Upper School
US Curriculum

English

The Upper School English faculty strives to lead students to embrace a life-long appreciation of literature, analytical thought, and engagement in their world.
Students hone their grammar skills, find their own voices for various audiences, develop their use of diction and syntax, learn to exploit literary/rhetorical devices, refine their logical thought and expression, and grow as successful public speakers. They develop a mastery of on-demand and process-oriented writing so they can dispatch simple writing tasks and tackle complex ones.

Our teachers nurture students through reading and writing assignments, writing workshops, thoughtful feedback, and frequent one-on-one meetings. Students become perceptive readers and fluent, powerful communicators as they gain skills that facilitate self-discovery, critical thinking, self-awareness, originality, intellectual independence, ethical use of evidence and research, and the capacity to construct knowledge for themselves.

English: Major Courses

List of 8 items.

  • English 9

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits
    Required for ninth graders

    Ninth grade English is designed to introduce all Upper School students to the foundational reading, writing and thinking skills necessary to become successful English students throughout their high school careers and beyond. Students are exposed to drama, film, creative nonfiction, poetry, short stories and novels, where they learn the conventions associated with these forms and the skills necessary for reading, analyzing and discussing them. Throughout the course of the year, the students learn how to close-read language-based details within a text, determine which of those details have significance and characterize them into a textual pattern (reoccurring language in a text). It is through examining these textual patterns that students learn how to begin the process of argumentation, both verbal and written.

    This course aims to use writing to generate ideas in addition to expressing interpretations and arguments in traditional analytical essays and creative writing pieces. Over the course of the year, students work on key aspects of writing, from composing sentences and paragraphs to multi-stage essays that move from proposals to drafts to final versions.

    Typical works include a summer reading text, poetry, numerous works of short fiction, an episode of a television program, such as the “Nosedive” episode of Black Mirror, the film Moulin Rouge! and such texts as The Shadow Hero and The Catcher in the Rye.
  • English 10

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits
    Required for sophomores


    In tenth grade English, students explore works of poetry, drama and fiction in order to develop their reading, writing and speaking skills. In developing these skills, students enhance their ability to explore textual patterns (reoccurring language in a text) and to reflect on the consequences of abstract ideas in the world beyond the text. Classroom discussion supports the development of close-reading and analytical thinking, and students take increasing ownership in discussion over the course of the year.

    In their writing, students continue to develop upon the analytical foundations learned in ninth grade. Their writing throughout the year consists of in-class essays, homework posts, reflective journals, some creative work and formal multi-stage essays that move from generative writing to topic proposals to drafts to final versions. 

    Possible course texts include a summer reading text, a variety of poetry and short fiction, a Shakespearean play and a novel (past works include: The Stranger, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Leave Taking and others).
  • English 11

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits
    Required for juniors


    In eleventh grade English, we explore works of fiction, nonfiction and poetry in order to continue to develop students’ reading, writing, thinking and speaking skills. In this curriculum that emphasizes the way stories are told, students will encounter challenging and divergent styles of narrative that will enhance their ability to reflect on the consequences of abstract ideas in the world beyond the text. Classroom discussion and online discussion board posts function as the bedrock of the course, and, as the year progresses, class will be run via student presentations and leaderless discussions.

    In their writing, students continue to develop their analytical skills from tenth grade but with a focus on putting texts in conversation with contemporary articles, pop culture and literary theory. Their writing throughout the year consists of in-class essays, homework posts, reflective journals, some creative work and formal multi-stage essays that move from generative writing to topic proposals to drafts to final versions.

    Possible course texts include a summer reading text, American fiction, nonfiction, poetry and scholarly articles (past works include: Homegoing, Slaughterhouse Five, The Passion, The Great Gatsby, Get Out, and The Bluest Eye).
  • English 12: Overview

    5 meetings per eight-day cycle/3 credits
    Required for seniors
     
    English 12 divides into two parts: a two-trimester literature course and a one-trimester exploration of good writing.

