American Literature and Composition is required for all juniors (except for those in American Literature and Composition Honors or AP English Literature). This course extends the skills acquired in previous courses with a focus on the social, intellectual, and literary characteristics of the major periods of American Literature. Students enhance their understanding of the distinct qualities of poetry, prose, and drama--an extension of the previous two years of study in the curriculum. They improve their critical thinking, close reading, and writing skills while reviewing the fundamentals of English grammar and composition. Using primarily The Norton Anthology of American Literature: Shorter (7th ed.), other supplementary texts, and handouts, students practice reading for content, form, and aesthetics from a diverse selection of literature. Active reading practices such as marking and annotating the text are taught and practiced. Online text support, videos, and audio recordings supplement the course of study. Class discussion and collaboration are the primary methods of instruction. Methods of evaluation include daily assessments, unit tests, essays (both in-class and take-home), and semester examinations.

AP English Literature is open to Juniors recommended by their 10th grade English teachers. The course draws upon, builds upon, and requires review of content and skills acquired in Grades 9 and 10, with a focus on the play Hamlet, American Literature, and drill on the Advanced Placement Exam in Composition and Literature. Work in this class ranges from the philosophical foundations of Romanticism and the Darwinian bases of literary Naturalism to review of grammar, capitalization, punctuation, syntax, and diction. Students are exposed to the social, intellectual, and literary characteristics of the major periods of American Literature and the connections between this material and ancient, medieval, and modern European literature. Students enhance, deepen, and refine their understanding of the distinct qualities of poetry, fiction, and drama. Using primarily The Norton Anthology of American Literature (five-volume version, latest edition), supplementary texts, and handouts. Sample AP material is a central part of the course. Online text support, videos and audio recordings supplement the course of study. Lecture, class discussion, and collaboration are the chief methods of instruction. Methods of evaluation focus on daily assessment (“objective” and writing assessments) and AP-style in-class essays. Final cumulative exams combine covered class material with challenging AP multiple-choice and free-response assignments.

This senior elective course allows students to explore the beauty and complexity of Russian literature in the years before, during, and after the revolution that created the Soviet state.  We will begin in the czarist twilight of the great Russian novel and follow the strategies of absurdist and esoteric writing as censorship expanded and intensified during the Soviet era.  Students will study poetry, essays, and short fiction from writers such as Tolstoy, Bely, Platonov, Bulgakov, Akhmatova, Babel, and Nabokov among others.  They will also read a succinct history of the period.  Assignments will include quizzes, tests, short essays, contextual research, one long research essay, and a formal presentation.

In this course students will examine the literary, cultural, and philosophical movements of African-American literature (fiction and nonfiction) through the close study expression and intersectional lenses.  By reading, writing, and discussing, students will gain a better understanding of African-American literature, the African-American experience, and hopefully, a better understanding of themselves and their role in the world.  Along with reading Richard Wright’s Native Son and Toni Morrison’s Beloved, students will also explore excerpts from Frederick Douglas’ autobiography, The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley, poetry by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, Audre Lorde, Carolyn Rogers, Nikki Giovanni, and many more.  We will use student feedback and choice to further guide our exploration.

For a black actor to stand on the stage as part of a social milieu that has denied him his gods, his culture, his humanity, his mores, his ideas of himself and the world he lives in, is to be in league with a thousand naysayers who wish to corrupt the vigor and spirit of his heart.
—August Wilson
This passage from a 1996 speech emphasizes the driving force of the works of August Wilson as he strives to explore the black experience in America and give validity to a theatre that is both genuinely black and genuinely American.  In particular, his series of ten plays known as The Pittsburgh Cycle, in which one play is set in each decade of the 20th century, deals with the struggles of black Americans to define themselves and their culture.  We will read several plays from this cycle and discuss the issues prevalent then and their relevance in society today.

Imitation is at the heart of being human; we learn to speak, walk, dance, and write by observing and then mimicking those around us.  But how does this concept apply to literature?  In this course, we will seek to examine the complicated relationship between classic and contemporary authors and their sources of inspiration.  What bold choices of the past make today’s author’s great?  Is it possible to “steal a story”?  How are the writers we love today formed by the writers they loved?  From Dante’s studied homage to his hero Virgil to McCarthy’s spare punctuation as inspired by Joyce, we will examine the myriad effects of the “muse” author on the “student” author.  The course will require rigorous textual analysis, extensive writing, quizzes, and a culminating project and presentation.  Potential authors include Virgil, Dante, Faulkner, McCarthy, Twain, Saunders, Joyce, Oates, Hemingway, Didion and more.

