English Language and Literature

The English curriculum is designed to instill in Heschel students an ongoing love of literature through deep reading and active discussion of the classics and contemporary literature.  Our goal is for students to learn that how they read is as important as what they read.  They are encouraged to approach each work with an open mind and to see it as a series of choices made by the writer; we also urge students to look for "points of contact" among texts and between the text and their own experiences.  In this way, they can come to see how various writers have influenced—and been influenced by—the Western literary tradition.

In selecting texts, we seek those that engage, stretch, and challenge the minds of our students.  Above all, we look for rich and varied insights into human nature. Much can be gleaned from the gap between ideal beliefs and the realities of human experience. As students learn to interpret and analyze literary works, we encourage them to look within and reflect on how their own perceptions, values, and actions affect others.

Writing assignments reflect this varied curriculum, giving students many opportunities to sharpen their close-reading skills. In all grades, students write a combination of analytical and creative pieces.  We ask them to experiment, too, with different forms of writing to deepen their appreciation of what Virginia Woolf has called, “the dangers and difficulties of words.”  The curriculum is based on our belief in the classical notion of the trivium (grammar, logic, and style), whereby students learn that effective expression can occur only when skills in reading, writing and thinking are being developed simultaneously.

Students begin ninth grade with an intensive unit on writing skills and experience. They learn to ask literature-based questions, using persuasion to advocate for a viewpoint or interpretation, and supporting ideas with textual evidence. The theme for the ninth-grade literature curriculum is the universal versus the particular in human behavior and relationships and students examine and compare and contrast themes and ideas in the literature of the ancient, Renaissance, and modern world, exploring the human values that underlie actions and choices.

World Literature provides tenth graders with an expansive perspective by which to examine the emergence of the individual.   Students read classic works of poetry, fiction, and drama that focus on the human need to distinguish oneself from the group without minimizing collective identity, exploring the differences between works recounted by the anonymous storyteller, the personal narrator, and the tormented individual narrator. The curriculum includes works from Europe, Africa, and South America, and traces the development of literature from Anglo-Saxon, through Middle English and Elizabethan to modern times. Tenth graders are also offered the opportunity to enroll in The Art of Writing, a course devoted to further develop and hone the powers of description, analysis, and persuasion.

Eleventh graders study American Literature through the theme of Freedom and the Development of the America Self: The Promise and the Paradox. Students trace the development of American literature from Puritanism through Modernism and consider the myriad ways in which the American values of self-reliance, equality, creativity, and self realization are expressed. The literature studied reflects the unique and ever-changing character of the American and encourages critical analysis of societal values and traits. Students are again offered the opportunity to also join the eleventh grade Art of Writing class, Public Speaking, a course that develops communication skills, or Creative Writing. 

Twelfth graders choose their English electives from the following courses:

• The Sixties: The Decade that Challenged the World
• Survival and Rebirth: The Holocaust in Fiction and Film
• Twentieth Century Drama: Realism, Expressionism, and Absurdity
• Performance Arts Plus
• The New Voices of the Middle East and Southeast Asia
• The Other Shakespeare
• This American Life: Protest and the Personal Search for Meaning in Our Time
• Post World War II American Poetry: Howls, Locus, and Deep Gossip