English Students of the Month of November!

English Students of the Month – November

Mrs. Mader and Mrs. Kelkis each selected two students for the November students of the month.  These four students showed exemplary work in their English classes during the month of November, and we would like to congratulate them on their stellar efforts! (photos by Maise Anderson – 10^th grade)

Mrs. Mader selected:

Dane H. (9^th grade) is very artistic. His writing is proof of the artist within as he has the ability to paint a picture with words. Both his content and style of his essays are enhanced with his attention to detail. Mrs. Mader is very excited to see how he grows as a writer this year!

Lauren S. (9^th grade) is very attentive, and always does her best in class. In fact, when she struggles to understand something, she will attend a second English class during a study hall! Her determination to succeed not only explains her many well deserved "A"s, but will ensure success in every area of life!

Mrs. Kelkis selected:

McKenzie H. (11^th grade) A TV studio anchor and avid reader, McKenzie has earned Mrs. Kelkis’s November Student of the Month award for her outstanding academic achievements in literary analysis.  Not only did McKenzie tackle Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter for her book project, but she also created original poetry and innovative presentations using Prezi, web-based presentation tool.  Her multi-layered, multi-media products all showed deep understanding of the characters and their struggles throughout the plot.

Jacob H. (11^th grade) Attentive and unassuming, Jake is a stickler for details.  That amazing quality shined forth in his recent literary analysis project, earning him the distinction of November English Student of the Month for Mrs. Kelkis.  Jake completed an in-depth study of the themes, characters and settings of Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.  Jake showed skills in poetry writing, as well as computer-aided map-making and music analysis.  He clearly showed that he could complete a thorough, creative professional-looking product to show what he learned.

Ahoy Red Lion!

On Thursday, November 15th, two representatives from the Navy spoke to Red Lion students about nuclear power and radiation.  Students from nuclear science (Mr. Wilson), chemistry (Mrs. Stone), and engineering principles (Mrs. Wilson) got lessons in how nuclear reactors work and the types of radiation.  Thanks go out to BM2 Hoffman and EM1 Hughes for taking the time to come to Red Lion!

Congratulations to...

In case you did not hear, Mr. Hively of the Math Department, was selected as the Red Lion Area School District's teacher of the month!  Congratulations on a job well done Mr. Hively!

News from the Math Department...

New Apps Class at Red Lion SHS

It seems like almost everyone has an iPhone or iPad these days.  Even if you don’t, you probably have heard the term “APPS”.  An app is software that you can download on your iPhone that will do almost anything.  It seems like no matter what you need to do there is an app for it.  Game apps are probably the most popular type.  This year millions of users have downloaded “Angry Birds” or “Words”.  Many of these apps are free but some must be bought.  The person who writes the app gets a percentage of the price.  So if you wrote Angry Birds, you probably don’t have to worry about where you are going to get the money for your next car payment.

Some of you might be thinking about how you could become part of this new way to make money.  Red Lion SHS has offered a new course to students called “Writing Apps for iPhones and iPads”.  There is a beginner’s course and an advanced course.  Both courses are one semester.  There are currently 25 students enrolled in these courses.  A few may be thinking about developing a new app that will sell millions of copies.  But the students are finding out that you just can’t sit down at a computer and start writing apps.  You must learn the language.  Learning the language takes some work, but it can be done. Many of the current students are already demonstrating this.  The first nine weeks of the course involves learning a language called Objective C.  Our apps students are now writing simple apps that can display an address book, bell schedules, student schedules, or any information you would like to have at you fingertips.  Our next type of app will be a geographic app, which will draw a map on the iPhone and then place a marker at your present location.  This type of app could eventually be used to measure rate of speed and distance.

If you are thinking about taking this course in the future, you can go to www.rlasd.k12.pa.us/apps and view all the lessons that are completed in this course.  The website is not complete as more apps projects will be added in the future.

Since improving our reading and writing skills has become a priority at RLASHS, there are apps that can help you.  Here are a few:

• Google Mobile.  Search by using your voice or pictures.
• Voice Memos. This app allows you to record any audio reminders or snippets of text that come to you when pen and paper aren’t handy.
• Dragon Dictation. This app records your speech and instantly transcribes it. You can then edit then copy and paste into an email or other application
• Idea Generator.  This app generates three random words, which will hopefully get your writing juices flowing. But it doesn’t stop there, you can select the language and customize it other ways.
• Method Cards. This app gives you cards, which you can use to generate ideas, look for inspiration, raise questions, get a different point of view on something.
• iStop WritersBlock.   A program to help you get ideas for plots, plot twists and even characters.
• Writing Prompts. Writing.com gives you an app, which generates prompts for anything from words, colors, genres and writing types
• My Writing Spot. My Writing Spot provides a writing environment on your iPhone. You’ll also have access to a dictionary and thesaurus, font controls, autosave, and word count.
• Office.² If you prefer to write using Microsoft Word, Office2 will let you edit your Microsoft Word and Excel documents.

The possibilities for usuable apps are endless.  Maybe you have an idea for an app that you feel could be something that people would want to use.  You can’t write it unless you learn it.  “Writing Apps for iPhones and iPads” is a good place to start.