English
 | | "Moby-Dick"- ninth grade Main Lesson |
To read well
The goal of the English program at Waldorf High School is to impart cultural literacy through the study of world literature, with a focus on English, Russian, and American literature. It is also to school the imagination and awaken a sense for language. Through the study of literature, adolescents can feel less alone in their struggles and questions as various authors throughout the ages present their conflicts and ideals in the search for the essential nature of human relationships. Reading literature exposes our students to the depth and diversity of human experience and human capacities and they in turn can reflect, exercise, and strengthen these capacities in themselves.
To write well
We also seek to have our students become practiced writers, comfortable and skilled creating poetry and crafting descriptive and analytical essays, as well as in producing reports and research papers. We expect our students to become adept in the application of grammar, punctuation, and the mechanics of writing and to develop rich vocabularies.
 Tragedy and Comedy, Ninth Grade Main Lesson, Mr. O'Donnell
The Novel, Ninth Grade Main Lesson, Mrs. Wells
English Course, Ninth Grade, Mrs. Wells
Art of Poetry, Tenth Grade Main Lesson, Mrs. Wells
English Course, Tenth Grade, Mrs. Wells
Dante's "Inferno", Eleventh Grade Main Lesson, Mrs. Wells
"Parzival", Eleventh Grade Main Lesson, Ms. Adams
"Hamlet" and Astronomy, Eleventh Grade Main Lesson, Mrs. Wells
English Course/American Studies, Eleventh Grade, Mr. O'Donnell
Transcendentalists, Twelfth Grade Main Lesson, Mrs. Wells
English Course/American Studies, Twelfth Grade, Ms. Delaney
Tragedy and Comedy, Ninth Grade Main Lesson, Mr. O'Donnell
Why do humans, across cultures, create and perform stories? In this study, the class will examine the ancient origins of dramatic performance and explore why the most common forms developed were polar opposites, reverse-mirror images: comedy and tragedy. Our study will include an in-depth study of a classic tragedy, a Shakespearean comedy, and a modern play.
-Go to top-The Novel, Ninth Grade Main Lesson, Mrs. Wells
Students will be introduced to the history of the novel, specifically the birth of the novel in English, giving new life to the epic, dramatic and lyric forms. We will read Melville's Moby-Dick and place the novel in the context of American history. There are many aspects of this particular novel that speak to the emerging individuality of the adolescent. Melville's biography is part of the presentation as it relates to both the novel and the times. A trip to Nantucket allows students time to savor Melville's language, bike around the island, and visit the Whaling and Life Saving museums.
-Go to top-English Course, Ninth Grade, Mrs. Wells
This course will include grammar, vocabulary, and writing skills. Students will read several novels that will help build their literary skills, among them O Pioneers and Great Expectations. Several contemporary and classic short stories that deal with universal, multi-cultural, and young people's issues will be read and discussed. Students then write their own short stories. The instructor will emphasize external and descriptive writing throughout the year. Students will keep a daily descriptive journal.
-Go to top-Art of Poetry, Tenth Grade Main Lesson, Mrs. Wells
This course will focus on the creative and formative power of the word. We will trace the development of the English language across time and place as we explore speech and poetry from ancient to modern times. Students will read and memorize a variety of poems as well as develop the craft of writing poems. Emphasis will be on poetic rhythms, styles and devices. Students will imitate poetic forms, as well as create their own poetry.
-Go to top-English Course, Tenth Grade, Mrs. Wells
While continuing to build grammar, vocabulary, and writing skills, students will read The Odyssey, The Scarlet Letter, Cry the Beloved Country and The Grapes of Wrath. During a specified block of time, we will study the Bible as literature, exploring images and themes in the Old and New Testaments.
-Go to top-Dante's "Inferno", Eleventh Grade Main Lesson, Mrs. Wells
Taking a broad look at the medieval epic, The Divine Comedy, with a closer study of The Inferno, students will build on their understanding of the culture and mood of soul in the Middle Ages and expand that to explore individual soul journeys. What does it mean to descend to the depths and rise up again? Along with Dante, students will be asked to confront the darkness, not avoid it, as they journey down before starting to climb up to the light.
-Go to top-"Parzival", Eleventh Grade Main Lesson, Ms. Adams
Taking elements of the well-known and often-told Arthurian legends, this book tells the story of Parzival's individual journey. It weaves together aspects of the East and West and other "opposites," allowing us to imagine the balance of polarities of all kinds. It is a picture not only of what we might strive for as individuals, but for humanity as well. Some aspects explored through this story are separation from what we know, reflection on what we do, acknowledging our expanding orbits of experience, recognition of our effects on others and the world, and ultimately, compassion for others as a necessary part of becoming truly human. Students will respond to these topics in essays and main lesson books and create an artistic project.
-Go to top-"Hamlet" and Astronomy, Eleventh Grade Main Lesson, Mrs. Wells
This course will integrate the humanities and the sciences. Shakespeare stands on the threshold of the modern age. Copernicus published his revolutionary work espousing a heliocentric universe only 21 years before Shakespeare was born. Shakespeare boldly took up this new thinking about the universe. His plays explore modern, relevant, universal themes. Hamlet is set in Denmark, where Tycho Brahe had his observatory. References to the stars abound in Shakespeare, and Hamlet is no exception. We will study the play in depth and students will respond to it through discussion as well as though analytic and creative essays. The astronomy component of the course will include biographies of astronomers, an overview of the history of astronomy, and plenty of star-gazing.
-Go to top-English Course/American Studies, Eleventh Grade, Mr. O'Donnell
The first semester of this course continues work with grammar, vocabulary, and writing skills, focusing on the critical or analytical essay. The semester will include a study of Romantic poetry and speech/discussion work. The second semester will be comprised of a study of U.S. history from the mid-nineteenth century through the World Wars. The class will explore the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era, the early labor movement, immigration trends, and the ascendance of the U.S. as a military power.
-Go to top-Transcendentalists, Twelfth Grade Main Lesson, Mrs. Wells
America found her literary voice in the mid-nineteenth century. Walt Whitman heard America singing and he sang out every aspect of our human experience. Who were the American transcendentalists? What inspired them? Were their ideas new? Do we see their ideas at work in the world today? Students will read and discuss selected works of Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, and Fuller. Classroom work will be complemented by visits to Walden Pond and the Concord Museum, as students begin to raise their consciousness to new heights. What does it mean to be an individual? What does it mean to be an individual in a community? Who am I and what are the challenges facing me at this time? Students address these questions, among others, and reflect on course material in their own transcendentalist journals.
-Go to top-English Course/American Studies, Twelfth Grade, Ms. Delaney
In the first third of the class we will be studying Russian literature. What is freedom? What is responsibility? Are we responsible to (or for) anyone, even ourselves? Is there a God? If there isn’t, then are all things possible? What is the nature of evil? Is it possible to be good and just in an evil world? These are some of the questions that 19th and 20th century Russian authors and poets have grappled with. Through studying the lives and works of Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn, Tsvetaeva, Akhmatova and Ratushskaya we also will explore and grapple with these issues. In addition to the required summer reading of the books, The Brothers Karamazov and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, we will read Doctor Zhivago and poetry. Our work will be supported by a quick look at the geography and history of Russia. The second section of this course will be devoted to exploring some of the classic regional literature of 20th century America. We will pay particular attention to the period of the Harlem Renaissance and to several writers of the South, including Jean Toomer, Langston Hughes, William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe and Flannery O’Connor.
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