Dragons Rock

How to Train Your Dragon is a classic story of a coming of age boy vying for the acceptance of his peers and father; Hiccup is a teenager growing up in a colony of Vikings, but unlike all of the other teens in this colony, Hiccup is skinny, weak, and amazingly clumsy. The Vikings see him as a burden to his father, the Viking leader and the best dragon slayer in the entire village.

The story truly begins when Hiccup shoots down a Night Fury, a dragon that “never misses”. This dragon has never been seen before, but leaves devastation in its wake. When he find the dragon in the forest tangled up in his net Hiccup finds that he cannot bear to kill the creature. After hundreds of years of war between Vikings and dragons, he is the first Viking that will not, or could not kill a dragon. After befriending the dragon, he realizes that they are not as frightening as the Vikings make them, they are just as afraid of humans, as humans are afraid of their kind.

A main theme of this movie is understanding others and that not everything that seems scary is deserving of that harsh emotion.

The voicing is perfect, and the animation will easily capture the attention of the audience. Each character has been well thought out and blends together to make a wonderful story; although the critters in this movie aren’t as cute and cuddly as in other films, they each provide an important aspect to the reoccurring theme of understanding the thoughts and feelings of others, even if those others are frightening.

Many people say that animals are just as afraid of humans as humans are of them, and that is another important concept in this film.

With so many themes, this movie provides learning to the younger audience and insight to the older audience,and the ideas implied through the script are universal. Children as well as parents and even teens will be able to enjoy this movie. With a score of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and high ratings on many other sites, it is clear that this film is worth the hour and a half taken out of your day.

Rider Adopts New Schedule

The new year started off with a new schedule including four minutes between classes and a 29-minute advisory period.

Some students have found it difficult to get to their classes with the 1-minute shortened passing time.

“It doesn’t make much of a difference,” senior Alan Snyder said. “[Although,] it does make it a little harder to make it to classes that are farther away.”

Some teachers feel that the lack of time between classes is a plus.

“There are a lot of people wasting time in the halls,” AP Macroeconomics and United States History teacher Joe Pearson said. “Generally, students can make it to class, but I understand it might be hard if you have to come from art, speech, drama or the technology wing and get to a classroom on the other side of the school. Having four minutes between classes cuts down on the students that seem to have too much time between classes. With a breakneck race to class there is no time for ‘extraneous’ activities.”

Many students have been scheduled for advisory period at 7:45 that lasts until 8:14 so they have time for tutorials during the school day. Qualified juniors and seniors are exempt from advisory period.

Those select students who do not have to attend advisory period, as well as the teachers who are present for advisory period, are finding the extra time beneficial and efficient.

“What we wanted to do was to give students additional time to make up tests and quizzes,” AP Human Geography teacher Charlotte Dockery said. “As with any first time deal, we will have to work out the kinks, but for the first round of this schedule, it is doing pretty good.”

This new schedule has been put into place to help the students as well as the teachers.

“The schedule was built into the day because many students have to ride the bus or have practice after school,” Dockery said. “It was hard for the teachers from one department to come together since they have different planning periods. In my department many of the teachers are coaches, so it is easier to have the new schedule so we can talk about how our classes are going and discuss if we have anything we need to work on.”

Many teachers feel that the new schedule is a good thing.

“It threatens juniors and seniors. After three tardies they have to come in at 7:45,” Pearson said. “There’s not a whole lot [of cons]. As a teacher who travels, it is a bit more difficult for me to help students in the morning during advisory period. Many students just come to me in the afternoon for help. This schedule isn’t perfect, but no schedule is.”

Pearson said he knows that there are things that must be sacrificed for this schedule to be in effect.

“In economics you learn that for everything you get, you have to pay something,” Pearson said. “For this I’ve had to give up my teaching speed. I’ve gone at a slightly slower pace than usual to accommodate the time. Like with anything in life, this schedule has trade-offs and costs, but I’m confident that Mrs. McDonald has evaluated this schedule and found that it is worth the resources, and feels that it will achieve good results.”