2025-26 High School Course Catalog by Saint Ann's School

HIGH SCHOOL COURSE CATALOG 2025–2026

Dear High School,

Welcome to the 2025–26 course catalog.

As you peruse the many options within, keep a few ideas in mind:

Some courses are the same; many are new; plenty are revised. Read carefully to make sure that you know what you’re signing up for.

Ask questions of other students, of your dean, of anyone who will listen. Get some help making informed decisions about your schedule.

—Explore your enthusiasms; challenge yourself; but also beware of overcommitment. There is such a thing as too much. You need time to unwind, time to socialize, time to reflect, and time to dive deeply into the classes you do take.

—So grab a pencil, mark this thing up, and chart your course for next year. We are here for you every step of the way.

The HSO

Cover Artwork by: Rory B., 11th Grade

MINIMUM GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

Arts Four courses in the arts, preferably at least one in art, one in music, and one in theater

Computer Science No requirement, but students must gain the skills to use computers and other devices competently and navigate digital spaces ethically and responsibly

English Four years

History Four years

Language Four years of language study

Math Four years, including Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2

Rec Arts One course or the equivalent, or one interscholastic sport, per year

Science Three years including one year of biology and one year of physical science

ART

All classes meet one double period per week unless otherwise noted.

Note: Although the descriptions for many of the art electives are general, it is the teachers’ prerogative to be more specialized in their individual approaches. For instance, the Painting and Painting/Drawing courses have several sections taught by different teachers in the department, and each teacher guides the curriculum through personal aesthetic passions and interests while taking into consideration the experiential and technical abilities of individual students in the class.

Animation (Tokmakova)

Over the course of the year, each student will conceive, design, and produce an animated film, creating sets and characters with clay, paper cutouts, digital and traditional drawings, mixed media, or found materials. We will employ long-established stop-motion techniques to create our films frame-by-frame, using Dragon Animation software or drawing tablets. Students who prefer to work digitally on an iPad will be able to do so. Everything comes together during the editing stage: the images can be layered or manipulated, and the soundtrack—including dialogue, music, sound effects, or narration—is added. No previous experience necessary.

Cats, Dogs, and Beyond…

(Arnold)

This course covers basic oil painting techniques with a focus on depicting various animals. Students will work on primed canvas using both brushes and palette knives. They will learn the principles of perspective, composition, color contrast, and texture creation. In addition to hands-on practice, students will explore art history, studying various styles from the mid-19th century to today, including Realism, Impressionism, Primitivism, Surrealism, and Pop Art. They will also examine the works of renowned animal painters such as Rubens, David, Toulouse-Lautrec, Potter, Thomas Blinks, Géricault, and others. This will help students recognize different artistic styles and incorporate them into their own paintings.

Students will have the freedom to paint animals from both imagination and observation. While the primary focus will be on cats, dogs, horses, birds, reptiles, and fish, they are encouraged to depict all kinds of real and fantastical creatures.

Field trips to the zoo and aquarium will be scheduled throughout the course to provide additional inspiration and observation opportunities.

Ceramic Sculpture

(The Department)

Not a pottery course; however we do employ potters’ methods, such as coil, slab, and pinch-pot techniques, in addition to modeling directly in clay and porcelain. Students will create both sculptural and functional objects, as well as works that bridge those categories. Various surface treatments are investigated: stain, slip, paint, and glazes. Each participant will develop a body of work drawing upon a variety of sources and themes, both personal and art historical, while also exploring geometric and organic form, abstract and figurative motifs, human and animal subjects—both in the round and in relief—as well as architecture.

Elements of Sculpture

(The Department)

This course will explore three-dimensional form through both additive and reductive processes. We will use a variety of materials, which may include: plaster, papier-mâché, alginate, clay, wax, wood, fabric and time-based media. We will explore topics such as installation, the relationship between surface and form, mold making, polychromy, and collaboration. The class will utilize select assignments and extensive independent projects.

Introduction to Architecture & Design 1

(Rumage)

This course introduces and explores some of the basic drawing systems used to communicate three-dimensional architectural ideas within two-dimensional formats (elevations, floor plans, isometric and axonometric projections and perspective). Students progress from representing simple three-dimensional forms to drawing self-designed architectural structures and translating their architectural ideas into representative scale models.

Introduction to Architecture & Design 2

(Rumage)

This course is an extension of Introduction to Architecture & Design 1. The course will broaden the exploration of architectural concepts and model-making, allowing students to gain greater confidence and fluency while applying the various projection and mechanical drawing systems to specific design problems. Prerequisite(s): Introduction to Architecture & Design 1

Digital Photography

(Venable)

This course will focus on the basics of making and understanding photographs utilizing digital processes. We will explore technical tools, concepts and philosophies essential to photography in a variety of projects with a focus on digital capture, scanning, Photoshop, and digital printing. Throughout the year we will look at photographers and other artists whose work is especially relevant to the processes and topics we explore.

Experimental & Alternative Photographic Processes

(Venable)

This course will dive further into the topics covered in an analog or digital photography class with a focus on printing with UV light based processes such as cyanotypes and van dyke brown. We will also experiment with other processes such as pinhole photography, emulsion lifts, transfers, and photograms. A solid understanding of how to use an SLR or DSLR camera and basic understanding of Photoshop is required. Prerequisite(s): Digital Photography, Darkroom Photography 1/2/3 or equivalent experience as determined by the instructor.

Drawing

(Greenwood, Sassoon)

In this class we focus on the fundamentals of drawing. Observation, perception, composition, and the language of mark-making are stressed. Students will work primarily from observation, including: still life, works of the Old Masters, and models, in addition to other sources. Using materials such as pencil, charcoal, pastel, ink, watercolor, and colored pencils, we will explore line, tonality, volume, and texture as we gain rendering skills and develop personal artistic expression.

Figure Drawing

(Hillis, Tokmakova)

This course will explore the techniques and expressive potential of drawing the human body. Working directly from live models and, using a wide range of media, we will investigate the skeletal and muscle structures, considering form, proportion, movement, and ways of translating onto the page both what we know and how we see. Individual attention will be prioritized, so that every student may achieve a greater familiarity with the human form, and expand their personal visual vocabulary.

Figure Drawing with Extensive Study of the Head and Facial Expression

(Arnold) (4x per week)

In this course students will learn to draw the human figure from a live model, both dressed and nude. From short movement sketches to longer studies of a still model, students will explore the figure, including special studies of its hands and feet, using china ink, graphite, charcoal, oil sticks, etc. We will pay particular attention to the head. Students will learn to depict the head proportionally, from different angles, and in three dimensions. Drawing from a live model as well as from classical sculptures, they will learn to depict individual facial characteristics, creating a portrait. During the second semester, students will be ready to make stylized portraits (e.g. caricatures, cartoons, and anthropomorphized animals) as well as various realistic expressions. We will also explore drawing groups of interacting figures. This course will be demanding, requiring stamina, dedication, and a desire to learn how to draw realistically. Previous drawing experience is desirable but not necessary. Note: This class will meet two double periods per week.

High School Dark Room 1

(Giraldo, Venable)

Learn to capture and share your view of the world through the lens of traditional black and white photography. In addition to class discussions and critiques, students will study the basics of composition and visual communication through slide show presentations of wellknown and lesser-known photographers, assignments to be completed outside of class, and in-class exercises in the analog photographic process. Taking our inspiration from the history of photography and other visual arts, we will explore a variety of processes—from those used to produce the very first photographs up through the emergence of 35mm.

High School Dark Room 2/3

(Giraldo)

Already equipped with the basics of the analog photographic process, students will learn techniques in documentary photography, portraiture, and explore methods to develop personal style. Darkroom practice will include the use of new materials such as Fiber-based Silver Gelatin and Medium Format Negatives. Prerequisite(s): Introduction to Photography, or equivalent experience in black and white photography and darkroom developing, as determined by the instructor.

Painting

(The Department)

Employing oils and a variety of other painting media, this course is an exploration of pictorial construction, color, composition, and conception, with an emphasis on student’s personal expression.

Painting

Intensive

(Bellfatto) (4x per week)

See “Painting.” Offered in an intensive format of two double periods per week

Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor

Painting & Drawing (Adili, Hillis)

An exploration of pictorial life—how drawing begins, its development, manifestation, and transmutation. An alchemical approach to picture making: experimentation with content in a variety of styles and media toward the development of a personal vision.

Printmaking

(The Department)

Before the photocopy or even the photograph, there was printmaking! Closely tied to drawing, printmaking is the art of creating multiples by transferring an image from a matrix to a sheet of paper.

This is a broad course that examines various forms of printmaking, focusing on relief printing (linoleum and woodcut), intaglio (drypoint, etching, and aquatint), and monotype. Utilizing the printing press, students will develop their own graphic portfolio.

Students will gain an understanding of these fascinating technical processes through handson experimentation and by looking at printmakers throughout history.

Printmaking: Posters

(Arashloo)

This course is devoted to silkscreen design and production. In addition to creating our own silkscreens, including prints on t-shirts and fabric, this course works closely with the Theater Department to produce bold, eye-catching posters for all school productions throughout the year. Through hands-on experimentation, we will create our own imagery while also collaborating on professionally designed poster editions to display around campus. This is a chance to blend art, design, and storytelling—while seeing our work come to life in a realworld setting!

COMPUTER SCIENCE

We are surrounded by science fiction—portable computers, social media, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, electronic games, online journals, instant reference books, genetic sequencing, nanotech, increasingly massive datasets—built by people who know how to design, dream, and code. With computer science we can make art, crunch numbers, translate languages, and solve many human problems.

Our courses show students how to be more than just consumers or users: they will be independent creators on computers, able to control and shape the tools of today and tomorrow. Using software that runs similarly on Mac, Windows, Unix/Linux, and tablet computers, our courses teach a range of topics including programming, graphics, circuitry, web, spreadsheet analysis, logic, and other skills that are useful for doing everything from analysis to artwork to running social movements. Classes are full year and meet twice a week unless otherwise noted.

