High School UIL Academic Competition Pine Tree 2020-2021
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English/Literary Events
Literary Criticism: The UIL Literary Criticism Contest is a 90-minute test in which the student's familiarity with the concepts associated with literary analysis, authors, and works that represent English-language literary history, as well as some of its classical and international influences, is assessed. Three sections constitute the scored part of the test; a required tie-breaking essay that invites the student to exercise his or her skill in literary analysis completes the test.
LIT. CRIT: COACH: Terri Davis Ready Writing: In the Ready Writing Contest, the students are given two hours to write expository compositions. They have a choice between two prompts, each an excerpt from literature, publications (past and present) or speeches. Expository writing explains, proves, or explores a topic in a balanced way, allowing the argument and the evidence given to be the deciding factor in the paper. The focus is developing an original idea through exploring timeless literature, historical and current events, and even personal experiences. The composition is judged on interest (60%), organization (30%) and correctness of style (10%). READY WRITING COACH: Terri Davis Spelling and Vocabulary: Each year, the UIL Spelling and Vocabulary Contest is based on a different vocabulary list provided by UIL and consists of a three-part test:
Essay Contests: Barbara Jordan Historical Essay Competition Founded in 1995 as an event sponsored by The University of Texas at Austin, the Barbara Jordan Historical Essay Competition moved to its new home with UIL Academics in 2011-2012. The competition provides students an opportunity to explore the contributions of African Americans to Texas history, as well as honoring the legacy of its namesake, Barbara Jordan. The theme of the competition is "African Americans in Texas: Past and Present." ESSAY COACH: Terri Davis Latino History Essay Competition: Historical and cultural legacies of Latinos in Texas history Essays should focus on a prominent or relatively unknown Latino individual, organization or movement in Texas history. How has the subject of the essay significantly influenced today's Latino communities? ESSAY COACH: Melissa Wright Social Studies Events Current Events: The Current Issues and Events Contest focuses on a basic knowledge of current state, national and world events/issues and consists of 40 multiple-choice questions and one essay. The essay is intended to assess the competitor's ability to synthesize and evaluate information and present it in an informed manner. CURRENT EVENTS COACH: Collin Robertson Social Studies: The Social Studies Contest consists of 45 objective questions and an essay. Students are expected to master primary reading selections, as well as specific documents, and to be familiar with general-knowledge social studies concepts and terms. Each year, the contest focuses on a different topic area and a reading list that is provided by UIL. The topic this year is: American Empire: Expansion, Imperialism, and Intervention. The selected reading is Honor in the Dust: Theodore Roosevelt, War in the Philippines, and the Rise and Fall of America’s Imperial Dream, by Gregg Jones. Students need to read this by Thanksgiving. SOCIAL STUDIES COACH: Guy Kelley STEM Events Mathematics: The Mathematics Contest consists of a 40-minute, multiple-choice exam with 60 questions, designed to test knowledge and understanding in the areas of basic mathematics, algebra I and II, geometry, trigonometry, math analysis, analytic geometry, pre-calculus and elementary calculus. Number Sense: The Number Sense Contest involves a ten-minute, 80 question mental math test covering all high school mathematics courses. Short cuts need to be developed and practiced in order to compete and finish the test. Calculator Applications: The Calculator Applications Contest involves a thirty-minute test comprised of 70 mathematical problems that are solved with a handheld calculator:
MATH TEAM COACHES: Deborah Wait, Jennifer Cartwright, and Amber Harrington Science: The purpose of the Science Contest is to challenge high school students to do a wide range of reading in biology, chemistry and physics, to gain an understanding of the significance of experiments rather than to recall obscure details, to be alert to new discoveries and information in the areas of science, to gain an understanding of the basic principles as well as knowledge of the history and philosophy of science, and to foster a sense of enthusiasm about science and how it affects our daily lives. The contest consists of a two-hour objective test with 60 questions – 20 from biology, 20 from chemistry and 20 from physics. The selected reading for the science test is: Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, by Carlo Rovelli SCIENCE COACH: Blake Sansom Robotics: STEM Education through the robotics pilot program is an interactive hands-on science and engineering program for middle and high school students. Working with adult mentors, students apply and extend their classroom knowledge through hands-on, authentic