The English curriculum aims to help learners acquire communication skills in speaking, writing, listening, and reading. Students learn to express their thoughts and feelings so that anyone who hears or reads their words can understand and empathize. Students also learn to understand what is said to them and what they read so that they can grasp and evaluate the content, tone and intention of a speaker or writer. Through this interaction with language, the learners grow in the power to use, understand, and appreciate language for their own intellectual, social and emotional growth.
Grade 9
Grade 9 English exposes students to literature of the past and the present. Antigone, The Odyssey, and Romeo and Juliet bring the world of the past to life. Students focus on the epic form, dramatic conventions and analysis of the novel. Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun, Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, and select poetry explore the contemporary world. The analysis of literature is encouraged through ample class discussion and analytical writing; the writing process is emphasized through regular writing assignments and the production of several major papers which are revised and rewritten. Grammar and vocabulary skill development is emphasized throughout the year.
Grade 10
In tenth grade English, students read novels, short stories, poetry, drama and non-fiction by esteemed writers including Shakespeare, Austen and Morrison. In studying these various genres, students explore such formal elements as diction, style and structure and consider how form is a vehicle for conveying theme, character, setting, mood and tone. Students complete frequent writing projects related to the readings. In addition, students do a number of expository and creative pieces. Course readings include The Catcher in the Rye (Salinger), Julius Caesar (Shakespeare), Lord of the Flies (Golding), Macbeth (Shakespeare), Song of Solomon (Morrison), Emma (Austen), Great Expectations (Dickens), The Nick Adams Stories (Hemingway), The Sun Also Rises (Hemingway), Wit (Edison) and poems by authors including Collins, Frost, Marlowe, Dickinson, Bishop, Wilbur and Plath. Listening, speaking, writing, grammar, and vocabulary skill development are an integral part of each literature unit.
The tenth grade honors
student is responsible for completing additional independent reading
assignments, essays and projects. Students earning a final grade of A- in English 9
are eligible to apply for placement in honors.
Grades 11 and 12
English
in grades eleven and twelve is an elective program, including an American
Studies cycle and a Global Studies cycle, offered in alternate years. Students may apply for Honors and Advanced
Placement (AP) status
in each elective. AP English Language is
offered to students in English 11 Honors.
In addition to their
English 11 Honors course work, AP English Language students will
participate in a seminar course dedicated to direct preparation for the AP
English Language examination. Students who pass the AP English
Language exam will be given retroactive AP credit for English 11. Depending on the student’s final
English average in eleventh grade, she may be eligible for placement in English
12 Honors or AP English Literature. All
Honors and AP students are responsible for completing additional independent
reading assignments, essays, and projects. English elective courses are
offered based on student interest as indicated during the course selection process.
The following criteria are
considered for placement in Honors and Advanced Placement:
- Final grade average
- B+ in English 10 Honors for placement in English11 Honors
- A- in English 10 for placement in English 11 Honors
- A- in English 10 Honors for placement in AP English Language
- A in English 10 for placement in AP English Language
- B+ in English 11 Honors or AP for placement in English 12 Honors
- A- in English 11 for placement in English 12 Honors
- A- in English 11 Honors for placement in AP English Literature
- A in English 11 for placement in AP English Literature
- Teacher recommendation
- Strong and independent work ethic, enthusiasm, and curiosity for the subject
Global Studies English Electives - offered in 2011-12
ABCs of Early British Literature
From the Anglo-Saxons and their heroic Beowulf to chaucer and his enduring companions in The Canterbury Tales, ours is a pilgrimage through early British literature. no journey through early British literature could suffice without an exploration of the medieval cultural context. From within this rich tapestry, we view the origins, the power, and the beauty of the Arthurian romances. Camelot, chivalry, faith, and betrayal are woven into timeless legends and literature. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Le Mortre d'Arthur are our guides. These texts are essential to an understanding of modern British literature; they are also fabulous stories that have been enjoyed for centuries.
Alienation
We live in a time of breakdown when most of the old permanencies are gone: insoluble marriages, social stability, ability to communicate, reasonability of humans. Camus, Sartre, Kafka, Ionesco, Beckett, the Surrealists, the Dadaists—these are the visionaries who exposed the realities of an absurd and confusing world. Class readings include The Stranger, The Myth of Sisyphus, No Exit, The Metamorphosis, The Bald Soprano and Waiting for Godot.
