February 2012

"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them." -Ray Bradbury

The Opus Powwow Project

As technology expands exponentially and steals the time away, finding the time to sit in one place and read a book can become a seemingly impossible task. 

ATA CP is trying to change that by encouraging a love and thirst for reading that cannot be fulfilled through browsing Facebook. Led by Ms. Linda, each student is required to pick a book to read on his or her own from a list of CP instructors' favorites. 

This month's recommendations were instructors' favorite children's books. The idea being that children's books are where it all begins,  where we develop our ability to follow a story line, and where our love for books takes root.

The Recommendations:

Winnie the Pooh

Ms. Linda

Walk Two Moons

Ms. Claire

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Ms. Summer

The Secret Garden

Ms. Yousef

Because of Winn-Dixie

​

Ms. Mayo

Little House int he Big Woods

Mr. Rutherford

As a part of the assignment, students are asked to blog about their books throughout the month and comment on the blogs of others. Instructors will also be joining in on the blog discussions.

You're invited and encouraged to check out the blog for yourself at opuspowwow.blogspot.com

Make Believe

Filmmaking 101

Part of this month's studies will be focused on documentary filmmaking. As part of that, students will be viewing a documentary called Make Believe, which follows a handful of teenagers from around the world as they prepare for and compete in the Teen World Championship of Magic. 

Make Believe is a beautiful and poignant exploration of the identity crises and feelings of isolation that go hand-in-hand with being a teenager. It's a film that people of all ages can enjoy and the kind of documentary every filmmaker wishes he or she had made.

All students are invited to come watch and participate in the discussion. 

Due to time constraints, the film will be shown in two parts.

Part 1: Friday, February 17th--2pm

Part 2: Friday, February 24th--1pm

Watch the official trailer here.

To Lead or To Follow

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."  ~Ghandi

To lead, one must possess a strong sense of direction. One must have a purpose and understand the meaning behind his action.  One must also be able to communicate this so that others may follow.

To educate means to 'lead out'.  Our world's greatest political and spiritual leaders have dedicated their lives to educating and leading... as have parents, teachers and coaches.

As parents, we are often more concerned with “what” our children learn and less about “how” and “why.”   If a students can understand "how" she learns and "why" something can excite her, and then be inspired to satisfy the curiosity... it can make all the difference between success and failure.

This is the primary difference between an assembly line education which can create followers - regurgitating back what is given, and an individualized education which can create leaders - sparking interest that bring about change.  The assembly line takes the same ingredients and attempts to produce a one size fits all program, focusing primarily on structuring content, resulting in a standardized product.  The individual approach attempts to structure time in order to teach the student to think, to learn 'how' to learn, and to discover 'why' this will add interest and value to his or her life... in other words to lead out and to feed the curiosity that is within and develop one who can gain mastery of his thought.

So, projecting forward, which one will stand out in the stacks of resumes and college applications?  Which one would be more likely to further the vision of an idea... of a company... of the world?   Number 76 out of 789 or this ONE...

Remind YOUR child that she is a unique ONE... regardless of where she may be in line.

THE FRAUD

Now Available to Buy!

The first published novel by ATA CP instructor Claire Taylor is now available online from Barnes & Noble and Amazon. 

The Fraud is an adventure comedy for all ages. It follows the life of Notmie, Melono, and a prematurely-balding man in a cape who calls himself Captain Alex as they attempt to redefine their lives in spite of the stiffling circumstances into which they were born.

Learn more about The Fraud on

The Official Website

or

Learn more about Claire's writings at www.hclairetaylor.com

CALENDAR

2/3

Practice ACT & Stanford tests

(on campus)

2/10

SAT Registration Deadline

2/11

ACT testing

(requires pre-registration)

2/16

Caleb Rightmer turns 16

2/17

Screening of Make Believe

(NR)

2/19

Liam Leddy turns 18

2/23

Josh Hagar turns 18

Follow Josh on Twitter

as he tackles the COSAT tour in South America.

CONTACT

For questions about ATA CP:

Email Carol Hagar

(512) 423-1105

To contribute to the newsletter:

Email Claire Taylor

(512) 294-0822

Austin Tennis Academy

6800 Spanish Oaks Club Blvd.

Austin, Texas 78738

Justin teaches sentence diagramming.

A Greek temple to Zeus

Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.