2025-26 Course Descriptions - Catalog - Page 28
ENGLISH
ENGLISH 10: SELF AND SOCIETY
“Freedom can be found within oneself, even when
physical freedom is stripped away (Alexander
Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich).”
In English 10, students explore a diversity of texts
from around the world to investigate the tensions
that exist, both positive and negative, between
individuals and societies. Units are organized as
case studies to unpack relevant cultural, traditional,
historical, and literary backgrounds in addition
to deepening close reading skills. Building on
the notion that literature acts as both a window
and a mirror, students are challenged to make
meaning of complex texts with an increasing level
of independence, building connections between the
stories and themselves, recognizing deeper truths
of the human experience. Students develop their
argumentative writing skills to increase authentic
voice and personal connection to the texts, as well
as demonstrate mastery of literary concepts like
defamiliarization, sensory imagery, and binary
opposition. Throughout the year, students grapple
with their identities and ideologies to interrogate
how they experience a text, generate informed
analysis of it, and understand connections to the
world around them. Course texts may include Trevor
Noah’s Born a Crime, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall
Apart, Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman,
Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi, Erich Maria Remarque’s
All Quiet on the Western Front and more.
ENGLISH 11: AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES AND POSSIBILITIES
“... Because being American is more than a pride we
inherit. / It’s the past we step into, and how we repair
it.” Amanda Gorman’s words in the 2021 Inauguration
Poem, “The Hill We Climb” express the blessings
and responsibilities of “being American”, providing
a 昀椀tting backdrop for English 11. Students engage
a range of American literature to intertextually
explore the challenges associated with being a
mindful member of society and our responsibility
to strengthen and improve it. Students probe
questions about American culture and experience
through thematic investigation of texts, including
Curriculum Guide | 28
poems, plays, and novels. This course emphasizes
the development of literary analysis and academic
writing skills to practice argumentation, original
research, and independent thinking. Students use
literature as a tool to study and understand the real
world, developing the agency to think critically about
issues such as the form and function of families,
legal justice, experiences of war, and the American
Dream/Nightmare. Selected texts may include
Reginald Rose’s 12 Angry Men, Bryan Stevenson’s
Just Mercy, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, Tim
O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, and more.