engineering, and science challenges. Our Partners, Mentors, Donors, and Volunteers help build the school-to-career pipeline that will provide opportunities to inspire students to become the next generation of STEM professionals. The UIL robotics pilot program began during the 2015-2016 school year and continues for 2018-2019. The pilot program has two divisions, UIL Robotics: BEST™ Division and UIL Robotics: FIRST® Division. The FIRST Division will include two programs, the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) and the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC). ROBOTICS COACH: TBD Journalism Events Journalism: The UIL sponsors five journalism contests - news writing, feature writing, editorial writing, headline writing and copy editing. Students compete at the district level, and then the top three places advance to regionals. From regionals, the top three places advance to state competition. The UIL journalism program has seen increased participation in recent years. Many contests winners have gone on to excel as professional journalists. Editorial Writing - An article that states the newspaper’s or writer’s stance on a particular issue. Basically, it is a persuasive essay that offers a solution to a problem. Feature Writing - Telling the reader a story. It has a beginning (lead), middle and end. It uses quotes liberally and allows the reader to see the story through detailed description and vivid writing. News Writing - Gives the reader unbiased, factual information which informs the reader and allows the reader to make up their own mind about an event or events of news interest. Headline Writing - Sell the story. A good headline involves readers much like a clever ad. Tell the facts. Precise and specific headlines inform readers instantly of what they may or may not want to read. Copy Editing - Focuses on editing, including • knowledge of current events • grammar, spelling, punctuation, style • sentence structure, including passive voice and word choice • media law and ethics JOURNALISM COACH: Melissa Wright Computers and Accounting Events Computer Science: The Computer Science contest challenges students to study a broad range of areas in computer science and has both an individual and a team component. Competition consists of a 45-minute written exam for both components, along with a two-hour programming contest for teams. At all levels of competition, individual places are determined solely by written exam scores. All contestants compete for individual honors at all levels of competition. Individuals placing first, second and third advance to the next level. For the team component, the team’s top three scores on the written exam are added to its score in the programming session to produce an overall team score. First-place teams advance to the next level of competition. In philosophical terms, the UIL Computer Science Contest is a competition that challenges students to apply programming concepts and skills, as well as their knowledge of the designated programming language. The contest is also an opportunity for students to expand their knowledge of computer science beyond the classroom and to foster their interest in the field. COMPUTER SCIENCE COACH: Patrick Jones Computer Applications: Computer Applications focuses on word processing speed and accuracy, skill in the use of database and spreadsheet applications, and the integration of all of these. Contestants will have the opportunity to produce two printouts and the mandatory tiebreaker. Each printout will be assigned a weighted point value, based on difficulty, which will be so indicated on the contest paper. This is a technology-based contest, and the goal is for students to have a thorough, working knowledge of these three applications and be able to complete substantial tasks in all of them and to direct data from one application to another. The difficulty of the elements on tests will increase as we get to higher levels of competition. COMPUTER APPLICATIONS COACH: Patrick Jones Accounting: The Accounting Contest is an hour-long contest consisting of 80 questions that focuses on the elementary principles and practices of accounting for sole proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations. The topics covered may include bookkeeping terminology, the worksheet with adjustments, income statements, balance sheets, trial balances, account classifications, journalizing, posting, bank reconciliations, payroll, and other items related to the basic accounting cycle. ACCOUNTING COACH: Karen Ritch Fine Arts Events Young Filmmakers Festival: The purpose of the Young Filmmakers Festival is to provide students with the opportunity to explore the art of cinematic storytelling. The films shall focus on storytelling using the techniques and tools found in the cinematic arts. The categories are: 1) Narrative 2) Documentary (This does not include Broadcast News or PSA’s) 3) Computer/digital animation 4) Traditional animation (claymation, hand drawn, stop motion) This does not include live actors filmed and then edited to create a “strobe” effect. FILM COACHES: Caity Rutledge Theatrical Design: We will produce the musical, Man of La Mancha