Holly Yates

Holly Yates graduated from Vanderbilt University with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Russian.  She earned her MEd in Secondary Education from Peabody College.  She began her teaching career in 1986 at Apollo Middle School.  She taught five years at Highland Heights Middle School, three years at Whites Creek High School and three years at McGavock High School.  She has taught at Hillsboro High School since 1997.  She is  the Social Studies Department Chair. 

IB Psychology Classes:

Textbook: Themes and Variations in Psychology (Fifth Edition) by Wayne Weiten and published by Wadsworth

The class focuses on three perspectives in Psychology: Behavioral, Cognitive and Biological. Common themes throughout the year are: cultural distinctions, gender differences, ethical considerations, and historical perspective. The last portion of the year focuses on the Option Study of Cultural Psychology.

Students are required in May to take the exam written by the International Baccalaureate Organization. These exams are termed “Paper 1” and “Paper 2” and are administered locally by Hillsboro’s IB Coordinator over a period of two days.

Psychology/Sociology:

These classes, each, are semester classes that introduce students to the disciplines of psychology and sociology. A variety of activities including videos from the series entitled Discovering Psychology hosted by Professor Philip Zimbardo are used in the class to acquaint students with concepts in both psychology and sociology.

These classes provide a broad overview of the subject matter in introducing students to the behavioral sciences of psychology and sociology.

US History:

Students cover concepts and themes in US History beginning at Reconstruction and continuing through the present day. Current events are used as students compare the past to the present through newspaper articles. The work of the year culminates in the End of Course Test which all Metro US History students are required to take.