Faculty Fuel a Love of Learning

After more than 50 years, Poly says goodbye to the College Board’s AP curricula and ushers in a new era of advanced programming.

In February of 2021, Michal Hershkovitz P’16, ’18, Assistant Head of School, Academics shared exciting new plans with parents and Upper School students. Poly would launch new advanced college preparatory curricula created to reflect the school’s educational priorities, its faculty’s remarkable expertise, and state-of-the-art subject-specific learning methods. As part of this new programming, a wider range of elective courses would be introduced. Students can expect to sharpen their writing and analytical skills and read more critically while diving deeply into exciting topics across disciplines from new directions.

The new programming, which spans Grades 9–12, will officially replace the AP curricula in September 2022, but new electives have already debuted, giving students a sneak peek at the vibrant academic landscape ahead. In addition, we have launched a Middle School electives program that engages younger students in subjects of special interest to them and is one-of-a-kind for this age group. Take a look.

NEW ELECTIVESMIDDLE SCHOOL Legends of Classical Antiquity Dr. Anthony Gini P’23 Women in Mathematics Danielle Rauch Introduction to Psychology Eman Abbas The Medieval World Caesar Fabella Creative Writing Laura Caldwell UPPER SCHOOL Comparative Anatomy Dr. Ramesh Laungani Art of Design Paola Ligonde Futures Laura Caldwell Slavery and Resistance Dr. Alex Carter Networks, News, and American Democracy Dr. Virginia Dillon Queer Histories Maggie Moslander Linear Algebra Carolyn Licata Discrete Math Ira Feldman Mythology Dr. Anthony Gini P’23 10

COMPARATIVE ANATOMY

Dr. Ramesh Laungani

Chair of the Science Department

It’s often standing room only, but that’s because Dr. Ramesh Laungani’s curriculum is practical and hands-on in this lab-based course where students study how organisms evolved through time. Mastering the fundamental underlying biological activities that drove the formation of anatomical structure gives students a deeper understanding of human anatomy.

“This class is fun to teach,” said Dr. Laungani, “not only because students get to learn about all sorts of unique features of animals—like the fact that elephants use their big ears as radiators so they don't overheat—but through dissection of various animals, they also get to see the similarities among species that look very different on the outside. Plus, they get their hands messy through exploration, pure science!” “I am also excited,” he continued, “because this class is a place where students can learn to read and analyze primary scientific research papers. As a professional scientist, when I want to learn about cutting-edge science, I go straight to the primary research literature, whether it's about anatomy, climate change, or virology. I want to make sure my students are just as comfortable going ‘right to the science,’ and not have to wait for CNN or some other news outlet to translate it for them. Learning to read these papers is a skill, just like throwing a perfect spiral football pass; it takes practice and determination. It is this skill that I know will pay off for the students when they enter college, and I know that no other high school students in the country are reading and breaking down scientific research in the way that we are in this class. By developing this skill, students in their first year of college can confidently walk into a professor's office and say ‘I'd like to do a research project with you’ and when that professor hands them a stack of research papers to get them up to speed, they will be ready to take on that challenge.”

“What has been quite amazing, but not necessarily surprising knowing the high caliber of Poly students,” Dr. Laungani continued, “is watching the students take on the challenge of a college-level course and reach, and in many cases, exceed my expectations. I don't think the students even realize how well they are doing in taking on this level of material and so watching them knock it out of the park always brings a smile to my face.”

Even as we discuss myths that I first read years ago, I find myself engaged because of how we apply current themes to them. One issue that we have discussed at length is the male gaze and how it manifests itself in popular culture. The suggestion that Pygmalion could fall in love with an inanimate statue based entirely on her looks perpetuates the notion that women are simply objects of affection for men… a notion that we must contend with very often today, but one that I did not previously identify in mythology.

—JAKE ZRIHEN ’22

MYTHOLOGY

Dr. Anthony Gini P’23

Chair of the Classics Department

“This course is very much like the traditional, and very popular, college mythology course,” said Dr. Anthony Gini, Chair of the Classics Department, with one important difference. “Our course is connected very deliberately to our schoolwide goals of fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Dr. Gini said. “We study gender issues such as the idea of the ‘male gaze,’ the representation of gender roles and gender fluidity, and the overreach of patriarchal structures.” He added, “We also consider ancient treatments of the idea of the outsider and the refugee, and how they reflect the definition of civilization versus barbarism. We are currently considering, through Homer’s Iliad, the impact of war on participants and civilians, and we are touching on the themes of PTSD and moral injury, with reference to the work done by Dr. Jonathan Shay with returning veterans. This course serves to bring many of the texts we traditionally study into a dialogue with more contemporary issues.”

