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English
English 9 (1 Credit)
In the first year of English study at Xavier, students begin with an intensive writing curriculum in the first quarter in which they will practice the art of writing . Students will read exemplary essays and writing samples – description, reflection, narration, argumentation, exposition and analysis – and start out writing short pieces in these modes . Writing instruction is complemented by the study of grammar (particularly parts of speech, proper sentence structure and agreement), and grammar study continues throughout the year . After quarter one, students read widely across genres which include the short story, poetry, non-fiction and the novel . Each year, teachers of freshmen vary and update texts for study, discussion and analysis . This course has multiple aims: to enable students to become confident and proficient readers; to develop and hone critical thinking skills through discussion and literary analysis; to fashion and foster one’s analytical and creative voice through the written and spoken word . Vocabulary is taught and reinforced both within the context of the literature at hand and also through the study of commonly occurring words for academic and reading proficiency . Students will also begin their three-year study of Shakespeare with an intensive reading and analysis of Romeo & Juliet or Julius Caesar .
English 9 Honors (1 Credit)
All freshman students admitted to the Ignatian Scholars Honors Program will be enrolled in English 9 Honors . Students will begin with an intensive writing program, and critically challenging reading and writing assignments will be geared toward developing Pre-AP thinking and writing skills featuring literary and rhetorical analysis . Students will study grammar topics related to writing clearly and powerfully . Ignatian Scholars read a varied selection of challenging novels and non-fiction books in addition to two Shakespeare plays . Students are expected to contribute actively and thoughtfully in seminars and discussions .
English 10 (1 Credit)
This sophomore course of study provides an overview of the British canon in literature from Anglo-Saxon times to the present . Texts will include selections from Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales, and full-length works, including Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Frankenstein (Shelley) and a dystopian British fiction selection . Students study numerous pieces of short fiction, non-fiction and poetry from across the various literary movements in British Literature and also read pieces that engage discussion of the impact of the colonial British influence on native populations . Students will continue to develop their skills in expository, analytical and argumentative writing, their understanding and implementation of the rules of grammar and their study of vocabulary for enhancement of critical reading and comprehension . English 10 Honors (1 Credit)
This sophomore honors English deepens the literary studies begun in freshman year with a specific focus on British Literature . Composition, vocabulary and reading skills are further developed through the study of challenging texts, and the instructor teaches critical reading and writing with a pre-AP focus as the majority of the honors students will choose to go on to AP English in junior and senior year . English 10 Honors engages students in independent research and in-class presentations . The sophomore honors class is characterized by seminar-style participation .
English 11: Exploring American Identity Through Literature (1 Credit)
The junior year English course examines a broad range of classic and contemporary literature through the lens of four themes: dreams, faith, conformity and rebellion, social pressure and moral codes . Through thematic units, students study the diverse voices and cultures that represent the American identity . Texts include American short stories, poetry, documents, speeches, plays, and novels . Titles covered may include, but are not limited to: Go Tell It on the Mountain (Baldwin), The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald), Sula (Morrison), Ethan Frome (Wharton), A Streetcar Named Desire (Williams), and others . Selections vary year to year . Students also continue their study of Shakespeare with Othello . Writing advances in difficulty and expectation as students learn to place their own literary analysis in the context of the critical studies of others, and learn to place their own voices in the context of analyzing the rhetoric of others . Study of grammar continues in the junior year both to improve student writing and to enhance proficiency in light of college entrance exam expectations . Deliberate study of vocabulary in context continues in the junior year to enhance student reading comprehension .
AP English Language & Composition (1 Credit)
The study of American Literature forms the background of this course, however, the AP course is primarily a college-level study of rhetoric and writing . The course engages students in becoming skilled readers of prose, mainly nonfiction, from a variety of literary periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts . Students focus on becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes . Frequent writing and reading tasks engage students in developing an awareness of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, an audience’s expectations, and the writer’s subject, as well as the way conventions in writing and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing . Special attention will be devoted to development of voice and style in writing .