3D Design and Printing (The Department)

There is an engineer and an artist in all of us, and learning to design and print in 3D unites them both. Careful planning and measuring are used in the service of creative visions, and the process of printing failures is a way to get comfortable with the iterative design process and cultivate patience and problem-solving. Different software and approaches will be covered over the year, leaving students with a toolbox of skills. Students are also challenged to think critically about design, asking how the world can be improved for more people by coming up with better solutions to problems.

Advanced Topics in Computer Science: Algorithmic and Generative Music (Roth)

Do you love Computer Science and Music? This course examines the history, techniques, and aesthetics of mechanical and computer-aided approaches to algorithmic music composition and generative music systems. Through creative hands-on projects, readings, listening assignments, and lectures, students will explore a variety of historical and contemporary approaches. Diverse tools and systems will be employed, including applications in Python, MIDI, Csound, SuperCollider, and Pure Data. Write programs to create music, compose and learn about the history of digital composition and algorithmic music creation. Prerequisite(s): HS Programming 1

Computer Animation (Caccamise)

Learn about computer-aided methods of animation with frame-by-frame animation including the traditional walk-cycle and bird flap projects. Use more advanced techniques including digital puppets within a 3D space, and explore special effects such as lightning and explosions. Additional projects may include digital puppetry, green screen projects, 3D movie title sequences (like the iconic Star Wars titles), music videos, and a final animated film using techniques of the student’s choosing. No prior experience is required, but attention to detail and perseverance are a must!

Physical Computing 1 (Caccamise)

Move beyond the idea that a computer is a box or a system of information retrieval and processing, and learn how to interact physically with a computer without using the mouse, keyboard, or monitor. Using a microcontroller (a single-chip computer that can fit in your hand), write and execute interactive computer programs that convert movement into digital information. Work with components such as resistors, capacitors, diodes, and transistors as well as integrated circuits. Through lab exercises and longer creative assignments, learn how to program, prototype, and use components effectively. Control motors and interpret sensor data, as well as explore advanced concepts in interface, motion, and display.

Physical Computing 2 (Caccamise)

Students combine theory and practice to interface microcontrollers and transducers. We learn how to make devices respond to a wide range of human physical actions. Building on knowledge acquired in Physical Computing 1, we build projects from schematics, make programs based on class examples, and make interfaces talk to each other. Topics may include: networking protocols and network topologies, mobile objects and wireless networks of various sorts, digital logic building blocks, and digital numbering systems. Students are involved in short production assignments and final projects, and create a digital portfolio to document their work and research.

Creating interactive work relies on building a relationship between the object and the viewer. By gathering information in the form of input, processing that into meaningful data, and outputting that contextually, new forms of engagement and interaction with an audience can be established. This class is for students who have prior experience with Physical Computing and would like the opportunity to develop their own project and spend time researching, testing, prototyping and documenting it. Prerequisite(s): Physical Computing 1 or permission of the instructor

Programming 1: Intro to Computer Science

(Verdi)

Curious about Computer Science but haven’t had the chance to pursue your nascent interest? Intended for students with no experience or a Middle School Programming 1 background, this course is an introduction to the concepts and applications of computer science. We will learn to read, write, and debug code, and we will develop a framework and practical skills in computer science that deepen their understanding of how computers work all around us. Learn the basics of programming, from C to Python and from HTML to Javascript, and embark on a tour of various languages and concepts to familiarize yourself with this area of study. Learn how code works by looking at variables, if-then logic, comparison operators, functions, and loops. Learn how computers work by studying the things that are involved in running your code: compilers, machine code, binary, CPU, RAM, I/O, and more. This core knowledge will also offer a basis for further study in computer science. You may tap into something you wish to pursue further!

Programming 2 (The Department)

Can you program a bouncing ball? How about 1,000 bouncing balls that each have their own behavior? To do that, we’ll learn about Object Oriented Programming, which lets us use a thing called “classes” to make efficiently reusable code. To handle large numbers of “objects,” we’ll also learn about arrays and other sorts of collections, get better at using loops, and further refine all the basics you’ve already learned in earlier courses [INTRO/ PROGRAMMING1]: variables, Boolean logic, conditionals, functions, input and output, etc. We will gain a foundational knowledge of programming concepts such as object/ class relationships, modularization, abstraction, parameter passing, method calling, and declaration.We will also practice developing algorithmic thinking and problem-solving skills that are essential in the field of computer science. Large projects will include writing an interactive, animated project with control windows and graphics. Prerequisite(s): Middle School Programming 1 & 2 or Intro to CS/Programming 1 or permission of the department chair. This is the course for anyone who has taken programming in Middle School and feels comfortable with basic programming.

Programming 3 (Verdi)

Java is one of the most popular and powerful programming languages today and is widely used in software development. The goal of this course is to give students a foundational knowledge of Java so that they can independently pursue building their own applications. This course will continue to build on topics learned in earlier programming courses in the department, most importantly object oriented programming using classes and objects. We will focus on how to represent, store, and process data using Java’s syntax, and explore algorithms using Java. Students will learn fundamental programming concepts such as lists, stacks, trees, linked lists, sorting, searching, and hashing. This course is recommended only for students who have completed the Programming 1 and 2 sequence in high school or Middle School Programming 2.

(Verdi)

Two years ago in September 2022, Saint Ann’s launched its first high school Robotics Club. We joined the NYC FIRST Tech Challenge League (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and have competed for two years in qualifier and super qualifier matches.

During the first half of the school year in this course, students will brainstorm, plan, and implement a new robot design for the year’s FTC competition. They will work together contributing their talents and developing new skills. Students will prepare for and contribute to the team’s two qualifying matches by designing, building, and programming a robot; creating an engaging and informative tri-fold poster to display at the qualifying matches; writing and illustrating a 15-page engineering portfolio that describes the team’s design process, challenges, improvements, and growth; participating in community outreach; finding and attending mentorship opportunities; and, attending one of the qualifiers. Participating in FIRST robotics helps students develop problem-solving, organizational, and team-building skills. Students must be able to work well with others to achieve a common goal.

Since the format changes from year to year, there is a kick off in September announcing the current year’s challenge. The actual competitions will take place in different schools further afield in Brooklyn and Queens on Saturdays and Sundays in December and January. In the past two seasons, our club attended a qualifier on a Sunday in December and a second qualifier on a Sunday in January.

Literature and the World (9th

(The Department)

ENGLISH

Grade)

The first year of high school English is a voyage, exploring novels, stories, plays, and poems from a variety of narrative perspectives, content subjects, and literary styles to expand the reader’s sense of what’s possible on the page. Ninth graders vigorously air their responses to literature, hone their essay craft, and experiment creatively throughout the year. Grammar and vocabulary exercises reinforce their reading and writing skills.

Poetry, Drama & The Novel (10th

(The Department)

Grade)

Sophomores encounter increasing demands on the quality of their thinking, writing, and close reading skills while they grapple with texts ranging from Elizabethan drama to Harlem Renaissance poetry to contemporary American fiction of the immigrant experience. Authors often include Shakespeare, Morrison, Fitzgerald, Akhtar, and Baldwin. In an additional class period each week, small groups of six to ten sophomores practice their analytic craft and work on individual writing skills.

Junior/Senior Electives

Apocalypse Now and Then

(Gear)

Oh, the times they are bad. But we’ve been here before…

The premise of this course is that “the apocalyptic” names a mode of knowledge and a creative tradition rather than one specific world-ending event. Any saltworthy historian of modernity will tell you that humans have endured and perpetrated several world-ending catastrophes over the last 700 years: the middle passage was an apocalypse, as were the genocides of Indigenous Americans and European Jews. Instead of setting our sights solely on the end-of-the-world we are presently brewing—though there will be plenty of time for that—this class charts a lineage originating in Jewish and Christian sacred texts, into the visionary writing of mystics both modern and medieval, across the Black American prophetic tradition, coming to rest in the genres (Western, Sci Fi, Cli Fi) that most comfortably house the apocalyptic imagination today. Assignments will include expository writing for 5 of our major texts and at least one creative project each semester.

Possible major texts: Oedipus the King (Sophocles), King Lear (Shakespeare), “The Waste

Land” (Eliot), Trilogy (H.D.), The Fire Next Time (Baldwin), Apocalypse Now (Coppola), Blood Meridian (McCarthy), The Parable of the Sower (Butler), Angels in America (Kushner), Station Eleven (St. John Mandel), A Children’s Bible (Millet)

Small but savory texts: bits of Genesis, The Apocalypse of Adam , The Book of Daniel , The Book of Revelations ; excerpts from Revelations of Divine Love (Julian of Norwich) and the Zohar (main text of Kabbalah); works by William Blake, Sojourner Truth, and Frederick Douglass

The Art of Hell

(Avrich)

Through me you pass into the city of woe: Through me you pass into eternal pain:… Abandon hope all ye who enter here. –written on the gates of Hell from Dante’s Inferno

The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n. –Satan, from John Milton’s Paradise Lost

Why do creative minds make masterpieces out of Hell? Throughout the history of literature and the arts, Hell, the dark landscape of human sin and everlasting doom, has inspired some of our greatest imaginative ventures. The sinners we meet in the fiery pit are seductive, rebellious, innovative and, unlike the angels, psychologically complex.

We relate to the soulful Dante, wandering the infernal urban ghetto, and to Milton’s fallen archangel Satan, charred but not undimmed. The same is true in more contemporary hellscapes of poverty, slavery and war. The characters and their experiences are startling and resonant.

In this course, we will take a tour of The Inferno, Dante’s concentrically circular city of progressively sinful and ghastly souls. We will ponder Milton’s majestic masterwork, Paradise Lost, Yuri Herrera’s Dante-esque Signs Preceding the End of the World and Shakespeare’s resonant, chaotic King Lear. Student art and multimedia projects will accompany expository and creative writing, theatrical performances—including tasteless musicals—and tableaux vivants.

