Dear Flashpoint Parents & Family,

Welcome back to the Core Studies update. My name is Francine Sanders and I am the Director of Core Studies at Flashpoint Academy. Each month, you will hear from me and my colleagues regarding curriculum, activities, and upcoming events.

October was another exciting and fulfilling month in our corner, and we have plenty to look forward to in upcoming months.

Here’s what’s going on for both first year and second year students:

First year students in Oral Communication: Part A continued their journeys toward becoming effective public speakers and gaining confidence as communicators. Last month, students presented their first narrative speeches, which focused on execution & delivery, as well as their storytelling skills. The speeches were taped, and students will review them—and their progress—at upcoming midterm conferences with their instructors.

JumpStart, a speaker series in which industry professionals share their stories and tools for success with Flashpoint students–and is part of the training for students enrolled in Oral Communication–kicked off with Flashpoint’s President & CEO Howard Tullman. Howard presented “The Perspiration Principles: You Get What You Work For, Not What You Wish For.” Students prepped for the talk by conducting research & preparing questions, and followed up by writing a reflective report.

Oral Communication: Part B, which focuses on developing job interviewing and pitching skills, began last month for many Year Two students. This week, students will hear from guest speakers who will share their interviewing expertise and strategies for successful job interviews. Upcoming in-class mock interviews will be taped and analyzed in a future class session. The capstone of the course is FLASHPITCH, a pitch event where students pitch their projects to a panel of industry professionals from recording arts, film/broadcast, animation/VFX and game development.

A separate JumpStart Series of presentations is also lined up for Year Two students, who continue to hone their public speaking and presentation skills in the second-year component of the course. Last month, this series kicked off with Rich Moskal, director of the Chicago Film Office, who shared his career journey and life lessons with Year Two students. Check out the guest post on the FPA blog from Game Development student Andrew Prete, who reflected upon his experience at the JumpStart session with Rich.

Basic Math continues for both Year One and Year Two students. Both courses are focused on integrating math skills with professional, real-world problem-solving related to their field.

Outside of the classroom, we just released the 5th edition (Summer/Fall) of Scratch Paper, the online student magazine for student writing and graphic art. Please take a moment and check out the published work of present and past students by clicking here.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 12:15 pm and is filed under Tribeca Flashpoint. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.