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English Instruction at Santa Catalina School
Summer 2009 Reading List: English (PDF)
In the English department, we direct our curriculum toward developing the students' use of language as a tool for thought, for we hope ultimately to make them independent and productive thinkers. In practice, the English curriculum has two basic elements - literature and writing - since they are the best ways to stimulate and measure the students' progress in learning to think.
Curriculum
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- Creative Writing
- Creative Writing will focus on trying several exercises to generate fresh material and working in several genres to expand students' experiences in writing. Units will focus on poetry, the short story, drama, and an extended project of the student's choice. We will also study writing by successful authors (both published and unpublished) and work with the creative writing texts of Natalie Goldberg and Anne Lamott. Lastly, students will read and respond to the work of other students in the class with and eye toward improving their editing skills and helping each other grow as writers.
Course Outcomes: Upon completion of this course students will be able to:
1. write in a variety of poetic forms including the sonnet, the ode, the villanelle, the sestina, and the haiku;
2. compose original observations and descriptions in poetic language;
3. create and develop conflict and resolution in short narrative;
4. create and develop original characters;
5. write effective dramatic writing and prepare it for performance;
6. read/ perform their written work with confidence;
7. refine and edit their creative writing;
8. sustain long term writing projects;
9. read and respond to the work of their peers using constructive language.
- English 1
- Freshman English provides an introduction to literature and composition. The course introduces the four basic genres of literature: poetry, drama, fiction (both short stories and novels), and nonfiction. It also lays a foundation for understanding the development of the Western tradition in literature, beginning with the Greeks-notably Sophoclean tragedy-and continuing through the Renaissance, particularly Shakespeare, and the Victorian period to the contemporary. It delves deeply into the authors' aesthetics and techniques as well as theme and character analysis.
The literature provides topics as well as models for composition. The course develops the essay-both analytical and personal-with emphasis on thesis and proof, structure and organization, and the elements of style. We begin with the essay form and work on generating and defending theses, on refining style, and on developing a personal voice in writing.
- English 2
- Sophomore English, in both the standard and the honors sections, provides an introduction to American literature including works of fiction, drama, and poetry. The course also aims to refine the student's ability to organize her writing effectively, to read and think critically, and to express her ideas deliberately. Designed as a writing through literature course, students will use American literature as a springboard to writing, responding to text with both analytical and expository essays.
Students will respond to the text with class discussion and with writing. While gaining insight into each author's intention and contribution to American literature is important to success, the course puts equal focus on the student's ability to communicate clearly and logically as they experiment in developing their own ideas. Students will also be expected to take a leading role in class discussions. We will enjoy occasional sessions of peer review, an opportunity for students to respond directly to each other's writing. This will allow participants to appreciate how a classmate pursues a similar task and offer students the opportunity to directly assist one another at this sometimes challenging business of becoming better writers.
- English 2 Honors
- Sophomore English, in both the standard and the honors sections, provides an introduction to American literature including works of fiction, drama, and poetry. The course also aims to refine the student's ability to organize her writing effectively, to read and think critically, and to express her ideas deliberately. Designed as a writing through literature course, students will use American literature as a springboard to writing, responding to text with both analytical and expository essays.
Students will respond to the text with class discussion and with writing. While gaining insight into each author's intention and contribution to American literature is important to success, the course puts equal focus on the student's ability to communicate clearly and logically as they experiment in developing their own ideas. Students will also be expected to take a leading role in class discussions. We will enjoy occasional sessions of peer review, an opportunity for students to respond directly to each other's writing. This will allow participants to appreciate how a classmate pursues a similar task and offer students the opportunity to directly assist one another at this sometimes challenging business of becoming better writers.
- English 3
- This course provides a survey of some of the most important and engaging works in the tradition of English Literature. Including works of fiction, drama, autobiography, and poetry, the course introduces students to specific authors and their texts--and also to the historical and cultural contexts in which these texts were produced. The course seeks to develop students' skills in reading, performance, critical thinking, composition, and both written and oral interpretation of literature.
- English 4: World Literature
- The purpose of this course is to expose the students to a broad range of literature written in languages other than English and to thus expose them to various cultures from around the world. Special stress has been placed on certain classic works of literature that have had strong influence on our culture in its multiplex form and on our contemporary literature. Several papers will be written in this course, but the emphasis will be on reading and understanding literature rather than on composition. The primary theme of this course will be an examination of what each culture values in human endeavor, and, where applicable, what each culture expects from its heroes or heroines.
- English Language and Composition Advanced Placement
- This course has a dual identity. Its primary identity is as the junior honors English class, and as such it fits into the general English curriculum and all of its goals, being primarily literature centered. Works of literature are read, discussed, and written about. The secondary purpose of the course is to prepare the students for the AP English Language and Composition exam, which consists of:
1. a multiple choice section in which prose passages are read critically and closely and questions are asked to determine the student's ability to understand the meaning and the techniques of the author and to make correct inferences from the reading and
2. an essay section in which the student writes two essays analyzing the style of given passages and a third essay making a persuasive argument.
- English Literature and Composition Advanced Placement
- The Literature and Composition Advanced Placement class sets out to polish the skills students have acquired in previous English courses at Santa Catalina School. Because English Lit AP is the final course in the four-year sequence, its list of student learning outcomes is nearly identical to that of the entire departmental four-year program. The course prepares students for the demands of reading, writing, and thinking that they will encounter in college by taking them through a college-level course while they are still in high school. Through a study of literature, which serves as a source of ideas and which provides models of good writing, the course attempts to bring each girl to a level of analytical thought and expository prose that equals that of students at the best colleges and universities. In other words, English Literature and Composition Advanced Placement sets out to accomplish the same goals as the department as a whole, but starting at a relatively high level of skill, with major emphasis on abstract and philosophical thought.
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