Comic Drama: "All the World's a Stage"
In comic drama, the dramatic conflict ends when the characters "recognize what has been going on, learn from it, forgive, forget, and reestablish their identity in the smooth-running social group" of the play. Typically, comedies end with a betrothal or wedding, signifying the promise of new life and a better future. Readings will include Shakespeare's As You Like It, Moliere's Tartuffe, Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author, and Pinter's The Birthday Party.
Evil in Literature: The Dark Side of the Soul
Are people inherently good or evil? For centuries writers have wrestled with this question concerning the nature of humanity. In this course students explore the darker side of the soul in the self-made villain of Richard III, Iago's insatiable appetite for vengeance in Othello, Dorian's demonic pact in The Picture of Dorian Gray,Max Demian's secret and dangerous world of crime in Demian, and Marlow's descent into the colonial violence of the Congo in Heart of Darkness.
Irish Literature
Through the study of Irish history, novels, short stories and poetry, the class discusses the tragedy and triumph that is Ireland. The course searches out the effect of the Irish heritage on the Irish people. Readings include How the Irish Saved Civilization, Tales of the Elders of Ireland, The Importance of Bing Earnest, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Dubliners,Dancing at Lughnasa and Open Ground.
Latin American Fiction: Loyalty, Love, and Revolution
In his 1882 Nobel Lecture, Gabriel Garcia Marquez said, "the immeasurable violence and pain of our history are the result of age-old inequities and untold bitterness." This course studies important literary and cinematic texts with a focus on key aspects (analysis of literary genre, form, sturcture, language, history, social movements, politics, and gender roles) necessary to the understanding of Latin American culture and the inequities and bitterness to which Marquez refers. Course readings include The Weight of All Things by Sandra Benitez, In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, and poetry and short stories by Jose Marti, Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz, Jorge Luis Borges, and Juan Rulfo. We will also read and view The Motorcycle Diaries which traces the early travels of Marxist revolutionary Ernesto 'Che' Guevara.
Literature of Fantasy
We all dream. If we pay attention, our dreams can be a key to understanding our state of mind. The fears that surface in nightmares may seem unique, but they can be indicative of fears we all share. In fact, monsters in our dreams and in literature could represent the greatest fears of all humanity across centuries. We read Bram Stoker's Dracula, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and William Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
The Romantics
"Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings," proclaimed Wordsworth during an explosive cultural movement in Europe that has come to be known as Romanticism. English Romantic Poets and Writers (1798-1830) saw themselves as individual rebels against classical traditions. Poets and novelists wrote on common topics: a profound interest in the natural world, the desires of the human heart, the experience of the poor and the vulnerability of women. The works we will explore include the major poems of Blake, Wordsworth, and Keats as well as Lord Byron's Don Juan. Our two central novels are Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Jayne Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
Shakespeare: Passion Poetry, and Politics
"He was not of an age, but for all time!" (Ben Jonson on Shakespeare, 1623). Shakespeare's continued fame is largely due to his understanding of human nature. His characters, from all walks of life, are timeless in their predicaments. They struggle through the world of the play as real people struggle through life, sometimes successfully and humorously, and sometimes painfully and tragically. Students explore Shakespeare's world through an intensive scrutiny of character, language, and theme. Readings include The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado about Nothing, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Twelfth Night.
The Classroom as Literature: "Out of the Classroom and into the World"
Writer often ask whether traditional education stifles creativity and "real" learning or if it enhances it; they also consider how and where children gain an appropriate education - in a customary classroom setting, outside of the school room, or in a combination of the two? Readings will include the following novels, plays, and prose pieces: Northanger Abbey, Jayne Eyre, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Pygmalion, A Room of One's Own, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and Hard Times.
Tragic Drama: "Show Me a Hero and I will Write You a Tragedy"
Tragedy concerns men and women in their search for truth, love, and justice. It "offers and astute comment upon humanity" today whether written in ancient Greek, Elizabethan, or modern periods. Readings include Aristotle's Poetics, Sophocles' Oedipus, Euripides' Medea, Shakespeare's Hamlet, and King Lear, and Beckett's Endgame.
