The Department attempts to teach students to use words: to read with care, to write with imagination and logic, to listen with attentiveness, and to speak with clarity. In grades nine through eleven, a common core of readings presents a broad range of literary types, and includes a play by Shakespeare, a nineteenth-century novel, and at least one work by a woman or person of color. Teachers choose other appropriate works to supplement this core. At all levels, students write in a variety of forms, from the personal and narrative to the expository and analytic. In grades nine and ten, students study descriptive and functional grammar and take annual grade-wide grammar exams. Using diverse syllabi and approaches, we encourage our students to become independent readers and writers.

Requirement:
Continuous enrollment in English, grades nine through twelve

Courses

English Nine (012)
The first trimester is devoted entirely to writing. Students write and rewrite daily on topics ranging from the personal and observational to the narrative, evaluative, and analytic. The unit stresses writing as developmental thinking. Students are introduced to various techniques for originating, amplifying, organizing, and revising the expression of their ideas. The writing trimester is graded Pass/Fail, and students submit a portfolio of work for evaluation.

In the second trimester students resume the list of core reading, including Macbeth, Jane Eyre, and Kric? Krac! Lyric poems and short stories chosen by each teacher provide practice in close reading. The class reviews descriptive grammar and pursues a course in functional grammar.

English Ten (014)
In this course, students read The Odyssey, Othello, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and lyric poems chosen by their teacher. Emphasis is placed upon expository and analytic writing. Functional grammar and English usage are taught in considerable detail as students prepare for their last grade-wide grammar final.

English Eleven (016)
The first trimester is devoted to an intensive study of poetry and to instruction in writing analytic essays about poems. Using texts of their own choosing, teachers help their students to develop an appropriate vocabulary with which to respond to a variety of poets and poetic forms. In the second trimester, which is devoted to tragic drama, texts include Hamlet, Oedipus the King and Antigone. In the third trimester, fiction is our subject; students read Pride and Prejudice and other works chosen by each teacher. Students continue to write analytic papers and also receive instruction in the writing of research papers.

Senior Electives (018)
All seniors not in Advanced Placement English take three consecutive one-trimester electives. These electives may be taken by students in grade 11 in addition to English 11.
The offerings each trimester cover a broad range of literary periods and genres. Some courses stress expository or analytic writing; others engage students in writing original poems or short stories. The Department varies electives in response to its own changing composition and the changing needs of our students.

Senior Electives recently offered:

America After World War II
American Perspectives
The Art of Deception
Austen and Woolf
Chaucer
Heroes and Heroines
History and Literature in 19th century America
James Joyce
Memory and Identity
Men, Women and Nature
Modern American Drama
Modern European Drama
Modern Poetry
The Nineteenth-Century Novel
Reading and Writing Non-Fiction
Romantic Poetry
Shakespeare
Toni Morrison
Writing the Short Story

Advanced Placement English (020)
The department offers one section of Advanced Placement each year. Admission is competitive, and requires grades in English which average closer to an A- than to a B+, as well as the permission of the department. The roster for this class is chosen in the third trimester, so a timely application is necessary.
The curriculum of AP English consists of readings in lyric poetry, Shakespearean drama, the essay, and prose fiction. Works considered in the current school year include Volpone, Great Expectations, Sir Gawain and the Green Night, Beloved, The Merchant of Venice, The Rape of the Lock and other verse satire, and A Room of One's Own, among others. Extensive written work accompanies the texts and emphasizes analysis of literary themes, styles, and techniques. Students in AP English are required to take the Advanced Placement Examination.