2nd Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time
A single-semester AP English Language and Composition course is offered in Semester 2 to students in Grade 11 only. Students are exempt from a final exam and are required to take the AP English Language and Composition exam in May. The AP English Language and Composition course focuses on the development and revision of evidence-based analytic and argumentative writing, the rhetorical analysis of nonfiction texts, and the decisions writers make as they compose and revise. Students evaluate, synthesize, and cite research to support their arguments. Additionally, they read and analyze rhetorical elements and their effects in nonfiction texts—including images as forms of text—from a range of disciplines and historical periods. PREREQUISITE:  Students must FIRST be recommended by their Grade 10 English teacher. Any recommended student who wishes to take the course must THEN submit a persuasive and well-written argument explaining why they wish to take the course and how they believe they would benefit from taking the course (due to Mr. Molloy by March 5 at 10 PM EST by email).

1st Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time
A single-semester AP English Literature and Composition course is offered in Semester 1 to students in Grade 12 only. This course focuses on reading, analyzing, and writing about imaginative literature (fiction, poetry, drama) from various periods. Students engage in close reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature to deepen their understanding of how writers use language to provide meaning and pleasure. As they read, students consider a work’s structure, style, themes, and use of figurative language, imagery, and symbolism. Writing assignments include expository, analytical, and argumentative essays that require students to analyze and interpret literary works. PREREQUISITE: Students must FIRST be recommended by their Grade 11 English teacher. Any recommended student who wishes to take the course must THEN submit a persuasive and well-written argument explaining why they wish to take the course and how they believe they would benefit from taking the course (due to Mr. Molloy by March 5 at 10 PM EST by email).

2nd Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time
Cityscapes: London and New York in Literature examines the enduring hold the great cities of Britain and the United States have on the imaginations of writers and readers. The course considers the influence and impact of city life on writers and their work from sixteenth-century London to twenty-first century New York. Immigration, industrialization, isolation, ambition, class struggle, political corruption, crime, culture, communication, and gender issues are among the topics that are addressed. Readings may include novels, poems, short stories, and nonfiction by British and American writers such as Charles Dickens, Zadie Smith, William Blake, Edith Wharton, Ralph Ellison, Walt Whitman, Margaret Fuller, Herman Melville, Langston Hughes, Elizabeth Bishop, William Carlos Williams, Tom Wolfe, Allen Ginsburg, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joan Didion, Oscar Hijuelos, and Colson Whitehead, among others.

2nd Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time
This course offers students opportunities for in-depth dialogue about contemporary issues of literary and social import. Students learn to identify and exercise elements of classical rhetoric--ethos, logos, and pathos--as well as more modern approaches to argument and communication, such as the Toulmin Method. In addition to meeting course requirements of reading, writing and critical thinking, students are also strongly encouraged to participate in regular debates, including Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, and Big Questions modes. (Special attention is paid to forms of conflict resolution, emphasizing Rogerian Argumentation.) Music, film, and related visual arts supplement traditional text selections and are also valued for their own rhetorical merits. Likewise, this course seeks to promote 21st-century modes of rhetorical delivery through multimedia projects, such as story maps, podcasts, and website production. Students are provided with a broad range of opportunities for closer rhetorical analysis and for their own development as critical and creative thinkers.

2nd Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time
This course aims to engage students in a critical examination of censorship, its historical context, and the impact it has on literature and society. Through the exploration of challenged literature and media, students gain a deeper understanding of the power dynamics involved in controlling information and the importance of defending intellectual freedom while gaining a stronger sense of the personal and communal values which drive concerns and opposition to creative and critical expression.

2nd Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time
This dynamic and highly participatory course will unlock the creative voice of each writer. Students will learn how to mine their own experiences for the sources of fiction and build imaginative and compelling stories that matter. Specifically directed writing exercises will help writers explore the elements of fiction, while examination and analysis of exemplar works by master storytellers will address questions of structure and theme. Our focus will be the creation and completion of original short stories by a process of composition, peer and instructor review, and revision. In addition to growing as writers, students will develop their abilities to give, take, respond to, and work with feedback and critique. The course will culminate with each student’s submission of an original short story to an outside online or print publication.

2nd Semester, .5 Credit, Full Time Course (open to seniors)

Although this course focuses primarily on the unique ideas and techniques of each assigned narrative, the texts selected for this course lend themselves to the exploration of the nature of truth. We will look at the influences of culture and events on the understanding of what is true, what is real. What damage is done when the truth is obscured? What is gained by knowing the truth? Are there truths too dangerous to make known? Can the truth be revealed in one telling, and is it even possible to tell the whole truth about a person, a place, or an occurrence? What truths does fiction unveil that material reality cannot? Texts studied might include works by Chinua Achebe, Junot Diaz, Jhumpa Lahiri, Laura Esquivel, Paulo Coelho, Yaa Gyasi, Tommy Orange, and Banana Yoshimoto.