The core of the course is British and American humor as expressed in literature, drama, and film.  Although our reading in the Library of America anthology will focus on American literature, we will consider works and theory from ancient Greece to the present, including Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.  We will read, reread, and review works from Mark Twain to The Onion, laughing a great deal and trying to figure out why we are doing so.

This course aims to examine the art form of the short story.  We will learn the structure, analyze the style, and create both our own likeable and flawed protagonists.  The primary goal of this class is to sharpen the student’s writing style while challenging his or her powers of observation and invention.  Some authors we will study include John Cheever, Flannery O’Connor, T.C. Boyle, and Stephen King.  Student work will culminate with a final portfolio in lieu of an exam.

What is African literature?  What is the relationship of language to human culture?  This course will explore African literature through the concepts and tools presented in the nonfiction book, Decolonizing the Mind by Ngữgĩ Wa Thiong’o.  Together we will contemplate the politics of language and literature on the continent of Africa and whether or not colonial alienation is possible.  The course will also focus on developing critical thinking skills through lecture and harkness style class discussions, as well as establishing keen literary analytical writing skills through essay writing along with frequent quizzes to further develop reading comprehension skills.

Long before true crime podcasts, detective-centered fiction and mysteries captured audiences in everything from magazine-published short stories to novels to films.  In this course, we will trace the development of detective fiction all the way from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841) and Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White (1859) to the Knives Out movies of today.  Along the way, we will explore the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and we'll examine the shifting archetypes that define the genre across many social and cultural contexts.  Instructional methods will rely heavily on discussion and written analysis, but we'll make time for our own creative pursuits as we try to write our own detective stories. 

While rhetoric has its roots in Ancient Greece, argument and persuasion pervade nearly every aspect of our society today, from politics to social media.  In this course, we will investigate the interaction between a writer’s purposes and readers’ expectations, exploring the conventions and devices writers use to construct persuasive arguments.  Methods and assessments will include multi-draft rhetorical analysis and argumentative writing, “book clubs” centered on shared texts and contemporary issues, and extensive discussion.  Students should be prepared to analyze rhetoric, dissect and construct logically sound arguments, and above all to approach real-world rhetoric with a critical eye.

Mythology surrounds us on a daily basis. Whether we take note of it, it is infused in the art, literature, and culture of our everyday existence.  It attempts to explain our very creation, our path and purpose through life, and ultimately our final destination. Using the work of celebrated scholar Joseph Campbell as a resource and anchor to our studies, we will consider how a variety of authors employ the conventions of the hero’s journey in their work to express the search for a deeper meaning of the human condition.  

Works considered for the course will range across time periods and cultures. While developing an understanding of each author’s intent in using the hero’s journey, students will simultaneously be asked to consider their own personal journey as they prepare to enter the world beyond the St. Christopher’s and St. Catherine’s community.

All students will be assessed through a variety of methods: (1) active and thoughtful class participation based on close reading and consideration of the texts; (2) written, in-class analyses of important questions about the texts; (3) group projects directly taken from in class discussion of the works; and (4) and a personal essay. 

In many ways, literature is always haunted, and all characters are ghosts.  While characters may become quite real for us, they are merely conjured, with no greater physical embodiment than the words on the page.  On another level, what occurs on the literal or realistic plane within even the most realistic fiction is also always haunted by metaphorical alternatives lurking beneath the surface, representing emotional and psychological realities.  So what makes an author choose to rupture the boundary between real and metaphorical and allow the fantastic or supernatural to infiltrate the literary “real world?”  Why not keep the ghosts in their rightful figurative underworld?  In this class we will explore the place of ghosts in literature.  What do ghosts mean?  Why do we need them and how do authors use them to address truths beyond physical reality? 

We will begin with a discussion on Greek Mythological texts and the Underworld.  For our core texts, we will then read Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts and Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison’s Beloved (winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and the American Book Award, among others).  Films and other short fiction by Sandra Cisneros, Edgar Allen Poe, and Octavia Butler will be included.

