| HUMANITIES: NINTH
GRADE
Humanities, a team-taught, double-period interdisciplinary class combining literature and history, introduces students to the cultures of ancient peoples in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. We begin with basic anthropology and study of the prehistoric world. Next, we turn to the development of river civilizations; we study mythology and the epic of Gilgamesh, along with the poetry and religious literature of the Egyptians and the Hebrews. In preparation for studying the great empires of both East and West, students read the Iliad and works by Confucius and Han Fei Tse. Greek and Roman historians and poets are read in conjunction with modern historical analyses of their times. Similarly, we base our study of the structure of Roman government on both primary and secondary sources. We read from The New Testament and The Koran and the Indian epic, Ramayana.
During the year, students keep a journal, take directed reading notes and write critical literary essays. Skills in observation and inference are taught. Students write historical essays and participate in a research project which requires finding and weighing sources, making an outline, and compiling a bibliography. Short pieces of creative writing based on course content are assigned. During class, students take part in large and small group discussions, dramatic readings and visual learning through maps, movies, and slides. (Y)
ENGLISH 10: TENTH GRADE
Reinforcing the skills learned in Humanities, English 10 encourages students to grow in the clarity of their thought, writing, speech and imagination. We begin with expository and persuasive writing, shoring up students’ abilities to observe, explain and argue. We focus throughout on the interpretation of literature as a means of enhancing the depth of students’ writing and reflection. For one quarter we concentrate primarily on poetry: students read poetry closely and carefully, pursue a research project devoted to the work and life of a chosen poet and write their own poems. In the spring they immerse themselves in stories, from ancient folk and fairy tales to modern short stories, and produce short works of fiction. Books read in recent years include Things Fall Apart, Frankenstein, Much Ado About Nothing, Hard Times, Master Harold and the Boys, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and the short story anthology The Story and its Writer. (Y)
ENGLISH 11: ELEVENTH GRADE
Students in English 11 learn to write in a variety of genres, expanding their skills and developing their own voices. First we ask them to see literature as a mode of philosophical reflection; next they venture into the world to explore a topic of their choice in the Literary Journalism Project (LJP), for which they draw on interviews, site visits and library research to produce a major, polished piece of writing. In the winter students practice close reading, becoming more aware of the artfulness they can achieve even in analytical prose. They round out the second semester with autobiography, from short sketches or poems to memoir and the personal essay. Throughout the year we study American writers such as Thoreau, Cather, Fitzgerald, Hurston, Lahiri, and Maclean. We read from Good Poems, the collection chosen by Garrison Keillor and from the short story anthology The Story and its Writer. (Y)
Historical Fiction
In this course, we read contemporary novels set in a variety of historical periods, from Ancient Egypt to 19th century Australia. We look at ways in which different authors approach the idea of historical fiction. Readings this year include Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang; Johnson, Middle Passage; Mahfouz, Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth; and Lewis, Wife of Martin Guerre. Students will write several short critical essays, but the bulk of the assigned writing will be the production of a series of episodes or chapters in a historical novel. To that end, each student will choose a historical period and do extensive research into that period in order to make his or her writing more realistic and persuasive. (F)
Playwriting
This course is for people who want to explore their own creativity through playwriting. The culminating product of the semester will be your one-act play, improved through multiple drafts, finally brought to life through your fellow students’ efforts to act it. You’ll work your way up to creating your play by studying the technique in the works of professional playwrights, by keeping a weekly writing journal, by participating in improvisations as an actor, and by a series of shorter dramatic writing assignments. At the end of the semester, we will present to the Upper School community staged readings of work created in the class; you’ll also be encouraged to submit your work to the national one-act play competition for high school writers, sponsored by Steven Sondheim’s Young Playwrights, Inc. (F)
Immigrant Literature
Immigration is very much the story of America. We look at different immigrant narratives from China, Japan, the Middle East, Russia, Italy, Mexico, India, Puerto Rico and other countries to compare how different groups perceive America, become American, handle generational conflicts, and develop new notions of what family, nation, home, ethnicity, and gender mean in a new land. We also explore different tensions that arise in the transition between leaving (fleeing, escaping) home and coming to a new land. Novels include Yezierska, Bread Givers; Ortiz Cofer, Latin Deli; Lahiri, The Namesake; (F) and Kingston, The Woman Warrior.