1st Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time
This course examines literary horror and ghost stories. We ask fundamental questions about what scares us and particular questions about the evolution of literary horror. What enjoyment do readers get from the disturbing content of horror and ghost stories? And what political, ideological, and cultural fears do scary stories articulate? Do they frighten us into accepting the status quo, or do they expose horrifying problems in our world? The course uses short fiction primarily, with one or two longer pieces. Classic horror tales by writers like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry James, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman are studied alongside modern and contemporary stories by such writers as Shirley Jackson, Joyce Carol Oates, Raymond Carver, Stephen King, William Trevor, Anne Rice, and Don DeLillo.

1st Semester, .5 Credit, Full Time Course (open to seniors)

1st Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time
We have all felt lonely or isolated in our lives from time to time. However, being alone and suffering from chronic loneliness not only affects your mental well-being, but also your physical health. In fact, the effects of chronic loneliness have been equated to the deleterious health effects of smoking and obesity. Despite the negative effects of a life of isolation from society or family, the lone and solitary figure in literature has been often admired for his/her courage and fortitude, pitied or empathized with his/her retreat into solitude, and even lauded as a hero. This course examines these essential questions: When does solitude, self-reliance and reflection turn into loneliness and desperation? What advantages are there in a life lived in isolation vs. a life lived in community? Possible texts for examination include Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, Kristen Radkte’s Seek You, Steven Chobsky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Tommy Orange’s There, There. We also consider poems and short stories from such writers as Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Claudia Rankine, and Walt Whitman. Our field work helps us understand the solitude and loneliness of others as we work with others in our own school community and with those beyond the classroom as well. Other field work may include visits to Jacobsburg State Park with Reset Outdoors, meditation practice, and a silent weekend at a Jesuit retreat facility.

2nd Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time Course (open to seniors)

We have all felt lonely or isolated in our lives from time to time. However, being alone and suffering from chronic loneliness not only affects your mental well-being, but also your physical health. In fact, the effects of chronic loneliness have been equated to the deleterious health effects of smoking and obesity. Despite the negative effects of a life of isolation from society or family, the lone and solitary figure in literature has been often admired for his/her courage and fortitude, pitied or empathized with his/her retreat into solitude, and even lauded as a hero. The Literature of Solitude and Loneliness examines these essential questions: When does solitude, self-reliance and reflection turn into loneliness and desperation? What advantages are there in a life lived in isolation vs. a life lived in community? Possible texts for examination include Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, Kristen Radkte’s Seek You, Steven Chobsky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Tommy Orange’s There, There.  We also consider poems and short stories from such writers as Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Claudia Rankine, and Walt Whitman. Our field work helps us understand the solitude and loneliness of others as we work with others in our own school community and with those beyond the classroom as well. Other field work may include visits to Jacobsburg State Park with Reset Outdoors, meditation practice, and a silent weekend at a Jesuit retreat facility.

1 Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time

This interdisciplinary course investigates the myths, legends, and tales that shaped ancient civilizations across the world. Students read excerpts from seminal works of mythological text including Homer and Hesiod in the Greek tradition, the Poetic Edda in the Norse tradition, the Bhagavad Gita in the Hindu tradition, and the Popol Vuh in the Mayan tradition. Students apply historiological thinking to the context and conditions under which these myths may have been crafted, and apply a critical literary lens to the form, themes, and language of these epochs–defining pieces. In addition, students explore modern retellings of classical myths such as Circe by Madeline Miller, and explore mythologies of their choice through independent research projects. By the end of this course, students develop a deep appreciation for the tales and traditions that built the world and a keen understanding of the similarities, differences, and significance of mythologies around the globe.

1st Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time
Students in this course read essays exclusively, ranging from works by Samuel Johnson and Jonathan Swift to H. L. Mencken and selections from The New Yorker. The goals of this course include introducing the students to well-known essayists, as well as to various styles of essay writing. Students study and emulate forms of essay writing with the goal of developing their writing beyond the basic five-paragraph structure.