California (Stayer)

From promised land to a landscape of environmental crises, from Hollywood “dream factory” to what Mike Davis called a “junkyard of dreams,” California, both the idea and the reality, has long stood at the forefront of the American imagination. Surfers, immigrants, screen idols, hard-boiled detectives, Black Panthers, beats, hippies and on and on. At once the site of ethnic dislocation, racial oppression, and income inequality, it has also been a laboratory for progressive idealism and counterculture movements. Moreover, to paraphrase Rebecca

Solnit, between Hollywood and Silicon Valley, the world as we know it now was created in California at the end of the nineteenth century. We will dig into as much of this as possible through fiction, non-fiction, and a healthy dose of film (ranging from Muybridge’s first moving images to Chinatown and beyond). A noncomprehensive list of texts:

Fiction: John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath; Karen Tei Yamashita, Tropic of Orange or I Hotel ; Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower ; Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely ; Chester Himes, If He Hollers Let Him Go; Walter Mosely, Devil in a Blue Dress Non-fiction: Rebecca Solnit, River of Shadows ; Mike Davis, City of Quartz ; Joan Didion, The White Album , Slouching Toward Bethlehem ; Eve Babitz, Slow Days, Fast Company ; Hunter S. Thompson, Hell’s Angels ; others

Crimes and Misdemeanors (Smith)

Whether depicting events real or imagined (true crime or detective fiction), literature of criminality has fascinated most 20th and 21st century readers. In fact, books representing these complementary genres regularly sit atop weekly bestseller lists. But how and why did this phenomenon start and why does it show no sign of abating? This course will explore the evolution and popularization of detective fiction and true crime, two forms of storytelling that have transformed film and television forever. And while some may look down their noses at these forms of writing, they are excellent windows into society’s values regarding crime, morality, race, and gender. Few know that these types of stories are rooted in 19th century Romanticism and that the universally-recognized godfather of detective fiction was Edgar Allan Poe. The course will begin by reading two of his darker short stories, The Cask of Amontillado (with its Hannibal Lecter vibes) and The Murders in the Rue Morgue. From there, we will read works by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, two authors who gave us the model of the hard boiled, tough talking detective—in a fedora. We will read Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man , the latter of which introduces a husbandand-wife crime fighting team and confronts the gender issue in these stories: is there a place for a woman in a room (and genre) full of wise guys? Next, we will read works by some of the modern masters, most notably Walter Moseley (Devil in a Blue Dress), Liz Rigbey (Summertime), and Nekesa Afia (Dead Dead Girls).

After our foray into detective fiction, we will witness the birth of “true crime,” detective fiction’s natural offspring, and read Truman Capote’s riveting and groundbreaking In Cold Blood. Next, small town murder takes center stage with John Berendt’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil . Then we will read Michelle McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, the story about one housewife’s search for the Golden State Killer. If time allows, we will reopen the Emmitt Till case with Timothy B. Tyson’s The Blood of Emmitt Till . Expect a healthy dose of analytical and creative writing in this course.

Fiction & Politics in Pre-Revolutionary Russia (Donohue)

Many are surprised to learn that in literary matters, Russia was a late bloomer. Its 17th century had no Shakespeare, Molière, or Cervantes; its 18th no Swift, Voltaire, or Goethe. In 1840, Thomas Carlyle—a Scotsman—called Russia “a great dumb monster” that had given the world not a single “voice of genius.” Pushkin fans might have protested, but Carlyle was basically right: nobody west of St. Petersburg was reading Russian literature.

By 1890 Carlyle’s view would have been unthinkable, for five simple reasons: Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov. Works by these writers form the core of this elective. We read Gogol’s The Overcoat and The Government Inspector, Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons and some of his Sketches from a Hunter’s Album , Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina , and a large selection of Chekhov stories.

We situate these works against a background of Russian political and cultural history. This was an era of discord and uncertainty, from the failed Decembrist uprising of 1825 to the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. New ideas—liberalism, socialism, anarchism—swept the Russian intelligentsia, even as the Tsars, terrified by the revolutions in Europe, cracked down on dissent. The idealism of the 1840s gave way to the so-called nihilism of the 1860s and the Populist terrorism of the 1880s. For insight into these years, we read Belinsky, Herzen, and Annenkov; we also read large selections from Isaiah Berlin’s Russian Thinkers, Orlando Figes’s Natasha’s Dance: A Cultural History of Russia , and Olga Semyonova Tian-Shanskaya’s Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia .

Freedom & Belonging

(Rutter)

Freedom is dear to Americans, to liberals, to teenagers. You may be all three. But how much should we want? As much as possible, argues the classical liberal tradition, so long as my liberty does not limit yours. (My freedom to punch ends at the tip of your nose.) But why is freedom valuable in the first place? And intrinsically so (in its own right), or merely as a means? Thinkers to the left and right of the liberal tradition have had their doubts. Individual liberty is the logic of capitalism, argue utopians and socialists, imagining new and collective forms of living. To the right, traditionalists argue that arranged marriages are happier, lives lived in service to a faith or a nation are richer. Do we need less freedom? We love the open road, but not the blank page. Artists are free, yet they seek constraints. (Frost: Free verse is like playing tennis without the net.) And what of our identities? We do not choose them. Do they check our freedom? Or do they make available membership and belonging? We’ll read a bit of philosophy and social science; profiles by Larissa MacFarquhar and Rachel Aviv; the documentary Paris is Burning ; short works by Butler, Melville, Kafka, Lorde, Emerson, Nietzsche, Dinesen; and five of the following:

Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground

Monica Ali, Brick Lane

James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time

Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

Elif Batuman, Either/Or

Ben Lerner, Leaving the Atocha Station

Virginia Woolf, To The Lighthouse

The Green World: Supernatural Visions of Nature

(Go)

“And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything.”

–Shakespeare, As You Like It

In stories, visions of nature can do more than simply reflect the natural world; they often represent a symbolic departure from the ordinary human sphere of existence. The critic Northrop Frye called one version of this phenomenon the “green world”—a place associated with rituals and dreams, a setting at once natural and supernatural, where characters go to settle conflicts and fulfill wishes before returning, changed, to “normal” society. In Frye’s view, it is within this imaginative space that Shakespeare’s comedies perform “the archetypal function of literature in visualizing the world of desire, not as an escape from ‘reality,’ but as the genuine form of the world that human life tries to imitate.”

In this class, we will wander into the green world and other wildernesses of the mind to investigate the moral, political, and literary questions that we encounter within them. If nature is governed by its own laws, for instance, is it harmonious and just, or wrathful, or indifferent to us? If, on the other hand, nature is lawless, does that promise freedom or signal danger? How do these emblematic environments depict the bonds and boundaries between real and ideal, physical and spiritual, wild and civilized?

Our readings will likely range from early manifestations of the green world in English medieval verse and Renaissance drama (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Shakespeare’s As You Like It or The Winter’s Tale) to later explorations in America (Emerson and Thoreau’s writings, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter) and contemporary conceptions from across cultures (Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore, Helen Oyeyemi’s The Icarus Girl , and Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead ), as well as short stories, poems, and criticism.

Monsters (Patterson)

This class intends to thrill minds and to chill spines with its study of dreadful excitement. Tales of monsters—a word derived from the Latin monstrum, meaning an evil omen—are foundational to storytelling, and we intend to read them by way of exploring primeval fears, understanding ancient desires, and plumbing the subconscious mind.

At the heart of the course are three 19th-century novels—Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dracula by Bram Stoker, and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley—and we are eager to interpret each as a literary text, a social document, and a pop-culture phenomenon all at once. The proper study of Dracula, for instance, involves considering vampire stories as tales about gender, race, and disease; it also involves a full screening of a Francis Ford Coppola movie and further glances at films ranging from

The Twilight Saga to the recent remake of Nosferatu Frankenstein , meanwhile, demands to be read as a profound statement on selfhood and alienation, and examining new and classic adaptations of it—on film, as a graphic novel, and in fine art—will enrich our understanding and enhance the fun.

Mythology—the Old English epic of Beowulf, for instance, and the universal lore of the Boogeyman—is also a mainstay of the syllabus, and depending on the time we have and the temperaments we demonstrate, we’ll maybe plunge into Moby-Dick or study some not-toogross excerpts from American Psycho. Or maybe not. But I can definitely promise a strong Halloween party, on the theme of Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

Some Girls’ Mothers Are Bigger Than Other Girls’ Mothers: Growing Up Female

(Fodaski)

“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”

–Simone de Beauvoir

In this class, we will read texts that explore the problems, joys, terrors, conundrums, and intricacies of growing up female. We will take as our premise Simone de Beauvoir’s assertion that this is not a “natural” or organic process, but one that is influenced, effected, and manipulated by societal and political conventions, constrictions, and expectations. We will ask questions that resist easy answers: how do cultures—contingencies of time, place, and power—foster distinct femininities? What, if anything, about womanhood transcends culture? We will explore the intersection of gender and other categories of identity, race and class among them. We will read several coming-of-age stories, but we will also examine at least one text written from the perspective of an older woman looking back on her girlhood. We will also look frequently to nonfiction and theory to supplement our analyses, and finally, we will explore some texts that resist the categorization of gender altogether.

We will read one 19th century novel; depending on students’ prior reading, we will choose between Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë. Other novels we will almost certainly read include Nella Larsen’s Quicksand , Rita Mae Brown’s Rubyfruit Jungle, Zora Neal Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God (unless too many students have read it in a previous class), Lucy Sante’s I Heard Her Call My Name, and Annie Ernaux’s A Girl’s Story. We may read works by Virginia Woolf, Willa Cather, Carson McCullers, Jean Rhys, Jamaica Kincaid, Ann Petry, and Lucia Berlin as well. We will write on each major text we read.

We will spend part of the spring on short fiction and nonfiction, reading works by Kristen Roupenian, Bharati Mukherjee, Nicole Krauss, Mary Gaitskill, and Amia Srinivasan, among others. This unit will culminate in a writing project, with a choice between an expository or a personal essay.

We will read poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay, Lorine Niedecker, Lucille Clifton, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and Gwendolyn Brooks.

And finally, we will watch several films—by Chantal Akerman, Céline Sciamma, and Iram Haq. We will write about these, too.

