At Closer Look at Some Fall Electives

By Cece Mulchay

Project  Learn  School  (PLS)  electives  are  classes  for  students  to  choose  and  take.  They  are  offered  in  the  fall  and spring and  kids  get  to  choose  two  each  semester.  They  are on  Monday/Thursday  and  Tuesday/Friday  from  11:15 to noon.  The  staff  thinks  electives  are    important  because  kids  can  choose  what  they  want  to  learn,  instead  of  teachers  deciding  for  them.

The  Mural  Arts  elective  is  on  Mondays  and  Thursdays.  It  is  taught  by  Joan  Fox  and  Roni  Anton.  Nadja  Anderson-Oberman  chose  Mural  Arts  because  she  really  wanted  an  elective  with  an  art  perspective.  Nadja  said  “The  elective  is  really  cool  so  far.  I’ve  never  done  a  clay  mural  before.”  Nadja  thinks  taking  electives  is  important  because  “School  is  mainly  about  learning  and  needs  a  bit  of  fun.”

Joan and Nasya working on the mural.

Joan  started  the  Mural  Arts  elective  because  “Most  people  commented  on  the  mural  in  the  office, and asked 'Can we do something like that?'" This elective is designing a mural for the local Fire Department. It will be displayed in the special space that the Fire Department is making so everyone can see the mural.

Sean Leber, a new teacher at PLS, teaches the Indoor/Outdoor Games Elective on Tuesdays and Fridays. Sean chose to teach this elective because, "I really like board games, and I wanted to get people to learn about each other through games." Sean said that he wants the elective to go outside one week, then inside the next to learn some fun games. They have had ping-pong and Egyptian Rat, a matching card game, tournaments. Sean said, "I think the electives are important, because it give students and teachers a chance to interact with each other in a not social, not academic environment. It's a little bit of both."

A completed knitting project.

One  of the  other  the electives  taught  on  Tuesday/Friday  is  the  Knitting  elective and is  co-taught  by  Aisha  Anderson-Oberman  and  Lisa  Pack.   Lisa  said,  “The  eight  students  are  knitting up a storm.  I  love  knitting,  so  I  like  sharing  that  with  the  kids  at  PLS.  The  elective  is  going  wonderfully. It  seems  like  no  one  is  having  any  problems.  We  hope  to  offer  it  throughout  the  school  year.”

One of the many other electives is Journalism, co-taught by Lisa Pack and Donna Allender. Lisa says “The elective has been challenging for some, and a new writing experience for all. We are making a blog, and it will have a hard copy of the paper.”
These are just some of the electives offered at school. There are several more that are just as interesting.