Upper School
Upper School students take on increased responsibility in school and community as they begin to explore options for college and career.
Uniquely Altamont
- Honors-level, college preparatory courses in every subject.
- Full-time academic and mental health support and an advisory program that meets daily, creating a strong connection between faculty and students. Students know there are adults who care about them and encourage them to do their best.
- Comprehensive, personalized college counseling
- Community partnerships that introduce students to the exciting ways they can lead in Birmingham and beyond.
- World language requirements that ensure graduates are prepared to study, work and lead globally.
- Opportunities for all students in athletics, visual arts, music, theatre and academic teams.
Department Missions
English
The study of literature is a study of the human condition. In English classes students explore a diversity of experiences as they practice empathy and shape their own voices. As writers, Altamont students focus on the power and potential of language, critical analysis, and creative expression to instill a distinct set of portable skills that go well beyond disciplinary boundaries. Students practice literary analysis, frequent and diverse writing, grammar review, vocabulary enrichment, independent reading, and intellectual integrity. The cornerstone of our program is cultivating students' abilities to think critically and to express these thoughts effectively.
The English Department at Altamont designs instruction, assessment, and reflection to focus on the following core competencies and beliefs.
Reading Core Competencies
Altamont affirms an evolving canon that embraces many voices and reflects multiple experiences, including those historically marginalized.
Effective reading is a process encompassing various strategies.
Students read for both pleasure and academic growth.
Students discover internal and external connections when they read.
Writing Core Competencies
Altamont believes all students can develop their voices through writing that is clear, organized, intentional, engaging, relevant, and well-supported.
Students repeatedly practice the process of writing: planning, writing, rewriting, and editing.
Students synthesize evidence from various sources to produce well-supported arguments.
Students write for differing audiences and purposes including internal and external publications.
Speaking and Listening Core Competencies
Altamont's Core Values (respect, integrity, balance, curiosity, leadership) provide a framework for how we navigate speaking and listening both in and out of the classroom.
Students understand and adapt to differing rhetorical situations, audiences, and purposes.
Students develop confidence as credible and effective speakers.
Students organize and develop appropriate research skills required for responsible argumentation.
General Requirements
Students must take four years of English with a minimum of one course per year in the following sequence. The 9th, 10th, and 11th grade years are fixed courses, while seniors choose two semester-long seminars from among several offerings. Seminar offerings vary each year.
Ninth Grade: Honors 9th English
Tenth Grade: Honors Sophomore British Literature
Eleventh Grade: AP American Literature
Twelfth Grade: One English seminar per semester
Fine Arts
The Fine Arts Department endeavors to instill in students a love for the Arts in all its many forms. This goal is achieved through developing our student's creativity and presenting challenges through a comprehensive performing and visual arts curriculum that provides a wide-range of learning experiences and performance opportunities. We encourage students to develop confidence, perseverance, self-identity, and healthy coping skills in a safe, inclusive, and open-minded environment.
Upper School Core Competencies
Critical thinking skills
Problem solving skills
Collaboration
Organization
Time Management
Visual literacy
Adaptability through constructive criticism
Building working relationships
Attention to details
Increasing confidence
Concentration
Active Listening
Self-Expression
Self-Motivation
Choice-making
Creative Risk Taking
Presence
Composition
Inclusive environment
Student leadership
Healthy coping skills
Marketing student's abilities
Networking
Students must complete one full credit of Upper School Fine Arts over the course of the 9th-12th grades. This requirement can be fulfilled by taking courses within one discipline or half of a credit in one discipline and half of a credit in a different discipline within the Visual or Performing Arts. Courses that satisfy this requirement come from Art, Choir, Creative Writing, Drama, Jazz Band, Orchestra, and Photography.
Health/Physical Education
The Mission of The Altamont School Physical Education and Health & Wellness Department is to educate and engage students through physical activity and health and wellness programming that is age appropriate, relevant and standards based.