Tragicomedy (Khoury)

Admittedly, the term is an inelegant one. Lumping together two seeming opposites, it implies a lazy blurring of categories and distinctions. The writer who introduced the word to English, Philip Sidney, seems to have intended these connotations. In An Apology for Poetry (1595) he describes the disturbing popularity of recent plays that are “neither right Tragedies, nor right Comedies” but “mungrell Tragy-comedie”—works of art that fail to achieve the proper “commiseration” of the former or the “right sportfulness” of the latter. Sidney’s argument, and Aristotle’s before him, is that pity and humor don’t mix, that we can’t laugh properly at subjects we care about, and that we won’t care enough about subjects at which we’re made to laugh. It follows, both argue, that tragedies deal with kings and other aristocrats, whose suffering will move the audience, and that comedies should concern common people.

Times have changed, but we don’t have to look far to find similarly offensive ideas about whom an audience will naturally sympathize with and whom they’re more likely to poke fun at. Those are issues that each of the texts in this course toys with and complicates, raising questions about whose pain matters, about what will move us to laughter or tears, and about the nature and limits of empathy.

We’ll read many (but maybe not all) of the following, along with various shorter works:

Jamaica Kincaid

Jane Austen

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

Charles Yu

Hannah Gadsby

Vladimir Nabokov

Zadie Smith

A Small Place

Pride and Prejudice

Gloria

Interior Chinatown

Nanette

Pnin

On Beauty

The West: The History, Literature, and Mythology of the American Frontier (Aronson/Mellon)

In 1893, the historian Frederick Jackson Turner famously declared that “The frontier has gone, and with its going has closed the first period of American history.” Turner made this statement at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. At this same fair, people could attend “Buffalo” Bill Cody’s “Wild West” show that toured the country and the world to show what “life used to be like” across the Mississippi. The West, it seemed, was closed. What did this mean? What was the West? Where was the West? In this class we will examine how the answers to these questions changed over the course of American history by focusing on several key events, stretching from colonial times to America’s expansion across the Pacific, and a spectrum of literature. In addition to the horrifying impact that this growth had on Native Americans, we will also turn our attention to how quickly each moment became remembered, whitewashed, or mythologized, and the roles of people who are usually excluded from this history, including women and non-Western immigrants. This is no small undertaking and will require a lot of reading from a wide variety of sources and frequent writing assignments. Expect to see and hear from historians, eyewitnesses, naturalists, politicians, and artists of all shapes and sizes including (but not limited to) Richard Slotkin, John L. O’Sullivan, Elliot West, Mae Ngai, Charles Muir, Ned Blackhawk, Georgia O’Keefe, Theodore Roosevelt, Frederick Remington, John Ford, and Richard Hofstadter. As we make our way through the year, we will grapple with what our collective memory of the American frontier means to us today and how it finds its way into seemingly disparate areas of our lives.

In parallel and juxtaposed with our historical journey, we will consider how writers saw America’s various transformations and were transformed themselves, beginning with the time when the western frontier did not reach far beyond the Atlantic Ocean. We will likewise read modern literature that reaches back to the West in order to reveal deep aspects of the current world—political, sociological, and philosophical. We will begin our literary journey with James Fenimore Cooper (America’s first major novelist) and his Romanticized vision of early America, Jack Schaefer’s Western classic Shane, and Zane Grey’s equally influential Riders of the Purple Sage. From there, our list of possible authors and works includes: Larry McMurtry (author of Lonesome Dove), Annie Proulx’s short story collection Close Range: Wyoming Stories, Willa Cather’s My Antonia , Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven , and Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. Also: Robert Coover’s The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop. (think of the pitcher and batter staring each other down, sun high in the early afternoon sky), or a Sci-Fi work like Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles, Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, or Zelazny’s Eye of Cat (remember the opening to the original Star Trek : “Space, the final frontier…”).

This class will meet as a double period four times a week during C and D periods and will count for both English and History credit.

HEALTH

9th Grade Health

(The Department) (Fall Semester)

Ninth grade health focuses on substance use, sexuality, and consent, and adjusting to the high school experience. We explore how we make health-related decisions, discuss prevention as a cornerstone to wellness, and examine contemporary issues in health.

10th Grade Health

(The Department) (Spring Semester)

The first part of tenth grade health is dedicated to the National Council for Wellbeing’s Teen Mental Health First Aid training. Following this we will look at body image, eating disorders, and developing healthy relationships, among other topics. The class focuses on the practical application of health knowledge.

11th Grade Health

(The Department) (Fall Semester)

This class looks at health as both a personal and social issue. Weaving in current events, media, and recent research, eleventh grade health tries to help students navigate their increasing independence as they prepare for adulthood. We look at bystander intervention and the creation of safer communities. This class also explores controversies in public health and covers the wide range of viewpoints proffered on hot button issues while asking students to think critically about these issues themselves.

High School Mentoring

(The Department)

(Please see Seminars)

Reproductive and Sexual Politics

(Friedrichs) (Spring Semester)

In June 2022, we saw the overturn of Roe v. Wade, which ended 50 years of the constitutional right to abortion. Since then, myriad laws have been introduced aiming to limit access to everything from reproductive health services, to gender-affirming care, and sex education.

But how did we get here? In fact, this situation was long in the making and this single semester spring elective class will dive into the ideology driving such legislation in order to explore the history and current state of sexual and reproductive politics in the United States.

We will draw from both popular and scholarly works to look at topics including: Reproductive rights, LGBTIQIA+ politics, child marriage, sexual revolutions, disability justice, maternal mortality, and more! The class will include a walking tour of social justice sites in lower Manhattan.

Note: This is a single-semester single period class which meets once a week. It is open to students in any grade and may be taken in the place of either ninth, tenth, or eleventh grade health, with permission of the department.

HISTORY

World History (9th Grade)

(The Department)

This course explores the period from the 18th century through the 20th century. From revolution to globalization, from industrialization to decolonization, we explore these and other themes in a global context with the specific goals of complicating the Eurocentric narrative and emphasizing the experiences of marginalized peoples and cultures. We emphasize intellectual histories along with political and social changes. Throughout the year, students learn to think critically and work with diverse primary and secondary sources to create both analytical and research-based essays.

U.S. History (10th Grade)

(The Department)

The objective of this course is for students to develop a comprehensive understanding of the nation’s past through inclusive narratives with the specific goal of decentering whiteness. Students will learn about Indigenous Peoples, European-Americans, African-Americans, women of all races and classes, workers, immigrants, and other groups who are usually marginalized in the U.S. historical narrative. In their final year before entering into the elective program, students continue to hone their skills as critical thinkers, readers, and writers with a greater emphasis on historiography.

The Cold War in Africa and Asia

(Johnson)

The Cold War has often been framed in a way that focuses on the role of the superpowers of the 20th century - the United States and the Soviet Union. Many historians have taken the approach of believing it was simply a war of ideas between two great military powers. However, the Cold War was in fact a global war. While the superpowers’ propaganda included the space race and the technological advancements like dishwashers and refrigerators, this was veiled propaganda for the Cold War. The superpowers worked to bring recently decolonized countries throughout Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean to ally with them in an effort to become a single global power, which would either be ruled by American capitalism or Soviet communism. Newly decolonized nations rejected this in various ways. We will examine liberation movements and the demand for sovereignty among African and Asian nations, including (but not limited to) Kwame Nkrumah’s leadership to decolonize Ghana and their eventual alliance with the United States, Patrice Lumumba’s leadership decolonizing the Democratic Republic of the Congo from France, Ho Chi Minh’s role in North Vietnam, and Fidel Castro and Che Guevara’s role in the Cuban Revolution. We will uncover and examine the physical wars and conflicts along with the revolutionary ideas

that inspired nations throughout the 20th, and into the 21st, centuries. We will use various documents from African and Asian activists, philosophers, psychologists and scholars who wrote books, editorials, speeches, and published studies about the various approaches that colonized people used to ultimately realize their “freedom dreams” during the Cold War.

“The Disenchantment of the World and its Consequences”: German and French Social Thought in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century

(Ackman)

In the absence of conventional (religious-metaphysical) norms, by what grounds can we secure a non-coercive social consensus? This course provides a survey of major themes and debates in modern German and French social theory over the span of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries focusing on the so-called “foundations-crisis” that seized epistemology, metaphysics, and social critique in the modern period, so as to address the “urgent question” of post-conventional normativity. In other words, we will look at the foundation of social norms after the ‘disenchantment of the world’—i.e., once societal norms and structures are no longer dictated by religion.

In the first semester we will begin with G.W.F. Hegel and Karl Marx in order to philosophically ground our study. We then move through Friedrich Nietzsche’s antifoundationalist critique of morality and truth and end with Theodor Adorno and the Frankfurt School’s vehement critique of all of modern capitalist society. The methodology of this course will be devoted chiefly to an immanent theoretical reconstruction of major texts and arguments in this tradition. Major texts for the first semester are by the following authors: G.W.F. Hegel, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Max Weber, Martin Heidegger, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Erich Fromm, and Hannah Arendt.

In the second semester, we turn to the same driving question but with the answers from French social theory of the twentieth century, beginning with the sociological writings of Émile Durkheim and ending with a post-Marxist theory of power as explained by Michel Foucault. As students alive to the interdisciplinary character of these movements, we will not confine ourselves to any one mode of analysis but will instead borrow freely from all disciplines as the subject requires, from sociology and philosophy, history and political theory, tracing out the major lines of argument and dispute that have preoccupied some of the greatest theorists in the French intellectual tradition. This semester will be organized into four thematic units, as follows: 1, the French sociological tradition; 2, the challenge of French existentialism; 3, the emergence of structuralism; and 4, the genesis of poststructuralism. Major readings are by the following authors: Émile Durkheim, Claude LéviStrauss, Alexandre Kojève, Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Simone de Beauvoir, Frantz Fanon, Louis Althusser, Jacques Derrida, Rolande Barthes, and Michel Foucault.

Haiti and the Making of Modernity

(Wyatt)

In 1791, in the northern plains of Saint-Domingue, thousands of enslaved African laborers rose up against the colony’s French ruling class. In the thirteen years that followed, they rebuffed numerous European armies, established the first Black-led state in the Americas, and issued—to borrow from historian Brandon Byrd—“the most radical declaration of human rights the world has ever known.” The formation of Haiti, which this course will examine in depth, is the story of how these men and women fought to transform an oppressive plantation regime into one of our earliest modern republics, advancing the struggle for self-determination, permanent abolition, and racial equality far beyond the young country’s borders. It is also the story of how Haiti emerged from an era of revolutionary upheaval into a volatile geopolitical arena, and how enduring legacies of enslavement, exploitation, and neocolonial conquest have continued to shape the nation and the modern world of which it is a part.

