This team-taught, two-year interdisciplinary course focuses on the literature, history and art of particular historical periods: Classical Greece, Byzantium, the Renaissance, and Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Europe. Each period is studied through the great works that it produced and the people who produced them. These civilizations are studied with concern for the great themes that surface repeatedly. Students will develop their critical thinking skills through a variety of written assignments, oral presentations and creative projects. Students may choose to take the course for one or both years of the two-year cycle and may choose to earn either English or Social Studies credit. A unique feature of the course is the opportunity for extensive field study. There are several required field study trips within Greece, and one optional trip each year to either France or Italy.
Year One of Humanities (to be offered 2019-2020) focuses on the question “What Makes Us Human?” This question is explored with particular focus on Ancient Greece, The Age of Reason, the Neo-Classical and Romantic period, and the 20th Century.
In both Year One and Year Two of the Humanities course there is emphasis on the importance of art and architecture in the study of civilizations. Students supplement their classroom work with field study at a variety of sites.
In Year One of Humanities (offered 2019-2020) students will participate during the first semester in several field study trips that focus on their study of Ancient Greece. These are required field study experiences, and they include visits to the National Archaeological Museum, the Acropolis site and Museum, and the site of ancient Delphi. In the second semester of Year One students have the option of participating in the class field study trip to France, where they will add to their understanding of French art and architecture from the 18th - 20th centuries.
Year Two of Humanities (to be offered 2020-2021) focuses on the question “What Gives Life Meaning?” This question is explored through the study of the literature, history and art of Byzantium, the Islamic World, Medieval Europe and the Italian Renaissance.
In the first semester of Year Two there are several mandatory field study experiences within Greece: the Byzantine and Christian Museum, the Museum of Islamic Art, Kaisariani Monastery, and the Byzantine city of Mistras. In the second semester students have the option of participating in the class field study trip to Italy, where they will add to their understanding of the art and architecture of the Italian Renaissance.
*An ACS Athens Scholar Diploma core course.
Course Instruction Time: 15 weeks
Course Completion Time: 17 weeks
Fellow/Online Instructor: Amalia Zavacopoulou - Kathy Jasonides
Cost: 600 €UROS
Ms. Zavacopoulou was born in London, but was raised in Athens and attended a British international school. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in European Social and Political Studies, a four-year course with majors in History, French and Italian from University College London, and a Masters degree in Journalism from University of Westminster, London.
A qualified secondary school teacher, she taught French and Spanish in an inner city London school through Teach First, a ground-breaking graduate training program that combines two years teaching in challenging London schools with business and leadership training. She also worked as a substitute teacher in over 20 different London schools in long-term and short- term placements for a further two years.
She joined the ACS Athens team in 2010 and started working in the Writing Center, where she helped and advised students on a variety of written assignments. She has since been involved in many aspects of school life: she co-coaches the ACS Athens Academy debate team, has participated in the Mentorship Program and has co-presented a workshop at the NESA Conference. In 2016 she co-presented a paper at the ICODL Conference and also co- authored an article, "Humanities Program: An Innovative Classic," that was published in the book Revolutionizing K - 12 Blended Learning Through the i2Flex Classroom Model. This year she is team-teaching Humanities, and Grade 9 Europe and the World, as well as serving as Division Chair for Humanities, Arts and Physical Education.
email: zavacopouloua@theinstitute.gr • zavacopouloua@acs.gr
Ms. Kathy Jasonides holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and a Masters degree in Journalism from the University of California, Los Angeles. She has been a member of the Academy faculty at the American Community Schools of Athens, Greece, since 1974.
Since retiring from full-time teaching in 2008, Ms. Jasonides has continued to team teach the Honors Humanities courses and also serves as Chair of the Division of Language and Literature. In addition to the two-year Honors Humanities program, Ms. Jasonides and her teaching partners have developed three additional online Humanities courses which offer the highlights of the program’s interdisciplinary approach, including the field study opportunities, to both ACS Athens and non-ACS Athens students who are not enrolled in the regular program.
She has co-authored articles on field study as a strategy for interdisciplinary study and has participated in presentations at NESA conferences and the ACS Athens Conferences on Learning Differences. She recently co-authored a chapter in the 2016 publication "Revolutionizing K-12 Blended Learning through i2Flex Classroom Model."