A contemporary genre, narrative nonfiction uses powerful literary expression and techniques of fiction such as character, plot, setting, and theme to tell a true, compelling story.  The Literary Truth: Narrative Nonfiction course focuses on outstanding nonfiction works that utilize narrative voice and strong research to tell true stories that read like novels. 
Throughout this course, students will learn how literary techniques play a crucial role in storytelling.  Most importantly, students will read short and long nonfiction texts to build an understanding of the aesthetic, philosophical, and ethical dimensions of true, contemporary human experience stories.  Students will study the literary traditions that contextualize narrative nonfiction and learn the properties that make this genre so powerful.  The course will begin with the application of nonfiction literary strategies to compose personal narratives, specifically focused on the college application essay.  Students will closely read two significant narrative nonfiction books and study the ethical and social effects of these stories.  We will study just a few of the nonfiction greats from Joan Didion, Gay Talese, and St. Christopher’s own, Tom Wolfe and Dean King.  Required reading for the course is listed below.  Additional reading will be supplied by the library.
Over the semester, we will dig deep into the compositional techniques of digital storytelling in addition to our personal narrative in order to create an artifact-centered, student-designed anthology.  Be prepared to fine-tune your writing techniques and read daily.

This course is designed for those students who think there’s no such thing as high-interest literature. You’ve read the books that have been assigned to you and you’ve heard about the studies that say being a lifelong reader leads to greater empathy and personal fulfillment, but you still think literature’s “not your thing.” What do you do? Well, you keep trying to find works that will speak to you, and this course will help you do that. Through exposure to various genres, we will create individual “Reading Playlists” which we will share with each other to expand our personal reading base.
The course will culminate with the students curating their own Personal Anthology, including students’ favorite novels, short stories, poems, plays, songs, pieces of artwork, etc. Assigned works may include Lord of the Flies, Into Thin Air, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Sandra Cisneros short stories, personalized reading from suggested lists, modern and traditional poems, and more.
Students will be assessed through a variety of methods: insightful annotations, personal reflections on works, application of literary criticism, tests, essays, writing workshops, and class participation.

What is trash?  At first glance, it’s easy to write it off as just being the garbage and junk cluttering the trash can and streets.  But what happens when we expand our definition of trash to include, well, everything?  This course will be centered around the close reading of a single word: trash.  Beginning with its origins as literal garbage, we will snake our way through the word’s many other definitions: trashy people, sports junkies, junk food, trash TV, and guilty pleasures.  We will explore mediums such as podcasts, Blockbuster movies, reality TV, poetry, Lifetime movies, and novels.  Potential authors include Dorothy Allison, A.R. Ammons, Tommy Pico, and Nico Walker.

Never before did I realize that mental illness could have the aspect of power, power. 
—Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

How do we define madness?  What actions distinguish eccentricity from insanity?  How and why does society draw a line between acceptable human impulse and something much darker?  This course seeks to explore the purpose of the madman in literature, focusing specifically on the concept of madness as an act of intentional rebellion against societal, institutional, and sexual inequities.  The course will consist of graded seminars, multiple short writing assignments, an independent project, and a final essay incorporating multiple works and scholarship.
Potential works include The Bacchae, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Howl, King Lear, The Bell Jar, “My Work is Not Yet Done,” and excerpts from works by Vonnegut, Nabokov, Ellis, and Poe.

How did playwrights in the late 19th and early 20th centuries break with tradition and reimagine the stage? In this seminar-style course, we’ll study the revolution that was modern drama by reading, viewing, and discussing a trio of groundbreaking works from three of the period’s most innovative playwrights: Henrik Ibsen, Bertolt Brecht, and Samuel Beckett. Alongside the plays themselves, we’ll tackle theory and criticism on Ibsen’s social realism, Brecht’s epic theater, and Beckett’s theater of the absurd. We’ll also read and watch plays by two contemporary playwrights, Suzan-Lori Parks and Lynn Nottage, in order to think about the ways in which living dramatists both draw upon and critique the conventions of the modern canon. Course requirements will include class participation, reading checks, adaptation exercises, critical writing assignments, a final comparative essay, and a formal presentation.

“...True literacy is multicultural...”
—Eileen Oliver

This course is designed to expose students to the diversity of culture and tradition on the continent of Africa through the African novel.  We will explore African literature through the theoretical philosophies of Ngữgĩ Wa Thiong’o, as presented in his nonfiction book, Moving the Center.  Students will gain an understanding of the African struggle for cultural freedoms.  They will develop their critical thinking and literary analytical skills by analyzing the literary genius of authors such as Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.  Using a comparative literary framework, we will assess the similarities and the differences apparent in the cultures and historical contexts from which each novel emerges.

