|
STATEMENT OF PHILOSOPHY
Literature provides the awareness of a complex world through a multiplicity of views focused upon the fullness of life rather than upon any given accepted social, political, or religious orientation. Concomitant to the study of literature is the study of language, which provides the ability to perceive and formulate meaning. The following objectives reflect the commitment of the Interlochen Arts Academy English Department to assist students in the exploration of human experience through the pursuit of literary appreciation and language skills.
Objectives
To cultivate an approach to literature from varied perspectives through the development of reading and analytic techniques.
To encourage a commitment to literary expression as an experience which confronts intellectual and personal values by process rather than precept.
To promote an awareness of language as a means of organizing and expressing thought.
To develop proficiency in the elements and techniques of composition.
To encourage student responsibility through placement in situations requiring independent initiative.
Literature often concerns itself with matters of the deepest and most enduring human preoccupations – life and death, sex, religion, war. Any serious study of literature will therefore necessarily be a study of humanity itself, in all its complex and sometimes disturbing truth. Students should understand that classroom discussions will occasionally require a willingness to entertain subject matter they may find troubling or provocative, and that this willingness to be troubled or provoked is a necessary prerequisite to a fully realized liberal arts education.
GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
The minimum IAA graduation requirements for English consist of English I, English II, and two one-semester elective English courses during the junior or senior year taken at Interlochen.
The English courses offered at the junior or senior levels are taught on a semester basis. The offerings are not sequential. Each student is able to select courses on the basis of his/her interests and to fit individual needs throughout the year.
Selected Creative Writing courses may be elected by a junior or senior to fulfill the English requirements for graduation.
Enrollment by freshmen or sophomores in the Creative Writing courses does not satisfy the English graduation requirements.
DESCRIPTION OF COURSES
ENGLISH I: COMING OF AGE AND THE QUEST FOR IDENTITY
Grade 9
Full year course
.50 credit each semester (1.0 total), class meets daily
The thematic focus of this required course provides the platform from which students study and develop their skills in language, composition, and literature. Reading and discussion of various literary genres consider both the meaning and form of the works. Written assignments guide and encourage students to write clear, insightful, effective analysis.
Objectives:
To develop skill and control in the technical aspects of the written language.
To develop fluency and confidence in writing.
To expand spoken and written vocabulary.
To understand language as a tool to both express and define identity.
To develop literal reading comprehension.
To become familiar with literary terminology.
To understand how ideas are expressed through literary texts.
To develop skill in constructing careful analysis in order to give weight and validity to interpretation of literary texts.
To understand coming of age as both an individual and universal experience through the examination of literary texts and the development of the individual writers voice.
Book List:
Golding, Lord of the Flies
Hamilton, Mythology
Homer, The Odyssey (Fagles)
Knowles, A Separate Peace
McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream
ENGLISH II
Grade 10
Full year course
.50 credit each semester (1.0 total), class meets daily
This required course explores literary technique and terminology as a means of approaching the short story, novel, nonfiction, and drama. Students will read, discuss, and analyze representative selections from the major literary genres. Construction of formal analytical papers is the focus of writing assignments.
Objectives:
To acquire a working knowledge of literary terminology and technique.
To realize the ways in which symbolism, setting, point of view, tone, theme, characterization, and style contribute to the meaning and aesthetic value of literature.
To realize that literature reflects and shapes the value structure of author, society, and reader.
To read and analyze representative selections from the short story, novel, nonfiction, and drama.
To understand the rationale and structure of the short essay and to write and support through sustained argument a literary thesis statement.
Book List:
Bronte, Jane Eyre (Norton Critical Edition, 3rd edition)
Shakespeare, selected drama
Wiesel, Night
Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing (7th edition) (Roberts and Jacobs, ed.)
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (6th edition)
|
