic philosophy and love of education with Josh’s love for tennis, and together with Coach Newman’s established ATA vision, we created the seeds of the community school, which is now ATA College Prep.

English I/II with Ms Wheat

During the past 7 years, these seeds continue to grow and flourish through many branches. ATA CP is now a fully accredited private school with 12 dedicated instructors. Our curriculum continues to evolve as rapidly as our students’ minds. Our graduates continue to leverage excellent college placement. And our facilities continue to improve to better serve the community.

Spanish class with Ms Flanagan

This summer, the ATA CP classroom facility was moved onto the ATA campus. As with many transitions, it brought along with it growing pains. Offices, pro shop, people and equipment were displaced and scattered in construction. But with the focus of the overarching vision and mission, and guidance of the ATA leadership, the community is in full bloom once again. Courts boast beautiful new surfaces; ATA CP classrooms are light and bright; the new pro shop offers a welcoming front to our members and visitors at the south entrance of the fitness center, which is redesigned for maximum efficiency.

Kristin and Callie practice vocabulary

The Austin Tennis Academy is a community of coaches, teachers, parents, and student athletes committed to living the sport of tennis. The ATA facilities and our entire staff continue to improve so that we may offer the very best in developing tennis, academics and character in junior student athletes and future citizens of significance.

Abigail annotates Emerson as Payton dives into his textbook.

By: Carol Hagar, Director, ATA College Prep

ATA CP Students Praise Facility Changes

With the school year well underway at ATA College Prep, the students and teachers are settled into a rhythm in the new facility. In case you missed it, ATA CP Director Carol Hagar described much of the transition that happened over the summer in a recent post.

Now that students are fully focused on everything from French to Physics, they, too, offered their reflections on the changes.

“The new school facility for the ATA College Prep program has greatly altered the way we operate everyday,” said junior Abigail Chiu. “The new and improved buildings give us a more school-like feeling that allows us to access more resources in a more convenient space. Being closer to the courts, with more people/coaches around, has already kept me more accountable, and this is what I most appreciate. Hopefully we can all use this change to our benefit and strive to be even better student athletes.”

Payton Holden, a senior heading to Princeton University next year, echoed Abigail’s sentiment.

“I like the new school building much better because it allows me and the other students to transition from practice/lessons to school very quickly and effortlessly.”

With the school space now on the same campus as the courts, fitness center, pro shop and coaches offices, there is more of a cohesive tone between the major focal points of the program: to strive for excellence in academics, athletics and character. Alejandro Rodriguez, a junior in his second year at CP, agrees.

“ The new school facilities at ATA College Prep have redefined the way that students here study, train, and improve. The close proximity to the courts allows us to play even more than before, and the new facilities are high end, comfortable and make it easy to learn. Very excited about this year and the years to come!”

To learn more about the ATA College Prep program, please contact Carol Hagar at Carol.Hagar@AustinTennisAcademy.com.

CP Theatre Field Trip, Upcoming Performance

Ms. Flanagan’s Theatre class recently experienced ZACH’s performance of “Peter and the Starcatcher”. Audience members were taken on a magical ride to discover the origins of Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Tinkerbell, the mermaids, and Neverland itself. This was an educational experience for the CP Theatre troupe as they could view the powerful results of teamwork, creativity and commitment.

Josh, Tatum, Adi, Callie, Annika, and Ms. Flanagan

Mark your calendars for March 3 for this special event!

CP Theatre Class proudly presents the first performance of the semester:

“An Actor’s Nightmare” by Christopher Durang

Captain Hook (Ms. Flanagan) getting attacked by the crocodile (Josh)

Adi Ford stumbles into a theatre and suddenly finds herself starring in play after play after play (alongside Tatum Blalock, Josh Clark, Callie Creath, Annika Pandey and Jacob Gauthier). The only problem is…she hasn’t been to a single rehearsal and she definitely doesn’t know her lines!

Join us Tuesday, March 3rd at 5pm in the Fitness Center for this hilarious one-act play!

