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We are thrilled to be using Hamilton: The Revolution + the film released this summer as a vehicle to teach multiple time periods in early American history. Students will be exploring the way American history stories are told, how the genre of rap music was utilized as a stylistic element, and the arguments that Miranda makes about these time
periods. We will be comparing/contrasting the storytelling method of the musical to other historical documents and pieces to get a full view of this foundational time in U.S. history.

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We are enjoying helping our freshman become better readers by using  Dear Martin and an independent choice book as a way to draw inferences, ask higher level questions, make predictions, explore themes, and identify and support character traits.

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We are finishing up our first unit, Writing to Show Place, culminating in creative "Found Essays," which ask students to apply previously discussed authors' moves to their own creative writing. In the next week or two, students will begin reading Their Eyes Were Watching God while preparing "Thoughts, Questions, Epiphanies" (TQE) journals. This student-centered approach will ensure discussions remain student-generated and organic, even as we are developing deeper analytical and close-reading skills.

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We are in the midst of our foundational unit on Persuasion. Students are first learning the terminolgy and then applying these terms to an analysis of classic and contemporary arguments. Ultimately, students will develop the close reading skills to help them spot efforts to persuade them, and the writing skills to help them persuade others.

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We love utilizing Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies and other short stories as a narrative model for students' own character sketches. This new unit focuses on building students' narrative writing by paying attention to figurative language, dialogue, specific details and show don't tell techniques to make their characters come alive.

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While working to build community, AP Lang students have embarked on our foundational unit focusing on close reading and rhetorical analysis. We began with a thorough examination of our summer reading text, Tim Bono's When Likes Aren't Enough, and then moved into working with a variety of non-fiction essays.

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After building community and defining some concepts this class has jumped into George Orwell's 1984. One of the most important books of the last 70 years, this text has enabled the students to assess America's reliance on the media and how governments, individuals, and the media interrelate.

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After building community and learning more about deeper analysis and interpretation through a project where we developed our own Museum of Contemporary Art, we are currently in the midst of analyzing Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman.

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Like the other Senior classes this course started with community building and work on the college essays.  At the same time we have been reading Dr. Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture. Through this text students have addressed their goals, values, and responsibilities to others. A great way to start the year!

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In addition to building a safe and supportive classroom community, Senior Survey students are working on their reading and writing skills by studying a number of texts, including John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt."

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AP Lit students read the novel Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk over the summer, and began this year by diving into both an analysis of the text and an examination of themselves as they drew connections between the novel and their own lives.  We were lucky, once again this year, to have the author, Kathleen Rooney, join our classes to lead students in a workshop and answer questions about her writing.  We've now moved into our second unit on poetry, during which students will be creating poetry podcasts in the style of Poetry Unbound.

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We developed classroom norms together, focused on what it means to participate in courageous conversations and what a safe space looks like in our virtual community, as we engaged in our first Dialogue Day experience last week. As of this week, we are excited to dive into reading The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez wherein we will continue having courageous conversations and examining themes related to preservation of culture vs assimilation, voice, culture and identity. Students have also been working on their Personal Essays in the last few weeks.

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In addition to our work on community building and college essay writing, Comedy and Tragedy classes have completed study of John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt" and are now reading and discussing "The Laramie Project."

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In addition to our work on community building and college essay writing, Writing and Composition classes have begun the playwriting unit with the study of David Mamet's "Oleanna."