    Trimesters One and Two
    Choosing from American literature, British literature, the literature of Africa, India and the Caribbean in English, and World Literature in English and in translation, each of Hackley’s three twelfth grade literature courses comprises a two-trimester unit introducing students to collegiate-level work in exploring and writing about literature, culture and theory. 

    While each of the courses offers a unique selection of texts, themes and critical perspectives, all courses serve to develop students’ skills as readers of many types of texts, including literature, journalism, film, theater, advertisements and the visual arts. In addition, students develop their skills both as writers and thinkers through class presentations, group projects and writing tasks in a variety of genres.

    Students come to appreciate that the Anglo-American literary tradition is not the only viable tradition; that the Anglo-American tradition has complexities they have not yet encountered; that a historical approach must not look purely at the center of a literary domain but must also look at its borders on the margins of the text; that there are no “theory-free” readings of texts or cultures; that all language is political and that even the “plain style” has an agenda; that the politics of “othering” limits our perceptions; that we must step out of and look critically at the center of society; and that we have much to learn from the range of critical theories open to us, including but not limited to historicism, new criticism, feminism, Marxism, deconstruction, new historicism, cultural materialism, queer theory, post-colonial theory, social-spatial theory, etc.

    Students pursue class presentations, group projects and writing tasks in a variety of genres, with a major written project (but no exam) due in the second trimester.


    The Third-Trimester Exploration of Good Writing 
    The third trimester focuses on students’ writing a longer analytical essay on a topic of their own choosing—either a text or an event of cultural significance. For this essay, texts include novels, graphic novels, webtoons, plays, short stories, films, poems, TV shows, music albums, works of visual art and other works of fiction. An “event of cultural significance” is an occurrence or a set of closely related occurrences that, when analyzed, surface a new, nuanced understanding of the culture in which they occur. Topics may include events in the realms of politics, social justice, technology, environmentalism, sports, etc.

    While the first two trimesters of this year rely on literary and cultural theory, students may choose whether or not to deploy theory in the writing of this essay. One goal of this assignment is for students to produce essays they can enjoy writing and of which they can be proud—essays drawing upon their own intellectual interests and their studies in other disciplines, such as history, science, art, economics, music, etc. Another goal is for students to refine their creative thinking and expression so that they can go forth as creative, intelligent thinkers with something significant to say to the world.
    Students not only read and write, but they also explore models of effective writing, read and write about the writing of their peers, write metacognitively about their own writing and participate in writing workshops on selected pieces of student work.

    English 12 Logistics 
    The English Department offers three course options to seniors: 
    • Panopticon Prime: Privacy, Surveillance & Digital Citizenship 
    • Comedies of Courtship 
    • Listening to Dead People 
    Students rank their preferences first, second and third when they register. While the department makes every effort to accommodate student preferences, both scheduling conflicts and the necessity of maintaining a favorable student-to-teacher ratio mean that some students will be enrolled in a second choice and a few may be enrolled in their third choice for English 12.
  • English 12: Panopticon Prime: Privacy, Surveillance & Digital Citizenship

    Do you feel watched—on the internet, on the roads, at school or at home? By whom? What sort of agendas do those watchers have? Who watches the watchers?

    This course examines the literary, philosophical and sociopolitical dimensions of our over-lit, always-on and forever-remembered contemporary moment. We proceed from the assertion that we live in a panopticon—a prison in which total control would be possible through the implication of 24/7 constant surveillance. What does a society gain and lose when it privileges publicity and transparency over privacy? What is the optimal balance between state power and individual right? When and how should contemporary national concerns—for instance, the need for safety in a post-September 11 world—supersede individual concerns? Further, what happens if the panopticon becomes so normative in the daily lives of the citizenry that its occupants either do not realize or do not care about the questions above?

    Readings may include fiction, such as George Orwell’s 1984, Maurice Carlos Ruffin’s We Cast a Shadow, Yoko Ogawa’s The Memory Police, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale or Amniatta Forma’s Happiness; poetry, such as Claudia Rankine’s Citizen; nonfiction, such as Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, essays by Kiese Laymon in How to Live and Die In America or Evgeny Morozov’s To Save Everything Click Here; various media by and about Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei; and visual material, including episodes of Black Mirror and other film excerpts.