This class aims to illuminate Haiti’s unique history as well as its complex entanglements with Africa, Europe, other parts of the Caribbean, Latin America, and the United States. We will begin by discussing the revolution as well as the state-building years that followed, as diverse groups of citizens and politicians sought to develop the country’s economy, shape its national identity, and define freedom on their own terms. Students will examine the role of language, religion, education, the military, agriculture, and infrastructure within Haiti throughout the nineteenth century and into the twenty-first, as well as its changing relationships with neighboring territories and foreign entities. Throughout the year, we will consider and contextualize key episodes in Haitian history — U.S. occupation and Second Independence; the Duvalier dictatorship and its overthrow; the 2010 earthquake and its aftermath — as well as the evolving historiographical treatment of its founding revolution.

The work of Haitian and Haitian American scholars, translators, activists, and artists make this course possible: it is their perspectives we will center throughout the year, while also hearing from others in the fields of Caribbean, Latin American, and African Diaspora studies. Potential readings include those by Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Marlene Daut, C.L.R. James, Jean Casimir, Laurent Dubois, Aimé Césaire, Sylvia Wynter, Cécile Accilien, and Grégory Pierrot, amongst many others.

How to Live an Authentic Life: Philosophical Approaches to ‘Meaning

Making’ (Ackman)

As we grow up, we learn about ourselves and the world around us. We are constantly confronted with decisions about how to live our lives—about what is meaningful and what isn’t. How do we choose? How do we learn what our values are and, importantly, who we are? What does it feel like to live a life authentic to and in alignment with ourselves? To feel safe, seen, and fully present? And, furthermore, once we understand what these values are, how do we live a life based on them?

This elective explores the philosophy and methodology of “meaning making.” Meaning making is the active creation of life rather than passive acceptance of the one given. We will explore this notion through reading and discussing works of philosophy, psychoanalysis, and history as well as looking to indigenous practices. In our traditional conception, a person’s experience of the world – and the world itself – are objective phenomena. There exists a fixed “real world” that one encounters and subsequently responds to. By contrast, within the framework of meaning making, our experience of the world is the product of an individualized creative process. Reality is always shaped, or created, by an individual—by both “consciousness” (the meaning one involuntarily assigns to experience) and “intention” (the meaning one actively chooses).

Living in society—in a family, with peers, going to school, consuming media, etc.— often hijacks one’s ability to create with intention. Over time, within the life of both the individual and of society, entrenched patterns emerge—databases of meaning that are imposed rather than chosen, which we feel must be followed and cannot be changed. These patterns constrain our ability to intentionally shape our lives. Reclaiming meaning is the path to unlocking freedom, agency, and authenticity. We will read works by Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Jacques Lacan, Félix Guattari, Soren Kirkegaard, Martin Heidegger, Slavoj Zizek, Michel Foucault, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Friedrich Schelling, Novalis, Friedrich Schiller, Gilles Deleuze, and Richard Rorty, among others. Assignments will consist of essays reconstructing philosophical arguments, debates, self-reflective analytical writing, and a research paper.

The Last One Hundred Years: Topics in 20th and 21st Century World History (Kohn)

In 1925, Adolf Hitler published Mein Kampf and Benito Mussolini came to power as farright parties gained prominence throughout Europe and the rest of the world. Joseph Stalin consolidated his power, casting a wary eye on his perceived enemies in Ukraine and purging them by the thousands. In Syria, religious and national tensions broke out into open civil strife. Dictators, wars, religious conflicts: maybe not much has changed?

And yet so much has! The past one hundred years have seen tremendous cruelty and tremendous prosperity. Humanity at its best and certainly at its worst. This course will track these dynamic years, starting in the 1920s and continuing to the 2020s in an attempt to understand how the history of this century shapes our lives today. Topics will include the rise

of fascism, World War II and the Holocaust, the Cold War and the nuclear age, totalitarian states, decolonization, religious fundamentalism, and globalization. More contemporary topics may include the Russian invasion of Ukraine, conflict in the Middle East, and climate change’s effects on today’s politics and economics. Essentially, if you felt like 9th grade ended on a cliffhanger, this is the course for you.

Premodern Japan (Higa)

This course explores Japan from prehistory to the 18th century. Pop culture mainstays like the samurai will definitely not be ignored. However, we will also spend a lot of time with art and aesthetics, poetry and literature, Buddhist and Shinto thought, political theory, and everyday life. Globally famous aspects of “traditional” Japanese culture all have their roots in this period—the samurai, of course, but also kimono, haiku, Zen meditation, geisha, etc.— and we will make sure to put these things in their cultural and historical contexts. We will also make sure to continually examine Japan’s relationships to other parts of the world: China and Korea, of course, but also other parts of Asia and, later, Europe. We will also touch on the two Indigenous ethnic minorities of the Japanese archipelago: the Ryukyuans (my people) in the far south and the Ainu in the far north.

Discussion, writing, and creative projects will be required, most of them in response to a variety of primary sources. We will read: the earliest creation myths, historical chronicles, the medieval Japanese “constitution,” the diary of a medieval court lady, the Tale of Genji (perhaps the world’s earliest novel), epics glorifying the exploits of the samurai, Bashō’s haiku, the Buddhist philosophies of Dōgen and Shinran, Zeami’s plays, and Rikyū’s poems about the tea ceremony. In addition to these, we will look at painting, calligraphy, sculpture, architecture, clothing, armor, ritual, performance, ceramics, gardens, and flower arrangements.

The Politics of Food: Who and What Controls What’s on Your Plate? (Shefelman)

Have you ever considered that the food on your plate is part of a deeply political and intricate system? Every bite you take is stewed in government policies, corporate interests, and social inequalities. In this elective, we will embark on a yearlong journey to explore the hidden struggles behind food production, distribution, and consumption in the United States. We’ll begin by unpacking the complexities of our food system and the government’s role in shaping it historically and today, from farm subsidies to Food Stamps and nutrition programs. Then, we’ll examine critical issues such as food deserts, rising obesity rates alongside the boom in weight-loss drugs, and the growing challenges posed by foodborne illnesses such as bird flu, supply chain disruptions due to COVID, and shifts in trade relations. We’ll examine these issues through a lens focused on race, class, and nationality to explore how these factors shape Americans’ role and agency within the food system. Next, we’ll investigate the immense power of the meat and dairy industries, specifically how corporations in these industries influence what we eat and what efforts are being made to challenge their control. Finally, we’ll explore current movements seeking to revive traditional,

Indigenous, local, and transparent food practices as a way to combat the environmental, social, and cultural harms of industrialized food systems.

Throughout the year, we will engage with a wide range of primary and secondary sources, including theoretical analyses of the American food system, congressional hearings on the Farm Bill and SNAP among other efforts focused on food access disparities, and reports on COVID-19 and bird flu’s impacts on supply chains and the industry as a whole. We will also examine social media and advertising campaigns that reinforce cultural and gendered food norms. We’ll read sections of Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation and Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto and articles from the Wall Street Journal , The Atlantic, and the New York Times among others. We’ll also analyze documentary films and series such as “What the Health” and Frontline’s “Modern Meat” episode that expose the hidden realities of our food industry. In addition to reading and regular contributions and engagement in class discussions, students will be responsible for several writing assignments and there will be an independent research component to this class. If you’re ready to dig deeper into the politics of food and rethink the way we eat, this is the elective for you!

Sex: A Historical and Biomedical Exploration of Human Reproduction

(Levin/Schragger)

(See Interdisciplinary Studies)

Stories from the Arab World (Pesaran)

This course introduces students to the social and cultural history of the Arab world, a region stretching from Southwest Asia to North Africa. The Arab world has an immensely rich and diverse history and culture, yet it is often misrepresented, leading to the persistence of negative images and harmful stereotypes in popular discourse. Stories from the Arab World aims to challenge these misconceptions, fostering critical thinking, empathy, and a deeper appreciation for the complexities of Arab societies.

Rather than a chronological survey, the course takes a thematic approach, exploring topics that include, but are not limited to: migration, trade and industry, activism, music, artistic expression, film and media, and fashion and identity. Each theme offers a unique lens through which to examine the region’s history, highlighting the stories of influential figures and collective movements. From Egyptian women’s rights activists to the rise of Arabic Hip Hop, from the Baghdad modern art movement to Bahraini pearl divers, students will explore the diverse forces that have had a lasting impact on the region’s social and cultural fabric. They will also consider how the countries and peoples of the Arab world are deeply connected to global political and social forces - both driving change and responding to external pressures over time.

Throughout this course, students will engage with a variety of primary sources, including writings, art, music, and film produced by the region’s thinkers, artists, and activists. These materials will be analyzed in conversation with scholarly texts and other secondary sources to

provide context and critical perspectives. Students should expect regular reading and writing assignments and will also be required to complete end-of-unit assessments, a mid-term paper, and a final research project. By the end of the course, students will have gained a deeper understanding of the Arab world’s historical and contemporary significance, as well as the ability to critically engage with narratives about the region.

Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars in American History

(Flaherty/Steinert-Evoy)

(This course will be taught by Liam Flaherty in the fall semester and by Sophia Smith (previously Steinert-Evoy) in the spring semester)

In November 1990 the UN gave Iraqi President Saddam Hussein an ultimatum in the form of Security Council Resolution 678: withdraw all troops from Kuwait by January 15, 1991, or face retribution by “all necessary means.” By the time of this resolution, the United States had already sent more than 500,000 troops to Saudi Arabia in the largest deployment since WWII, Operation Desert Shield. What was at stake for the United States in this conflict? How did President George H. W. Bush and his cabinet shape public perception about the impending war? And, how did Operation Desert Storm lay the groundwork for the post9/11 American interventions in the Middle East? In this elective, we will strive to answer these questions, beginning by looking at American relationships with and perceptions of the Middle East starting in 1945, and the role of the Middle East as a front in the Cold War. This will lead to our focus on the Persian Gulf War of 1991, the September 11 attacks, and the Global War on Terror. We will take a multidisciplinary approach, folding in past exhibitions such as Theater of Operations from MoMA PS1, a visit to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, theoretical texts like Jean Baudrillard’s The Gulf War Did Not Take Place, and documentary and feature films from David O. Russell to Laura Poitras and Werner Herzog. As scholars of the recent past, we will delve into what “Homeland Security” means to the nation and what America’s role in the Middle East means today. Throughout this course, we will take a multidisciplinary approach, pulling from media studies, history, American studies, and Middle East studies to build a broad-based and comprehensive survey of these events and their cultural and material impacts.

