English

2013-2014

Beatrice Swift, Department Head

The English Department aims to encourage a love of language and an appreciation for its powers to enrich lives. Drawing from a wide range of texts, English classes foster each student's ability to read actively and critically, to write effectively, to speak articulately, and to think creatively. Above all, the Department nurtures each Lincoln student's individual voice.

Department Requirements
Successful completion of English 9, 10, 11, and 12.

Course Listings

Required Courses

All required classes focus on three major skill areas: close reading of classic and contemporary texts; writing in personal, creative and analytical modes; and oral expression through classroom discussions and presentations of individual and collaborative work. Over the course of four years, students become acquainted with a broad range of texts from different genres, cultures, and historical periods.

English 9 - The Self, the World, and the Word

This course serves as an introduction to the study of literature on the high school level. A large part of finding one's way toward adulthood involves defining oneself in relation to family, peers, and society. Students in English 9 therefore examine how the search for identity is portrayed in novels, plays, stories, poems, essays, and films. Frequent writing assignments--mostly analytical but also reflective and creative--enable the student to develop her own voice and vision. Texts have included The Magician's Nephew, Rebecca, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, The Canterbury Tales, and selected shorter works.

English 10 - Journeys and Transformations

How is the idea of the journey used to represent the paths human beings travel through life? What do we learn from our journeys and how do they define us as human beings? To answer these essential questions, students study a broad range of texts including fiction, non-fiction, drama, poetry, and film. Frequent writing assignments -- analytical, reflective, and creative -- allow the student to develop her own voice and vision. Past texts have included Things Fall Apart, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Odyssey, Persepolis, Frankenstein, and Catcher in the Rye.

English 11 - American Literature

In this course, we explore essential questions related to our identity, beliefs, and values as Americans: What does it mean to be an American? What are our dreams and our realities? How do race, class, and gender shape the way we understand the world? We investigate questions like these through the study of a wide variety of American texts including fiction, essays, poems, plays, and memoir, drawing connections to the historical and cultural contexts from which these texts emerge.  We focus not only on what a text means but on how it creates meaning, and we respond to texts in personal, analytical, and creative ways.

English 12 

In this course, students read a series of texts from various countries, cultures, and time periods, including contemporary voices.  Through close reading of each text, we consider the vision and values it embodies, the historical and social contexts it reflects, and the ways it helps us to understand ourselves and the world. Projects and writing assignments are personal and creative, as well as analytical.  In the past, the course has been organized around such topics as Rebels and Revolutionaries; Ghosts, Monsters, and Madmen; Love Stories; and Global Voices.

English 12 AP

 In this course, students read a series of complex and challenging texts from various time periods and cultures. Through close reading of each text, we consider the vision and values it embodies, the historical and cultural contexts it reflects, and the ways it helps us to understand ourselves and the world. Most importantly, we consider literary elements and techniques needed to develop advanced skills for critical analysis and analytical writing. In the past, texts have included Shakespeare's King Lear, Aeschylus' Oresteia, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, poetry of Elizabeth Bishop, and Joseph Heller's Catch 22.  Students also prepare to take the AP Exam in the spring.

Elective Courses

Creative Writing 

This course enables students to explore their own voices through a variety of genres that might include poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and journalistic writing. Class time will focus on the writing process (generating ideas, drafting, revising) as well as supportive discussion and response to student work. Students will also read and discuss models from a variety of published writers, and will have the opportunity to speak to local writers and journalists during class visits. Students will be encouraged to contribute to the literary magazine and newspaper.

Introduction to Psychology

This course is an investigation into the workings of the human mind. Topics to be studied include: How Memory Works, Understanding Motivation and Emotion, the Complexities of Relationships, Child and Adult Development, Coping with Stress, Decision Making, and Dream Analysis. Psychology as a formal discipline is only about 100 years old, which means that we will spend a great deal of our time studying how it has developed as a modern way of thinking about who we are and why we do what we do. But, because the attempt to understand ourselves and others is as old as human life itself, we will also consider other means of inquiry, such as myth, fairy tales, fiction, poetry, art, and music. We will also spend some time preparing for the AP Psychology exam if students are interested in taking it.

Film Studies

Why do films win awards for cinematography, screenplay or art direction?  How would you describe your favorite film’s overall visual style? After watching a movie, we often think about its story and what it means, but unless we study the technical elements of a film, we may not fully understand how it works.  In this course we will  explore stories, as in other English classes. We will also develop a visual literacy to help us understand the relationship between narrative (the script) and the way it is captured and edited for the screen. Students will view a wide variety of films and develop a vocabulary to better understand all visual media. Students will write analytical papers, engage in oral assessments and discussions, and experiment with video and editing techniques to make short videos of their own.