    English 12 Logistics 
    The English Department offers three course options to seniors: 
    • Panopticon Prime: Privacy, Surveillance & Digital Citizenship 
    • Comedies of Courtship 
    • Listening to Dead People 
    Students rank their preferences first, second and third when they register. While the department makes every effort to accommodate student preferences, both scheduling conflicts and the necessity of maintaining a favorable student-to-teacher ratio mean that some students will be enrolled in a second choice and a few may be enrolled in their third choice for English 12.
  • English 12: Comedies of Courtship

    What is it about love and dating that turns people into such ridiculous fools? In this course, we will examine stories that treat the experiences of dating, falling in love and marriage as comedic endeavors. We will consider such questions as:
    • To what extent is love natural, and to what extent is it culturally constructed?
    • What are the cultural practices that govern how people go about finding and choosing a mate?
    • How do things like class and gender affect our notions of love and dating and the ways we experience it?
    • How have different eras conceived of love and dating? 
    Why our texts generate laughter will also be the focus of our study. The class will explore several specific types of comedy, such as high comedy, low comedy, satire, farce, comedy of manners and more. We will also debate the merits of comedy itself. What can it achieve? What are its effects? What social role does it play? We will examine different theories of comedy to see how it can serve as social criticism, escapism, as a means to subversion, as a vehicle by which to express socially suppressed ideas, as a lubricant to ease social change, etc.

    English 12 Logistics 
    The English Department offers three course options to seniors: 
    • Panopticon Prime: Privacy, Surveillance & Digital Citizenship 
    • Comedies of Courtship 
    • Listening to Dead People 
    Students rank their preferences first, second and third when they register. While the department makes every effort to accommodate student preferences, both scheduling conflicts and the necessity of maintaining a favorable student-to-teacher ratio mean that some students will be enrolled in a second choice and a few may be enrolled in their third choice for English 12.
  • English 12: Listening to Dead People

    Telling a story from the perspective of the dead or creating a character with whom dead people communicate makes possible the ultimate retrospective narration—whether such speakers communicate honestly about life, they remain so enmeshed in life that they confirm their biases, they struggle with the meaning of their lives, they do penance for their misdeeds, they speak from within a faith tradition or they speak from the void itself. Some of these non-corporeal speakers may be spirits, some may be hallucinations and some may be echoes in print, recording devices or social media. 

    At their worst, narratives from the place between life and eternity promise inanely that everything will be okay. We won’t read those books! At their best, these narratives challenge us to see that the unexamined life is wasted; that we must accept ourselves and others; that it is difficult to see ourselves as the object of others’ consciousnesses; that right actions are rarely easy and that wrong actions often seem right; that life is more complex, difficult and beautiful than we ever dreamed; and that everything will not be even vaguely okay unless we make it so. How do we do that? Join us and join the debate!

    To explore these texts and debate their implications, we will explore aspects of Buddhist, Christian and other belief systems, and we will consider the intersections of those beliefs with funerary practices, everyday acts, philosophy and big questions about existence and reality. 

    We will explore various stories of the dead told in various ways, refine our skills as readers and analytical writers, and spin a few tales—some fictional, some factual—from beyond the grave. 

    Texts may include: “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” by Thomas Gray (1751), Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters (1914), “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot (1915), Our Town by Thornton Wilder (1938), No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre (1944), The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien (1967), Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987), A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozecki (2013), Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (2017), Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward (2017) and Afterlife by Julia Alvarez (2020). 

    Film and TV may include: Sunset Boulevard dir. Billy Wilder (1950), Beetlejuice dir. Tim Burton (1988), Donnie Darko dir. Richard Kelly (2001), and “Silence in the Library” and “Forests of the Dead” (2008) from the Dr. Who series.