Then and Now: Greek Literature and Culture Through the Ages (Stayer)

Zeus set an evil lot upon us all, to make us topics of a singer’s tale for people in the future still unborn. –Helen, from Homer’s Iliad

Homeric epic. Athenian tragedy. The Socratic dialogue. Greek culture, from the archaic to the classical and Hellenistic eras, developed a series of literary genres that not only offer us a unique window on the ancient world, but also continue to influence art and society in profound ways today. This course proposes to closely read in translation a wide selection of these works through the dual lenses of their historical context and their artistic legacy

into contemporary times. What can the gods and demigods of the Iliad teach us about war, mortality, and fatalism? About slavery and class conflict? We will consider tragedy both as an artform and as an essential democratic institution in which public values were (are they still?) hotly contested. What do Oedipus, Clytemnestra, and Iphigenia have to say about democracy, justice, and the rights of women in the classical Athenian polis? How have they influenced drama from Shakespeare to current cinema? And finally, is all European philosophy just “a series of footnotes to Plato,” as Alfred North Whitehead quipped (short answer: no)? We end our year interrogating the ideas of Plato and Aristotle with particular attention paid to ethics, the nature of reality, poetics, and the literary construction of the dialogues.

We’ll read: Homer’s Iliad (translated by Emily Wilson), Aeschylus’ Oresteia , Sophocles (two of Antigone, Oedipus Tyrannus, Electra), Euripides (one or two of The Bacchae, Iphigenia at Aulis, Helen), Plato (Republic excerpts, Phaedo, Apology, Euthyphro, Ion , etc.) Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics, Poetics, On the Soul , etc.), various secondary sources.

We may read (time and interest permitting): Homeric hymns, Sappho (and other lyric), Pindar, Aristophanes, pre-Socratic philosophy, Stoic and Epicurean philosophy.

The

West: The

History, Literature, and Mythology of the American Frontier (Aronson/Mellon)

modern literature that reaches back to the West in order to reveal deep aspects of the current world—political, sociological, and philosophical. We will begin our literary journey with James Fenimore Cooper (America’s first major novelist) and his Romanticized vision of early America, Jack Schaefer’s Western classic Shane, and Zane Grey’s equally influential Riders of the Purple Sage. From there, our list of possible authors and works includes: Larry McMurtry (author of Lonesome Dove), Annie Proulx’s short story collection Close Range: Wyoming Stories, Willa Cather’s My Antonia , Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven , and Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. Also: Robert Coover’s The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop. (think of the pitcher and batter staring each other down, sun high in the early afternoon sky), or a Sci-Fi work like Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles, Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, or Zelazny’s Eye of Cat (remember the opening to the original Star Trek : “Space, the final frontier…”).

This class will meet as a double period four times a week during C and D periods and will count for both English and History credit.

Independent Research in History (The Department) (1x per week)

The Independent Research in History (IHR) program enables students to explore a historical topic in depth over the course of the school year. Working with a mentor from the department, students will identify the significant historical questions raised by their chosen topic, and pursue them by employing various research techniques and examining a variety of sources and documents. Students will meet one period a week in class, and with their individual mentors throughout the year. Each research project may be the work of up to two students. The expectation is that students will develop their research into a significant formal historical essay, to be presented at the end of the school year in a symposium. Papers may be accompanied by a supplementary presentation of research in another medium. Note: To be considered for the IHR program, students should sign up at registration; they will then be sent a link to a proposal form, which must be completed by June 1. This program is open to seniors and juniors and preference may be given to students who have not taken IHR before. The maximum enrollment for this program is 16 students.

INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES

All Interdisciplinary classes meet four periods per week unless otherwise noted.

Flaming Creatures: 20th Century Queer Media

(Gear/Greenwood)

Can a work of art be queer?

If yes, what makes it so? The subject? The maker? The viewer? The work’s form, or its content?

This course will examine the 20th century through the film, poetry, novels, paintings, music, essays, photographs, and drama of its queers. Beginning with Susan Sontag’s ever-mercurial Notes on Camp, we will sketch out an evolving understanding of a queer aesthetic sensibility, which will underpin our discussions throughout the year. We will then take a long view of the 20th century, starting with Uranism and the origins of a distinct gay identity in the Victorian era, swinging by 1920s Berlin, pre-and post-Stonewall Manhattan, with stops in Los Angeles, Paris, and Buenos Aires along the way—charting a genealogy of forms, sensibilities, and strategies in disparate media.

On the one hand organized chronologically, this course also engages theorists of queer temporality who argue that queerness disorganizes linear time. The class will consist of weekly discussions, film screenings, music listening parties and slideshows. Students will respond through assignments in a range of artistic and academic forms.

Please note: Much of the art that we will examine was produced underground, in defiance of institutional homophobia and official censorship. Some course material will contain explicit sexual imagery which we will ground in their historical and cultural contexts.

This course is open to 11th and 12th grade students and may be taken for Interdisciplinary Studies credit.

Sex: A Historical and Biomedical Exploration of Human Reproduction

(Levin/Schragger)

This course, taught as a collaboration between the History and Science Departments, will intertwine women’s history with the study of reproductive physiology, genetics, and bioethics. The major themes of the course will be taught from alternating historical and biological perspectives.

We will begin with a study of the physiology of pregnancy and an examination of the historical impact of reproductive rights on women’s roles in society and the workplace. This will be followed by a discussion of the biological mechanisms and historical evolution of birth control along with the study of sexually transmitted infections, including an in-depth exploration of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The class will also learn about sexual differentiation as it relates to notions of gender and how intersex and transgender rights have evolved in recent years. Next, students will examine the biological, ethical, and historical aspects of modern reproductive technologies, including the science and legislation around in vitro fertilization, preimplantation genetic testing, surrogacy, and gestational carriers. This class will specifically examine the experiences of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous women with respect to reproductive healthcare both historically and in the present day. We will study current events such as recent limits placed on Medicaid expansion that have led to widening racial disparities in healthcare and dramatically rising rates of cervical cancer. We will also discuss access to reproductive choice in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, and course content will adapt to reflect the ever-changing landscape of reproductive rights in the United States and worldwide.

Readings for the class will include historical sources such as The Modern Period (Friedenfields), Lying-In: A History of Childbirth in America (Wertz and Wertz), Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution (Bohannon), and Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty (Roberts), as well as the medical school textbook The Reproductive System (Heffner and Schust). Students will also watch documentary films and read articles from sources including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The New England Journal of Medicine. Longer readings will include the novel Middlesex (Eugenides) and the memoir My Own Country (Verghese). Assignments will include discussions of scientific journal articles, medical case studies, debates on current controversies in medical ethics, and several historical essays and independent research papers.

This course is open to eleventh and twelfth grade students and may be taken for History, Science, or Interdisciplinary Studies credit.

LANGUAGES:

Chinese

1

(The Department)

This course is designed for students with no or little previous experience in Chinese language. In the first year, we master the pronunciation system (pinyin), recognize and write simplified characters (traditional characters can be accommodated upon request), acquire words on a variety of themes, build basic sentence structures, and explore culture.

Accelerated Chinese

(The Department)

This course is designed for students who are heritage speakers and/or are motivated to do two years of Chinese in one. We use the textbook series Integrated Chinese, and students will take Chinese 3 the following year upon completion. We master the pronunciation system (pinyin), recognize and write simplified characters (traditional characters can be accommodated upon request), master essential sentence structures, focus on making conversations for functional and daily life situations, and explore culture. Prerequisite(s): Permission of the Department and Grade Dean.

Chinese 2

(The Department)

In the second year, we transition into the textbook series Integrated Chinese. Students will continue to hone their pronunciation, write and memorize characters, master essential sentence structures, focus on making conversations for functional and daily life situations, and explore culture.

Chinese 3

(The Department)

The third year of Chinese learning emphasizes mastering long sentences with advanced grammar including particles, complements, conjunctions, and clauses, conversing in more formal situations in more sophisticated language, and deeper explorations of culture.

Chinese 4

(The Department)

The fourth year of Chinese learning emphasizes building short paragraphs by connecting sentences with coherent transitions, expressing thoughts and opinions in accurate and advanced language on everyday life and social topics, as well as understanding culture with a comparative lens.

Chinese 5

(The Department)

The fifth year of Chinese learning emphasizes elaborating and presenting, including research and original composition in lengthy, formal and fluent language; comprehending and analyzing topics in politics, economy, history, and society: and understanding culture with a comparative lens.

Chinese 6

(The Department)

In the final year of Chinese learning we finish the textbook series Integrated Chinese and read authentic materials such as news articles, poems, fairy tales, and movie scripts. This course emphasizes honing proficiency in accuracy, fluency, and complexity, as well as the mastery of native speakers’ language usages.

