Senior English
In the literature section of the course we viewed stages of the life cycle from the perspectives of various writers. For childhood we looked at Frank McCourt’s, Angela’s Ashes, Maxine Hong Kingston’s, Woman Warrior, Lost Names by Richard Kim, and various stories and poetry by Dylan Thomas. For adolescence we read from Russell Perkins’ Impact of a Saint, Slaughterhouse-Five or the Children’s Crusade by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and Night by Elie Wiesel. Considering old age we read Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilych and poems from Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus. We also saw John Huston’s film of James Joyce’s The Dead, and considered the concept of spiritual epiphany for the Everyman in Vonnegut, Tolstoy and Joyce.
Many of our discussions followed the Harkness Table model, which tracked frequency of comment and use of textual reference to support points. The goal was that each student speak clearly and defend his or her position through reference to the literature under consideration.
During much of October each senior read and presented one autobiography of his or her choice. A selection process aimed at making choices and observing group dynamics. As books are completed each student prepared a guided thirty-minute lesson for the class. Students choose among such titles as I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, The Eden Express by Mark Vonnegut, The Struggle for Modern Tibet, by Tashi Tsering, Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown, among many others.
Supplementary material included audiotapes of Dylan Thomas and Frank McCourt and videotapes of Maxine Hong Kingston and Elie Weisel. In viewing excerpts of George Roy Hill’s film adaptation of Slaughterhouse-Five the class discussed how the language of literature translates into the language of film, as well as the broader subject of visual literacy. We saw selected portions of a film version of Under Milkwood. Before we read literature in translation we examined translations of Chekhov’s Lady with a Lap Dog to compare styles and varying impact of differing translations. We also saw the Russian film version. In conclusion we saw The Gospel at Colonus, amusical adaptation of the final play in Sophocles' Oedipus trilogy, and sections of Stravinsky’s opera of Oedipus Rex.
Our writing was largely autobiographical. Reading of others' memories of childhood and adolescence inspired reflection on our own pasts and on the present experience of the teen years. Directed writing assignments generated material which was crafted into autobiographical statements for college essays.
A special project involved avisit to independently living veterans and to theNew Hampshire Veterans Homein Tilton, to interview residents, ask them to reflect on their experiences as eighteen-year-olds and on how the historical events of their times shaped their later lives. This project combined elements of our introspective and college essay writing with our study of Slaughterhouse-Five and Night, whose authors are close in age to these veterans. Associated Press reporter David Tirrell-Wysocki met with the class and discussed interviewing techniques, oral history and methods of assessing information. Students’ interests shaped many details of this project--including the final reporting format that included an art component. All class members presented to an appreciative audience of about 85 friends, teachers and parents on the evening of December 7, 2006.