English: Core 1 Full Year (Two Semesters) Prerequisites: None
evaluations. Particular attention will be paid to how class conflicts in the readings relate to students’ personal experiences with and perceptions of class. We will explore the benefits and drawbacks of membership in various classes, the obstacles that class presents, and how they may be overcome. Also, we will critique the literary assumptions about class and evaluate writers’ ideological goals in presenting class as they do. Potential titles include Pride and Prejudice, Passing , The Remains of the Day , and The Bell Jar .
Students focus on fundamental reading and writing skills to develop as sophisticated thinkers. With careful scaffolding from the teacher, students develop as close readers and annotators; broaden their understanding of literary devices and different genres; study Greek and Latin roots; practice the steps of the writing process; and internalize the essential components of analytical writing. Both the classic and contemporary reading selections explore the class’s essential questions concerning identity and conformity. Texts: Coursepack, The Catcher in theRye, The Merchant of Venice English: Core 2 Full Year (Two Semesters) Prerequisites: English: Core 1 or equivalent The goal of Core 2 is to build upon the life-long English skills of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and presenting introduced in Core I. Students explore what poems, stories, essays, speeches, plays, and novels have to say about the story of the United States and of ourselves. The class analyzes literature at a micro- level, appreciating beautiful sentences and words, and at a macro-level, understanding how arguments are constructed to address real-life problems and effect solutions. Overall, the focus is on examining how authors make reading rewarding, engaging, and thought provoking and how students can do the same in their own written work. Texts: Coursepack, The Great Gatsby, A Raisin in the Sun Electives As juniors and seniors, students select from a variety of one-semester electives in English.
English: Contemporary Authors One Semester (Offered Second Semester) Prerequisites: None
This course explores texts written mostly by living authors, especially those who have strong University Liggett School, Detroit, and/or Michigan connections. Texts will vary depending on teacher expertise, student interest, and the availability of authors to engage with and/or visit the class. Texts: The Virgin Suicides and materials provided by the instructor
English: Craft of Writing One Semester (Offered First Semester) Prerequisites: None
This course focuses on developing writing habits and skills that will be useful for academic, professional, and personal pursuits. Celebrating student choice and voice, Craft of Writing allows students to select the topics of their compositions; in addition, it emphasizes how purpose, genre, and audience intertwine when creating effective writing. In sum, this course “demystifies,” as Gerald Graff puts it, “the moves of academic [and other forms of] writing”; helps students understand writing as a process; offers extensive practice with and feedback on essential writing skills; and argues that writing in both academic and non-academic contexts serves as a crucial tool for thinking, discovery, and transformation — as well as for communication. Text: Coursepack English: Creative Writing: Poetry One Semester (Offered First Semester) Prerequisites: None This course invites students to explore and practice writing poetry and is designed to serve both accomplished students—looking for the time and motivation to focus exclusively on their writing—and novices wishing to improve their level of comfort with the rudiments of poetic expression. In addition to reading a book on the craft of writing poetry, students will study many shorter professional poems, explicating, analyzing, and mimicking as they develop a unique poetic voice. At its core, the class is about observing the world, brainstorming and sharing ideas, and revising
English: Class and Identity One Semester (Offered First Semester) Prerequisites: None
While “Man’s Inhumanity to Man” can take many forms, this course focuses on how class affects the ways people perceive and treat each other. Class differences—and their attendant conflicts and resolutions—are common in literature, but class is an often ignored and misunderstood phenomenon in American society. Therefore, class is a particularly appropriate issue with which to grapple, especially given the urban/suburban disparities in our community. The structure of the course is straightforward: reading assignments as daily homework, class discussion the following day, occasional informal written responses, with formal analytical essays as summative
2024-2025 ULS Curriculum Guide
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