Seniors select from among the current offerings of English elective pairings (unless that students chooses to take AP Literature and Composition). The following list is comprised of recently offered and currently offered elective pairings. These electives vary year to year depending on student interest. Pairing #1: Literature in Film & Irish Literature and Culture Pairing #2: Modernism: “Make it New!” & Imprisonment in Literature Pairing #3: Surviving: True and Unbelievable Stories & Soldiers’ Stories Pairing #4: Sympathy for the Grotesque & New York Literature: The Dream, The Grit and The Grind Pairing #5: The Rise and Reign of the Antihero: 19632017 & Dread, Angst, and the Battle Against Oblivion Pairing #6: Voices of the Harlem Renaissance & This Woman’s Work
Senior Elective Course Description
Literature in Film (½ Credit)
Literature in Film will explore the relationship between the screen and the written word . Questions that will be the focus of the class will include: What are the problems that arise when you transpose fiction to film? How does the story change? The characters? Does it make a difference when a story was written and when it was made into a film? Students will compare and contrast the positive and negative aspects of literature turned into film and in doing so will hopefully increase their own understanding of the text and appreciation of multiple art forms . The texts studied will cover a variety of genres: plays, prose, memoir . Texts may include titles such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Fences by August Wilson, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, and Between a Rock and A Hard Place by Aron Ralston (127 Hours) . Irish Literature and Culture (½ Credit)
That so small a country, Ireland, has produced such literary powerhouses as Joyce, Swift, Heaney and Doyle deserves a semester of in-depth reading, writing, and discussion . Ireland has been called “a terrible beauty” and the writers that hail from her shores have spent countless hours and many pages exploring this intense paradox . In this elective we will look not only at this but at questions that connect us across ethnic, religious, and societal divides: What is it to love one’s country? Where does love end and fanaticism begin? How can one recover from loss of identity and love? Where can we find beauty and happiness in the most mundane corners of life? One does not have to be Irish to engage in these conversations and appreciate these funny, sad, and brilliant writers! We will also enjoy a delving into Irish culture that will include looking at Irish immigration in New York, Irish food, music and folklore . Authors to include: James Joyce, Roddy Doyle, Colum McCann, Jonathan Swift, Seamus Heaney and Claire Keegan . Walking tour of the New York Irish experience, Irish step dancers, seeing a play at the Irish Rep, and enjoying Irish delicacies are some of the encounters included in this course .
Modernism: “Make it New!” (½ Credit)
The tumultuousness of World War I fostered a new class of artists and writers who were disillusioned with the technological advances of warfare that took annihilation and destruction to new heights . Modernist writers destroyed conventions and championed each individual’s perception of his world . This class will explore the roots of Modernist literature, beginning with Ezra Pound and tracing the trajectory of modernism as it forever altered the literary landscape . We will examine the writers and artists who broke with tradition, embraced change, and created a new way to envision the world . We will read works by T .S . Eliot, Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, F . Scott Fitzgerald, Jean Rhys and Ernest Hemingway . We will also look at works by Picasso, Braques, Brancusi, and other artists, who worked alongside the modernist authors to depict our world in unprecedented ways .
Imprisonment in Literature (½ Credit)
This class spans both fiction and nonfiction to explore the function and impact of prisons on our society . We begin by examining how laws, prisons, and the judicial system work to keep certain segments of the population captive . In The Handmaid’s Tale, a totalitarian government imprisons all of its women in order to facilitate repopulation after a cataclysmic environmental disaster . This dystopian novel slyly and subtly reflects shifts in our own society with the advent of computerized banking and surveillance . We shift gears with Just Mercy, a nonfiction account of Bryan Stevenson’s work on behalf of prisoners, which powerfully examines the shattering effect of imprisonment on individuals and their families . The use of laws to criminalize behavior will be illuminated by shorter works including Oscar Wilde’s The Ballad of Reading Gaol, Anna Ahkmatova’s Requiem and Rev . Dr . Martin Luther King, Jr .’s Letter from Birmingham Jail . This course concludes with a close reading of Hamlet and Jesus Hopped the A Train (Giurgis) , contrasting these two works in terms of style and substance .
