Arts (Cont.)

Advanced Studio Art: 2D Design: Photography (0.5, fall or spring)

Prerequisites: Photography 1 & 2 and Department permission required

10th, 11th, 12th

This course will prepare the student for the AP exam. The curriculum covers a wide range of topics related to two-dimensional design, focusing on intentional decision-making in using artistic elements and principles in an integrated manner. As artists, students will utilize design elements such as line, shape, illusion of motion, pattern, texture, value, and color to express themselves effectively.

Advanced Studio Art: 2D Design: Drawing/Painting (1 credit, full year)

Prerequisites: Drawing/Painting 1 & 2 and Department permission required 10th, 11th, 12th

This course will prepare the student for the AP exam. It addresses a very broad interpretation of two-dimensional design issues. This type of design involves purposeful decision-making about how to use the elements and principles of art in an integrative way. Artists use the elements of design (line, shape, illusion of motion, pattern, texture, value, and color) to express themselves. By department permission. Coursework is supplemented with trips to area museums and galleries.

Advanced Studio Art: Drawing Portfolio (0.5 credit, fall or spring)

Prerequisite: Drawing 1 and Painting 1 and Department permission required 10th, 11th, 12th

This course will prepare the student for the AP exam. It addresses a very broad interpretation of drawing issues and media. Light and shade, line quality, rendering of form, composition, surface manipulation, and illusion of depth are drawing issues that can be addressed through various means. Many works of painting, printmaking, mixed media and abstract, observational, and inventive works may qualify. Students will generate 30 original artworks.

The English Department empowers students to become lifelong readers who express themselves clearly, convincingly, and creatively in writing and discussion. The English curriculum offers a broad range of courses across the four years of study, incorporating core content and skills in the ninth and tenth grade years and prioritizing student choice and interest in the student’s final two years. Students will leave Episcopal with a firm fundamental grounding in all forms of writing–analytical, narrative, persuasive, and creative. They will also develop and deepen their reading skills through encounters with a wide breadth of literature and a diversity of voices and styles.

Requirements: 4 credits

Four credits are required in English. Students must be enrolled in English every semester at Episcopal, and they must complete one elective that fulfills a writing requirement and one elective that fulfills an American literature requirement. The English Department recommends students for advanced English electives in the 11th and 12th grade, and students may discuss appropriate course placement with their English teachers. All incoming eleventh graders will enroll in Writing Workshop in their first semester.

Fundamentals in Literature and Composition (1 credit, full-year)

9th

This class seeks to expose students to a variety of literary voices and forms, and to encourage close, careful reading and well-structured, correct prose. Fundamentals of grammar, syntax, and rhetoric, as well as several literary forms (drama, novel, and poetry) are covered. Students study texts to gain an understanding of how authors create meaning, and to substantiate and specify this understanding. The class teaches and relies on discussion, and also dedicates lots of time to writing in various forms, including personal responses, formal analytical and persuasive essays, and creative pieces. Texts may include Beowulf or Homer’s Odyssey, Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, as well as poetry, a graphic novel, a choice novel unit, and a Shakespeare play.

Genre Studies (1 credit, full-year)

Prerequisites: Fundamentals of Literature and Composition

10th

Students review fundamentals of the English language, including grammar, syntax and vocabulary, write essays of a personal and critical nature, and craft creative fiction. Students read and trace themes through broad divisions of drama, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, augmenting their understanding of how authors create meaning in different genres, and substantiating and specifying this understanding. Core texts may include Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Sophocles’ Antigone, as well as Toni Morrison’s Recitatif, and a work of nonfiction about the Holocaust.

English Seminar: American Drama (0.5 credit, fall only)

Prerequisites: Fundamentals of Literature and Composition, Genre Studies

11th/12th

Theater examines what everyday people are doing when they are living their lives. This course will examine the art of the theater through the lens of American playwrights. We will examine what nearly three centuries of dramatic literature have had to say about our country and its people—through various lenses—and work to define the American experience for people from all walks of life. Students will write and analyze the plays through the roles of philosopher, responder, critic, linguist, historian, and psychologist. Each role has specific and unique ways of dissecting and learning from the text. Students then will use these analyses to lead class discussions and present their findings. This course fulfills the American Literature requirement.

English Seminar: American Literature: Poetry, Essay, Story and Song (0.5 credit, spring only)

Prerequisites: Fundamentals of Literature and Composition, Genre Studies

11th/12th

In this course, students will engage in the critical study and interpretation of texts from diverse genres: music, poetry, speeches, advertisements, comic strips, street art, film-- the possibilities are numerous! The class also offers a hands-on investigation of class, gender, race, and identity by exploring the work of dynamic authors like Kendrick Lamar, Jia Tolentino, and Claudia Emerson. Seminars and formal essays will involve close reading of texts and passages, acknowledging that meaning is not fixed, but rather impacted by form, content, purpose, audience and contexts. Regular second semester classes will end when the seniors depart for their externships. For non-senior students, the month of May will be dedicated to studying the art of the personal essay, including specific instruction of the college essay. This course fulfills the American Literature requirement.

English Seminar: American Poetry (0.5 credit, spring only)

Prerequisites: Fundamentals of Literature and Composition, Genre Studies

11th/12th

This course is about how American poets have used their writing to process and push the progress that this place has made culturally, politically, and socially. We will learn about the unique ability of poetic verse to capture what it means to be American, and what poetry can do, off of the page, based on the way that it is composed on the page. Each day of class will focus on the work of a single poet, and poets will be organized into units based on chronology and subject matter, progressing through American cultural history using poetry as a guide. Guiding questions will include: Who are the American poets who have steered this place’s artistic vision, and how are they like us? What is unique about the American poetic past, and where is contemporary American poetry pointing us for the future? How does poetry help us to process political, cultural, and social events in our history and create change in the present? Students will grapple with the larger arc of poetic development in this country and specialize in particular poets and poems of their choosing on assignments, which will run the gamut from analytical writing, personal/reflective narrative, and creative pieces. Regular second semester classes will end when the seniors depart for their externships. For non-senior students, the month of May will be dedicated to studying the art of the personal essay, including specific instruction of the college essay. This course fulfills the American literature requirement.

Advanced English Seminar: American Protest Literature (0.5 credit, fall or spring)

Prerequisites: Fundamentals of Literature and Composition, Genre Studies and Departmental recommendation

11th/12th

Throughout American history writers have lamented, excoriated, rebelled, celebrated, and prophesied, challenging audiences to examine their own beliefs and actions. Beginning with the American Revolution and continuing to the present, we’ll immerse ourselves in this rich literary tradition. Our discussions will be grounded in both history and literature, but they will go beyond that, drawing on film, art, and music and will be organized into three broad categories: race, gender and sexuality, and environment. In each of these categories, we will consider how the protest of thought and behavior shapes the course of our collective, national lives, as well as our own individual lives. We will take advantage of museums, organizations and individuals in the DC metro area, and students will delve into a personal interest through an intensive individual research project and educate their peers about their findings. Students will also write personal responses and analytical reflections on the reading throughout the course, and the major writing assessments will be numerous and varied--creative writing, close-reading analysis, and compare and contrast. Students in advanced courses should be prepared to write with clarity and technical proficiency and to display critical and creative thought in extended arguments. Advanced second semester classes will continue through the end of May, culminating with a final exam. One week will be given in May to instruction of the college essay. This course fulfills the American Literature requirement.