Whether unconventional or wildly bizarre, true stories excite. In addition, each of us has a meaningful story to tell. Who are you? What life events have shaped your beliefs, fears, and convictions? This course will focus on writing and reading memoir, a sub-genre of creative nonfiction. In doing so, students will study both the methodology and style of telling true stories while presenting their own. Using a balance of lecture, exercise, and feedback, students will record their own life’s events while studying memoir of childhood, memoir of struggle, travel memoir, and confessional memoir. The course ends with a final portfolio.

How often do you look backwards on your life? As you tell a story today that happened years ago, do you color your narration, modify your story? This senior elective course asks students to examine the lens by which we understand a modern narrative. We will focus on how and why authors decide to select a retrospective point of view. Through use of high interest works, this course will prepare students to write their own narrative, which can be utilized as their college essay.

Assigned works may include The Things They Carried, Kite Runner, Glass Castle and various short stories and poems. Students will be assessed through a variety of methods: insightful annotations, Harkness discussion, examination of current song lyrics, retrospective narratives written by students themselves, quotation identifications, quizzes, tests, short essays, class participation and essays.

If you simply want to read more Shakespeare—or if you feel that others ‘get’ Shakespeare, but you don’t yet—then this course is for you.

After reading a short biography, we will study a selection of Shakespeare’s Sonnets and one play from each of his dramatic sub-genres.  At its core, this course will concentrate on the overarching patterns and themes within each sub-genre: history, comedy, tragedy, romance, and problem play.  We will seek to clarify to what extent the plays we study ‘fit’ in their identified sub-genres.  Finally, we will note the similarities and consistencies among these different dramatic sub-genres.  For example, why is Twelfth Night a comedy?  Does it incorporate any elements of tragedy?  To what extent does the romance The Tempest mimic comedic elements?  How does Hamlet incorporate some elements of a history?  etc.

After taking this course, when you encounter an unfamiliar Shakespeare play, you’ll more quickly understand its meaning and appreciate its art because you’ll recognize the patterns of its sub-genre.

Our study will feature performance—by routinely reading out loud in class, by students’ listening to spoken-word recordings of the plays while they read their assignments, by conducting a dramatic workshop in class, by watching video performances, and—of course—by attending two local or regional stage productions (if possible).  Students attending other stage productions or viewing additional film versions of assigned and unassigned plays may earn extra credit.  Typically, this course sponsors three to four excursions to Shakespeare productions in Richmond, DC, and Staunton. 

Students will be assessed through a variety of methods: close textual analysis, active class participation, engaged text-marking, a dramatic workshop performance, memory work, a number of short narrative responses, and several drafts of a personal essay.  Honors Students will have an enhanced unit centering on Shakespeare’s Sonnets with a variety of short assessments.

The plays to be selected will reflect the announcements for the fall season of local and regional playhouses to increase the confluence of our seeing live performances of plays we’re studying.  (These lists won’t be available until the midsummer of 2024.)  In 2023, the following works were assigned: The Sonnets (selections), Henry IV, Twelfth Night, Romeo & Juliet, Measure for Measure, Hamlet, and The Tempest.

Whether it is a vat of juicy BBQ, a chaw of tobacker, a squeal of a pig, a Confederate flag, a southern revival, an aristocratic politician, a country-fried hayseed, a southern beau or belle, a field of cotton, or a pickup truck, no one would disagree that the South is a region rich and seasoned with tradition and heritage.  But it is also a region rich and seasoned in its controversy.  One would expect that with all that has been researched and said about the South in movies, television, novels, history books, articles, essays, poems, and plays, we might be able to think somewhat clearly about the region.  But the fact remains that we still do not know exactly how we are to think and feel about the South, for it is a place-and it is indeed a literature-that is rich and seasoned in its complexities.  And it is once again in ruin-but this time we are witnessing it right before our very eyes!
In this course we will discuss through the literature and some of its film the ever-changing, ever-paradoxical nature of the South.

The broad appeal of sports has transformed society. Writers have used sports as a backdrop to explore competition, personal struggle, and hubris. This course will examine the themes of struggle, honor, humiliation, failure, pride, loss, and hope. Writers will include Bernard Malamud, Buzz Bissinger, Laura Hillenbrand, Michael Lewis, and David Halberstam.

In this course, students will develop their information fluency skills as they locate, assess, and evaluate research on current social issues in our world today.  Possible social issues entail those related to technology, education, social justice, criminal justice, the environment, health, sports, politics/government.  Students will analyze the arguments and research of others in order to better formulate their own stances on such issues.  After class discussions and individual conferences, students will select a particular topic within an overarching social issue to focus on for the second half of the semester.  Students will select a nonfiction text on their selected social issue to read and will research supplementary sources from a range of perspectives on the issues as well.  Through this process, students will form a research question on their selected issue, which they will investigate and answer by writing a complex, evidence-based argumentative research paper.  Students will synthesize research from a variety of sources and perspectives in order to construct a sound and credible argument.  Students will deliver their findings in a dynamic presentation to classmates and invited guests.

