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Weekly News
1/26-1/30/26
This week, English 9 students finish their independent reading of Angie Thomas’ 2017 novel The Hate U Give. After discussing the novel as a whole, we will plan, draft, and polish a literary analysis essay to delve into the complexities of the theme. Practicing MLA format and using textual evidence to support an arguable thesis statement are also parts of this thinking/writing process. We will continue our discussion of creative writing as activism as we connect the work of Dickens to Thomas, and in the coming weeks, Orwell.
Students in English 10-11 have been learning about the historical-cultural significance of romantic poets writing in response to the Age of Reason/Rationalism and the Industrial Revolution. Students have discussed that the industrial revolution was a time when there were many innovations in manufacturing and travel, and that there were both positive and negative consequences related to these rather extreme changes. The daily lives of many individuals became vastly different. Individuality, for example, was more difficult to maintain if hundreds of workers were on a single assembly line. Students have also learned that the lack of governmental oversight of this time allowed businesses to exploit their workers by taking away their rights, exposing them to hazardous health conditions, and paying them low wages. To make connections between past and present the following questions guide the students through the unit: How does this background—and these concepts—apply to our world today? What would a romantic poet write about today? What would concern them? Where would they seek out beauty, the imagination, or emotional resonance? What would scare them or delight them? These questions have led to in-depth discussions and writing concerning AI, climate change, and social media.
English 12 are reading and discussing William Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Hamlet. A guiding question is What makes us human? This query has been a throughline in our study of the essay/memoir, The Odyssey, contemporary poetry, and The Canterbury Tales. We will also compare the concept of Humanism in 17th century England to our own understanding of artificial intelligence & humanism today. Where in the history of language and literature can we notice a cultural stagnation, and where/when do we find the arts flourishing? Why? How?
Students in creative writing have been exploring poet Joyelle McSweeney’s concept of hyperdiction, the purposeful amplification of language. McSweeney argues that every individual in the world has access to a distinct bank of language informed by unique experiences, places, people, culture, etc., which means that no two voices are ever exactly the same. Students began their work with hyperdiction by building glossaries of words, phrases, and images associated with their own interests and their hometowns. Students then read and discussed Yusef Komunyakaa’s “Venus’ Flytraps,” a poem in which the speaker is the poet as a five-year-old boy. The students are now working on drafts of poems in which they speak from a specific age of their choice, using their hyperdiction glossaries to make the language as rich and unique as possible.
Students in mythology just wrapped up the unit on Celtic mythology and are beginning to learn about Japanese mythology. We’ll learn about Shintoism and kami and the Japanese mythological creation story.
Upper and middle school students in music are working on learning guitar trios and quartets! We’re learning “Lean On Me”, “Here Comes the Sun” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
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