COURSES:
HUMANITIES
Humanities 9: Identity, Conflict, and Resistance (3 trimesters)
In the Humanities 9 course, students explore ideas of identity: personal, communal, and national. Guiding questions include: Who am I? What forces create community? What happens when groups collide? How can we push back against systems of oppression? Readings, discussions, and projects help students hone their communication, persuasion, information literacy, and critical reasoning skills. Source material might include: Persepolis, The World’s Wife, Everything I Never Told You, and Piecing Me Together as well as case studies, primary source documents, films, and other works of art.
Humanities 10: The Interconnected World (3 trimesters)
This second course in the Humanities sequence explores the question: How does where you live affect how you live? Students explore human rights and the ways they are both supported and violated, global power dynamics, and the relationships between people and their environments. Source material might include: Hunter School, the poetry of Warsan Shire, and the multimedia interactive story The Boat, along with the UN Declaration of Human Rights, and analysis of global advertising campaigns by multinational corporations. Throughout the course students continue to refine their skills of reading, writing, and collaboration.
Humanities 11: The American Experiment (3 trimesters)
In this final Humanities course, students turn their attention to what it means to be American in the 21st Century. They wrestle with questions such as: Who tells the American story and how? To what extent is America a land of opportunity? How do you define the “American Experience”? How are current events a result of historical precedents? By examining the present in the context of the past, students gain a better understanding of how our society has changed and remained unchanged given our political, cultural, and socio-economic forces. Source material might include: the periodical The Week, The Scarlet Letter, Citizen, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Good Immigrant, and primary historical documents from the founding of the United States.
The Spanish-Speaking World (1 trimester)
This course provides thematic lenses through which to view and understand the history and culture of Spain and Latin America. Combining geography, history, culture, politics, and economics, students gain an appreciation for the diversity of the Spanish-speaking world and its impact on the global stage. Units might include human and physical geography, regional conflicts, music and popular culture, and migration. Primary source materials will be used whenever possible based on students’ Spanish language proficiency.
American Government (1 trimester)
This course explores the complexity of our democratic system with a focus on the role of the individual to effect governmental change. After a review of the foundations of the federal government, students examine critical developments in the election process including changes to voting rights, the role of political action committees, and campaign finance. Using recent campaigns and current events, students work to answer questions such as how is social media impacting elections, what is the impact of grassroots movements on American politics, and what is the role of the Supreme Court in preserving democracy?
English Electives
English electives will be based, in part, on student interest. Possible courses include:
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A Life Worth Living: Examining the good life
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Everything’s an Argument: Rhetoric and writing
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Advocacy, Activism, and Art
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Controversial Literature: We read banned books
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Warrior Women in Myth and Legend
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Creative Writing
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Strange New Worlds: Utopias, dystopias, and science fiction
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Comparative Literature: The canon and beyond
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From Page to Stage (and Screen): Literary adaptations
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Journalism
Social Studies Electives
Social studies electives will be offered as driven by student interest and scheduling. Possible courses include:
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Gender Studies
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Pacific Northwest History
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Religions and Beliefs
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Media Studies