Eye-Catching Electives: Part 1
Figuring out courses is hard finding all of them is even harder. Take a deeper look at some lesser known Electives
May 2, 2022
Scheduling has always been a part of every student’s life. The hardest part is always filling a schedule with all the credits you need and still making room for other courses.
But in the frenzy of stacking up a schedule, one can miss very interesting and underrated classes.
To make it a little easier there will be a series of articles that dives deeper into courses and takes a closer look into classes you may not even know we have.
Specifically, this article focuses on the contrasting courses of Creative writing and Cryptology. Creative writing is a class based on writing and finding new outlets to write through while cryptology is a code-breaking and making class.
This is the first in a series of articles examining lesser known electives at DHS.
Ms. Bonanni, one of the creative writing teachers, holding a student-made picture book with another student book on the left.
Creative Writing
This course is a single trimester and worth half a credit. There are no precious courses that need to be taken before this and none that further the course, making this class a stand-alone.
This course has been around 15 to 20 years and was started by Dave Morton a teacher who has now since retired.
The teachers offering this course as of the 2021-2022 school year are Ms. Bonanni, Mr. Fulton, Mrs. King, and next year Ms. Gibson will be joining teaching the course.
There currently aren’t any higher levels offered for this course such as an AP version or honors although that road was explored.
In an interview with Ms. Bonanni, she told me what she wanted for her students leaving her class stating, “ I want students to come out of it writing at least something that surprised them, to challenge themselves.”
This course is one where students will be writing daily. The course is broken into 6 major plot points. The list is a biography, flash fiction, poetry collection, monologue, 1 act play, children’s book, & a memoir.
The pace of this class is set more by students. There will be lessons but it mainly is student’s self-pacing while they write. If a student struggles with time management the course will be challenging and not the best fit.
Along with an interview with Mr. Fulton about the class, he said, “ In our world, people enjoy consuming the creativity of others’ stories, films, music, etc., but they’re less willing to discover themselves artistically, which, in a way, seems kind of sad. “
“ It’s a relief to express my emotions through my writing without my English teachers looking at me weird.”
— Alycia Ellis Former Student
This class takes students and lets them destroy the box letting students feel complete creative freedom. Leaving only their creativity as the stopping point.
With this one of a type class, many jobs can come from it. Ranging from students going on to being musicians all the way to TV production and humanities. The class itself is its own unique experience.
Some students have even been known to get their stories published.
Even for the students who feel they are not the best writers but have a voice that wants to be heard this course is still for you. As the class brings plenty of room to flourish and grow really to find a student’s voice and a place to let out creativity.
Cryptology is a class for code making and breaking. These two students are working on a cipher for the class.
Cryptology
Cryptology is a class all about code making and breaking. This is a class offered at Dallastown that not many people know of.
Mr. Gottloeb not only is the only teacher who teaches the course, but is the creator of it in Dallastown’s curriculum. The class has been offered since 2018 and is fairly new.
This course is one Trimester and is worth 0.5 credits. Cryptology is a math elective however, it doesn’t count for the math graduation requirement.
It is the only course like it in the country at this level. I taught it at William Penn for Two years as well.
— Mr. Gottloeb
As far as what classes students should take before considering the class is Algebra I and Geometry. Gottloeb also says “ it pairs nicely with history classes covering World War II.”
As far as the basis of the class it’s a mix of English, Mathematics, and a sprinkle of History. Students will be making ciphers close to weekly.
For those who want to take it but are not the best at math, the mathematics of the course is no higher than Algebra II.
Cryptology is a class students should feel comfortable and enjoy reading as the text students use is a lovely resource and is used daily. Which Mr. Gottloeb does provide.
The course is a stand-alone and has no further or high levels for students to complete. There are also no materials you need to have or bring pre-class.
Student Stavros Stump talked about the class runs claiming “The workload depends on your speed and the speed of your class”.
He also quoted about the class in general saying ” You get a free Enigma machine program and are taught how to use it for this course, German Enigma is difficult for even modern computers to decode without understanding how the machine works.”
This course is one for students to have fun and break codes along with making them. It offers a challenge and a fun time learning to do something that could be a hobby or very well becomes a job to enjoy for the future.