2nd Semester, .5 Credit, Full Time Course (open to juniors)

1st Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time (open to seniors)

Film has long had a place in the literature classroom; however, most often cinematic texts are understood and taught as supplements to their literary sources. We move away from an analysis in which the source material remains the privileged text, to more mobile and effective pedagogical strategies teaching across film and literature. This course provides students with a basic knowledge of formal film analysis and offer models for helping students think with and through multimedia narrative forms. Along with an introduction to key filmography terminology and theoretical approaches, students learn how to read and analyze film as they do with traditional literature. In addition, students have the opportunity to explore various aspects and stages of filmmaking from pre-production to post-production. Students write scripts and screenplays, outlines and treatments, create storyboards and shooting schedules, learn how to use cameras and tripods, and shoot and edit their own original films.

2nd Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time
Film has long had a place in the literature classroom; however, most often cinematic texts are understood and taught as supplements to their literary sources. We move away from an analysis in which the source material remains the privileged text, to more mobile and effective pedagogical strategies teaching across film and literature. This course provides students with a basic knowledge of formal film analysis and offer models for helping students think with and through multimedia narrative forms. Along with an introduction to key filmography terminology and theoretical approaches, students learn how to read and analyze film as they do with traditional literature. In addition, students have the opportunity to explore various aspects and stages of filmmaking from pre-production to post-production. Students write scripts and screenplays, outlines and treatments, create storyboards and shooting schedules, learn how to use cameras and tripods, and shoot and edit their own original films.

1st Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time
From the arroyos of New Mexico to the dark woods of Maine, from the watery mists of the northwest to the farmlands of the Midwest, writers are influenced by the landscape that fills their eyes and hearts. This course examines texts that, while not about the natural world per se, are nonetheless inextricably tied to the landscape in which they are set and from which the authors explore. What traditions and social customs arise from living in a certain place during a certain time? How are our definitions of home influenced by our surroundings, habits, and dwellings? How do boundaries, both natural and man-made, define us? Longer works of fiction and non-fiction anchor the course, supplemented by various essays, poetry, and film. Proposed texts: Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England by Tom Wissel; Reading the Mountains of Home by John Elder; Essays by Annie Dillard; Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams

2nd Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time (open to seniors)

From the arroyos of New Mexico to the dark woods of Maine, from the watery mists of the northwest to the farmlands of the Midwest, writers are influenced by the landscape that fills their eyes and hearts. This course examines texts that, while not about the natural world per se, are nonetheless inextricably tied to the landscape in which they are set and from which the authors explore. What traditions and social customs arise from living in a certain place during a certain time? How are our definitions of home influenced by our surroundings, habits, and dwellings? How do boundaries, both natural and man-made, define us? Longer works of fiction and non-fiction anchor the course, supplemented by various essays, poetry, and film. Proposed texts: Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England by Tom Wissel; Reading the Mountains of Home by John Elder; Essays by Annie Dillard; Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams.

2nd Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time
This course delves into the fascinating intersection of literature and artificial intelligence (AI), examining how AI is represented in literary works and how it influences contemporary storytelling. Students explore a diverse range of texts, from classic science fiction to modern narratives, that grapple with the ethical, philosophical, and societal implications of AI. Additionally, students engage in practical fieldwork to investigate Generative AI (GenAI) technology, gaining hands-on experience with AI tools and their applications.

(1st Semester - Open to juniors and Seniors)

From the arroyos of New Mexico to the dark woods of Maine, from the watery mists of the northwest to the farmlands of the Midwest, writers are influenced by the landscape that fills their eyes and hearts. This course will examine a variety of texts that, while not about the natural world per se, are nonetheless inextricably tied to the landscape in which they are set and from which the authors explore.  What traditions and social customs arise from living in a certain place, during a certain time? How are our definitions of home influenced by our surroundings, our habits, our dwellings?  How are we defined by boundaries both natural and manmade? Longer works of fiction and non-fiction will anchor the course, supplemented by various essays, poetry, and film.  Texts may include but are not limited to: Rudolfo Anaya; Bless Me Ultima; Leslie Marmon Silko; Ceremony;Wendell Berry; The Way of Ignorance: And Other Essays.

2nd Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time
This course explores all facets of ‘story’; we study its structure, its emotional power, and its ability to communicate ideas and relate experience. We investigate story in two major ways: through our study of stories in our story anthologies and through our field work with others in our community. We read stories, share stories, write about stories, and finally make our own stories.

