High School English Language Arts: Identity, Community, and Encounter

“I was born to join in love not hate – that is my nature” Sophocles writes in his classic tragedy Antigone, as the play’s heroine confronts the impossible choice between one’s loyalty to family and loyalty to society and law. 
This 13-week English Language Arts course takes the Aristotelian rhetorical triangle – logos, ethos, pathos – as a foundation for exploring writing skills, audience, purpose, and technique. While any writing ideally integrates all three elements of the rhetorical triangle, we will explore each component separately by reading exemplary literary models and by practicing through written assignments. Thematically, the course focuses on the primary influences that contribute to personal identity, and a person’s encounter with society and the world. What makes a person an “individual”? Where does a person begin and end? Using Antigone as a starting point, we will look at the age-old polarities of the individual vs. family and society, fate vs. free will. How does a person come to terms with the expectations of family/society, the decisions of governments, and the vagaries of fortune? 

One of the best ways to learn writing is to read broadly, and often. We will encounter masters of the written page in literary genres that include academic literature, prose essay, Greek tragedy, Shakespearean sonnet, haiku, and autofiction. Questions of genre are important in weighing how the vehicle of a work governs its substance, as well as affects the reading/listening audience. Other than Antigone – a classic of Greek tragedy that has set the stage for modern theater – the works we’ll read come from across the North American and British English-speaking world, and include minority and nonnative-English-language authors. Encountering diverse forms and authors helps one both to appreciate the written word, and to consider how best to shape one’s own written expression.

Student participation will focus on spoken and written expression of ideas. Spoken expression will take form during tutor sessions through a Socratic seminar format. Seminars emphasize careful attention to the texts and focused discussion around a prearranged set of questions. Course participants are invited to prepare and lead 1 class discussion during the course.
Written expression will emphasize rhetorical analysis, expression of ideas, and grammar and punctuation use. Written assessments include practicing argumentative, creative, and analytical writing styles. Written essays will be assessed based on proper spelling and grammar, word choice, diction, and use of literary devices. They should also incorporate quotes from the readings or research as necessary.