English
Upper School English would typically take the form of a sequence of two general literature courses (focusing on coming-of-age stories and world literature, respectively) followed by to courses dedicated one to American and the other to British Literature. Of course, every year there is a thematic literature class as well.
Students at the higher levels are often advanced enough to begin studying theories of literary criticism.
English 9
English 9 will have 3 components: World Literature, essay writing, and vocabulary. Occasionally, film and other media will amplify some topics. The literature sequence will comprise poetry, fiction and non-fiction. We will emphasize close reading throughout. We begin with a selection of poems oriented to Peace Day. These fall into groups which can be called “Propaganda” and “War, the Reality”. English 9 includes a satyr play, “Alcestis” (Euripides), and the rollicking comedy Birds (Aristophanes). Also from the classics menu, Homer’s Odyssey Books 1-12 and Xenophon’s Memoirs of Anabasis.
English 10
Students in English 10 will explore texts and authors from different parts of the world to gain unique perspectives on historical events and people’s lives. This class is a precursor to the kinds of texts and readings that they will encounter in American Literature and British Literature.
British Literature and American Literature
It’s time for some theory. While students are near their senior year of high school, they begin encountering parts of themselves, their families, and their friends that sometimes prove difficult to understand; as they discover who they are, they come up against the challenge of stratifying themselves into a person they envision themselves to be in relation to the world around them. In both British Literature and American Literature, we not only focus on texts by British and American authors, but we also supplement our readings with Lois Tyson’s wonderful book, Critical Theory Today, to learn the brief history of literary theory and how it has informed the way we read texts in schools today.