May Term
These seven-day courses enrich the student experience beyond the core GFA curriculum and offer opportunities to dig into a topic in ways that are impossible during the regular school schedule. Students should expect to connect with classmates and teachers in a different way, explore new interests, and focus on their learning.
2024 Course Offerings
- Architecture
- Asian Movies, Culture, and Cooking
- Barbie
- CPR and Life-Saving
- Dancing and Dishes
- Dragons in the Wild
- Exploring Math through Magic
- The Art of the Chinese Strategy Game Go (Weiqi)
- Jazz Improvisation 101
- Journey Into Middle-Earth
- The Harlem Renaissance
- Media & Madness
- Mock Trial
- Movies v. Reality: The Science (or Lack Thereof) in Hollywood
- Painting and Drawing through Observation
- Physically Cultured
- A Puzzler's Paradise
- RoboWars
- The Science of Sustenance
- Sensory Cyborg: Place-Based Play and AI Tools
- Wabi Sabi
Architecture
This course will introduce students to a brief history of architecture and the fundamentals of architectural and interior design. Through model making, sketching, and a field trip to New York City, students will explore aesthetic, structural, and spatial concepts and how they relate to the contemporary built environment. A variety of media--watercolor, colored pencils, pens, plaster--will be used to create renderings, floor plans, and 3D forms. Students can expect to have a small body of work upon completion of the class.
Asian Movies, Culture, and Cooking
We will look at some popular Asian movies about food, explore the culture, and cook some of the foods presented in the movies. Be prepared to read a lot of subtitles, learn about the importance of the various types of foods in the cultures being studied, and get ready to roll up your sleeves to do some cooking. Knives will be used, so kitchen etiquette will be strictly enforced along with hygienic practices. Everyone is expected to pitch in to prepare, cook, and clean up each day. A variety of Asian cultures will be represented and a field trip or two is a possibility to get the foods we'd need for our classes. Some ingredients include: pork, shrimp, and wheat and soy based products. Please be conscious of food allergies as some ingredients cannot be substituted. We want to ensure a safe and enjoyable cooking experience for everyone so that we can all explore the rich flavors and traditions of Asian cuisine safely.
Barbie
In this course, we’ll watch, discuss, and analyze Greta Gerwig’s "Barbie" movie; read, respond to, and perhaps write cultural criticism; consider and discuss related feminist history and theory; interact with – and make art and writing about – our own Barbies (everyone will have one); write and/or film Barbie-related interviews and oral histories; and produce a culminating project that represents a deep dive into a personally meaningful aspect of our study. Our guiding questions are these: Why and how did "Barbie" become a cultural phenomenon? What do the film and the reaction to the film reveal about our culture, our nation, our parents, our school, ourselves? Is Barbie a feminist icon or the opposite? How can an understanding of feminist history and theory illuminate Barbie (and vice-versa)? Is "Barbie" a great film? Why or why not? What role, if any, did the Barbie toy play in the lives of people we know? What can we learn about ourselves and our culture by paying attention to a children’s toy? And why do Ms. Stine and Mr. Coll love this movie so much?
CPR and Life-Saving
What separates an injury from an emergency? When does a situation become life-threatening? How can you help care for someone experiencing an emergency until more advanced medical care arrives? Learn about the fundamentals of being prepared for potential day-to-day emergencies and keeping yourself and others safe from disease while in the process of responding. Students will also dive into responding to a variety of breathing, and cardiac emergencies, including heart attacks, cardiac arrest, basic first aid, and the operation of an AED. We’ll also get a chance to talk to people who use these types of skills, though at a much more advanced level, in their day-to-day lives. This course highlights practical and experiential skills and is designed to result in first aid, CPR, and AED certifications through the American Red Cross.
Dancing and Dishes
We will explore the connection between culture, food, and dance in various global regions and learn about how some practices moved from one place to another. We will compare dance and food traditions of different cultures and meet people from different ethnic backgrounds. Together, we will experience first-hand storytelling of the diffusion of these cultural components as we practice them. We will specifically look at traditions from Hawai’i, Europe, South America, and Africa.
Dragons in the Wild
This is an experiential learning course in being outdoors. As we explore the wild places around GFA and across Connecticut, we will learn through doing. Skills we will practice may include hiking, map-reading and route-finding, outdoor cooking, camping, canoeing, and rock climbing. As we interact with and learn how to make our way in the natural world, we will ask ourselves: what does it mean to live competently and responsibly outside of the urban and suburban environments to which we are accustomed? What can the outdoors offer us? What are our responsibilities to the outdoors? And how can we live well as a collective, share the responsibilities of leadership and stewardship, and learn to function as a team?