Poetry
The ancient Greeks considered poets athletes of the word. In this course we will wrestle with such topics as image, emotion, symbol, the senses, sound and rhythm as they have been used and understood by poets of all eras. Students will learn the vocabulary of the study of poetry. In addition to reading widely in the Western tradition in poetry, we will read from contrasting traditions from around the world. We will write all kinds of poems, some imitative of established poets and forms, some wholly our own. Several analytical papers will be assigned. Be prepared to participate fully in class critiques of your own work and the work of others. Our textbook is Western Wind. (F)
Russian Literature
This course examines representative literature from Russia’s turbulent nineteenth and twentieth centuries, from life under the czars to Lenin and Stalin. We will read works by classic Russian writers such as Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Gogol, Tolstoy and Chekhov, as well as those by more modern writers such as Bulgakov and Solzhenitsyn. I want to allow time for us to look at Russian art, music and film. The literature includes short stories, novels, poetry and plays. Expect to write personal nonfiction as well as critical analysis.
Autobiography: Prose &
Poetry
A writing course devoted to the artful, sometimes humorous, sometimes serious, examination of past and present real lives of the students who are taking the course. Participants produce reams of autobiographical writing every week, turning some of it into fiction if they wish. Readings will be provided from the rich store of published autobiographical literature from around the world (both prose and poetry), but students themselves will provide much of the work that we will read and discuss in class.
Middle Eastern Literature
A course offered in order to expose students to the human voices, emotions and concerns behind the petrified, divisive shouting so often heard lately on the international news. We will read novels, short stories and poetry by some of the most prominent contemporary writers from Israel, Palestine, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, and other areas of the Middle East. We will also explore some of the classic texts (folk tales, scripture, epic, myth) that inform more modern literature. Authors may include Amos Oz, Naguib Mahfouz, Anton Shammas, Yehuda Amichai, Mahmoud Darwish, Nawal El Saadawi, Leila Ahmed and Ghassan Kanafani. We will read political, fantastic, personal, expository and symbolic writing. Critical, personal and creative writing will be assigned. Students who register for this course should seriously consider registering for Islam in the same semester. (S)
Shakespeare
How can it be that Shakespeare who died in 1616 in Stratford, England, composed plays that are as relevant to our own times as to his own? As Marjorie Garber says her introduction to Shakespeare After All, "Every age creates its own Shakespeare. Like a portrait whose eyes seem to follow you around the room, engaging your glance from every angle, the plays and their characters seems always to be “modern,” always to be “us.” In this course, we will approach the plays from many angles, including reading aloud, performing for fun as well as for craft, writing personal reflections and interpretations, watching filmed versions of the plays and live stage performances. We will read Henry IV Part One, The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, A Midsummer's Night's Dream, and Othello. What are these plays about? Good girls and bad, low lifers and high, decadence and self-denial, prejudice and paranoia, sex and power, heart-wrenching madness and terrifying sanity—in other words, everything that makes life difficult and pleasurable; all that makes people admirable and heroic, despicable and absurd. (S)
Love in Literature and Thought
This course takes a thematic approach to the question of love as described by writers through time. From the dialogues of Plato and Sappho's poetry to medieval romances, mystical writings, and modern works, we will look at the varieties of love accounted for in human experience (romantic love—certainly—but also love of friend, of family, God, humanity) and seek to understand the varying interpretations offered across cultures and epochs. Occasionally we may draw in readings from neuroscientists and theologians, too, and the format generally serves students who are eager to engage in philosophical inquiry. Readings may include Plato's Symposium, portions of the New Testament and mystics from various traditions, Romeo and Juliet, The Age of Innocence, Layla and Majnun, A Streetcar Named Desire, Brokeback Mountain. (S)
Page & Stage
Page and Stage is a full year course offered by the English Department that can be taken for a half credit of English or for activity credit. The class meets formally once a week during activity period to read scripts, talk to people involved in the plays they see and discuss the productions. Generally over the course of the year, students see eight or nine plays that are produced by professional theater companies and colleges in Portland. Early in the school year students in Page and Stage participate in choosing which plays we will see. I encourage them to select a variety of plays staged in venues large and small. In order to receive English credit, students write analyses of different aspects of productions such as interpretation of the script, set, and costuming. All students read the scripts for plays before they see them produced. Page and Stage provides students the opportunity to expand their knowledge of literature, learn more about Portland’s neighborhoods and culture, and see plays for little more than the price of a movie ticket. The cost for scripts and theater tickets is approximately $120. (Y)
Writer’s Workshop (F)
Art/Literature Magazine (S)
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