Port High School Physical Education Department Adding "Workout Wednesdays" and More

To incorporate more critical thinking and variety into its courses, the Port Washington High School art and physical education departments revised its current offerings and created new classes.

Physical education
Port High's physical education head Kris Nonn said the department plans changes that will incorporate functional fitness and unify the classes offered.

The first change is a standardized period for warm-up routines,  Nonn said, adding that, no matter the course, students can expect the first portion of the course to be reserved for basic warm-up activities.   

She also mentioned classes will begin to break from their regularly scheduled activities for what she dubbed "Workout Wednesdays," a day where students will work in the fitness center and weight room.

In addition to these standardized changes, the department added two new courses: Outdoor Adventure and Lifetime Activities.

The Lifetime Activities class focuses on activities like bowling, horseshoes and shuffleboard.

The adventure course, taught by Angelo LaRosa, takes students outside for instruction in archery, snow shoeing, outdoor first aid and camping.  

Of the changes, Nonn said, “We feel really good about what we’re doing.”

Art
The art department is reworking three of its classe, hoping to create a more unified curriculum.

“In algebra there are formulas,” art teacher Jane Suddendorf said.  Similarly, “there are strategies for creating meaningful art.”

Suddendorf said those strategies will be more easily learned when students take her introductory art fundamentals course, for example.

The class focuses primarily on critical thinking in the art world and also broadens the scope of artistic foundations — an advantage for those students looking to further their art education.

"(The course is an) easy crossover between painting, between textiles, between crafts, between ceramics," she said. "It provides a richer, fuller conversation."

The transition between the different classes will also be easier, as common themes and vocabulary will be used throughout the department’s courses — providing more consistency, art teacher Katie Feyereisen said.

In addition to the new fundamentals course, Pam Higgins described a new craft culture class, a revision of one of the high school’s current courses.

Higgins said that rather than focusing on textiles, beading and dyeing, the class will focus more on the culture of the art.  Students will gain a more global perspective of crafts by studying examples from around the world, a change that was initiated after talking with her students, Higgins said.  

The ceramics sculpture course will also be revamped. Feyereisen said in this advanced course, students will take what they know about building functional pieces and apply those skills to creating more sculptural designs.