Cults, robberies, and murder.  As a society, we can’t get enough.  Almost every week, a new true crime series dominates the Top Ten list on Netflix, and a new podcast investigation hits the airways.  Why do we consume other people’s pain and deaths for entertainment?  Over the course of the semester, we’ll try to answer this question by analyzing books, graphic novels, Twitter threads, newspaper articles, Buzzfeed articles, podcasts, songs, cartoons, TV shows, Lifetime movies, and documentaries.  How does each of these mediums convey a story?  How can we write about them?  What do we learn from them?

Comic books have inarguably become a major force on the contemporary cultural landscape. They have been the source of inspiration for movies, television shows, and ancillary merchandise. Comic books have influenced fashion, art, and to some extent, the language we speak. That said, comic books are far more than just the four-color pulp adventures of costumed superheroes. They represent a unique storytelling medium, boasting a broad range of genres and styles, from lowbrow to highly sophisticated. 

This class will investigate the history and workings of this medium as well as the cultural circumstances that shaped and influenced it from as far back as the comic strips of the early 20th century through our contemporary age, both in the United States and abroad. We will examine representative works ranging from The Yellow Kid and Little Nemo comic strips of the early 1900s, to the first appearances of Superman and Batman in the late 1930s, to the Horror, Crime, and Dark Sci-Fi and Fantasy stories of E.C. Comics in the 1950’s, through the more grounded superheroes of Marvel Comics in the 60’s & 70s, on to edgy 80s works such as The Dark Knight Returns & Watchmen, and through the explosion of independent, creator-owned work in the 90’s and the arrival of the graphic novel in the late 90s and early 2000s, on to today. Along with their historical development, we will also examine comics as a unique art form unto itself, investigating their workings and singular methods of visual storytelling.

In addition to reading a variety of comic books and graphic novels, students will read and generate analysis of how these texts function in the context of this unique narrative art form. (Students who may be expecting simply to read a number of ‘easy’ texts are forewarned!) 

Modes of assessment will include meaningful class participation, research presentations, reading notes and analyses, as well as a final research project.

In this senior elective, students will encounter short fiction from around the world that expands the frontiers of imaginative literature, delighting in the absurd, the uncanny, the surreal, the fantastic, and the haunted.  We will study literature that defies or frustrates our common expectations of narrative and, in doing so, will develop and refine our understanding of point of view, setting, character, plot, imagery, and symbol.  Writers include Rabindranath Tagore, Ryonusuke Akutagowa, Franz Kafka, Birago Diop, Leena Krohn, Haruki Marukami, and Gabriel Garcia Marquéz.  Assignments will include quizzes, tests, short essays, contextual research, one long research essay, and a formal presentation.

In this course we will read selected short fiction and personal essays as writers and learn to borrow craft strategies from the professionals to tell our own stories. Using the workshop model to structure feedback, this class will teach students to (1) provide and incorporate meaningful feedback, (2) how to read as writers, and (3) build a portfolio of creative writing that reflects effort, intention, and ambition.

Honors American Literature and Composition Honors is required for all juniors (except for those in American Literature and Composition or AP English Literature). The Honors section is open to juniors by recommendation of the English Department and is intended for students near the top of the class. This course, a chronological study of American literature, emphasizes close reading and clear writing, as well as oral and written analysis of broad cultural trends in American letters. In addition to the more exacting attention to the mechanics of writing, this course broadens the student’s familiarity with the incorporation of secondary critical sources in writing critical essays. It extends the skills acquired in previous courses with a focus on the social, intellectual, and literary characteristics of the major periods of American Literature. Students enhance their understanding of the distinct qualities of poetry, prose, and drama--an extension of the previous two years of study in the curriculum.  Using primarily The Norton Anthology of American Literature: Shorter 7th Edition, other supplementary texts, and handouts, students practice reading for content, form, and aesthetics from a diverse selection of literature.  Active reading practices such as marking and annotating the text are taught and practiced.  This course is driven by student participation, lecture, and small group work. Online text support, videos and audio recordings supplement the course of study.  Methods of evaluation include daily assessments, unit tests, essays (both in-class and take-home), and semester examinations.