Chinese Conversation

(The Department)

This course is designed for students who have completed at least Chinese 3 to take in addition to their regular Chinese class to further improve their listening and speaking skills. The course eschews quizzes, and instead emphasizes not only gaining spontaneity and fluency in daily life topics, but also learning and discussing in depth about culture, history, politics, education, current events, and so on. Prerequisite(s): Chinese 3

Japanese

(The Department)

The Odyssey, from one perspective, is a poem about coming home—not only from war, but also from wandering—but it is a story that contains within it many different, overlapping stories. As we seek to develop command of Homeric Greek, we will explore a selection of these stories. Some of these will be from Odysseus’s own crafty story-telling—like the Lotus Eaters, the Sirens, and the island of the witch Circe. Others will belong to other heroic arcs like the coming of age of Telemachus, the loyalty of Penelope, the aftermath of the Iliad, the return of Helen, and Achilles in the Underworld. Still other stories will take us beyond the world of heroes to explore broader questions about the nature of justice (in peace and war),

the roles of women in the poem (human, divine, and in-between; almighty, enslaved, and inbetween), the ends of violence, group identity and exclusion, the place of storytelling, and, of course, what it means to come home. In the spirit of the text itself, we will take each episode as it comes, and let the lessons from one lead us on to the next. And the next. And the next. Prerequisite(s): Greek 3

Greek 5: Tragedy

(Siebengartner)

This class will provide a thorough examination of the genre of 5th-century BCE Attic tragedy and its playwrights: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. We will combine deep dives into the original Greek of a representative sample of works, both entire plays and excerpts from others, with the reading of all the extant plays in translation. While close reading and analysis of Greek texts will be our primary focus, we will also consider historical context, staging and performance, ancient dramatic theory, the broader function of drama in Classical Athens, and the reception of Greek tragedy in theater, the visual arts, film, and literature up to the present. Prerequisite(s): Greek 4

Greek 6: Greek Lyric Poetry

(Connaghan)

In the 3rd century BCE Greek scholars and poets established a canon of the founders, innovators, and great stylists of Lyric poetry. There were nine, to match the Muses: Alcman, Steisichorus, Anacreon, Bacchylides, Ibycus, Sappho, Alcaeus, Pindar, and Simonides. However, in response to this male dominated canon, Antipater of Thessalonika proposed an alternate canon of the most brilliant female authors of the form: Corinna, Praxilla, Moero, Anyte, Erinna, Telesilla, Nossis, Myrtis, and of course Sappho again.

In class we will read lyric of both canons, interpreting, contextualizing, and developing our appreciation for the finest poets of the genre. These texts had a complicated transmission history which has meant that many texts have been lost or have only survived in fragmentary pieces. We will consider how and why this happened and will make a virtue out of this by developing skills in papyrology and palaeography as we dig not only into complete poems but also into pieces discovered in libraries, in lost collections, and in archaeological finds from the sands of Egyptian trash heaps. Prerequisite(s): Greek 5

Latin

Latin 1 (The Department)

This fast-paced course introduces students to the basic linguistic forms and syntax of the language of the Roman world. Memorization is stressed in order to facilitate the reading of Latin literature as quickly as possible. Readings are selected from unadapted authors. The course also touches on the mythology, history, and social realities on the ground as interpreters see them.

Latin Poetry, Prose, Drama & The Novel

(The Department)

Designed as a bridge between the introductory Latin course and specialized electives, this course emphasizes facility in reading and translating Latin authors, studying the literary forms we encounter, and using textual evidence to gain insight into life in the ancient world. Authors include Cicero, Ovid, Plautus, Sallust, Sulpicia, Livy, Catullus, Horace, Caesar, Vergil, and others. The course also intensively reviews Latin grammar and syntax. Prerequisite(s): Latin 1

The Aeneid: Vergil and The Latin Epic

(The Department)

The Aeneid is the Roman epic that charts the mytho-historical founding of the Roman people and state. Books I, II, IV, VI, VII, VIII, X and XII of the Aeneid are read in Latin, in part or in whole, and the rest of the text in English. Emphasis is on translation and textual analysis, with daily assignments for translation as well as passages for sight-reading in class. Several short critical papers are involved. Prerequisite(s): Latin Poetry, Prose, Drama & The Novel.

Latin

Electives

Students who have completed Vergil’s Aeneid should rank their preferences for electives. Enrollments will depend on registration and scheduling.

Latin: Heroides

(Bissette)

Have you ever wondered what Dido, Penelope, and Medea would say if they got to tell their side of the story? Ovid’s Heroides probes this premise, giving voice to mythological women and transforming famous myths with a personal perspective that is strikingly intimate, inventive, sometimes darkly funny and always sparkling with Ovid’s signature virtuosity. This course will dive into these verse epistles– exploring their mythological “fan fiction” and the light they shed (or don’t!) on gender, myth, and storytelling in ancient Rome. We’ll also incorporate spoken Latin into our discussions as a tool to deepen our engagement with the text, make Latin feel more immediate and alive, and grow our reading proficiency. No prior experience speaking Latin is necessary, just a willingness to experiment. Whether you’re drawn to Ovid’s poetic brilliance, intrigued to explore an ancient work by a male author writing in female personas, eager to level up your language skills, or just love a good mythological retelling, this course offers a fresh and challenging way to engage with one of Rome’s most unique, compelling texts. Prerequisite(s): Aeneid

Latin: Myth

(Connaghan)

What is myth? Is it the children’s stories we encounter, sanitized for modern readership? Surely not. What then are we to make of Theseus and the minotaur? Is the labyrinth the womb and Ariadne’s crimson thread the umbilical? What of Tiresias’ gender transformation? What of Pygmalion’s unsettling passion for his own work of art? What of Orpheus’ lack of

faith in his wife, or is it in Persephone? Indeed, what of Persephone? What of Echo? What of Narcissus? Is myth folk tale, literature, religion, science, philosophy, psychology, sociology, history, allegory?

These deep and complex stories obsessed with the human condition fascinated the most brilliant of Roman writers. We will read and interpret these compelling stories and will delight in their poetry and prose—reflecting on theories of myth from both the ancient and modern world. How will we open up myth’s secrets: comparative approaches, psychological, ritualist, structuralist, ideological—or none of the above? We will also reflect on the use of myth in Roman art, giving attention to the different modes of narrative representation in painting, sculpture, vase design, and literary texts. Furthermore what are we to make of the Roman use of the Greek mythic tradition as it attempts to reframe that tradition and address questions of Roman identity, gender, sexuality, and ideas of virtue and duty?

As we read authors such as Catullus, Vergil, Ovid, and Apuleius, we will encounter a wide range of myths including Echo and Narcissus, Pygmalion, Orpheus and Eurydice, Theseus and the Minotaur, Medusa, Persephone, Cupid and Psyche, Oedipus - and any other favorites you might have. Be prepared to meet monsters, heroes, magic, and the metamorphoses of animals, gods, humans, and plants. Prerequisite(s): Aeneid

Latin: Plautus’s Captivi (Henneman)

Titus Maccius Plautus (c.254–184 BCE) created some of the oldest Latin works available in their entirety today. Elements of his comedy can be found in theater ranging from Shakespeare to modern day sit-coms, and productions of his plays elicit the same laughter from modern audiences that they received during his own lifetime. And while everyone needs a good laugh every now and then, one can’t help but wonder what reading comedy can tell us about the Romans who produced it. Plautus never wrote scripts from scratch. Instead he used Greek New Comedy as a jumping off point, making not just literary but cultural translation and adaptation his methods. Roman society seemed to embrace a less confrontational theater, so in “Romanizing” source materials Plautus eschewed biting commentary for situational humor. In this class, we will attempt to look past the action and ferret out social/cultural truths from the text. Is Plautus making the people laugh to forget about their problems, or does he use comedy to obscure harder realities about life in Rome? We will spend the bulk of this class reading through Captivi, a romp that plays with mistaken identity, uses outrageous plot and characters, and along the way invites interrogations on the humanity within versus the contingency of social roles. Who one is, seems, and is seen to be are not indistinguishable. Part of our goal will necessarily study how POW’s, family structures, and the institution of slavery were handled in Rome—and how differently from later manifestations of them. Plautus does not flinch in his writing, and his script casts vivid and probing light on these and other aspects of his broader social contexts. We will use this text and its genre to practice reading older linguistic forms, to gain a bit of understanding about the Romans, and to laugh along the way. Prerequisite(s): Aeneid

Latin: Roman Narratives of Decline

(Siebengartner)

Even the ancient Romans had their own version of the “good ‘ol days.” Pondering the first generations of humankind, many Latin poets, closely following the Greek “Myth of the Ages,” envisioned an easy, peaceful, and abundant Golden Age, a time when humanity’s needs were met without labor and Saturn reigned with justice and generosity. This idyllic era was followed by a progressive decline through the Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages, as innovations such as seafaring, weaponry, and agriculture shattered early man’s isolation, introduced luxury and greed, and brought different peoples and cultures into violent contact.

A notable exception to this narrative appears in Lucretius’ bold philosophical epic, De rerum natura (“On the Nature of Things”). Grounded in an atheistic, atomist account of the universe, it argues the opposite: rather than depicting early life as an age of abundance, Lucretius portrays it as a primitive, painful and grueling struggle for survival, one that was gradually improved through hard work, cooperation, and technological advancement. Beginning with Lucretius, we will tour these tales of (d)evolution, considering their literary backgrounds, their functions in the contexts of the works in which they appear, and what they can say about their authors’ own social, cultural, and historical milieus.

Moving from myth to history and from poetry to prose, we will then compare several historical accounts of Rome’s moral decline, focusing on Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus. These authors point to Rome’s great military success and foreign expansion as the root of its corruption, blaming an influx of foreign for eroding traditionally sturdy Roman virtue or arguing that, once Romans were no longer preoccupied with defending themselves from external threats, they were free to indulge their own natural tendencies toward corrosive luxury and greed. In addition to finding parallels between these historiographical accounts of decline and the poetic narratives with which we began, we will also consider how they align with, or diverge from, modern historical interpretations of Rome’s decline and fall. Prerequisite(s): Aeneid

Latin: Witches (Connaghan)

Witches appear in the earliest literature of the ancient Mediterranean. Circe and Medea tread the margins of the ancient world, foreign and threatening to the male order. In this class we will look to the witch in the Latin tradition, reading from a wide range of poetry and prose, delving into evidence for real witches, decoding curse tablets, interpreting charms, and coming to terms with the restless dead. Among others, we’ll meet Canidia in Horace’s most disturbing poetry, Erichtho in Lucan’s unhinged epic Bellum Civile, and Meroe in Apuleius’ existential novel The Metamorphoses. We will encounter the witch’s presence as it lurks on the boundaries, real and imagined, of the ancient Mediterranean world and will meet (and perhaps grow to admire, if not love) their guiding light, Hekate the Rotting Goddess.