QUEER HISTORIES

Maggie Moslander

Chair of the History Department

“Queer Histories is new this year!” said Maggie Moslander, Chair of the History Department. “It is a United States history seminar, designed to give students a foundational understanding of U.S. history through the lens of ‘queer histories.’ We began the year considering how it changes our approach to history to consider it from the perspective of marginalized groups rather than from the center, and we explored especially how boundaries of race, sex, and gender were constructed in colonial America. We then moved on to a consideration of Manifest Destiny, the experience of enslavement, and the ‘American man;’ now we’re in the 20th century, considering how the emergence of LGBTQ+ identities was shaped by the political, economic, and social conditions of that century. We’ll finish the semester with student research projects on the emergence of LGBTQ+ rights movements in the second half of the 20th century.”

“I’m excited to teach this class,” Moslander shared, “because it’s a course that students have been asking for, and it gives me a chance to connect my love for U.S. history with the history of an often-overlooked group in the United States. The students have been amazing—they have really embraced the challenge of the class and are doing college-level reading and writing, which is exactly what we’re aiming for as a program committed to helping students do the work of historians themselves.”

“The work of the History Department is to broaden student perspectives and deepen student understanding of the wide variety within the human experience, and this course helps us move closer to achieving that goal. It also helps us tackle a consistent issue in teaching United States history, which is the question of selection: how do we choose what to include in a course that could be many semesters or years long? By approaching United States history through a particular lens, we are able to be transparent with students and with ourselves about how we’ll make those tough choices: we’ll be guided by the disciplinary questions of the course, knowing that students will have the opportunity to consider U.S. history through several different lenses by the time they graduate.”

“I’ve been so impressed with the passion, interest, and genuine curiosity that students have brought to this class,” Moslander said. “Students have been asking such important questions and drawing connections across our readings; recently, students discussed how the experience of industrialization and the emergence of modern capitalism created the conditions both for the emergence of gay identity in the 20th century and also for the oppression of LGBTQ+ people. Their insights blew me away; I constantly feel as though I am learning from them and they are learning from each other.”

FUTURES: A STUDY OF SPECULATIVE FICTION

Laura Caldwell English Faculty

“Futures, a study of speculative fiction, was added when we expanded the English elective program to create more choice for students,” shared Laura Caldwell who is also teaching a new creative writing elective for Middle School. “I’m excited to teach this course because we examine the ways in which Speculative Fiction (SF) reflects popular culture and the concerns of society today while exploring what it means to be human in a changing world.” As seniors are about to embark on their own paths, Caldwell said, they are particularly interested in how SF literature often predicts the future. “I’ve been pleasantly surprised that students have continued to read on their own other works by some of the authors we study in class. This is very gratifying because one of my goals for the class was to bring back the joy of reading for busy students who have many demands in their lives.”

I really enjoy how the stories are their own universe, like a fantasy book, but also still realistic in some sense. It’s a genre that allows you to be creative, but in a grounded way. My favorite author has been Margaret Atwood because she specifically only included events that have actually happened in our world.

—ELLA LEONARD ’22

NETWORKS, NEWS, AND AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Dr. Virginia Dillon History Department

“This elective takes things that I love to read and think about—communication networks, news media, infrastructure—and considers how these structures both shape and are shaped by the American public and the American government,” Dr. Virginia Dillon said. “It allows us to see history as a combination of the many forces that push and pull on each other in different ways, encouraging and challenging sources of power. It complicates our ideas about American history as a straightforward series of events, a narrative about a succession of presidents and wars and important figures, and instead asks us to look for the sometimes invisible or neglected elements that are at play.” “Networks, News, and American Democracy offers an approach to the study of history that is becoming increasingly relevant to students’ lives and common in the discipline itself: an examination of both networks of information-sharing and the technology by which we receive that information,” Dr. Dillon said. “It also challenges students to see and think about the ways the information and news they receive today are shaped by economic and political interests, as well as their own identities. The course also allows us to naturally integrate questions of who gets counted as part of the American public and, therefore, examine levels of access and privilege.”

“I think I always anticipated that the students would be interested in the more modern aspects of news and technology,” Dr. Dillon added, “but I’ve loved seeing their passion and curiosity about the parts of history that can feel more removed from our day-to-day lives such as the relevance of colonial era law, the implications of the expansion of the postal networks, or the importance of newspaper advertisements that offer the sale of enslaved people. I don’t have to convince them that these things matter, too; they’ve already bought in!”

Learning the origins of the formation of the press has helped me gain a more thorough understanding of our current structure of government as much of it is highly influenced by the media. —RAYEEDA MAHMUD ’23