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COMPOSITION & WORLD MYTHOLOGY
Course Description: Composition & World Mythology consists of myths, heroes' tales and legends that represent a society’s social mores, cultural and moral values recorded in literary form. Students will explore the mythologies of Greece, Rome, the Middle East, Northern Europe, the British Isles, the Far East and Pacific Islands, Africa, and the Americas. Students will also be required to view films that transmit the myths of various cultures in both Hollywood and non-Hollywood cinema.
Some texts students will read include:
- Gilgamesh
- Creation Myths
- Arthurian Legends
- Greek Heroes
- Trickster Myths
- American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Students will also be exposed to various supplemental works that include non-fiction. poetry and fiction readings, research and various art forms to broaden their understanding of the subject matter.
  
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RACE & GENDER IN LITERATURE
Course Description: From African Americans, East Asian/South Asian Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, and “white” ethnics, students will explore how cultural texts’ impact on race is incredibly important in an era in which students are constantly bombarded with issues of race and gender in music, television, films, and books. Students in this course will develop tools to analyze how literature and popular culture both reinforce and resist dominant notions of race, gender, and various other identities. Through novels and various non-fiction readings, students will explore themes such as ethnic and racial stereotypes, ethnicity and gender, assimilation versus cultural heritage/memory, ethnogenesis and translating experiences into a new culture and language.
Some of the core texts to be read will include:
- The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander (excerpts)
- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
- The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
- Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare
- Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia Butler
Additional non-fiction, fiction, poetry and cinematic sources will be used to broaden students' understanding.
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SPECULATION IN LITERATURE
Course Description: From J.R.R. Tolkien's Gollum to Suzanne Collins' Katniss Everdeen, the highly imaginative world of speculative fiction - a genre that includes science fiction, fantasy and urban fantasy, horror, utopian, and dystopian fiction will explore the human experience through the lens of the imagination. Speculative fiction often allows writers and readers to wrestle with complex social and psychological issues ranging from genetic engineering to forms of government, often in far-reaching and fantastical settings. This course will help students develop discussion and critical thinking skills as they negotiate complex issues of government, change, alternate identities, fear of the unknown, climate change, imperialism as expressed by well-known literary works.
Some of the core texts explored will be:
* I, Robot by Asimov
* Kindred by Octavia Butler
* The Dark Fantastic by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas
* V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
Various non-fiction, fiction, poetry, multimedia and cinematic resources will be explored to ensure understanding.
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AP LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION
Course Description:
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AP LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION
Course Description: AP Literature and Composition is a demanding course that requires students to engage in the critical and close reading of literature. Students will not be focusing on what the author is saying; rather, analyzing how the author uses language to produce meaning. Over the course of the school year, students will explore a diversity of genres and literary time periods from the sixteenth century renaissance through the post-modern time period of today.Though reading is the crux of the curriculum, students will also be responsible for several writing assignments including analytical, expository, and literary criticism essays, as well as the AP free response questions including the style analysis essay, poetry essay, and novel response. The structure of the class is completely student-centered and based on the assigned readings and core texts. All AP Literature students are also required to complete the senior project.
Some of the texts students may read include (but are not limited to):
- Antigone by Sophocles
- Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
- As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
   
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EXPOSITORY WRITING
Course Description: This course is designed to fully immerse students into the expectations and rigor of college writing. Based on Expository Writing 101 at Rutgers University, which is a required course, students will read, comprehend, analyze, and evaluate non-fiction articles intended for a college audience and make connections between ideas derived from a variety of texts. Through the process of writing multiple drafts of expository essays, students will develop independent theses that respond to the ideas and information in the texts they read. Students will produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Primary texts for the course will consist of non-fiction academic essays that have been pre-approved by the Rutgers Writing Program. Texts will be provided either by Rutgers or will be available on the web. Supplementary texts may include, but will not necessarily be limited to, required Summer Reading book(s) and supplementary grammar materials. Course content fulfills the English 4 requirement for seniors. Enrollment is based on teacher recommendation, test proficiency, and prior English performance.
Special Note: This course has an optional college credit component in which students can submit their cumulative writing portfolio for Folder Review in the Rutgers Writing Program. Students who pass can purchase college credit from Rutgers. |
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