In the Field – Trips for Change

Chalk up another CP field trip… this time for girls only. Why did we choose a movie day instead of a day in the classroom? Today, we traveled around the globe to learn the stories of nine young girls who face a litany of injustices – like child slavery, abuse, and arranged marriages – mostly before age 11. Even under the threat of enormous obstacles, these brave girls tell their story of hope and determination, demanding an education so they may turn around their own lives and force greater change in the world at large. Stories are told through artistic imagery and narrated by some of Hollywood’s most compassionate actors and actresses. Girl Rising made an impact on our own young CP students and challenged them to rise and become change-makers.

Onward and Upward, Carol

SOMOS ATA CP!

Check out this student created video.

SOMOS ATA CP!

Latin Projects

Yesterday, I gave some of the Latin students a challenge to create a model of an ancient Roman temple. This topic followed up on a lesson about the Roman forum and the forum of Pompeii from earlier in the year.

Chase and Caleb competed to see who could sketch the most accurate temple on the board. Caleb was interested in drawing a circular temple, while Chase put a lot of detail into the triangular pediment of his temple.

In Latin class, we rely on multimedia as a tool to bring the culture, archeology, and artifacts of ancient Rome to life. Chase studied photographs of several Roman temples to design his own masterpiece.

Besides images and technology, our Latin course is focused on mastering and applying language skills such as vocabulary, grammar, and prose composition. Here, Jackson just put the finishing touches on writing a Latin sentence.

ATA’s student athletes are always hungry for competition, so it should come as no surprise that grammar and vocabulary contests are their favorite way to practice foreign languages. Here, Brennan and Meghan compete head-to-head to write the correct form of a Latin verb.

Sock Drive and SafePlace Drive

from Ms Flanagan

The Kids in Business class has been working hard to make the ATACP Sock Drive and SafePlace Drive as successful as possible.

As donations rolled in, students counted and organized:

The donations we received from our ATA community were beyond generous! So generous that Ms. Flanagan could barely carry it all!

The drive was a great success thanks to the hard work of our students and the generosity of our ATACP family!

In the end ATACP donated: 275 socks, 38 items of clothing and some handmade Christmas notes from our students to Foundation for the Homeless. And 200 items of clothing, 5 pairs of shoes, 14 canned goods and 4 cellphones to SafePlace.

Both organizations are very glad to have these donations for Christmas.

Coding in Math & Logic

This week over 5 million students worldwide will participate in the Hour of Code – and try their hand at coding for the first time. Today in Math & Logic, CP students logged on to the Khan Academy, and worked through an interactive basic coding session. They discovered functions, parameters, commands – the basics of technological coding. They also ‘drew’ some pretty cool images using basic shapes and color fills.

The genius minds and founders of Facebook, Microsoft, and Google all started their journeys with just one line of code; now CP kids have been given the same chance – to not only use the technology of the future, but also to create it.

Check out the Hour of Code on Khan Academy.

The Power of ONE

ATA patron Haden Spencer recently visited CP and spoke of her CASA work with a family affected by the recent floods in Austin near Onion Creek, and the Power of One – what one person can do to make a change.

CP students donated collected clothes, shoes, gift cards and money to give to this family and other the Austinites who were stripped of their homes and possessions. Additional donations go to the Austin Disaster Relief Fund, an organization that immobilized immediately to render aid.

Here is a link to The Power of ONE video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIIXoOXj0Ek

Le Chat au Chapeau

from Madame Perim

Throughout a semester long project, French 1 students have been working on the translation and illustration of their own The Cat in the Hat- Le Chat au Chapeau- book. They are about half way through the project and the books look great. This project has turned out to be an effective and fun way to build vocabulary, as well as familiarize the sounds of the French language through repetition. And last but not least, student have developed their drawing skills!

The Spanish Classes Celebrate Day of the Dead with ATA College Prep

From the Students:

Annika:
Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a Mexican holiday, celebrated on November 1, and 2. It focuses on gatherings of family and friends, celebrating the lives of dead friends and family members who have died. People will usually make altars, sugar skulls, and eat and drink the favorite foods of the deceased.