Exploring Math through Magic
This course is designed to introduce students to a number of mathematical concepts, using magic as a backdrop. Through a wide selection of tricks, students will explore the fields of number theory, combinatorics, probability, algebra, geometry, and topology (among others), while learning a bit about the successful presentation of magic. No advanced level of mathematics or experience with magic is required but enrolled students should have an interest in mathematics and have successfully completed Math 300, Math 350, or beyond.
The Art of the Chinese Strategy Game Go (Weiqi)
Learn the most popular strategy game in the world from a professionally trained player! Go, or Weiqi (围棋), is an abstract strategy board game for two players for which the goal is to occupy more territory than the opponent. Invented in China over 2,500 years ago, Go is believed to be the oldest board game played to the present day and one of the four essential arts of cultured aristocratic Chinese scholars. The rules of Go are considerably simpler than those of chess, but playing it well takes some practice because actual gameplay is quite complex. We will start by learning the basic five-in-a-row game, then play on 9x9 and 13x13 boards, and finally move on to play on a 19x19 full board. We will make a field trip and end by watching and discussing a documentary movie about how Deep Mind’s AlphaGo beat the world Go champion from South Korea. No experience is needed, just come with an open mind and a positive attitude. The course is designed for both Mandarin students and non-Mandarin students who would like to discover and deepen their understanding of one aspect of Chinese culture. Let’s Go!!
Jazz Improvisation 101
This course is directed toward the student who wants to go beyond simply reading music and explore the realms of improvisation. The thrill of creating music “on the fly,” of learning how to invent and give structure to a solo by interpreting chords, rhythms, and melodies, is fun and exciting. The course will include a trip to a real jazz club, either locally or in the jazz capital of the world, New York City! As a culminating experience, students should expect to perform both in front of the class and at the end of May term. Students should have a reasonable fluency on their instruments and should be fearless in their approach to creating new music.
Journey Into Middle-Earth
This course aims to explore the life, works, and influence of J.R.R. Tolkien. Students will investigate the rich tapestry of Tolkien's imagination, gaining insights into his writing process, world-building, influences, and the thematic depth of his works. To discover the world of Middle-earth, students will read and watch parts of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and other short stories by Tolkien. They will learn about how Tolkien’s life, academic interests, and wartime experiences shaped his writing and world-building. Students will also experience a day in the life of a hobbit, having second breakfasts, playing games, taking pleasant walks, and generally enjoying each other’s company. They will have the opportunity to create fantastical worlds of their own through writing, discussion, or art, all inspired by our collective learning and exploration.
The Harlem Renaissance
Between the end of World War I and the onset of the Great Depression, Harlem witnessed an explosion of Black art and thought that continues to reverberate today. Across disciplines, Black thinkers and artists made work that interrogated the notion that artistic and intellectual achievements could effect change and bring about equality of condition for Black Americans. Their legacy continues to be politically, artistically, and intellectually relevant and powerful, and this course will be an opportunity to engage it together firsthand. Much of the term will see us “on location”, with visits to include places like The Harlem Renaissance exhibit that has just opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in February, The Louis Armstrong Museum, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Apollo Theater, a Harlem Renaissance Multimedia Walking Tour, and the like. We’ll complement these trips with readings from David Levering Lewis’ The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader and other sources.
Media & Madness
Media & Madness explores the ways that mental health is portrayed in all forms of media, including movies, TV shows, books, magazines, news programs, and social media. The course examines the issue of stigmatization and marginalization of people with mental health disorders, which is exacerbated by misleading and negative images presented in the media. The course also provides a very basic scientific explanation of different psychological disorders and their treatment.
Mock Trial
Innocent or guilty? Accidental death? Suicide? Insurance fraud? This May Term course will introduce students to the use of legal reasoning and argument in the context of trial advocacy. The course will walk students through preparation for a mock trial of a fictional civil or criminal case. Students will learn about the various aspects of a legal procedure and will form the oral arguments, culminating in a trial at the end of the week. Students will have the opportunity to play the roles of both attorney and witness. Our work to understand the court system will include meeting with currently practicing professionals.
