This course provides a unique opportunity to create a film from the ground up. Students will enhance their creative writing skills, learn to adapt stories to screen, and use proper script formatting. They will learn to use advanced editing software and gain experience in every position on a professional film set. The course will culminate with the creation of a feature film.

500-page novels aren’t your thing? Mine either. This course will instead survey great short works. From heavy hitters like Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce to a less traditional assortment of comic writing, creative nonfiction, and flash fiction, our reading selection will remain broad in an attempt to represent a multiplicity of perspectives and sub-genres. Our goals will be to get a better sense of how short works are crafted, to pursue meaning where we can, and to understand how a collection of short works functions as a whole. Major assignments will include two papers, a project, and a final exam.

AP English Language & Composition is designed to mirror a college-level composition class. Its primary goal is to help students “write effectively and confidently in the college course across the curriculum and in their professional and public lives” (The College Board, AP English Course Description, May 2007, May 2008, p. 6). In this course, students will strive to become critical readers, analytical writers, and successful communicators.

While the objectives and requirements listed in the AP English Course Description guide the organization of this course, multi-week thematic units center on the discussion and analysis of an American cultural myth in order to encourage students to think critically about their beliefs and their world. Selections for each unit are composed of written and visual texts including (but not limited to) essays, political writing, autobiographies, social-science writing, criticism, cartoons, posters, and advertisements. Each unit will be anchored by a multi-drafted piece of writing on which students will receive peer and teacher feedback. This writing is evaluated based on effective and appropriate use of a variety of vocabulary and sentence structure, logical organization, development and support of ideas and claims, effective use of rhetoric (including tone, voice and emphasis), and an understanding of purpose and audience (The College Board AP English Course Description, May 2007, May 2008. p. 8).

In this course, we will read selected works of American, British, and Global literature. Beyond exposing ourselves to a number of excellent (and enjoyable) pieces of writing, the focus of this course is to understand how structure and style work to create and enhance meaning. Writing will be a major part of the course, as will be close reading. In-class AP-style essays, informal personal responses, and take-home essays will be practiced regularly. The primary goal will be to develop the necessary skills and knowledge in order to perform well on the AP exam at the end of the year.

Introduction to Creative Writing is an entry-level course designed to help students learn to incorporate writing in their lives and to expose them to a workshop environment. Reading and writing activities will cover the basic elements of the four main genres of creative writing: fiction, poetry, drama, and nonfiction. Students will study the techniques of each genre through handouts, selections in the text, and the creation of their own pieces. There will be a short test and cumulative project at the end of each unit over the specific writings and practices we’ve covered. In lieu of a final exam, students will create a portfolio containing polished writing samples, a personal writing metaphor, and a self-evaluation. At the end of this semester, students will be familiar with themselves as both writers and critics.

Advanced Creative Writing: Poetry is an elective course centered on the workshop environment. It is expected that students in this class already harbor a genuine interest in writing poetry. While we will cover concepts of poetic mechanics (language, sound, form, image, etc.) and major authors in the genre, students will spend the majority of the class establishing personal writing practices and developing their unique sense of poetics. In short, there will be reading, writing, and much discussing of students’ own poetry.