2023-24 will feature the launch of the pilot course Honors World Cultures II: Literature.
World Cultures is a two-year sequence of collaborative courses in both English and History. World Cultures II students will analyze and make comparisons between cultures (roughly covering 1200 AD to present) through historical and literary lenses to enforce a deeper understanding of the cultures that laid the foundation for the world today. World Cultures II—Literature is both content and skill-based (with more emphasis on the former).

In content, World Cultures II will cover six macro units: 1) the Americas (chiefly Latin America), 2) Europe and the Mediterranean, 3) East Asia, 4) Sub-Saharan Africa, 5) South Asia, and 6) Southwest Asia. World Cultures II: Literature will study both oral and literate cultures (with emphasis on the latter) with a focus on the social, intellectual, and literary characteristics of the major periods of World Literature.

In skills, World Cultures II: Literature will extend the skills acquired in World Cultures I: Literature. Students will learn to appreciate nuances and distinct qualities of poetry, prose, and drama. They will improve their critical thinking, reading, and writing skills while reviewing the fundamentals of English grammar and composition. Students will practice reading for content, form, and aesthetics from a diverse selection of literature. Active reading practices such as marking and annotating the text will be taught and practiced.

Class discussion and collaboration are the primary methods of instruction. Other methods of evaluation will include daily assessments, unit tests, essays (both in-class and take-home), a literary-based research paper, and semester examinations.

The principal text will be The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter 4th ed. Volume 2, supplemented by other texts, handouts, online text support, videos, and audio recordings.

World Cultures is a two-year sequence of collaborative courses in both English and History. World Cultures I students will analyze and make comparisons between Ancient cultures (roughly covering 10,000 BCE to 1400 AD) through historical and literary lenses to enforce a deeper understanding of the cultures that laid the foundation for the world today. World Cultures I: Literature is both content and skill-based.

In content, World Cultures I covers four macro units: 1) Southeast Asia, 2) Persia and Southwest Asia, 3) the Mediterranean, and 4) Africa. World Cultures I: Literature will study both oral and literate cultures with a focus on the social, intellectual, and literary characteristics of the major periods of World Literature.

In skills, World Cultures I: Literature will accomplish three primary objectives: to offer a formal introduction to poetry, prose, drama, and verse; to provide students with a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of grammar in relation to writing; and to develop their analytical writing skills about literature.

In addition, through the study of the literature from global and diverse perspectives, students will practice reading for content, aesthetics, and form. Active reading practices such as marking and annotating the text will be taught. The grammar units will develop students’ comfort and fluency in employing creative and effective phrase- and clause-sequencing patterns and a variety of sentence structures. In addition, students will practice articulating their thoughts in a range of dictions with emphasis on concision, idioms, mechanics, and punctuation.

Class discussion and collaboration (through small group work and peer-editing) will be primary methods of instruction. Other methods of evaluation will include daily assessments, unit tests, essays (both in-class and take-home), and semester examinations.

The principal text will be The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter 4th ed. Volume 1, supplemented by other texts and handouts.

World Cultures is a two-year sequence of collaborative courses in both English and History. World Cultures II students will analyze and make comparisons between cultures (roughly covering 1200 AD to present) through historical and literary lenses to enforce a deeper understanding of the cultures that laid the foundation for the world today. World Cultures II—Literature is both content and skill-based (with more emphasis on the former).

In content, World Cultures II will cover six macro units: 1) the Americas (chiefly Latin America), 2) Europe and the Mediterranean, 3) East Asia, 4) Sub-Saharan Africa, 5) South Asia, and 6) Southwest Asia. World Cultures II: Literature will study both oral and literate cultures (with emphasis on the latter) with a focus on the social, intellectual, and literary characteristics of the major periods of World Literature.

In skills, World Cultures II: Literature will extend the skills acquired in World Cultures I: Literature. Students will learn to appreciate nuances and distinct qualities of poetry, prose, and drama. They will improve their critical thinking, reading, and writing skills while reviewing the fundamentals of English grammar and composition. Students will practice reading for content, form, and aesthetics from a diverse selection of literature. Active reading practices such as marking and annotating the text will be taught and practiced.

Class discussion and collaboration are the primary methods of instruction. Other methods of evaluation will include daily assessments, unit tests, essays (both in-class and take-home), a literary-based research paper, and semester examinations.

The principal text will be The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter 4th ed. Volume 2, supplemented by other texts, handouts, online text support, videos, and audio recordings.