Movies v. Reality: The Science (or Lack Thereof) in Hollywood
How realistic are the action scenes in popular movies/shows like Marvel/DC? Do science fiction movies give a good or bad representation of what can actually happen in the future? Students will learn how to critically evaluate action and science fiction movies using the laws of physics and Fermi-type estimation techniques. After being given the basic background physics required to understand a particular topic, students will be shown movie clips and asked to quantitatively judge the ‘realness’ of the physics in the scenes. Are they good or bad representations of what actually happens in the real world or what could happen in the future? Potential activities will involve both solving physics word problems and evaluating movie clips such as an action scene, a ‘doomsday scenario,’ or a science fiction topic like traveling through a wormhole.
Painting and Drawing through Observation
Through the in-depth exploration of traditional mediums such as charcoal, acrylic, and oil, students will learn observational skills to interpret the world around them. In a warm and creative environment, we will work on different themes, including still lives, portraits, and plein-air painting. Classes will include outdoor activities, museum visits, and studio time. Students will be given the space to create their works of art independently and partake in a collaborative learning environment.
Physically Cultured
In this course we will explore the theoretical, historical, and practical aspects of competitive strength sports. Examples include Powerlifting, Strongman, and Bodybuilding. Students will learn the rules, history and common training principles of each sport. Through daily competitions, training sessions and lectures we will provide a science-based education of the various disciplines and a basic understanding of how to safely train for each one. Students should expect to participate in daily exercise.
A Puzzler's Paradise
Please join us as we embark on a lifelong journey into the world of puzzling. Whether you love crosswords, strategy games or escape rooms, there’ll be something for you - puzzles, both new and old: logic puzzles, sudoku, jigsaws and so much more. Together we will enjoy not only solving but even creating our own puzzles! You’re the missing piece to A Puzzler’s Paradise and we hope you’ll help us complete the puzzle. Let’s get solving - you can start right now with this rebus!
RoboWars
This intensive May term course is designed for students eager to dive into the dynamic world of robotics and compete in a real RoboWars competition at Havoc in Norwalk. RoboWars offers a comprehensive introduction to the principles of robotics, covering both theoretical concepts and practical applications. Through a blend of lectures, hands-on workshops, and team projects, students will learn the fundamentals of robot design, construction, and programming. There will be plenty of mini-contests leading up to the big championship on the last day in Norwalk.
The Science of Sustenance
The Oxford English Dictionary defines sustenance as “food and drink regarded as a source of strength and nourishment.” We must all eat to survive, but how much do you think about what you consume? Where does food come from? What ethical, cultural, and biological choices constrain our food choices? How can we use our understanding of food chemistry to cook and eat better? Together, we will explore topics including agriculture, nutrition, food chemistry and ethics. We’ll connect with alumni, experts, and GFA community members to guide our exploration. We’ll also visit a farm to see where our food comes from firsthand and have an opportunity to share our learning back to the GFA community.
Sensory Cyborg: Place-Based Play and AI Tools
AI often reveals two types of early adopters- those who see AI as just an extension of an existing technology and those who see AI as a tool for innovation, imagination, and creation. This course is for students curious about how to use new AI tools to train image models, build custom GPTs, and generate video from text prompts to create mocktails, signature scents, and new or synthetic visual landscapes. Rather than remain glued to the screen, this course will also model the great outdoors culture of tech creatives who draw inspiration from their environs to see the “next thing” or “inner wonder” and return to the tools of their tech to bring it to bear. We will imagine, make and play.
Wabi Sabi
Explore the ancient wisdom of Wabi Sabi, finding beauty in simplicity (wabi) and serenity in the rhythms of the seasons (sabi) by creating art using materials and processes from the natural bounty around us. Wabi Sabi teaches us that all things are impermanent and imperfect, giving us permission to be our imperfect selves as we create art in harmony with nature. We will hand-build tea sets and sculpt “netsuki” (small animal figurines). We will also use plants and flowers to dye fabrics using traditional Japanese techniques. We will stitch on these fabrics and mend our own jeans, using sasshiko mending practices. We will also study the art of Haibun poetry, writing our own poems in quiet moments between art projects. Participating in a traditional tea ceremony at the Urasenke Chanoyu Japanese tea house in Manhattan will allow us to experience the wabi sabi philosophy first-hand. We will visit Henny Penny Farm in Ridgefield to experience an on-site dye workshop with master dyer and farmer, Whitney Freeman.