    English 12 Logistics 
    The English Department offers three course options to seniors: 
    • Panopticon Prime: Privacy, Surveillance & Digital Citizenship 
    • Comedies of Courtship 
    • Listening to Dead People 
    Students rank their preferences first, second and third when they register. While the department makes every effort to accommodate student preferences, both scheduling conflicts and the necessity of maintaining a favorable student-to-teacher ratio mean that some students will be enrolled in a second choice and a few may be enrolled in their third choice for English 12.
  • Advanced Placement English Exams

    During the spring semester, juniors and seniors who wish to take the AP Language and Composition exam and/or the AP Literature and Composition exam may take advantage of an after-school review program in the appropriate AP English test-taking strategies. These sessions will be provided by the English Department.

English: Minor Courses

List of 15 items.

  • Independent Research in History

    3 meetings per eight-day cycle/2 credits
    Open to juniors and seniors by application

    This course offers students the opportunity to conduct advanced research and writing at the college level under the guidance of History faculty. Students will develop their own topics or research questions, review the scholarly literature in the relevant discipline(s), understand and employ the research methodologies relevant to their research, and write on the research question, ultimately producing significant research essays. 

    While much research can be carried out using resources available at Hackley, we will support students in developing relationships with scholars whose own work is relevant to the students’ research. 

    This course requires a short application, which will be reviewed in combination with the student’s overall academic record in History. The application link can be found on HOL. Students currently taking Independent Research may enroll in these courses for a second year with the permission of their instructor.
  • Independent Research in Oral History and Storytelling

    3 meetings per eight-day cycle/2 credits
    Open to ninth to twelfth graders by application

    This course will allow students to explore how memory shapes our understanding of the past through the creation and interpretation of oral history. The first part of the course will focus on building interview skills through both hands-on practice and the study of interview-based works, such as podcasts and documentaries. In the latter part of the course, students will design and carry out an inquiry-based project rooted in their own original oral history research. These projects might include a documentary-style film or podcast, traditional research paper or a journalistic or literary piece.  Put another way, students will learn how to listen to people’s stories in order to tell a story of their own.

    This course requires a short application, which will be reviewed in combination with the student’s overall academic record in English and/or History. The application link can be found on HOL. Students currently taking Independent Research may enroll in these courses for a second year with the permission of their instructor.
  • The Vision: Multiple Views, Rich Media

    3 meetings per eight-day cycle/2 credits
    Open to grades 10-12

    Enrollment in the course is by application only. Enrollment will be limited to 12 students, including two editors-in-chief, three managing editors (to be selected from current sophomores for a two-year commitment in junior and senior year, when they will serve as editors-in-chief), two literary editors, two art editors, one web editor and one media/sound editor. When applying, students should indicate for which role or roles they feel they are best suited. Past experience with InDesign or a similar graphics program is a plus, though not a requirement, and students should mention what relevant experience they have in their applications. A Google Form application can be found on HOL. Interested students should complete the form and submit it no later than April 28 (the deadline for course selection).  Decisions will be made by May 12.

    This course will involve students creating a year-long presentation of Hackley creative writing and visual arts through print, web and digital media. Students will begin by soliciting, evaluating and editing literature and artwork for inclusion in the online literary and art magazine. They will help create and manage a basic online posting system on the Hackley website, and they will work as editors to support the online presence of these materials—both for internal and external audiences—with regular bi-weekly postings. 

    Students will select the best of the art and literature gathered for online presentation and will include this work in the printed publication. They will learn to use the InDesign graphics program to develop and manage visual layouts. They will design the printed publication and see it through all phases of editing, proofing and print production. They will also have to work within a budget, which will necessitate creative decision making as they bring their vision (pun intended) into reality. And they will be required to support and meet frequent deadlines for various components and phases of the project, culminating with delivery in the spring of The Vision publication. 

    In addition, The Vision will offer published students the opportunity to read their work (or have it read) for an audio CD that will accompany the printed magazine. Students working on the publication will help support the recording process and oversee the creation of the CD. Throughout the process of presenting both online and print versions of The Vision, students will learn to combine and manipulate different types of media, such as text, audio and graphics. They will employ microphones, scanners and other input devices to gather information. 

