English

6 meetings per seven-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 as well as 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, short fiction, a film, and such texts as Romeo and Juliet, Antigone, and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

As in History 9, students not meeting a minimum standard of competency in English 9 may be asked or required to enroll in a writing workshop or to participate in some other program to support their writing.

6 meetings per seven-day cycle/3 credits. Required for sophomores.

In tenth-grade English, we explore works of poetry, drama, and fiction in order to develop students’ 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 foundation 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).

6 meetings per seven-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 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, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and The Bluest Eye).

English 12 divides into two parts: a two-trimester literature course and a one trimester exploration of good writing in a variety of subject areas and modes.

The Two-Trimester Literature Course

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”: literature, journalism, film, theatre, advertisements, and the visual arts.

In addition, students will develop their skills both as writers and thinkers through class presentations, group projects, and writing tasks in a variety of genres.

Students will 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 will 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.

English 12 Logistics

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-Sept. 11th 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 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; nonfictions 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.

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.

3 meetings per seven-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 (who have already been selected), three managing editors (to be selected from current sophomores for a two-year commitment in junior year 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. 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 a new 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.

Students 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 the 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.

3 meetings per seven-day cycle/ 2 credits.
Enrollment limited.

This interdisciplinary course will use roleplay gaming and collaborative worldbuilding 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 metagaming, 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.

3 meetings per seven-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.

3 meetings per seven-day cycle/2 credits

Open to juniors and seniors; open to sophomores with special permission of the Department Head. Enrollment limited to two sections.

3 meetings per seven-day cycle/2 credits

Prerequisite: Foundations of Creative Writing or special permission of Department Head

3 meetings per seven-day cycle /2 credits.

Open to all Upper School students with preference to freshmen, sophomores, and juniors.

3 Meetings per 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, writers such 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!

Texts may include: The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton, The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger, Big Two-Hearted River Parts 1 and 2 by Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, A River Runs Through It by Norman McLean, The Song of Wandering Aegnus by William Butler Yeats, Wyoming Stories by E. Annie Proulx, Fifth Grade Autobiography by Rita Dove, Moby Dick (excerpts only – “Loomings” and “Stubb Kills a Whale” + maybe one other), The River Why by David James Duncan, Walking by Henry David Thoreau, Arthur Rackham illustrations, and Hudson River School paintings, and possibly works by James Prosek and John Gierach.

3 meetings per eight-day cycle/2 credits

Open to all students.

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

3 Meetings per cycle/2 credits

Open to seniors and juniors. Preference to seniors. Juniors admitted as space may permit.