by Dale Wasserman, Joe Darion and Mitch Leigh in a way that it has not been produced before. The original story that inspired the musical, DON QUIXOTE by Miguel de Cervantes, is considered the first novel and one of the greatest pieces of literature of all time. It has been enjoyed in over fifty languages and has inspired artists of every medium to take a turn sharing their personal reaction, interpretation, or vision of the messages, characters and moments from the story. Some famous art, some obscure…they all become a visualization of the words of the universal story of Don Quixote and his quest. Man of La Mancha is described as the first true "concept musical," the kind of musical in which the overarching metaphor or statement is more important than the actual narrative—in which the method of storytelling is more important than the story. Playwright Dale Wasserman calls for a definite convention of theatrical production which you will follow, but you will look to artists who have captured their own vision of Don Quixote for visual inspiration. The key conventional elements Wasserman specified were as follows: 1) The entire play takes place within the prison. All the theatrics of the “charades” are created from items taken from Cervantes’ belongings and incorporated with found items from within the prison itself. 2) The prisoners stay on stage the entire production and become the characters in Cervantes’ charades by adding items to their costumes from the trunk or found items. Your designs should adhere to this convention. Artistically, however, you will look to the artwork of others who have chosen Don Quixote as their subject. You should select a single piece of visual art inspired by the story for your primary inspiration source and build your concept from there. It may be any medium of visual art, but must be credited to the artist. This gives you a great deal of freedom to explore and apply creatively from the vast body of work from all over the world. It truly is fascinating to see the bountiful variety. As always, your designs shall NOT reflect nor copy any other live or film, stage or broadcast versions of the play. You are encouraged to dig into the story and figure out what message you want your audiences to receive and how you can connect with them and make it relevant to a world that may just need a hero. Your quest is to make a production memory that will keep the story alive for another generation. Enjoy your creative journey! Theatrical Design COSTUME Challenge - Students designing costumes will submit a total of (5) plates plus their Justification Paper. Theatrical Design SET Challenge - The play, Life Is a Dream, will be performed on a single unit set, but reflect 3 different settings. Students will choose one scene to create a rendering or model and complete small sketches of the remaining 2 settings. Setting locales are (1) Outside of the Tower, (2) Tower/Prison and (3) the Palace. Students will show the stage pieces and how the stage will change in the ground plan and describe the changes in their justification paper. Students entering set design will submit a total of (4) plates plus their Justification Paper and Prompt Address Statement. Theatrical Design HAIR/MAKEUP Challenge - Students designing makeup will submit a total of (7) plates plus their Justification Paper. Theatrical Design MARKETING Challenge - Students entering marketing will submit a total of (5) plates plus their Justification Paper. THEATRICAL DESIGN COACH: Lisa Wright and Scott Machin One Act Play: The UIL One-Act Play contest is a competition where similarly sized Texas schools present an 18-40 minute play and may be adjudicated by a panel of three judges or a single judge. The contest is held on a single day and is open to the public. There are six possible levels of competition: Zone, District, Bi-District, Area, Region, and State. At each level of competition a judge awards individual acting awards as well as selecting three productions to advance to the next level of competition up to the Regional Level where only two will advance to the State Level. After the awards are announced, a Judge gives an oral critique to each of the schools. Because of the wide participation and diversity of plays produced certain rules and guidelines have been adopted by the State One-Act Play Office. These rules are in place to ensure safety, allow for equity, satisfy legal standards, and make the running of the contest practical. Purpose. The purposes of the One-Act Play contest are to foster appreciation of good theatre, satisfy the competitive, artistic spirit with friendly rivalry among schools, learn to lose or win graciously, promote interest in theatre during adult life and increase the number of schools, which have adopted theatre arts as an academic subject in school curricula. Contest Format. Each school performs a short play at the host school. Professionals adjudicate the plays and advancing schools are announced and move on the next round and individual awards given to students the adjudicators feel have excelled. Schools receive an evaluation form and an oral critique. ONE ACT PLAY DIRECTORS: Lisa Wright and Scott Machin Speech and Debate Events CX Debate: Cross-Examination Debate trains students to analyze a problem, conduct thorough and relevant research, and utilize principles of argumentation and advocacy in presenting the most effective case for or against a given proposition. Debate provides invaluable training in critical thinking, quick responses, defending worthy ideas and attacking invalid ideas. It teaches students to consider other points of view. Debate exists only in democratic societies, and no democratic society can exist without debate. CX Debate is a 2-person team event. 