    While students will be enrolled based on application for specific roles in the editorial structure, where they will hold primary responsibility, students will participate in and learn all aspects of the project.
  • Creative Writing

    3 meetings per eight-day cycle/2 credits
    Open to juniors and seniors; open to sophomores with special permission of the Department Chair; enrollment limited to two sections

    Foundations of Creative Writing students are required to keep a journal and to carry a small notebook in which they jot down thoughts, observations, overheard dialogue or anything else that might be useful material in their creative writing. In addition, they have weekly assignments of varying lengths that involve them in a variety of writing techniques and subjects. The class meets three times a cycle to analyze and critique assignments and to talk about writing.
  • Advanced Creative Writing

    3 meetings per eight-day cycle/2 credits
    Prerequisite: Creative Writing 123 or special permission of Department Chair

    “Life, friends, is boring,” writes John Berryman in his fourteenth Dream Song. “We must not say so.” And yet, clearly was Berryman compelled to do so in this poem and the 384 other poems that make up his masterwork. The Dream Songs is many things—confessional, angry, sullen, sensual, jazzy, offensive, compassionate, elegiac—but it is first and foremost a work that is inimitably Berryman’s.

    Advanced Creative Writing, then, will provide a setting for proven (but still learning) writers to explore those topics, themes, ideas and utterances they feel compelled to put to page. It is a course in which students will learn the further use of the creative tools they will need in composing what might turn out, one day, to be their own masterworks. It is a course that will train creative writers to recognize creative voice—in canonical writers, in each other and in themselves.

    Students will read and write in a range of creative writing genres, including poetry, short fiction, plays, screenplays and song lyrics, but they will also focus on a self-selected topic or aspect of craft—akin to the sort of concentration a student might develop and pursue in an AP Art Studio course.

    The workshop experience will be the cornerstone of the course: students will submit their creative pieces for peer review and discussion. Peer creative writers will read those works prior to workshop and will prepare some feedback in advance. As personal reflection helps foster the development of a distinct unique voice, students will reflect in various ways on their own works and creative processes. Finally, students will encounter a variety of creative practices by reading widely from canonical and contemporary sources, which may include volumes from The Best American Poetry series and such literary journals as Poetry, American Poetry Review, and Tin House. The course may include occasional texts about the writing process, such as Dillard’s The Writing Life, Hugo’s The Triggering Town and Dobyns’s Best Words, Best Order.
  • Historical and Literary Analysis via Role-Play Games

    3 meetings per eight-day cycle/ 2 credits
    Enrollment limited

    This interdisciplinary course will use role-play gaming and collaborative world-building as a means to analyze literature and historical periods, write creative fiction and foster social learning. The structure of course units will involve building a fictionalized world and characters based on literary and historical texts and films and then roleplaying scenes and scenarios to foster ideas for individual student writing and group presentations.

    In addition to role-playing, creative writing and making presentations for class, students will learn about game system creation, reflect on meta-gaming and lead games as the head storyteller—which requires public speaking and improvisation skills.

    Potential game modules may include Collaborative Worldbuilding by Trent Hergenrader, Vampire: The Masquerade by White Wolf, Dungeons and Dragons by Wizards of the Coast, Star Wars: Age of Rebellion by Fantasy Flight Games and Dread by The Impossible Dream, among others.
  • Foundations of Reading, Writing and Thinking

    3 meetings per eight-day cycle/2 credits
    Open to all Upper School students with preference to freshmen, sophomores and juniors

    Focused on the practical, immediately useful basics of writing, “Foundations of Reading, Writing and Thinking” is intended for students who want to improve their skills as readers and writers. 
    Language allows us to communicate our ideas and to learn those of others. The more skillfully we put our ideas into words, the better we can understand ourselves and the world around us. Focused on practical reading, writing and thinking skills, the goal of this course is to help Upper School students develop and strengthen their reading and writing skills, and through them to strengthen their thinking and communication skills. We will examine both published and student-generated writing. 

    We will begin by working on introductions and theses: what to include in them when writing and what to look for in them when reading. Next, we will work on organization and support of ideas within paragraphs and organization of paragraphs within essays: how to organize to express ideas clearly and how to read actively to discern the organization and meaning of others. Then, we will take up the often-neglected conclusion, giving it the same attention. In the process, we will focus on close reading skills and on developing sensitivity to diction, syntax and tone. 