Physical Education Core Competencies
Decrease injury in movement
Increase functional strength
Increase overall joint stability and address faulty movement patterns
Improve coordination, balance and agility
The school year is divided into units of specific sports. The basic technical skills required of the sports are taught at the beginning of the unit, afterwards the students compete with each other in that sport for an average of three weeks, often culminating in a class-wide tournament. Some of the sports played include volleyball, soccer, basketball, softball, tennis, badminton, floor hockey, track and field, archery, golf, weight training, ultimate frisbee, and flag football. The Presidential Physical Fitness Test is administered to students twice annually.
Health and Wellness Core Competencies
A key component of our health and wellness program is character education. Students in grades 5th-8th engage in social and emotional learning activities twice monthly. These sessions are led by our student assistance counselor and are designed to raise student awareness in the areas of social, emotional and mental well-being.
Ninth-grade students engage in an age-appropriate, relevant, and comprehensive view of health and wellness education curriculum. Through skills-based health explorations, interactive activities and presentations, students are encouraged to take a more active role in their own health, as well as the health and wellness of our community. Our hope is that students will gain the tools necessary to become life-long health and wellness enthusiasts and advocates.
General Requirements
Students must complete one year of Upper School Physical Education and the Health course. This requirement is normally taken in 9th grade but may be taken in 10th grade.
History
The mission of Altamont’s History Department is to provide students with an understanding of the past while cultivating an awareness of the impact of history on the world today. Our students learn history through an array of classroom activities, conduct original research, and analyze historical documents that range from written accounts to visual art. Along the way, students encounter voices from people across the world and throughout time, enabling them to develop a sense of empathy and cultural understanding and equipping them to make positive contributions to their own communities. Our history teachers strive to cultivate classroom environments where students’ voices, opinions, identities, and cultures are celebrated and discussed, which we believe enhances their comprehension of history and the joy they take in its study.
Our history curriculum and teaching practices are guided by the following beliefs and core competencies:
Understanding and Empathy Core Competencies
Students study people and events of the past to understand the world around them and the significance of history in their lives today.
Students respectfully express curiosity and develop a sense of empathy for different identities, cultures, and traditions across the world and throughout time.
Students examine diversity in social, cultural, political, and historical contexts rather than in ways that are superficial or oversimplified.
Critical Analysis Core Competencies
Students evaluate and understand patterns of continuity and change over time.
Students understand the relationships and effects of historical causation and contingency.
Communicating History Core Competencies
Students engage in relevant conversations steeped in research and critical thinking.
Students research and write historical essays in which they use a range of sources to craft and support original arguments.
Students work individually and collaboratively to develop high quality presentations and projects in preparation for academic research and professional opportunities.
General Requirements Core Competencies
Students must take three years of History in the following sequence. Many students following the recommendation of College Counseling to take four years of History. The 9-11 grade years are fixed courses, while seniors choose two semester-long seminars from among several offerings. Seminar offerings vary each year.
Ninth Grade: Honors Ancient and Medieval Civilizations
Tenth Grade: Honors Modern World History
Eleventh Grade: AP U.S. History
Students may change the sequence and grade level only with the written approval of the head of the department and the consultation of the Director of College Counseling.
Mathematics
The Math Department believes that mathematics is a critical part of education for all students, whether as a primary topic of interest or as a secondary source for developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are universally applicable. Mathematical study also has great potential in developing a student’s academic confidence, appreciation of intellectual achievement, and social empowerment. Eight years of mathematical study at Altamont should provide a graduate with significant measures of each of the core competencies below. Our goal in curriculum design and implementation is to offer all students the opportunity to maximize their achievement in all areas.
Conceptual Understanding Core Competencies
Conceptual understanding refers to an integrated and functional grasp of mathematical ideas. Students with conceptual understanding know more than isolated facts and methods. They understand why a mathematical idea is important and the kinds of contexts in which it is useful. They have organized their knowledge into a coherent whole, which enables them to learn new ideas by connecting those ideas to what they already know.
Procedural Fluency Core Competencies
Procedural fluency refers to knowledge of procedures, knowledge of when and how to use them appropriately, and skill in performing them flexibly, accurately, and efficiently.
Strategic Competence Core Competencies
Strategic competence refers to the ability to formulate mathematical problems, represent them, and solve them. Students should be proficient in creating mental models of problems, and they should be able to recognize common structures between different models. They should have the flexibility to be able to devise novel solutions when needed for nonroutine problems.
