ENGLISH COURSES

ENGLISH 1
The first-year English course initiates the scope and ordered learning of necessary skills to become successful students of literature. Students will survey a variety of literary genres including the short story, novel, novella, memoir, poetic form, and epic. As the overarching goal of Oxbridge is to promote critical thinking, Freshman English 1 will introduce students to the art of discussion and collaborative intellectual exploration as it relates to literature. We value oral work, which aids students in formulating, clarifying, and expressing their ideas with confidence, and we consider interactions between students to be particularly important. Students will read works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, personal narrative, and drama that focus on the odyssey of the human experience. As developing writers, students will study and practice the mechanics of good writing: grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary building, in all forms of writing. Students will read works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, personal narrative, and drama that focus on the odyssey of the human experience. Perhaps the greatest challenge to all human beings is the development of a sense of Self and the unique qualities that define who we are. Inevitably, that challenge means encountering situations that call on us to act in ways we had not previously considered and to draw on aspects of our identity that we did not know we possess. As we experience obstacles to happiness, we grow in ways that define us as individuals and prepare us for new challenges that lie ahead.

ENGLISH 2
Sophomore English continues the exploration of literary genres as a vehicle for promoting critical thinking and further develops discussion and collaboration skills. In addition, students will practice articulating the complexity of literary works with increasing sophistication and demonstrate command of the elements of effective composition and writing. Students will read works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, personal narrative, and drama that focus on the role of the individual in the community and the tensions that frequently emerge in that dynamic. Students will read works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, personal narrative, and drama that focus on the role of the individual in the community and the tensions that frequently emerge in that dynamic. To what extent do our relationships reflect the conflict between our perception of ourselves and the ethical imperatives of the world around us? How are those conflicts experienced, heightened, and resolved? How are our connections or absence of connections with others outside the Self manifested in literature?

ENGLISH 2 HONORS
This course is designed for students who have shown exceptional promise in writing and literary analysis. Students will read particularly complex works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, personal narrative, and drama that focus on the role of the individual in the community and the tensions that frequently emerge in that dynamic. To what extent do our relationships reflect the conflict between our perception of ourselves and the ethical imperatives of the world around us? How are those conflicts experienced, heightened, and resolved? How are our connections or absence of connections with others outside the Self manifested in literature? Students will experience more challenging assignments and assessments that address the potential of more accomplished students of English.

ENGLISH 3
Students will read works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, personal narrative, and drama that focus on the efforts of individuals to make a difference in their social and cultural contexts. As students explore the actions of protagonists who experience the impact of the world about them, they will examine questions about success and disappointment in working for change. In some cases, individuals triumph in overcoming the obstacles to personal and social progress; in other situations, human beings must confront apparently insurmountable barriers to happiness and fulfillment.

ENGLISH 3 HONORS
This course is designed for students who have demonstrated a proficiency in writing and literary analysis that prepares them for more intensive study. Students will read particularly complex works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, personal narrative, and drama that focus on efforts of individuals to alter the world around them. What are the barriers to effecting social and cultural change? How do individuals manage those challenges and often transcend them? Students will experience more challenging assignments and assessments that address the potential of more accomplished students of English.

ENGLISH 4
Seniors will have the opportunity to select from courses that appeal to their particular literary interests. For ease of scheduling, students will be asked to rank-order their choices and should understand that a second or third choice may be necessary in the context of their schedules. As the curriculum of Oxbridge continues to grow, different cycles of electives may be developed that will be offered in alternating years.

Students in all senior electives are free to sit for the Advanced Placement Exam in English Literature and Composition based on their concentration in the senior year. Examples of senior electives include:

The Rebel in Literature—Students will examine notable anti-heroes in literature and the special conflicts with the society in which they act. The cultural values against which anti-heroes rebel and their strategies for expressing their discontent are at the center of the course, with literature from a wide range of modern and contemporary sources. Reading may include works from Camus (The Stranger), Toni Morrison (Sula), Shakespeare (Henry IV), Dostoevsky (Crime and Punishment), Shaw (Saint Joan), John Kennedy Toole (Confederacy of Dunces), and Richard Wright (Native Son). The representation of the anti-hero in film texts will complement the study of printed literature.

Banned Books—What is it about certain texts that have invited intense scrutiny over time? Why did these texts elicit such strong responses from those who found them as challenges to their own set of beliefs? To what extent do these texts continue to stir powerful emotions about their perspective on the human condition? Students will read from important works from past “censorship wars,” including Alexander Solzenhitsyn (A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich), Nadine Gordimer (July’s People), Allen Ginsberg (Howl), Aristophanes (Lysistrata), Salman Rushdie (Satanic Verses), and Anthony Burgess (A Clockwork Orange).

Critical Theory—Students in this course will learn about and practice the perspectives of several critical lenses, including feminist, psychological, political, archetypal, and other critical viewpoints. Works to be studied include Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Joseph Heller (Catch-22), Kate Chopin (The Awakening), Robert Penn Warren (All the King’s Men), Toni Morrison (Beloved), and Henry James (The Turn of the Screw).

Gender Identity and the Literary Experience—How do our perceptions of gender inform our reading and analysis of literature? How have different eras portrayed the experience of men and women in their unique contexts and presented conflicts between the sexes? Students will survey works that reflect perspectives about gender, and may include Thomas Hardy (Tess of the D’Urbevilles), Hemingway and the “code of masculinity,” John Donne and the courtly love tradition, Ibsen (A Doll’s House), Jeffrey Eugenides (Middlesex), Bronte (Jane Eyre), and selected non-fiction that focuses on the divisions between men and women.

The Poetic Imagination—This course will focus on the genre of poetry in a variety of literary eras and offer students the opportunity to explore in depth the array of poetic devices, schools of poetry from the Renaissance to the present, and poetry’s special role as a vehicle for human communication. Students will also specialize in the work of a modern or contemporary poet, conduct research about that writer, and present their findings to their classmates in a formal project. The course will culminate in a poetry festival that will showcase student and teacher presentations. Poets across time will be the subject of inquiry, including Milton, Donne, Shakespeare, the English Romantics, Roethke, Cummings, the Beat poets, Hardy, poets of the Harlem Renaissance, and a variety of modern and contemporary writers.

SPEECH AND DEBATE
Speech and Debate is for students who want to learn to think clearly and express themselves effectively before an audience. The class helps prepare students for college and career by teaching them to reflect critical thinking skills with clear and persuasive speech that is mindful of occasion and audience. Students have many opportunities to increase their spoken fluency, poise, and confidence. We will participate in group discussions and debates, do listening exercises, and role-play job interviews and college interviews. Students will learn effective audience analysis, audience adaptation, research, organization, speechwriting, and speech delivery skills. They will learn to self-monitor and adapt verbal and non-verbal behaviors so that they are appropriate in interpersonal, group, and public communication situations. We will do drama exercises and interpretations, including monologues, scenes, or one-act plays. The study and practice of arguments based on facts and reason, and a unit on Lincoln Douglas Debate will not only prepare students for formal debate opportunities, but will prepare them to excel at graceful, persuasive oral expression in non-academic arenas.