Courses in Upper School Language Arts challenge students to be vigorously focused and engaged – to take rhetorical chances and to express themselves warmly and clearly, with precision and humor. Students grow to value and enjoy language used well by others and, most importantly, by themselves. They encounter not just the practical, everyday importance of communication, but also the poetic and lyric qualities that lie at the heart of effective writing.
We encourage students to voice their views articulately and confidently by asking them to take a position and defend it within an environment that is safe and respectful. Freshmen discuss the downward spiral of civility depicted in Lord of the Flies. Sophomores focus on research paper techniques. Juniors consider whether Poe’s Montresor really did get away with murder after fifty years, while seniors argue for or against running an experiment that will conclusively prove whether God exists.
Language Arts classes touch on our shared human values through thought-provoking topics such as prejudice, cultural differences, death, love, and making one’s way through life. Our teachers nurture and reinforce the free exchange of ideas, always keeping the amazing power of the spoken and written word as the focus. In addition, we emphasize research techniques using databases and MLA formatting in both the sophomore informative research paper and the senior persuasive paper.
