Gerstell Academy A Co-Educational Independent College Preparatory Day School
Upper School English
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Upper School English

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Sequence/Description/Readings

Gerstell Academy’s Upper School English Program is a literature based curriculum grounded in the Core Knowledge/Great Books philosophy. It is a traditional approach to language that requires students to read classic works and to use those readings as the basis for their critical-thinking, their writing program, and for their language/vocabulary development. The characters, themes, and situations will be used to identify and to discuss leadership characteristics. Poetry is integrated into each course with the study of particular authors and literary periods.

 

Shakespeare is studied in each course with poets from around the world in grade 10 (world literature), American poets in grade 11 (American literature), and British poets in grade 12 (British literature). As part of the writing program, the methodology for writing research papers is incorporated into each course. The sequence of the courses, materials and readings are as follows:

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Grade 9 (Required)

Ninth grade will be a genre based course. The students will explore and analyze outstanding novels, poetry, drama and short stories. These works will form the basis for all of the writing, discussion and language development. The suggested works are:

    • Vocabulary Workshop, Level D
    • Prentice Hall Literature, Penguin Edition - 9th Grade
    • Ivanhoe
    • Animal Farm
    • Romeo and Juliet
 

Grade 10 (Required)

Tenth grade English will be a world literature course requiring the students to explore outstanding selections from around the world. Composition work, critical-thinking activities, language/vocabulary activities, and leadership characteristics will be extracted from the following works:

    • Vocabulary Workshop, Level E
    • Prentice Hall Literature, Penguin Edition - 10th Grade
    • A Tale of Two Cities
    • A Separate Piece
    • To Kill a Mockingbird
    • Julius Caesar
    • A Raisin in the Sun

    Grade 11 (Required)

    Eleventh grade English will be based on American literature. The continued development of the students’ skills will be based on the reading and the discussion of the following literary works:

      • Authors in Depth: The American Experience
      • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
      • African-American Literature: A Collection
      • Macbeth 
      • The Red Badge of Courage
      • To Kill A Mockingbird

    All students will also be required to take an SAT preparation course in the eleventh grade. In English this course will be designed to familiarize the students with test content, test strategies and with test format.  Appropriate material will be selected for the course.

    Grade 12 (Required)

    Twelfth grade English will focus on British literature and will continue the students’ language development by using the following traditional works as the foundation of the course:

      • Authors in Depth: The British Tradition
      • Beowulf
      • The Canterbury Tales
      • Hamlet
      • Frankenstein
      • Time Machine and The Invisible Man

Twelfth grade students will also be required to complete a major research paper by the end of the Spring semester building on the research skills taught each year.