1st Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time
In this interdisciplinary semester course, we analyze the plays, delve into the performance context and history of the plays, and explore Shakespeare’s dramatic art, both in the classroom and on the stage. We study his language with an in-depth analysis of his verse and prose and his imagery, symbols, and meter. We uncover and scrutinize the scansion of his verse and explore the nuances of his language through text and explication with the aid of the Oxford English Dictionary. We investigate the historical context of each play, its reception, and its performance history. We are also exposed to the varied and abundant critical material about the social/political/gender issues with which the play contends or may challenge. We understand and appreciate Shakespeare’s dramatic art by studying the Early Modern theater, its dramatic genres (comedy and romance), and the performance of several plays. Supplemental texts we consider: The Elizabethan World Picture, excerpts of performance reviews, criticism, and scholarly works. Evaluation is based on active participation, essays, quizzes, performance analyses, and scenic presentations.

2nd Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time (open to seniors)

In this interdisciplinary semester course, we analyze the plays, delve into the performance context and history of the plays, and explore Shakespeare’s dramatic art, both in the classroom and on the stage. We study his language with an in-depth analysis of his verse and prose and his imagery, symbols, and meter. We uncover and scrutinize the scansion of his verse and explore the nuances of his language through text and explication with the aid of the Oxford English Dictionary. We investigate the historical context of each play, its reception, and its performance history. We are also exposed to the varied and abundant critical material about the social/political/gender issues with which the play contends or may challenge. We understand and appreciate Shakespeare’s dramatic art by studying the Early Modern theater, its dramatic genres (comedy and romance), and the performance of several plays. Supplemental texts we consider: The Elizabethan World Picture, excerpts of performance reviews, criticism, and scholarly works. Evaluation is based on active participation, essays, quizzes, performance analyses, and scenic presentations.

2nd Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time
As Billy Collins, the former poet laureate of the United States so aptly put it, poems can inspire and make us think about what it means to be a member of the human race. By just spending a few minutes reading a poem each day, new worlds can be revealed. If reading a poem can lead to understanding our lives, imagine the power of writing it! This class is a semester-long plunge into the craft and complexity of reading and writing poetry. Reading selections are based on poets from various cultures with an emphasis on modern poetry. Successful completion of the course requires a portfolio of original poetry, a presentation, and analytical and informal writing. Active participation, a love of language, enthusiasm for process and a willingness to explore are necessary prerequisites to the course.

1st Semester, 1/2 Credit, Open to Seniors

1st Semester, 0.5 Credit, Full-Time
This course is designed to study the rhetorical analysis of texts and research-based arguments. Students learn rhetorical principles and learn to identify elements of academic argument in order to gain increasing control over their own writing. The course investigates how culture, society, gender, and language impact the ways we write, speak, and communicate. Students study varied written and visual cultural texts in order to examine the persuasive art of rhetoric.

(2nd Semester - Open to juniors and seniors)

2nd Semester, 1/2 Credit, Open to Juniors

This course offers students opportunities for in-depth dialog about contemporary issues of literary and social import.  Students will learn to identify and exercise elements of classical rhetoric--ethos, logos, and pathos--as well as more modern approaches to argument and communication, such as the Toulmin Method.  In addition to meeting course requirements of reading writing and critical thinking, students ill also be strongly encouraged to participate in regular debates, including Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, and Big Questions modes.  (Special attendion will be paid to forms of conflict resolution, emphasizing Roerian Argumentation.) . Music, film, and related visual arts will supplement traditional text selections and will also be valued for their own rhetorical merits.  Likewise, this course will seek to promote 21st-century modes of rhetorical delivery through multimedia projects, such as story maps, pod casts, and website production.  Students will be provided with a broad range of opportunities for closer rhetorical analysis and for their own development as critical and creative thinkers.

2 Semesters, 1.0 Credit, Full-Time
Students in English 10 read beyond the plot level and are engaged in learning the skills of critical thinking and essay writing. The reading consists of units of literary genres, including the novel, poetry, short story, essay, and memoir/personal essay. We consider the works of such authors as Homer, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Lorraine Hansberry, and Shakespeare. The special priority at this level is emphasis on learning as a process through reading, prewriting, writing, and revising, with students becoming more independent and taking responsibility for their own processing skills, as these are essential to reading and writing well.

2 Semesters, 1.0 Credit, Full-time
Students in English 9 develop critical thinking skills and heighten their appreciation of how language influences what and how we think with this Reading and Writing Workshop Course. Writing as a process is emphasized throughout the course, which shares curricular and skills-based alignment with World History I as part of the First-Year Interdisciplinary Research Experience (FIRE) program. Students work on multiple drafts and engage in peer editing and teacher conferences. Assignments offer students the opportunity to experience different genres, including analytical essays, memoirs, short stories, and poetry. Other skills stressed throughout the year include oral presentation, vocabulary, and time management. The core text for group and classwork is Uncharted Territory by Jim Burke. It was chosen for its diversity of topics, perspectives, and authors' backgrounds; additionally, there is a great range in the diversity of genres, rhetorical strategies, and styles. Students choose longer works according to their interests to read independently.

