How to Design a Class to Teach the Academic Decathlon Curriculum

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How to Design a Class to Teach the Academic
Decathlon Curriculum
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Instructions

• After this slide, when you see the FISH appear,
  be the first one to stand for a piece of candy!

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State Requirements

• A major portion of class time should be devoted
  to the development of one or more student
  competencies established by the Georgia QCCs or
  GPS.
• A course cannot require participation in an
  extracurricular activity.
• Admission into a course cannot be competitive.

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Why Offer a Class?

• To provide the opportunity for a whole class of
  students to engage in this rich and rigorous
  curriculum
• To motivate underachieving students through the
  course content
• To broaden student research, study, and
  communication skills
• To provide opportunities for bridging the
  achievement gap

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Important Rule

• While they may be encouraged to do so, students
  should not be required to take the offered course
  in order to be on the GAD team.

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THE BIG QUESTION
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How do you design a class that will be beneficial
to both decathletes and other students?

• Advanced Composition
• Emphasizes research, composition, and speech
• Covers advanced grammar and usage skills
• Covers both APA and MLA styles of documentation
• Covers a variety of research strategies

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THE BIG QUESTION
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How do you design a class based on GPS or QCC
objectives and yet change the content every year?

• Advanced Composition
• Teaches the QCC objectives for this class (no GPS
  for this course at this time).
• Teaches a differentiated curriculum for gifted
  students.
• Uses a basic textbook Research Papers (Coyle and
  Law).
• Requires only that the topics of the research
  projects change each year (with minor adjustments
  to fit topics of study).

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THE BIG QUESTION
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How do you get the money for the curriculum
materials?

• Gifted studies
• English curriculum (if needed)
• Principals Fund (registration)
• Academic Decathlon funds (community sponsors
  annual art festival)

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THE BIG QUESTION
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How do you make a class that is challenging, yet
fun enough to entice students to take it?

• Diversity of students
• Recruitment (by teachers and students)
• Many hands-on projects (getting outside the box
  on many occasions)
• BEARS partnership

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Other Courses That Have Been Used

• Study Skills
• Comparative Religions
• Current Issues
• Technology and Society
• The Humanities/Social Studies

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Other Courses That Have Been Used

• Directed Study
• Mythology
• Comparative Literature
• Astronomy Stars and the Cosmos
• Oceans Living Space for the Future
• Asian Studies