“A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen their souls. Story-tellers and poets spend their lives learning that skill and art of using words well. And their words make the souls of their readers stronger, brighter, deeper.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin
Laura Keldorf
lkeldorf@riverdale.k12.or.us
Humanities and Portland State University Challenge Program Instructor
Portland State University's Challenge Program offers concurrent enrollment courses to high school students. Program instructors teach college credit courses on their respective high school campuses, and students pay a reduced tuition rate.
Senior Exhibition Coordinator
National Honor Society Faculty Advisor
Fall
Portland State University: The Global City (Honors 101):
The Global City experience is divided into three - 5 credit trimesters, fall (Honors 101), winter (Honors 102) and spring (Honors 103). By the end of the year, students earn 15 college credits through Portland State University’s Honors College.
The course series’ objective is to prepare students for academic research, discussion and writing. The articles, essays, short stories and documentaries we examine come from a variety of disciplines, calling primarily upon history, sociology, anthropology, urban studies and economics.
Rather than a survey course that examines a select group of cities from around the world, The Global City experience asks students to think about the social, political and economic systems that allow for the development of inclusive, equitable and sustainable cities.
English 9A:
English 9A is the first of a two trimester course series all ninth graders take during their first year at Riverdale High School.
One of the course's primary objectives is to introduce and practice process writing: responding to constructive feedback and authentic revision.
Students receive both editorial and substantive feedback on their writing, and have the opportunity to workshop each of their drafts in one on one conferences with their teachers.
Students read and write, by hand, in class every day. The texts we read, and the discussions that follow, provide students with an opportunity to think, speak and write critically about the texts we interrogate.
While the specific texts taught change with each trimester, the focus is on how the works we read, discuss and write about inform our understanding of the human experience.
Winter
Portland State University: The Global City (Honors 102):
Over the course of the winter trimester, students examine and discuss the role governmental policy plays in the development and transformation of the urban physical landscape. Students examine and assess the extent to which legislation, at all levels, contributes to the segregation of designated populations within cities.
An analysis of maps, personal narratives, literature, and legislation that has developed over the course of the twentieth century offers students an opportunity to identify the panoply of factors that have contributed to the physical, social and economic divisions and possibilities inherent to the twenty-first century American city.
Personal Finance:
Students examine and assess the systems and concepts that allow consumers and producers to navigate the marketplace in an efficient, rational manner. Students learn how to use the foundational economic concepts of scarcity, utility and opportunity costs to inform their individual financial decision making process.
While the course has a primarily microeconomic focus, which includes personal budgeting and long term planning, students also explore the role that both fiscal and monetary policy play in determining the financial choices they have available to them at any given time.
In addition to the assigned readings, class projects and seminar based discussions, students also learn from and engage with guest speakers who offer their professional narratives, expertise and insight into financial decision making.
Spring
The Senior Exhibition
Senior Exhibition is a requirement for all students to graduate, and introduces the research writing process. Over the course of the term, students consult and use reference materials, access Portland State University’s databases and resources, interpret scholarship, critically evaluate evidence, establish a position based on their findings and apply the conventions for documenting academic papers.
In addition to the paper, students also develop a 50 minute public presentation during which they share their findings and conclusions.
Students have the option to take the course for Portland State University credit as WR 222 or Honors 103 (part of The Global City sequence).
Movement:
Taught during the last period of the day, students participate in a variety of activies that require them to move their bodies. Students trail run, "urban walk," swim, play badminton, stretch and strength train.
In addition, students also discuss nutritional tips, from better hydration, balanced meals and power snacks to help them move through their day in an energetic and engaged manner.