English

The ninth-grade English course combines careful analysis of literature with instruction in the basics of composition. The major focus is on writing imaginative essays that stem from personal experience or personal responses to literary texts. Students write weekly in class, keep journals, and learn to brainstorm, to write first drafts, and to revise final drafts. In addition to teaching reading skills and requiring varied writing assignments, the course emphasizes group discussion of literature, competence in grammar, exposure to poetry, and the enrichment of vocabulary. Among the major works that students read are The Odyssey, The Catcher in the Rye, Cannery Row, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Big Fish, Of Mice and Men, and Flowers for Algernon, along with assorted poems and short stories.

Sophomores gain experience writing descriptive, narrative, explanatory, and argumentative compositions. They use various writing modes to express themselves imaginatively, to arrange their supporting evidence in compelling order, and to argue the validity of their ideas. Instructors continue to emphasize knowledge of grammar as the technical terminology of the writing trade; vocabulary study occurs both in context, from the literature read, and in regularly assigned lessons from a vocabulary workbook. Sophomores study poetry throughout the year from Laurence Perrine's Sound and Sense. Literary texts read and discussed in this course include such works as The Canterbury Tales, Lord of the Flies, Macbeth, Oedipus Rex, Antigone, A Streetcar Named Desire, Hamlet, Frankenstein, and Introduction to the Short Story, as well as several supplementary works. Students are introduced to the format of the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT), which they take for practice in October.

Sophomores gain experience writing descriptive, narrative, explanatory, and argumentative compositions. They use various writing modes to express themselves imaginatively, to arrange their supporting evidence in compelling order, and to argue the validity of their ideas. Assignments ask students to write about themselves and about familiar experiences, to learn literary terminology, and to analyze fiction in critical essays. A formal paper is due every two weeks, and ungraded free-writing sometimes takes place in class. Instructors continue to emphasize knowledge of grammar as the technical terminology of the writing trade; vocabulary study occurs both in context, from the literature read, and in regularly assigned lessons from a vocabulary workbook. Sophomores study poetry throughout the year from Laurence Perrine's Sound and Sense. Literary texts read and discussed in this course include The Canterbury Tales, Macbeth, Oedipus Rex, Antigone, A Streetcar Named Desire, 1984, and Introduction to the Short Story, as well as several supplementary works. Students are introduced to the format of the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT), which they take for practice in October.

The junior-year English course concentrates on American literature, emphasizing authors' lives as well as literary terms and historical background. Instructors review grammar and continue to build vocabulary, with words chosen from the course reading and also from a vocabulary text. At this level students are expected to have mastered the essential skills of form and correctness in their writing. The primary text for the course is an anthology - either The American Experience or The Elements of Literature (fifth edition) - complemented by such works as The Scarlet Letter, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, Death of a Salesman, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Bluest Eye, and The Things They Carried. Finally, students begin the college application process by organizing a resume, writing a practice personal essay, and preparing for the PSAT, SAT I, and SAT II writing samples, all of which are junior-year rites of passage.

American literature remains the emphasis, but course requirements include more sophisticated assignments in reading and writing. Students often work on independent projects and may be called on to lead discussion.

This yearlong course examines the works of writers of the modern age. The syllabus comprises a variety of literary genres - novels, plays, short fiction, poetry, and essays - and features such 20th and 21st-century authors as: William Faulkner, Ralph Ellison, Albert Camus, Franz Kafka, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Margaret Atwood (fiction); George Bernard Shaw and Sam Shepard (theater); William Butler Yeats, e.e. cummings, W.H. Auden, and Billy Collins (verse). Contemporary essays are drawn from The Seagull Reader. Student writing includes critical essays, argumentative pieces, and creative experiments, as well as occasional in-class writing and short reaction papers.

The following are trimester-long courses in English in 2013-2014:
- Short Story
- Literature and Film
- Heroes and Villains
- Poetry Workshop
- Science Fiction
- The New Yorker
Descriptions of our Academic Electives are available here.

AP English, the culmination of the honors program, provides an introductory college-level course for students who are ready for more advanced literary analysis. The course requires that a student take a high degree of responsibility for class participation and independent learning. Emphasis is upon the critical essay, in preparation for the Advanced Placement Examination in May, although each term features a major creative assignment as well. Last year's syllabus included The Aeneid, The Canterbury Tales, Dr. Faustus, Hamlet, Volpone, Paradise Lost, Equus, Candide, Heart of Darkness, The Flies, No Exit, Under Milk Wood, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Love in the Time of Cholera, July's People, I Am One of You Forever, The Big Sleep, and a rich sampling of poetry.

This course explores the craft of journalism in a very practical, hands-on setting by producing the school newspaper. We spend as little time as possible on theory and plunge into the practical matter of conceiving and creating stories that reflect student life. Students create the entire paper; they brainstorm to assemble a story list, assign stories, plan interviews, arrange for photos and graphics, write and edit the actual articles, and design and lay out each issue for delivery to the printer. Students gain professional-level experience in reporting as well as employing the tools used to produce modern print and online journalism. We are also developing an online news site for students interested in video news production.

Spyglass, the school yearbook, is produced once a year, and documents Stevenson's many activities and sports that take place throughout the school year. Yearbook students learn to write copy and take photographs, thus taking an active role in recording the Stevenson student experience for that year. The yearbook, a full color, hardbound book, is released at the end of the school year.