English
The Language Arts Department offers a wide variety of classes for all students and courses specific to each student’s grade level. In the middle school classroom, students focus on developing their writing through the five-step writing process and developing their analytical reading strategies to prepare for high school. In 9th grade, the literature course focuses on various aspects of literature including poetry, short stories, plays, and novels. Students in 10th grade participate in a world literature course reading well-known literature reflecting the values of various cultures and impact on individuals within the culture. The 11th-grade curriculum focuses on American literature beginning in the 1800’s working through the literature of today. In 12th-grade student work chronologically through the British timeline reading well know British authors and analyzing the effect of society on literature. Beyond the core English courses, Grove School offers various English electives throughout the year including Creative Writing, Journalism, Poetry, and Deconstructing Disney. Students are continuously assessed using the CCSS writing rubric and participate in a variety of academic-based activities such as Socratic seminars, multisensory projects, lectures, and the composition of various written pieces.
-
Poetry
Grades: 9, 10, 11, 12
Department: English
This course has two primary purposes: (1) to introduce students to some of the achievements of poets writing in English and (2) to help students become a discriminating and confident reader and writer of poetry. Students will understand better what poetry is and what kind of responses it invites from its readers. A wide range of poems from different historical periods, written in a wide range of forms and styles will be read and analyzed. The first part of the course will tend to emphasize the various elements of poetry—imagery, figurative language, tone, sound and rhythm. In the second part, students will spend time considering what can be learned from studying a poem in the context of other poems by the same author or poems on a similar subject.