English

The AP English Literature and Composition course is designed and taught thematically with an emphasis on core readings along with modern and contemporary selections that illuminate and expand upon a variety of themes. AP English Literature and Composition closely follows the requirements described in the AP English Literature and Composition Course and Exam Description (CED), including the fundamentals of literary analysis and introductory college composition. Each week students discuss and engage in a variety of writing activities focusing on argumentation, interpretation, analysis, rhetorical strategies, exposition, structure, and style. Students read and study a variety of novels, plays, poems, and short stories from the 16th century to the present. The course focuses on the experience of literature, the interpretation of literature, the evaluation of literature, and writing to develop stylistic maturity and sophistication. Students practice their writing via numerous timed essays, which are revised several times, as well as longer essays that require outside research and MLA formatting. Students also practice oral communication skills, through regular classroom discussions and acting as discussion facilitators.

African Literature--"West African Literature" introduces students to literature from West African nations, such as Nigeria, Senegal, and Ghana, and explores how authors use literature as a form of activism against the remnants of European colonialism. We will also look at how West African authors use literature to create new futures and imagine new identities.

In this reading intensive course, we will read three classic works of English literature by the Brontës: Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847), Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847), and Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848). In our discussion of these texts, we will explore the world of early Victorian England, developing insights into societal expectations and roles of women. We will also explore the limitations of the publishing world and the necessity of pseudonyms during the publication process. This course explores the world of the Brontës, the impact of their work on English and global literatures, and the influence society has in determining who can and cannot create art. Furthermore, we will delve deeply into early Victorian England history, the role of women within Victorian society, and explore why the Victorian era continues to fascinate readers.

This course asks students to consider what it means to write their own experience. How do we understand the narratives of our lives? How do we tell our own stories in a way that satisfies both the truth and our readers’ narrative expectations? Students will read selections from memoirists and autobiographers in addition to nonfiction texts about how to write about their own lives and will, over the course of the trimester, produce a single longform autobiographical essay.

This course is designed to encourage you to think about ways of communicating true stories using innovative, engaging techniques across a variety of media. We will read a variety of genres and forms, and you will have the opportunity to dig deeper into a style that appeals to you. Since this is a senior English course, this class will also focus on reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills that are necessary for success in college and beyond. You will be asked to analyze and critique works by published creators as well as your peers, and to create your own nonfiction texts, in order to understand how methods of storytelling can affect the impact of the story itself.

The word “femininity,” like the word “woman,” is what theorists might call a floating signifier--it is so loaded with meaning, it means so many (contradictory) things in so many (confusing) ways, that it almost ceases to have any fixed meaning at all. For example, women are expected to be both quiet and demure and garrulous and gossipy; a woman should be her husband’s domestic helpmeet and a modern #girlboss. This course will interrogate the pleasures and perils of femininity through theory, personal narrative, and fiction. Sample texts include Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” and excerpts from John Berger’s Ways of Seeing and Laurie Penny’s Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies, and Revolution.

This course will introduce students to medieval literature and allow them to become familiar with the genres and tropes of chivalric romance. Chivalric romance, which includes Arthurian legends and stories about knights, ladies, wizards, and monsters, is a staple of the Western literary tradition, and continues to this day. Students will learn about courtly love, the formal social code that detailed proper courtly behavior. Courtly love was enormously influential on medieval literature. The core of the course will be a thorough reading of Marie de France’s Breton Lais, and we will supplement our understanding of the genre with selections from Andreas Capellenus’ De Amore. In addition to a meticulous formalist reading of the text, we will also use a variety of theoretical approaches to understand this literature. We may also look at contemporary portrayals of chivalric romance, either in popular novels or other media. Student assessment will include writing assignments (analytical papers) and class discussion.

This course serves as an introduction to critical and literary theory through the lens of queer theory. Using Jeffrey Nealon and Susan Searls Giroux’s The Theory Toolbox, it begins with an introduction to some of the foundational concepts of theory and philosophy. The course aims to historicize notions of identity in general (and sexual identity specifically) and to denaturalize our understanding of ‘culture,’ ‘identity,’ and ‘biology.’ We will read some of the foundational texts of the academic school of queer theory, including Gayle Rubin’s “The Traffic in Women: Notes on the Political Economy of Sex.”

Science fiction is a literary genre that allows readers to imagine the future—to imagine progress. This course will examine the depiction of progress in (and through) science fiction, covering several short stories and novels in the genre. At the end of the trimester, students will use what they’ve learned to write a science fiction short story inspired by exemplary science writing. Sample texts include Dawn by Octavia Butler, “Mono No Aware” by Ken Liu, and a selection of Ursula Le Guin short stories. Our reading (or watching) will be shaped in part by student interest.

