Upper School
Literature Course of Studies
World Literature 1 The course is designed to engage students in becoming skilled readers in a variety of prose, such as folklore, short stories, drama, novels, poetry, and nonfiction. Students explore the theme of “Shaping Morality” in their studies with the literature. Some of the works which have been examined include Romeo and Juliet, 1984, A Separate Peace, Tartuffe, and House on Mango Street. Students will also become more skilled in grammar, usage, and the mechanics of our language through an extensive writing emphasis. Students will develop and be exposed to vocabulary, literary elements, paragraph and essay structure, critical reading, higher level questioning, and organizational skills. World Literature 2 This course is a study of literature, writing and vocabulary. In this class the students will read literary selections, poetry and informational texts, to which they will respond both orally in discussions, and in written form. Students in this course will investigate the grade level theme “Becoming a Global Citizen.” The focus will be on literary devices used by authors, vocabulary development, and improving writing skills. Some of the texts read in the course have been Things Fall Apart, Antigone, Hamlet, and The Kite Runner. | American Literature
This course engages students in becoming skilled readers of prose in written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts, and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. The course theme centers on the concept “Growing in Independence and Leadership” and emphasizes a study of American literature. Works studied in this course include The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Of Mice and Men, The Notebook, and The Great Gatsby. Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the interactions among a writer's purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to the effectiveness in writing. British Literature This course in English literature engages students in the careful reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. Through the close reading of selected texts, students deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure for their readers. Students in this course will explore the theme “Conquering New Frontiers.” Works studied in this course include Persuasion, Pygmalion, The Canterbury Tales, and Macbeth. As they read, students consider a work's structure, style, and themes as well as such smaller-scale elements as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone. |
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