Academics

The stories we hear, pass along, and create, serve to form our view of the world around us. Consequently, the "Western World" is an amalgamation of multi-ethnic oral traditions and texts that have echoed through cultures of West Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas for the last four millennia. Sacred scriptures, epic poems, myths, tragedies, comedies, and folk tales all constitute the spiritual and moral landscape that is inherited from a collective past. In order to establish where some of the fundamental beliefs of contemporary society originated, our course begins with various stories that are central to religious and cultural identities, and it ends with contemporary short stories from a diversity of authors. Instead of simply reading ancient texts by themselves, we’ll look at contemporary examples of the characters, themes, and archetypes that are found in these seminal stories and examine how they continue to shape our worldview for the better. Of equal importance, we'll also employ critical thought to identify ways in which these traditionally revered stories serve to reinforce harmful power imbalances existing today, and we contextualize this with the historical examples examined in History 10. Challenging reading, lively discussion, and critical questioning are staples of this class. Additionally, we’ll frequently practice crafting logical, clear, and mechanically sound writing.

This course is an intellectual extension of the regular section of English 10. The Honors section demands that students interact with course content in a more rigorous and sophisticated manner. For example, this may mean that honors students will be asked to explore a given text further by reading an additional translation or commentary and then presenting their understanding to the rest of the class. Or, perhaps students will be asked to read a challenging companion novel to help them more deeply understand the concepts at hand. Honors students are assessed using higher expectations for participation, written work, reading comprehension, and general complexity of ideas.  Ultimately, students in the honors section can expect to read and write more than their regular class counterparts, but, more importantly, they will be called upon to produce high-quality, thoughtful, and considered commentary in class and on homework.

Junior year English examines numerous narratives that explore the course’s ongoing question: What defines an American story? Beginning in the fall with several short stories from a diverse array of authors, students in American Literature will begin to write evidence-based analytic and argumentative pieces at the paragraph level, focusing on fine-tuning their theses in pithy, direct statements. As the course continues, we will cover several novels from Jesmyn Ward, Tommy Orange, and Tim O'Brien, among others - all while expanding our argumentative prose beyond the singular paragraph and into the longer-form essay. As the course focuses on fictional narratives that take varied perspectives and make wildly different statements about the United States, all fiction works are supplemented with non-fiction essays and poems that relate to the content at hand. Meanwhile, students maintain a regimen of weekly creative writing and vocabulary throughout the year. Students begin and end the year by asking the question: What does America mean to me? This course is aimed at helping students refine, nuance, and effectively communicate their answers to that question.

The AP English Language and Composition course align with the introductory college-level rhetoric and writing curriculum, which requires students to develop evidence-based analytic and argumentative essays that proceed through several stages or drafts. Students evaluate, synthesize, and cite research to support their arguments. Throughout the course, students develop a personal style by making appropriate grammatical choices. Additionally, students read and analyze the rhetorical elements and their effects in both fiction and non-fiction texts, including graphic images as forms of text, from many disciplines and historical periods.  The texts that students analyze are drawn primarily from American literature. Throughout the year, students will examine these texts through the lens of several thematic units - focusing on race, modern technology, and the environment, among others. Students enrolled in AP English Language and Composition are required to take the AP exam in May. Summer work required. 

Senior Literature is a year-long course that complements the study of specific texts with an emphasis on various skills and sub-genres, such as contemporary short fiction, memoir, essay, creative nonfiction, and novel. Recent texts have included Educated by Tara Westover, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu, and Maus, by Art Spiegelman.  The course offers a robust, literary-intensive experience that aims to prepare students for subsequent college-level literature classes as well as promote an ongoing interest in writing and reading beyond the classroom walls.