1st Semester, .5 Credit, Full Time Course (open to seniors)

(2nd Semester - Open to juniors and seniors)

John Howard Payne’s traditional, secure, and safe space of the home serves to form the backdrop to a course which will investigate the confines and contours of the American family and its home--and the nature of the absence of the home-- the crisis of American homelessness. This inquiry and service learning course will ask us to reconsider traditional views of ‘home’ in America. During the semester, we will ask questions about the definition of the home and family in America and the intimate and delicate relationship between the home (as both a real, physical edifice and also a spiritual, metaphysical space) and its ‘dwellers’. What is the “All-American Home”? And how is the family (whose has its own complex and dynamic configuration as well) defined and shaped by the home? Through works of literature and articles/essays about the home and through required service learning field work and opportunities, we will build a more complex view of what a home is and what a home means to us and to our community.  Texts include: Toni Morrison, Beloved; Andre Dubus, House of Sand and Fog; Alison Bechtel, Fun Home; Kathryn Trueblood and Linda Stovall, eds., Homeground; Sharon Sloan Fiffer and Steve Fiffer, eds., Home: American Writers Remember Rooms of Their Own; Barbara Bonner, ed. Sacred Ground: Writing about Home; Jonathan Kozol, Rachel and Her Children; Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper.

(1st Semester - open to juniors and seniors)
This course will expose students to some of the great American and British satirists of the 20^th and 21 Century.  Students in this course will read works of comedy and satire by 20^th Century British and American authors ranging from P.G. Wodehouse and Dorothy Parker to Ian McEwan and The Onion.  Writings will be frequent, and range from reader-response pieces to reviews and analyses.  Students will also try their hands at their own satire and fiction writing.

(1st Semester - Open to juniors and seniors)

1st Semester, 1/2 Credit - Open to seniors

From 1951 to 1955, Edward R. Morrow hosted This I Believe, a daily radio program that reached 39 million listeners.  In this broadcast, Americans (both well-known and unknown) read five-minute essays about their personal philosophy of life.  They shared insights about individual values that shaped their daily actions.  In this course we will examine and analyze the content and writing styles of a multitude of personal essays from some of the most important writers of our time.  Additionally, students will compose essays describing their most significant personal beliefs.  The best essays (as decided by the class) will be submitted to the NPR program, This I Believe, for consideration for publication.  Texts will include but are not limited to:  The Norton Book of Personal Essays by Joseph Epstein; This I believe: Life Lessons by Dan Gediman, Mary Jo Gediman and John Gregor; The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present by Phillip Lopate.

Semester 2 / .5 Credit / Open to juniors and seniors

"Freaks, Geeks and Weirdos: The Antihero Narrative" will include texts at the heart of which sits on “outlier”, a protagonist who is most marked by his/her difference.  Students will investigate a variety of narratives, including poetry (ie. Robert Browning’s dramatic monologues), novels and short stories (such as those by Junot Diaz), contemporary non-fiction profiles (such as those seen in The New Yorker), graphic novels (after all, no protagonist is more strange than a superhero), and films.  The intellectual/literary question of how the unique or unexpected individual shapes narrative development, themes, and tone will be our starting point.

(2nd Semester - open to juniors and seniors)

This semester class will be a challenging and exciting immersion into poetry. Students will write and read widely, exploring various aspects of poetic craft, including imagery, metaphor, line, stanza, music, rhythm, diction, and tone. Students will also examine a number of poetic traditions, including spoken word, the sonnet, the villanelle, and poetry of witness. Through peer critique, students respond closely to the work of fellow writers in a supportive workshop. Writers at all levels of experience and comfort with poetry are welcome. At least one performance is required. Active participation, a love of language, enthusiasm for process and a willingness to explore are necessary prerequisites to the course.

2nd Semester, 1/2 Credit, Open to Seniors

2nd Semester, 1/2 Credit, Open to Seniors

(2nd Semester - Open to juniors and seniors)

This course empowers students to observe and analyze the growth and cultural diversity characteristic of the American literary tradition through the study of selected American novels, poetry, short stories, and nonfiction. The course begins with nineteenth century writers such as Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau, Twain, and Melville, continues with works from the early twentieth century, and concludes with works by contemporary authors like Vonnegut, Kesey, and Morrison. Students will be evaluated through process writing, oral presentations, and cooperative learning groups.