English - Seattle Academy
The Hub
The English Department at Seattle Academy prepares students for college and life through the practice of essential communication skills. Our curriculum is based first and foremost in writing, and students are asked to practice writing everything from analytical essays to personal narratives, creative pieces to research papers, speeches to expository compositions. Special emphasis is placed on crafting, communicating, and defending arguments utilizing well-chosen evidence, as well as paying careful attention to voice and tone. Additionally, the department also stresses the importance of close reading as a critical skill and as a means of appreciating the world’s literature. Lastly, we ask students to live the
Culture of Performance
and offer them opportunities to perform their knowledge and demonstrate their skill mastery in class discussion and presentations. Fundamentally, the English Department recognizes and embraces the fact that students come to the study of English with different educational experiences in the humanities; disparate skill sets as readers, writers, speakers, and thinkers; and varying levels of interest in the material. Taking this into account, the English faculty are dedicated to meeting students’ differentiated needs, offering an appropriate level of challenge relative to students’ skills, and providing students opportunities for academic growth, progress, and success, broadly construed.
MEET THE ENGLISH FACULTY
Middle School
The Middle School English curriculum asks students to explore essential questions we believe all students should consider to prepare for college and life. Students examine these questions through reading, writing, and discussing a broad range of texts, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, plays, graphic novels, short stories, science fiction, and fantasy. The Middle School English program focuses on teaching students to hone their ability to develop strong claims based on strong evidence. By giving students complex questions and diverse texts, we consistently ask students to think critically and apply their skills in new contexts. Students learn to be active readers by annotating passages that help answer the essential questions as they read. They will also engage in daily seminars and writing activities to build their understanding of the text and cultivate their ability to listen and respond to others’ ideas. Middle School English emphasizes collaborative learning, recognizing that all student voices are valuable to our individual and shared understanding of the texts and our world.
MIDDLE SCHOOL CURRICULUM GUIDE
Utopia Project
In the 6th grade Utopia Project, students design a place/society for humans to live. They write a compelling argument that compares and contrasts their world to that of The Giver and includes information about government, geology, transportation, and communities.
Upper School
The Upper School English curriculum, building off the foundation of skills students develop in the Middle School, challenges students to closely read more complex texts, write effectively for various audiences and purposes, participate meaningfully in seminar discussion, collaborate on large-scale group projects, perform before their peers with confidence and composure, and practice critically thinking, all with increasingly less direct supervision or explicit instruction, and with more precision, sophistication, and nuance. Besides asking students to continue to hone necessary, transferable communication skills, students receive support and guidance as they become more independent, self-sufficient learners. Beyond this, our ardent hope is to cultivate in students an appreciation of literature, language, and the humanistic arts while encouraging them to question and discover both what is important to them and to the world in which they live.
English courses in
9th and 10th grade
embrace a wider humanities approach, taking into consideration what students may be studying in their History 9 and History 10 classes when selecting certain texts or designing integrated projects. Central to the school’s goal of providing an appropriately demanding and innovative college curriculum are the skills of reading and analysis. Students learn about the various modes, purposes, and styles of writing through exposure to a broad range of literature and learn to evaluate and develop arguments with evidence. Students also learn the technical vocabulary and research skills they need to read and analyze effectively in order to become confident interpreters of information.
In the
11th grade
, students can choose to take Standard English 11, a non-integrated Honors English 11 course, or an integrated Honors English / History course called American Studies. In all 11th-grade courses, students study American literature to accompany their study of U.S. history and, through reading and writing for a variety of purposes and in various forms, engage dynamically with texts, and write to discover the power of language and to communicate precisely.
For
12th grade
students, the English Department offers trimester-long electives at both the standard and honors levels, allowing students to pursue emerging interests in English. Past electives have ranged from choices such as “Magical Realism” to “Black Literature” to “Creative Writing” to “The Graphic Novel.” In all Upper School grades, multiple teachers might teach the same course, and each teacher’s curriculum will vary given a common understanding of the core skills, concepts, and expected common assessments.
Upper School Curriculum Guide
Salon Project
The Salon Project requires 10th grade students to research a modern, philosophical thinker, with choices ranging from Emma Goldman to Frantz Fanon. They learn the philosopher’s views on the social contract and the role and relationship between the individual, the community, and the government. Students then apply those ideas to current issues in analytical writing. Finally, they gather on stage in the manner of an Enlightenment Salon and act on behalf of their philosopher - discussing differing perspectives on current controversies.
Culture of Performance
Students learn to speak confidently and to create presentations that are original, content-rich, and organized. While giving a presentation to the class or during a seminar discussion about a literary text, we ask students to practice combining disparate skills in moments of action.
Discussion and Inquiry
Students take on leadership roles and help one another understand the ideas, issues, and values reflected in a text or topic through group discussion. They practice how to listen to one another, to make meaning, and to find common ground while participating in conversation.
Problem-Based Learning
Students learn how to apply their abilities and knowledge to the world beyond the classroom. They learn how to think from other perspectives, how to grapple with dilemmas in real-time, and how to solve challenges that real institutions face. By developing traditional literacies within projects that promote problem-based learning, we ask students to consider the past, present, and the future.
Communication
The English department at Seattle Academy aims to prepare students for college and life through practice of core communication skills: reading, writing, researching, presenting, listening, and critical thinking. We want students to operate with confidence in the academic world but also to be able to use the skills and competencies developed through their English education in their everyday lives.
Do you offer honors or advance level for English?
Because Seattle Academy offers a college preparatory curriculum, students in 6th-10th grades take the same grade-level course in English. Students can take honors-level classes in the 11th or 12th grade by engaging in an embedded honors option or by taking our American Studies class for juniors. Seattle Academy does not offer AP courses. We communicate this information to colleges, who understand and appreciate this choice.