Victorian Women
The Victorian Age produced both women novelists who emerged as social critics of their time and men who wrote about extraordinary women. All chronicle the quest for love and meaningful work. Course readings include Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Wilde's Lady Windemere's Fan, Bronte's Wuthering Heights, and poetry of Matthew Arnold and Tennyson.
World Literature: Tellers of Tales
"And inside every single story, inside every Stream in the Ocean, there lies a world, a storyworld..." Salman Rushdie reminds us, that just as the oceans connect the lands, the ocean of stories connects human bings. Let's meet a few of our modern tellers of tales. We will visit unfamiliar places and people, escaping the city limits and returning home with a better understanding of what links and separates us. rather than trace a map, however, the theme of this course will reveal itself as we travel from story to story; the journey is the destination. Readings will include Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, The Alchemist, Labyrinths, and Purple Hibiscus.
Writers' Workshop
"Think of writing in terms of discovery," said Gertrude Stein. Writing provides a way for students to sort through their experiences, to make sense of their world, to share their observations with others. This course provides opportunities for those who feel they need more intensive work in writing, as well as those who want to develop their talents in writing. Writing activities include free writing, journal writing, sensory exercises, autobiography, memoir, portrait, profile, interview, as well as college application essays and English achievement test writing. Major objectives include helping students to generate topics for writing, to develop a sense of audience, to decide on form and organization, to edit and proofread.
American Studies English Electives- offered in 2010-11
The American Dream in Literature
The American Dream—one of success and happiness achieved through hard work and perseverance—is as complex as the landscape that names it and the people who pursue it. Writers such as Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby), Miller (Death of a Salesman), Wolff (This Boy’s Life), and O’Neill (The Iceman Cometh) explore the ways in which Americans struggle to escape the confines of unfulfilling lives.
American Losers
“What a Loser!” Contrary to popular belief, the loser contributes greatly to the fabric of American culture. This course will seek to uncover the value and depth of the loser archetypes through the lenses of a washed-up salesman, a group of misfit con artists and a hotel concierge, among others. Works to be examined will include Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, The Iceman Cometh, and Hughie by Eugene O’Neill, and The Great Gatsby byF. Scott Fitzgerald.
Americans on the Move
This course considers literature centered on the journey. We study travelers whom we admire and those whom we don’t. We consider both physical and psychological journeys. Diverse texts include Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Melville’s Billy Budd, Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, and Tyler’s The Accidental Tourist. Poetry by Whitman and Ginsberg fuel our conversations.
Childhood and the Imagination
We spend our entire lives trying to return to our childhood—a time of innocence, comfort, safety and imagination. This course will invite the student to experience the imaginative world of the child through the lenses of the loner, the prodigy, the forgotten, the leader and the follower. Works to be enjoyed include How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent by Julia Alvarez, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, Old School by Tobias Wolff, and The Chosen by Chaim Potok.
Contemporary American Drama: The Play's the Thing
American plays, beginning with Eugene O'Neill's masterwork Long Day's Journey into Night, burst upon the scene in 1914 at the outset of WWI. Before, British plays had dominated the American stage. But O'Neill saw that stilted British dramatic works were not in tune with more democratic American values. After reading O'Neill, students relish the works of Susan Glaspell, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, and August Wilson, the playwrights who changed forever the genre of drama.
Contemporary Fiction: The Writers Must Be Crazy!
If one believes that art reflects the time in which it is created—the particular values, conflicts and realities of a period—then it is clear that we have cause for alarm. For contemporary life, as seen through the eyes of our writers, is both a fractured and harrowing experience. Works as diverse as A Dove of the East (Mark Halpern), Animal Dreams (Barbara Kingsolver), and The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories (Wolff) share a common theme: society is unraveling. This course examines how, with language that is both searing and strangely humorous, modern authors have sought to capture and explain the overwhelming sense of personal and communal loss.
Contemporary American Literature
Contemporary literature reflects the complexities, ironies, tragedies, and triumphs of modern time and of all time. Virgil’s hero, Aeneas, speaks his timeless lines from antiquity: “These men know the pathos of life, and mortal things touch their hearts.” Our readings include Mark Helprin’s dazzling A Dove of the East, Barbara Kingsolver’s wise and witty The Bean Trees, Tobias Wolff’s “elegant ode to writers” Old School, and John Crowley’s Little Big.