What does it take to survive? How do writers of stories of extreme adversity define and illuminate personal grit? In this course students will read mostly non-fiction pieces that deal with adversity – adversity that is chosen, such as mountain climbing, or adversity that is accidentally thrust upon us, such as a plane crash or other scenario . Seminar-style classes will allow for in-depth discussion of Nando Parrado’s Miracle in the Andes, Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel, The Road, non-fiction accounts of survival such as Into Thin Air (Krakauer) and The Perfect Storm (Junger), selections from memoirs and documentary film accounts of survival such as Meru, The Center Cannot Hold (Saks), and Finding Home, plus articles and talks by Sherwin Nuland and others . All works studied will aim to illuminate and inform our understanding of the human will to survive and the questions people must consider when faced with extreme adversity .
Soldiers’ Stories (½ Credit)
Honor . Glory . Freedom . Young men and women serve in the military for a host of reasons, and every year soldiers transition back to civilian life . Much has been written by and about soldiers at war and returning from war . In this course we will delve into soldiers’ stories – their experience of war and experience of coming back from war . Students will read Tribe (Junger), selected stories from Redeployment (Klay) and The Things They Carried (O’Brien), play All My Sons (Miller), and memoir American Sniper (Kyle), plus short works, stories, and poems by Robert Graves, Brian Turner, Wilfred Owen and others . Students will also evaluate dramatic film and documentary film depictions of soldiers’ stories . Films may include Restrepo, Hell and Back Again, and The Hurt Locker .
Sympathy for the Grotesque (½ Credit)
Although the word grotesque is often used colloquially to signify something hideous or terrifying, what makes grotesque characters so fascinating in literature is the empathy they evoke from the reader . Although not always good, or easy to love, grotesque characters, because of their innate humanity, make us feel . They are present in Victorian novels and Southern gothic short stories . Frankenstein’s monster, Count Dracula, and Gregor Samsa of “The Metamorphosis,” are all examples of the grotesque . In this class, we will explore examples of the grotesque from different periods and genres and countries to ask the questions: what makes something or someone grotesque, and, ultimately, what makes him or her human as well? Authors will include Bram Stoker, Emily Bronte, Franz Kafka, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Nikolai Gogol, Ralph Ellison, Flannery O’Connor, Sherwood Anderson, George Saunders, and Junot Diaz . Major Works: Dracula by Bram Stoker; Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte; Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison; The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz . New York Literature: The Dream, The Grit and The Grind (½ Credit)
Of all the qualities that New York demands of its citizens, grit is arguably the most vital . New York is a massive city made up of eight million people, each striving for success in his or her own way, so in a lot of ways the odds are stacked against the individual . Yet even against such long odds, what brings people here is the promise of achievement when one is willing to put in the work . In this class, we’ll explore the difficult process of making it in New York . Through works by writers such as James Baldwin, Joan Didion, F . Scott Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, Bernard Malamud, Edith Wharton, E .B . White, and Colson Whitehead, we’ll explore the ways that the New York grind can either wear a person down or build him or her up . We will also compare characters from literature with characters from films, such as: Do the Right Thing, A Bronx Tale, Whiplash, and Taxi Driver .
Our current fascination—indeed, obsession—with protagonists who bend and oftentimes break the rules raises important questions about what our society values . This course will trace the timeliness and popularity of the antihero, from 1950s gendered Americana, to super-antiheroes like Batman, to a contemporary critique of jock culture . Texts include Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, and Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, and Gabe Habash’s Stephen Florida . Students will be charged with charting the development of an antihero/heroine from historical catalyst to literary response . Classes will be comprised of seminar-style critical reading sessions, character analyses, presentations, and debates .
