SI Courses

List of 6 frequently asked questions.

• English

  Before “Me Too”: Literature as Protest 

  Engage in a class co-taught with Irma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership Academy, a local public all-girls school

  • Explore novels that concentrate on the empowerment of women and build empathy through shared experiences and storytelling 
  • Form a partnership with Break Bread, Break Borders, a non-profit whose mission is to promote personal growth in women
    
    

  Literature of Minorities 

  Explore the powerful works of black, Muslim, Jewish, Hispanic, and other ethnic, religious, and cultural identities and interrogate the category of “minority” 

  • Examine how underrepresented people in a society respond to the dominant power structure through readings 
  • Show how the texts themselves act as subversive forces while at the same time resist conforming to the rigid standards of the literary canon 
  • Move from reading to action and make an impact in the Dallas community

• Mathematics

  Integrated Math III Enriched

  Establish a working partnership with Marsh Preparatory Academy, a local public school serving students from predominately low-income families

  • Recognize that mathematics studied in class is visible all around us. Design and implement “Math Walks” at Marsh Preparatory Academy that merge virtual reality with algebraic concepts 
  • Decrease identified learning barriers by enhancing student understanding of the role of math in their daily surroundings and how to use mathematical concepts for social impact

  Statistics
  

  • Collaborate and engage in a class where data combined with mathematical ideas transform the way one  looks at the world    
  • Explore different ways of visualizing, modeling, and making sense of data from daily life, the community, and the world.
  • Address issues of choice through data collection, visualizations, analysis, and interpretation to develop the tools to raise awareness and instill empathy within the individual and the community.

• Science

  Biology, Impact, and the Zoo  

  Engage in a biology class co-taught with W.T. White High School, a local public high school and learn the similarities and differences between living organisms

  • Collaborate and apply design thinking to solve environmental issues in partnership with experts from the Dallas Zoo 
  • Produce a culminating pitch to area industry leaders in a “shark tank” setting that addresses an identified environmental problem and competes for funding 

  Environmental Chemistry 

  Learn and apply chemistry in the context of societal issues

  • Engage in laboratory investigations to learn proper procedures and data analysis
  • Conduct field research to design a solution to an environmental problem applying chemistry knowledge
  • Chemistry content will include matter and its structure and properties, chemical reactions, and energy transformations.

  AP Environmental Science 
  

  • Partner with Trinity Audobon Center to focus on how to cultivate and protect native species 
  • Consider how the nature of a particular environment impacts access to food, and identify the food issues currently impacting our community
  • Engage in a yearlong study focused on creating and implementing change within Dallas’ food issues and environmental projects

  Neuroscience
  

  Students delve into how the brain’s 86 billion nerve cells organize themselves into functional circuits enabling us to think, feel, move, and perform complex behaviors.
  

  • Using the lens of Neuroscience, students will complete a synthesis project while creating an impact on the greater community
  • Learn the fundamentals of Neuroscience through readings of primary scientific literature, in-class discussions of these readings, and through hands-on laboratories such as a sheep brain dissection

  Social Impact Synthesis

  Interlace ever-changing future trends

  • Apply concepts of artificial intelligence, app design, coding, synthesis, and impact in an agile class that changes based on current trends and events
  • Apply purpose and infuse the journey at Hockaday to the real world in this ever-changing, 21st century skill-building class
  • Taught by multiple teachers from various departments, industry leaders, Alumnae worldwide, and community visionaries

• World Languages

  Spanish in the Community

  Help the Dallas Spanish-speaking community through practicum work in education, geriatrics, and healthcare  

  • Analyze and address issues specifically related to healthcare access within the Spanish speaking population
  • Enhance your own language fluency through community engagement 

• Fine Arts

  Chamber Orchestra 

  Apply musical knowledge and skills to design and teach a weekly music enrichment course for a local public elementary school without access to music education  

  • Inspire future musicians
  • Improve school readiness and engagement through music 

  Hockaday Theater Company: Drama 

  Perform and teach the art of drama and storytelling at a local public elementary school without access to performing arts  

  • Decrease the standardized testing gap by exposing students to language and theater terminology
  • Ultimately improve school readiness 

  Dance Lab
  Study various types of dance with a focus on ballet and contemporary techniques. 

  • Share the joy of dance throughout the Dallas community with performances and student-led dance projects with partner elementary schools
  • Designed for the intermediate/advanced dancer, to explore a variety of dance techniques in greater depth with choreography and performance opportunities.

  Hockaday Dance Theater
  Share the joy of dance throughout the Dallas community with performances and student-led dance projects with partner elementary schools

  • Serve as the principal performing ensemble of the dance program at Hockaday (selected through audition)
  • Demonstrate imagination, dedication, and reliability and expand approach to the creative process
  • Design, choreograph, and perform dance pieces in collaboration 
  • Attend master classes, taught by guest artists

• History

  Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Economics and Social Entrepreneurship 

  Participate in a class based in economic principles and the incubation of a business

  • Engage in real world learning from co-teachers who are Hockaday alumnae and industry leaders
  • Develop and pitch a culminating socially conscious business plan that addresses a current world issue, and compete
    for funding
    
    

  U.S. History: Public Perspectives and Community Action 

  Examine the historical processes of America’s past with a focus on how individual stories and grand narratives are used to shape our present

  • Explore the role of public history in sharing those stories and narratives to create a sense of identity, shared purpose, and belonging
  • Focus on hands-on projects that provide an opportunity to engage in historical research of local communities and to apply historical findings to real-world settings.

   

  U.S. Government

  Participate in a civics-based class that features lecturers from city, state, and federal government

  • Identify a local, national, or world issue and draft a bill to create change, applying working knowledge of democracy
  • Propose mock legislation to local government officials and use their own advocacy skills to take action. 

  
  

  Global Issues

  Collaborate in a current events seminar and grapple with major socio-political issues facing our world today. 

  • Understand global events in their historical and international contexts to become better-informed citizens and leaders. 
  • Raise awareness of contemporary world events and how they impact local communities by identifying and implementing concrete action in the community to help address a global issue.