2020-2021 CX Debate Topic: Resolved: The United States federal government should enact substantial criminal justice reform in the United States in one or more of the following: forensic science, policing, sentencing. LD Debate: Lincoln-Douglas Debate provides excellent training for development of skills in argumentation, persuasion, research, and audience analysis. Through this contest, students are encouraged to develop a direct and communicative style of delivery. Lincoln-Douglas Debate is one-on-one argumentation in which debaters attempt to convince the judge of the acceptability of their side of the proposition. One debater will argue the affirmative side of the resolution and the other debater will argue the negative side of the resolution in a given round. 2020-2021 LD Debate Topic: RESOLVED: When in conflict, public health ought to be prioritized over individual liberty. Extemporaneous Speaking: Extemporaneous speaking includes persuasive and informative speaking. Students will draw 5 questions regarding current events (state, national, and international) and choose one question to answer. They will have 30 minutes to prepare a 7 minute speech answering the question they chose. Informative Speaking – The purpose is to stimulate an active interest in current affairs at the state, national and international levels, and to teach the student to present extemporaneously in a clear and impartial manner the facts about a subject as they appear in the best available sources of information. This contest is an exercise in clear thinking and informing the public on the issues and concerns of the American people. The objective is to present information in an interesting way without bias or persuasion to the listeners. Persuasive Speaking – This contest trains students to analyze a current issue, determine a point of view, and organize and deliver a speech that seeks to persuade listeners. The objective is to reinforce the views of listeners who already believe as the speaker does, but even more so, to bring those of neutral or opposing views around to the speaker’s beliefs or proposed course of action. This contest should especially appeal to those who have a strong argumentative urge and who wish to advocate reforms or outline solutions to current problems. Congress: Congress is an individual contest in a large group setting. It models the legislative process of democracy, specifically, the United States Congress. Within this mock legislative assembly competition, contestants draft legislation (proposed laws and position statements) submitted to the tournament, and they research the docket of bills and resolutions dealing with real-world social and political policies prior to the contest to prepare their speeches. At the tournament, students caucus in committees, deliver formal discourse on the merits and disadvantages of each piece of legislation, and vote to pass or defeat the measures they have examined. Parliamentary procedure forms structure for the discourse, and students extemporaneously respond to others’ arguments over the course of a session. DEBATE AND SPEECH COACH: Ryan Stokes Oral Interpretation: The purpose of this contest is to encourage the student to understand, experience and share poetry and prose through the art of oral interpretation. The goals of this contest are to encourage the contestant’s exploration of a variety of literary selections, and to enhance the performer’s and audience’s appreciation of literature through the performer’s interpretation of the work. Prose - Category A: Examining Our Changing World • Identify a societal change • Inform the audience of its impact on you, the performer • Include the title and author read Prose – Category B: Taking A Stand • Identify the issue your performance will address • State the position you have chosen to persuade your audience • State the types of literature incorporated in the literary program • Include all titles, authors, and the types of literature used • State if the program is woven Poetry – Category A: Examining Our Changing World • Identify a societal change • Inform the audience of its impact on you, the performer • Include all title(s) and poet(s) • State if the program is woven • State if the program uses song lyrics as transitions Poetry – Category B: Taking A Stand • Identify the issue your performance will address • State the position you have chosen to persuade your audience • Include all titles and poets • State if the program is woven INTERP COACH: Lisa Wright UIL Director – Lee Branson, lbranson@ptisd.org, 903-295-5031, ext. 1130 |
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