This course will focus on the craft of storytelling. Our guiding questions will be how a writer composes a story and why stories are told and listened to. Throughout the trimester, as we read and discuss a number of key short stories, we will be focusing primarily on the formal elements of narrative such as plot, characterization, setting, and pacing. In a sense, we will be taking apart these narrative machines to see how they work. Each of the stories we read will be accompanied by at least one short writing assignment intended both to stimulate the imagination and to practice certain structural elements of fiction writing. Along with these weekly small writing assignments, we will each be working on one major short story. All of this writing will be shared with the rest of the class in workshop and peer review formats. By the end of the trimester, we will all become better storytellers and have enriched our appreciation for the vital role that narrative serves in our lives.

This course will introduce students to Shakespeare’s England, focusing specifically on the conditions of the theatre in London, gender, politics, and religion, and how that history can help us understand Shakespeare’s texts more completely. The first half of the trimester will be focused on the history; the second half will involve a close study of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The trimester will end with an introduction to New Historicism (also known as Cultural Poetics), a method of critical inquiry that foregrounds the social and contingent nature of literary production and interpretation. Students will give presentation and write a research essay in the style of New Historicism at the end of the trimester.

Modern & Contemporary Poetry is founded in the belief that poetry is an irreplaceable human art whose power and pleasure can be savored by everyone, and that we are all poets. In this course we will explore and consider a diverse selection of writing from the modern period (late 1800s-1950s) to that from the most contemporary poets. Together, in our own writing, we will strive to progress in communicating our ideas in concise language, using some of the techniques of the modern and contemporary eras.

It is a quintessentially human pursuit to ask, “What is the meaning of life?” In this reading-intensive and discussion-based course, students will explore the ways in which authors have grappled with this question, specifically authors who have come to the conclusion that there may not be an intended purpose to our existence. While fiction will be our primary focus, the class will also read non-fiction works by existentialist thinkers. Students will be expected to write frequent reflections and one long-form essay.

The prevalence of ghost stories in cultures and civilizations throughout recorded history indicates that there is something uniquely human about the supposition of a spirit world. This reading-intensive and discussion-based course is driven by the thesis that ghost stories are almost always about the living, revealing anxieties about identity, loss, memory, and mortality. Students will additionally explore the historical and sociological factors that influenced the post-industrial revolution ghost story.

"Weird Literature" explores the Weird as a literary genre, a genre of writing that recycles, reimagines, and subverts tired tropes and cliches from horror, fantasy, and science fiction, as well as combines different literary styles together to make a wholly new form of storytelling.

In the early twentieth century, a small neighborhood in the northern section of Manhattan, New York became a world-famous center for Black intellectuals and artists. In this course, we will read fiction, poetry, essays, and plays — all written by African American writers — from this fascinating and transformative period in American history.

This course will offer a very brief introduction to moral philosophy. In addition to reading about western philosophy throughout the ages, we'll discuss all manner of ethical quandaries, write several short essays about ethics, and write one longer exploration of a complex topic using multiple theoretical lenses.

Reel Narrative I --"Introduction to Film" studies film as an artform with a language pulling from literature, theatre, and photography as well as crafting its own artistic perspectives. By the end of the trimester, students will be able use foundational concepts of film to analyze, interpret, and write about cinema.

Reel Narrative II explores the history of the horror genre in film. Beginning with the 1920 German expressionist silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and ending with the contemporary horror film Get Out, this class analyzes the evolution of horror over the past 125 years. Furthermore, we will learn film terminology, such as mise-en-scène and cinematography, which we will incorporate into our film responses and analytic paper. By the end of the class, we will have foundational knowledge of cinematic analysis and vocabulary. Reel Narrative I is not a requirement to take this class.

The purpose of this class is to analyze and enjoy ancient Greek drama (6th century BCE) in its theatrical, historical and social context. In addition, we will make prosopon (Greek theater masks), write an essay, and create our own short plays. While this may sound intimidating, you will be surprised by these forward thinking, thought provoking, and enjoyable texts.

Punk is a music-based subculture that began in the 1970s, evolving over the decades into many related subcultures. For this course, we will be reading and discussing non-fiction texts that illustrate the successes and failures of these movements (with a focus on the feminist movement), and we will be using the music as a point of departure to strengthen our writing skills — via creative writing exercises and essays.