This course is an intensive introduction to advanced literary study. It challenges fourth-year high school students to become more independent, insightful readers and more forceful, artful writers. The curriculum canvasses a wide range of literary genres, including poetry, essays, plays, short stories, and novels. Students further develop their skills as writers of exploratory journals, personal essays, and sustained argumentative papers.
Student Exhibition
The culminating project of the course is the student-driven exhibition. Students select a work of literature to study independently. Through rereading, forming critical questions, and writing and rewriting, students develop a critical argument and work to clarify, complicate and polish the argument over the course of the project. Although the drafting process involves frequent meetings with the teacher, the project is essentially independent and culminates in a 45-minute oral exhibition in which students self-assess, discuss, and refine their papers in a formal student-led critique. The exhibition is a challenging and exciting project that prepares students to think and work independently, to refine and explore sophisticated concepts, and to revise and rework thoughts into polished prose.
Cadence and Form
This is a private, one-on-one online English course taught remotely. There will be weekly reading and writing assignments that will be done independently and asynchronously supported by email and chat, punctuated by an hour-long live video meeting with Hadley where we’ll dive deeply into the text through an inquiry-based approach.
Suggested Course Texts
- The Empathy Exams: Leslie Jamison
- Beloved: Toni Morrison
- There, There: Tommy Orange
- Hamlet: William Shakespeare
- Angels in America: Tony Kushner
- Transatlantic: Colum McCann