Synclair:
They do all of this to celebrate their loved ones.

Adison:
Day of the dead is a Mexican holiday to celebrate the gift of life and to remember those who have died.

Ela:
This holiday has a long, long history. The Day of the Dead started with the Aztecs. Honoring their dead was a daily ritual.

Grayson:
El día de los muertos celebra el fallecimiento de nuestra familia y amigos. En honor de ellos nosotros cocinamos sus comidas favoritas. Una comida popular del día de los muertos es pan de muerto. Es muy azucarado y sabroso. Comidas comunes del día de los muertos son atole de calabaza, pan de yema,  dulce de calabaza, tamales, y sopaipillas. El día de los muertos no es un día triste; es un día feliz.

Callie:
I think el día de los muertos is a great way to remember passed family and friends!

Adison:
At ATA College Prep, us Spanish students celebrated with a glorious Mexican meal. Including tacos, sopapillas, guacamole, Mexican cupcakes and more.

Annika:
We spent time, cooking, decorating, and preparing to share this wonderful festival with the citizens of the school. We made food–

Grayson:
We spent two hours before lunch preparing our meal. I helped juice fruit, cut peppers, cut onions, fry sopapillas, and crumble cheese.

Callie:
Cooking for the day of the dead was so fun! The food was so yummy! I loved making the chicken, guacamole and chocolate sauce.

Ela:
The whole class worked together to do these things.

Grayson:
Cooking an authentic meal was actually a lot of fun and cool. I have never seen any the foods we ate be cooked before.

Ela:
Our dessert was by far the best. We made sopapillas. They were very delicious. With that, we had warm chocolate sauce, honey and a coconut sauce. Our food was amazing.

Hannah:
The class decorated the school with festive decorations.

Annika:
We even learned a song about Frida Kahlo and Día de los Muertos!

Hannah:
Before lunch I introduced what Day of the Dead is and how it is celebrated. Then the Spanish 1 class sang a song pertaining to the Day of the Dead.

Callie:
I was really nervous before singing the song.

Annika:
We performed it in front of the students and after we ate our delicious meal.

Ela:
We had lots of magnificent foods.

Synclair:
My experience with Day of the dead was a lot of fun we got to cook and learn about a different country’s culture and how they celebrate the ones who have passed.

Annika:
I learned about how the Mexican culture celebrates life and death. Celebrating Día de los Muertos opened my eyes to a whole other world, culture, and people, without having to even leave Austin.

Adison:
We all had a blast and the day was a success!

Ela:
I think that this will be a fun thing to do next year.

Chinese Historical Figure Story Project

From ATA College Prep Chinese Instructor Zhu Wang

During the month of October, Chinese students did a story project on Chinese historical figures. Each student read one story in Chinese, researched the historical figure, translated the story into English, rewrote the story in Chinese and then presented it to the class both in English and Chinese.

There are three stories in total. One is about how Confucius and his students solved a trick problem by learning from a young girl. The moral of this story is that everyone has strength and one should be open to learning from people and surroundings.

Another story is about why a young boy, Kong Rong, who is a 20th generation decedent of Confucius, offers the best pears to his brothers. This story illustrates the Confucian ideal of fraternal love among youngsters.

The last story is about how Cao Chong, a renowned child prodigy who lived 1800 years ago, uses the law of buoyancy to weigh an elephant when he was 5-year-old.

The students showed great interest in these stories. They felt they learned so much from this project. I’m very proud to see what they have accomplished.

Integrity =/= Manipulation

Integrity does not equal manipulation.

Being truthful in thoughts, words, and deeds offers strength and wholeness which will withstand over time the threats of outside pressures. Manipulation, on the other hand, is a temporary solution which asks for, assumes and expects similar results through the use of fear, omission or denial. When thoughts, words and deeds are in unison and fully integrated in intent and impact, nothing is more powerful, softer and yielding than the blanket of moral fiber which is tightly woven and able to cover and protect a multitude.

I wonder: what colors you will spin and weave today?

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