Hometown, U.S.A.
The American Dream is no more vivid than in the characterization of the "hometown." Looking at suburban, rural and urban life in the U.S.A., students investigate the reality of the American Dream. Readings include Wilder's Our Town, Master's Spoon River Anthology, Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, Walker's The Color Purple, Dorris' A Yellow Raft on Blue Water, and short stories by Updike and Cheever.
The Jazz Age and Beyond…
The 1920s were an era of turmoil and exuberance in America. World War I shattered our innocence and laid challenges to time-honored values, but at the same time made change and experimentation possible. This course will examine the literary innovations of the Roaring Twenties and beyond. Works to be read include F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, and poetry by writers of the Harlem Renaissance.
Jewish Literature in America - The Magic Barrel
Jews arrived from Europe to settle in Brooklyn, Newark, and Short Hills. With humor and insight they wrote moving stories with funny dialog that concerns conflicts between parents and children, between friends and neighbors, between traditional Jewish rituals and modern suburban rites. what does it feel like to be a Jew in America? We find answers in the stories told by Elie Wiesel (Night and Dawn); Chaim Potok (The Chosen and My Name Is Asher Lev); and Philip Roth (Good-Bye, Columbus).
The Puritan Legacy
What were the dreams of the Puritans? Why were they Utopians? Why were they often disillusioned? This course explores the contradictory aspects of the Puritan ethic. It considers the vestiges of Puritanism that have survived into our own time and their continuing effect on the American consciousness. Readings include the plays The Crucible and Inherit the Wind, Hawthorne's short stories, The Scarlet Letter, and Wharton's Ethan Frome.
Southern Literature—Illusion versus Reality
"The South is a deceptively complex area, varied in its people and its climate, and marked by strong differences of racial origins, social values, temperaments, and landscapes." This course examines the concept of illusion versus reality in Southern writing. Readings include the plays The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire and The Little Foxes. Novels include The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter and Wise Blood. Students also read selected short stories of Faulkner, Capote, and Welty.
Women in Literature
This course explores the challenges that are particular to women’s experience. We will consider the ways that men and women portray female characters and their struggles to reach a coherent sense of self—their crises and their successes. Students read novels, short stories and poems such as The House of Mirth (Wharton), The Awakening (Chopin), Daisy Miller (James), “The Yellow Wallpaper” (Gilman) “Roman Fever” (Wharton), “The Story of an Hour” (Chopin) and assorted poetry.
Writers' Workshop
"Think of writing in terms of discovery," said Gertrude Stein. Writing provides a way for students to sort through their experiences, to make sense of their world, to share their observations with others. This course provides opportunities for those who feel they need more intensive work in writing, as well as those who want to develop their talents in writing. Writing activities include free writing, journal writing, sensory exercises, autobiography, memoir, portrait, profile, interview, as well as college application essays and English achievement test writing. Major objectives include helping students to generate topics for writing, to develop a sense of audience, to decide on form and organization, to edit and proofread.
Voices across Borders: Multicultural Literature from the American Southwest
Many voices come together to tell the story of our nation’s history. This course celebrates the voices of the American Southwest. Although the US-Mexico border is a clear spatial demarcation, The Latino traditions, values, art, and literature have infused the mosaic of our culture. Course readings include stories by Native-American, Anglo-American, and Mexican-American authors such as Rudolfo Anaya, Sandra Cisneros, Laura Esquivel, and Leslie Marmon Silko.
Humanities: The Art of Being Human
The great art historian, Lord Kenneth Clark, writes of the first Duke of Urbino, Frederigo Montefeltro, as a wise, courageous, and compassionate Renaissance ruler. When asked what is necessary as in ruling a kingdom, the Duke replied, essere umano - "to be human." The timeless task of humanities as a course and as a discipline, is to explore the literature, history, art, music, and philosophy concerned with human culture. What does it mean to be human? From Plato to Picasso, from Homer to human rights, from the Elegant Universe to that smile on the Mona Lisa, this course is an invitation and a guide to that narration as to how we became the people that we are and why we think the way that we do. Beginning with a history of philosophy that is also a mystery and a fantasy novel, Sophie's World, we move to the place of art in our lives, How Art Made the World: How Humans Made Art and How Art Made Us Human. There is so much to explore. This is a good start.