    As the year progresses—and in response to student needs—we will also work on editing and proofreading skills, which will involve learning the necessary grammar and punctuation. As much as possible, we will deal with grammar through online exercise and quizzes. In the second and third trimesters, the teacher will provide students with individualized instruction and feedback.
  • Teaching Literature

    See description for meeting frequency/2 credits
    Instructor permission required

    This course gives students interested in exploring English Education an opportunity to work with a faculty member and an English class throughout an entire school year as a Teaching Assistant. TAs participate in daily class discussions, help students with their writing and essay ideas, design presentations for their classes and discuss their personal academic experiences in Hackley English classes. This course is intended not only to support the TAs in learning how to be better communicators and mentors, but also to provide the students enrolled in English courses with a more dynamic and enriching learning environment. Students are expected to attend half of the course meetings per cycle, in addition to meeting with their host teacher once per cycle.
  • The Spoken Word: Creativity, Craft & Delivery

    3 meetings per eight-day cycle/2 credits

    This interdisciplinary course is offered with a BIPOC perspective in mind, thus supporting the ideals of Hackley's mission statement to learn from various perspectives. Students will study numerous spoken word styles, which may include texts of Moth-inspired personal tales, contemporary and classical monologues, great political speeches, stand-up comedy routines, hip-hop lyrics, slam poetry and other oratorical styles from diverse cultures.

    The instructors will co-teach in a format that allows for an open exchange of ideas and information with a goal of highlighting cultures and people often overlooked in a traditional educational environment. Participants will learn to write and perform these styles during the class. The culmination of the class will be the creation of a contemporary or electronic journal that will capture the highlights of the year.
  • Hexameter to Hip-Hop: Topics in Ancient to Modern Poetry

    3 meetings per eight-day cycle/2 credits

    This course is devoted to the idea that great art is great art, whether the artist is a breakbeat poet, hip-hop artist, classic rock musician, modernist poet, Renaissance sonneteer, early playwright, ancient myth maker or anything in between. We will look at the shared technical skills, topics and themes that keep people listening and reading.

    Questions we will explore together include:
    • What makes great poetry and music?
    • How are modern poets in conversation with those who come before them, and how can we join that conversation?
    • How has poetry at its best always explored questions of social justice; race, class and ethnicity; the relationship between the individual and society; power and oppression; gender and sexuality; and what it means to be human?
    We will enjoy and explore many different forms, images, symbols and language-based patterns. We will ask in what varying ways can we explore and write about poetry? In what varying ways can we write our own poetry?

    This course will include brief essays and will culminate in students producing, in collaboration with their peers, an analytical or creative project, which could include an anthology of poems or recordings with an artist statement—possibly for publication.

    While the instructors have poetry and music in mind, we will ask you to bring in your own, as well, so that we can build our definition of great poetic art together. We will look at translations, works written on similar topics and themes, and works written in response to one another. No knowledge of Latin or Greek is necessary. We will have some Zoom guests and some guests in person and maybe a trip to see a live performance at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.
  • Sophomore Seminar in Creative Writing

    3 meetings per eight-day cycle/2 credits
    Open to sophomores

    This is a course for those who think they can’t write creatively and for those who think maybe they can. Our major goal is that students become comfortable not only writing, but also talking about what they and others have written.

    Some topics for writing will come from the teacher and some from the students, but there will also be free writing without a particular topic and writing in which individuals choose their own topics.
  • Literature of Fishing, Wilderness and Identity

    3 meetings per eight-day cycle/2 credits

    In 1653, Isaac Walton wrote in his opening to The Compleat Angler that “Angling is an Art.” Since the publication of this book, such writers as Ernest Hemingway, Annie Proulx, Sebastian Junger, John Gierach, James Prosek and Herman Melville have explored the sublime and absurd aspects of fishing, using it as a way to explore the meaning of the wilderness and the complications of human nature.

