English

A Gateway to Discovery

Stevenson’s English Department promotes critical thinking, responsible scholarship, and creative expression within an imaginative curriculum. In a seminar setting, we model a learning environment framed on the values of inquiry, mutual respect, and cooperative support. The program emphasizes the content and skills necessary for students to find success in college and beyond through progressive practice in reading, writing, vocabulary, grammar, speaking, and listening.

We believe that varied and frequent writing, followed by timely, constructive feedback, creates skilled and confident writers. Students learn to express their views tactfully and persuasively, often against opposing positions. They develop aptitude in reading, writing and speaking, not only as tools essential to all learning, but as a gateway to discovery, self-expression, and communication. Furthermore, they acquire an understanding of the historical events that shape literature and appreciate the vast diversity and continuities that mark human experience.

Paramount to our work is nurturing an abiding respect for the strength and splendor of language, and through a study of poetry, prose, and drama by a diverse range of authors, students develop both insight into their own lives and empathy for the lives of others. When students acquire the temperament to read widely and purposefully, learning will be life-long and enlivening.

Additional Resources

Course Map and Graduation Requirements