Being a Man for Others is what Xavier instills in its students, and within its walls, this value is paramount, but how do young men committed to social justice confront a world in which morality is consistently challenged? This seminar-style class will focus on an intertextual discourse between texts previously encountered at Xavier pertaining to religion and ethics (including Frankl, Kant, Aristotle, and Mill) and works that deconstruct our notions of right and wrong, just and unjust . Can we find values in the void, or are these works black holes? How has Xavier equipped you to contend with the omnipresent assault on meaning in these texts? Texts include Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s Weep Not, Child, and listening sessions dedicated to studying albums by Nirvana, The Notorious B .I .G ., and Sly Stone .
Voices of the Harlem Renaissance (½ Credit)
Rising out of the ashes of enslavement, reconstruction, and the Industrial Revolution, the Harlem Renaissance was at the forefront of the African-American experience . This important movement was born from a theory created by philosopher, professor, and essayist Alain Locke, who believed in the reinvention and redefinition of the Negro in 20th century America . Literature, the arts, dance, and music were essential to this rebirth, and the first semester examines contributions from key African-Americans of the time in order to understand this new vision . Essential to the landscape of New York City history, this course also seeks to discover the importance of identity, culture, and self-determination . Selected works include Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes’ Not Without Laughter, Nella Larsen’s Quicksand, and poems from Jean Toomer’s Cane, which will culminate in a final project by each student .
This Woman’s Work (½ Credit)
“Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity.” —Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie The importance of the African-American voice becomes more apparent as history and society change . Culture and literature play a very important role in getting to know who we are as a country, but more importantly who we are as a people . Specifically, the African-American woman has played a major role in shaping our country as we know it today, from nannies to mammies, educators to caretakers, mothers, daughters, and mentors . In this course, we will study the various ways that the African-American female voice has been birthed and raised in poetry, short stories, and novels of the American literary canon . Through the works of Nikki Giovanni, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison and other standouts, we will explore the evolution of this voice through the lenses of strength, compassion, friendship, intersectionality, and love . Selected works include: Maya Angelou’s I Know the Caged Bird Sings; Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon; Alice Walker’s The Color Purple . AP English Literature and Composition (1 Credit)
This program is offered to students of proven ability and performance who wish to pursue a college-level literature course . Students choosing this AP Lit course should be students who love reading and analyzing literature at a challenging level . Writing assignments focus on the critical analysis of literature as well as essays in exposition and argument . Readings will represent several genres and periods and may include works by Austen, Bronte, Dante, Greene, McCarthy, Morrison, Diaz, Shakespeare, and Waugh . Emphasis will be on close reading and intensive study of representational works of literary merit . Additionally, students will examine critical views of the works they are studying and learn how to situate their reading and analysis of the literature among the voices and views of contemporary critics . Students are REQUIRED to take the AP Literature and Composition Exam that is administered in May . Prerequisites: At least an 85 average in AP English Language & Composition, or at least a 92 average in English 11; a qualifying exam consisting of an essay and passage-based multiple choice reading test on Saturday, March 28th; the recommendation of the current English teacher; and the approval of the department chair . Note: Only students who meet the minimum average requirement in English will be considered for placement in this course.
Creative Writing (1 Credit)
This course will serve to expand the student’s powers of observation, imagination and language through exposure to various forms of creative writing, reading and analyzing a variety of well-respected fiction writers, and developing the student’s own creative voice through rigorous writing assignments . Creative Writing is an additional elective and must be taken with a pair of English electives or AP English Literature & Composition . Prerequisite: You must sit for a qualifying exam after school on one of the scheduled dates – Monday, March 30th or Wednesday, April 1st– to be considered for placement in this course .
Journalism (1 Credit)
This introductory course to journalism and news-writing will emphasize critical reading, thinking, and writing along with the ethics and responsibilities of journalists . The course is writing intensive . The course will cover many journalistic writing styles and we will look at techniques for gathering, evaluating, using, and citing sources and conducting interviews . We will also explore print, digital, and web-based publications and the use of photography in journalism . Journalism is an additional elective and must be taken with a pair of English electives or AP English Literature & Composition .