    Students will read fiction, nonfiction and memoir, in addition to looking at works of art and film. While the majority of the class will focus on reading and discussion, there will also be short reflective writing pieces and class presentations. And, of course, we’ll take a fishing trip or two!
  • Psychology in Film

    3 meetings per eight-day cycle/2 credits
    Open to seniors; limited enrollment

    Understanding human behavior, whether it be that of others or of oneself, is at the core of all of life’s endeavors. This introductory course in psychology is designed to explore human behavior, social development and mental processes and how they are portrayed in film. Students will learn how biological heritage, surrounding environment and experiences influence development and behavior.  Through viewing documentary and commercial films, as well as through the examination of psychologists and their research, students will gain a clear understanding about what motivates human behavior and how we perceive, remember, adapt, solve problems, form relationships and find our place in the world.

    Topics of focus will include development, learning, memory, intelligence, motivation, emotion, personality, social psychology and abnormal psychology. Theorists of study will include, but will not be limited to, Freud, Piaget, Erikson, Pavlov, Skinner, Bandura, Kohlberg, Gilligan, Maslow, Gardner, Rogers, Milgram and Zimbardo. Students will connect psychological theory and experimental findings to the films viewed in class to help unravel the history of the field of psychology.

    Some of the films viewed will contain an R rating or may not have a rating. As such, these films may contain violence, brief nudity and strong language. Specific clips or films in their entirety will be chosen to scaffold and reinforce our discussions about the history of psychology and psychological theory. With this in mind, caregiver permission is required for this course.
  • Great Books Seminar

    3 meetings per eight-day cycle/2 credits
    Open to 11th and 12th graders or by instructor permission
     
    This course allows students to dive into some of the most influential and enduring works of literature, philosophy, theology, history and political science. Students will have the opportunity to engage with these texts in a critical and thoughtful manner, focusing purely on the texts themselves for fundamental truths about themselves and the world, including such themes as the nature of morality and justice, what is truth and how do we distinguish truth and falsehood, conceptions of the divine, how to best organize and design political communities, and the nature of self and consciousness, to name just a few. Importantly, texts are organized in such a way that they speak to each other on similar questions across time, allowing students to see how these questions have been addressed by different authors and perspectives, equipping them with a broader understanding of the world in which we live.

    The class is designed as a St. John's College seminar, with no lectures and an emphasis on collaborative learning through purposeful dialogue, structured around a series of close readings and discussions of key works. Each class would focus on a particular text. Class participation is the lifeblood of the class. In addition to discussion, each trimester, students will be required to produce a 3- to 5-page paper examining a theme, idea or question raised through our readings. The purpose of the course is to expose students to classical works from antiquity through modernity that have shaped our human understanding of the world and to encourage students to deepen their skills reading and analyzing more complex texts critically and independently. 

    Readings may include selections from:
    • Homer’s “Odyssey” and “Iliad”;
    • Plato's "Republic" and other dialogues;
    • Thucydides, Herodotus and Polybius;
    • Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
    • Aristotle's “Nicomachean Ethics,” “Politics” and “Metaphysics”;
    • Augustine’s “Confessions”;
    • Confucius’ “Analects”;
    • the Hebrew Bible and Gospels;
    • Hindu and Buddhist texts, including the Bhagavad Gita and selections from Early Buddhist Discourses;
    • Medieval, Renaissance and modern works, such as Basho, travel journals and haiku;
    • Descartes’ “Meditations” and Machiavelli’s “The Prince”;
    • Sophocles, Aristophanes, Ibsen and Shakespeare; and
    • Short stories and poetry from various authors.
  • Public Speaking

    3 meetings per eight-day cycle/2 credits
    Open to all Upper School students

    (Note: This course does not satisfy the Visual/Performing Arts graduation requirement.)

    This course will assist students in developing better public speaking skills through the use of voice, speech and presentation techniques. Topics covered in this class will include: 
    • Presenting informative, persuasive, storytelling, demonstration, impromptu and group speeches;
    • Dealing with stage fright;
    • Using one’s voice to one’s advantage; and
    • Relating to the audience.
    Students will be required to write their own speeches throughout the course of the year. They will watch and analyze great inspirational speeches, as well as those of their classmates.