Adaptive Reasoning Core Competencies
Adaptive reasoning refers to the capacity to think logically about the relationships between concepts and situations. Such reasoning is correct and valid, stems from careful consideration of alternatives, and includes knowledge of how to justify the conclusions. In mathematics, adaptive reasoning is the glue that holds everything together, the lodestar that guides learning.
Productive Disposition Core Competencies
Productive disposition refers to the tendency to see sense in mathematics, to perceive it as both useful and worthwhile, to believe that steady effort in learning mathematics pays off, and to see oneself as an effective learner and doer of mathematics.
General Requirements
Students must take four years of Math including Honors Algebra II. A standard path is as follows:
Ninth Grade: Honors Geometry
Tenth Grade: Honors Chemistry
Eleventh Grade: Honors Pre-Calculus or Honors Statistics
Twelfth Grade: Honors or AP Mathematics
Students may change the sequence and grade level only with the written approval of the head of the department and the consultation of the Director of College Counseling.
Science
Creating and Using Conceptual Models Core Competencies
Express scientific knowledge in multiple ways
Explain concepts on a macroscopic and microscopic level
Describe theoretical and physical concepts
Scientific Questioning and Methods Core Competencies
Diligently apply the principles of the scientific method in an experimental setting
Develop a questioning and inquisitive mindset
Collect data with accuracy and precision using appropriate equipment and employing proper safety practices
Evaluate a problem to determine the best approach
Analyzing and Interpreting Data Core Competencies
Appropriate application of scientific theories, laws, and equations
Draw conclusions using prior scientific knowledge
Present results in various forms of media
Constructing a Scientific Argument Core Competencies
Research sources of information and analyze for bias and accuracy
Supporting scientific theories using credible evidence
Apply scientific literacy to explain a scientific claim
Real-World Application of Science Core Competencies
Apply science education to real-life decision making with regards to healthcare, environmental impact,
Explain scientific methods with consideration of global perspectives
Relate scientific knowledge across disciplines.
Students must take either three or four years of Science. For both routes, one course must be Honors or AP Biology and one must be Honors Chemistry. If students choose to take Honors or AP Physics, the student only needs three years of Science. However, if a student opts not to take Honors or AP Physics, the student must complete four years of Science. College Counseling highly recommends four full years of Science. Most students will follow the following sequence.
Ninth Grade: Honors Biology
Tenth Grade: Honors Chemistry
Eleventh Grade: Honors Physics or AP Physics
Twelfth Grade: Honors or AP Science
Students may change the sequence and grade level only with the written approval of the head of the department and the consultation of the Director of College Counseling.
World Languages
The mission of the World Languages Department is to equip students to confidently engage the world around them. We aim to foster communicative competence and an appreciation for a wide variety of languages and cultures. Our course of study cultivates a deep understanding of other perspectives and an ability to negotiate authentic meaning in languages other than English.
Intercultural Core Competencies
Students understand and appreciate global cultures in their historical and natural contexts.
Students behave in a culturally appropriate manner, avoiding major social mistakes in other cultural contexts.
Students analyze the importance of products of the target culture, related to government, education, religion, and arts.
Students respect differences and make comparisons without passing judgment on others.
Students encounter a variety of perspectives through texts and media.
Students make connections to other disciplines and contexts through their study of the language.
Interpersonal Speaking and Writing Core Competencies
Students communicate effectively in the target language.
Students interact and negotiate meaning in spoken, spontaneous, or written conversations to share information, reactions, feelings, and opinions.
Students participate in spontaneous spoken or written conversations, creating sentences to ask and answer a variety of questions.
Interpretive Listening and Reading Core Competencies
Students understand and analyze a wide variety of texts and media related to daily life, commerce, entertainment, media, etc.
Students understand humor, word plays, turns of phrase, idioms, and literary devices. Students use their knowledge of the language to determine abstract meaning.
Presentational Speaking and Writing Core Competencies
Students learn from what they read and hear in the target language and synthesize the information by writing an essay or creating a presentation.
Students present a point of view for a specific purpose (narrate, persuade, explain) and provide reasons to support that point of view.
General Requirements
Students must complete three consecutive levels in a single world language during 9th-12th grades.
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