Central to our task will be to reflect on the liminal nature of these extraordinary women, their defining otherness, and their godlike control over fertility, life, death and rebirth: the

world both natural and supernatural. We will attempt to discover who the witch was in Roman culture and what she reveals to us about the hidden depths of Roman identity. Prerequisite(s): Aeneid

Additional Courses

Introduction to Linguistics (The Department) (2x per week)

(The Department)

“Qu’est-ce que la littérature?” “Qu’est-ce qu’écrire?” “Pour qui écrit-on?” These were some of the questions asked by Jean-Paul Sartre in a celebrated essay of 1947. While Sartre was not the first to ask these questions, such questions took on particular urgency for writers in French in the colonial and post-colonial contexts. From the Enlightenment to realism and surrealism through to Negritude, existentialism, and the diverse contemporary scene, literature in French has assumed many forms. The purpose of this course is to explore a wide variety of writers in French from Europe, Africa, and the Americas. We will sample many genres— poetry, short stories, novels, plays, and autobiographical writing. In addition to reading, discussion, and oral reports, students will be invited to try their hand at creative writing, essays, and group projects. We will explore topics such as freedom, writing the self, gender roles, alienation, and racialization. Possible authors include Rousseau, Flaubert, Baudelaire, Proust, Césaire, Laye, Choukri, Duras, Camus, Beauvoir, NDiaye, and Laferrière. We will complement our readings with occasional forays into the world of painting and cinema. Prerequisite(s): French 4

Advanced Readings in French

(The Department) (2x per week)

This seminar-style course is designed for advanced students who have completed all other elective coursework in French. Texts are selected based on students’ interests and literary backgrounds, allowing for an engaging and dynamic exploration of French literature. Through close reading and in-depth discussions, we will analyze a diverse range of works, examining their historical, cultural, and philosophical contexts.

French Conversation

(The Department) (2x per week)

Required Courses

Algebra 1 (8th Grade)

(The Department)

In Algebra 1, students learn to generalize the laws of arithmetic and perform the four operations on variable expressions. They develop their ability to model and solve word problems by assigning variables to unknown quantities and determining the precise relationship between constant and variable terms. Students apply the laws of equality in order to solve a wide variety of equations and proportions. In the process of graphing the solution sets of linear equations on the Cartesian plane, students gain familiarity with the concepts of slope and intercept. They find simultaneous solutions to systems of equations and apply factoring in order to find the roots of quadratic equations. All of these activities promote both arithmetic and algebraic fluency.

Geometry (9th Grade)

(The Department)

In Geometry, we study the world of points, lines, and planes. We cover topics that include the analysis of congruent and similar triangles, the Pythagorean Theorem, angle sum and area formulas, and theorems concerning the relationship between chords, secants, and tangents of a circle. We solve problems and explore geometric situations intuitively; we also investigate geometry as a formal system, where we begin with a small set of postulates and then build up a Euclidean geometric system by deductively proving further results. With this balance, we uncover mathematics the way it often plays out historically, where bursts of intuition drive knowledge forward, and then formalization solidifies known results into a cohesive whole.

Algebra 2

(The Department)

The Cartesian plane provides a setting for examining transformations such as reflection, translation, and scaling. Parallel and perpendicular lines are analyzed using the concept of slope. Functions are examined both algebraically and graphically, as are systems of equations and inequalities. Students also work in a purely algebraic setting, solving equations, manipulating algebraic expressions, working with higher-degree polynomials, expanding binomial powers, and examining rational expressions. The challenge of solving quadratic equations leads to such techniques as factoring, completing the square, the quadratic formula, and the discovery of the complex numbers. Note: This course is open to sophomores and above. Freshmen may take it with the permission of their grade dean and the department chair.

Sequential Electives

Trigonometry

(The Department) (Fall Semester)

Beginning with trigonometric functions and triangle solutions, we move on to identities, equations, angle formulae, and the practical applications thereof. Last, we cover the graphs of all the trigonometric functions including inverses and period, amplitude, and phase shifts. In conjunction with the spring semester course Analysis, this course is a prerequisite for Calculus. Prerequisite(s): Algebra 2

Analysis

(The Department) (Spring Semester)

This course is a rigorous approach to polynomial and exponential functions; sequences and series; vectors; and some analytic geometry. Emphasis is on the mastery of proofs and creative applications to practical problems. In conjunction with the fall semester course Trigonometry, this course is a prerequisite for Calculus. Prerequisite(s): Trigonometry

Statistics

(The Department)

They use statistics to decorate their articles. They use statistics as a club in the battle for what they believe intuitively to be correct. That is why [they] often believe that you can prove anything with statistics, an obscene and ludicrous position, but one which is the natural out-growth of the way that they themselves use statistics. What I wanted to do was teach people instead to use statistics as a sword to cut toward the truth.

–Bill James

In this class, we will design and perform experiments, analyze and visualize data, build models, play and study card games, run simulations, summarize data, and write chunks of code (absolutely no prior programming experience is expected). We’ll see how probability underlies our understanding of science, grapple with uncertainty, and become fledgling data scientists. This class will be partially project-based, including a substantial (individual) endof-the-year project of your choosing. Prerequisite(s): Algebra 2

Advanced Statistics

(The Department)

This course will delve deeper into the world of statistics. Students will refine the techniques learned in the first year of Statistics and will continue to discuss the derivations and ramifications of the formulas used. Students will formally explore the realm of regression, touching upon various types of non-linear regression analysis. Throughout the year, students will be analyzing large data sets, often as parts of independent projects. Other topics can include: hypothesis testing, various types of sampling distributions, Bayes’ theorem, probabilistic analysis, the central limit theorem and confidence intervals. Prerequisite(s): Statistics

Calculus

(The Department)

This is a rigorous calculus course with heavy emphasis on proofs, derivations, and creative applications. Limits, derivatives, integrals, and their technical applications are covered. This course will include an early use of transcendental functions and will require a working knowledge of trigonometric, exponential, logarithmic, and rational functions. Prerequisite(s): Trigonometry and Analysis

Further Explorations in Calculus

(The Department)

In this class, we will continue the exploration of calculus with advanced integration techniques, such as integration by parts, partial fractions, and trigonometric substitution. We will study applications such as arc length, perimeter, measurement of surfaces, areas of regions on polar coordinates, and differential equations. We will reexamine integration with a more rigorous treatment than we took in Calculus. In addition, we will take ideas from calculus and use them as stepping stones towards extensions and explorations in more advanced areas.

For example, we will delve deeper into the convergence and divergence of sequences and series, leading us to a discussion of the Taylor and Maclaurin Series. We will study how the concept of infinitesimals leads to exciting results in physics and harmonic analysis, as well as offer insight into the local behavior of various curves that we may have taken for granted. We may examine special functions and number sets, such as the Weierstrass function, the Bernoulli numbers, and the Cantor set. We may use the idea of volumes of rotation as a way to begin talking about repeated integration and multivariable calculus. Prerequisite(s): Calculus 1

Additional Electives

Advanced Problem Solving

(The Department) (2x per week)

This course is designed for students who love solving challenging math problems, and it is especially appropriate for students who enjoy contest-type math. We focus on a broad array of mathematical topics, including number theory, modular arithmetic, polynomials, geometric loci, probability, combinatorics, functional equations, algebraic and trigonometric identities, geometric inequalities, divisibility, three-dimensional geometry, complex numbers, recursions, and infinite series. The objective of the course is both to be more familiar with creative thinking approaches and also to have wider exposure to mathematics beyond our standard curriculum. We meet twice a week, working both individually and collaboratively to tackle difficult and engaging problems. Additionally, we participate in a wide variety of highschool math competitions.

High School Math Art

(Totten) (2x per week)

Math Art offers a place in which our minds consider math, consider art, and then task our hands with the synthesis of the two. The class has a studio/workshop feel, where we look to build skills, innovate, and support each other: a collaborative maker space.

Though the beautiful math art of origami is several hundred years old, we look at more recent developments. We explore the multitude of possibilities of modular forms, including Sonobe and Thomas Hull’s Phizz unit. And, taking Josef Albers and the Bauhaus as inspiration, we learn to make a variety of paper corrugations. We learn from other modern works of interest: the twist folds and tessellations of Ron Resch, and the curved folding of Jun Mitani, Polly Verity, among others.

When you flip a flip book, your brain does extra work to help the eye see what is/isn’t between the frames. We study this phenomenon—the persistence of vision —and other stroboscopic effects as we survey the history of film precursors. We learn of the photographer Eadweard Muybridge, of praxinoscopes, zoetropes (2-D and 3-D!), thaumatropes, and phenakistoscopes, and build our own image machines.

Other topics include the geometry of Islamic tiling, and mosaic/pixel design, figurative and non-figurative. As usual, we study, and develop and create our own pieces.

Let’s make something. Something that makes us think about math and about art. And, as for whether that something is one or the other: let us choose…not to choose. Prerequisite(s): Strong interests in geometry, and pattern, and working with one’s hands.

Number Theory

(N. Fiori) (One Semester, Fall/Spring TBD)

What did Leopold Knonecker mean when he famously said, “God made the integers; all else is the work of man”? In this course you can forget fractions, polygons, curves, and derivatives. The counting numbers alone provide mathematicians with some of the deepest problems in the subject, and in this class we will begin an exploration of many of them. But don’t let this apparent simplicity fool you – in our travels we will study some of the gnarliest, most difficult arguments in this history of mathematics. We will learn to notice properties and patterns of numbers, describe them, and prove our conjectures. From the elementary, which combinations of integers make Pythagorean triples, to the more difficult, when is a number the sum of two squares, to the unsolved, are all even numbers the sum of two primes, we will see that the most elementary set of numbers provides us with enough depth for the most voracious mathematical appetite.

Non-Euclidean Geometry

(Aronson) (One Semester, Fall/Spring TBD)

One of the postulates of Euclidean geometry states that through a point not on a given line there is exactly one line parallel to the given line. This postulate, known as the Euclidean parallel postulate, seems intuitively unassailable. For what would it mean to say that this postulate is false—either that there are no parallels to a line from an external point, or there are multiple parallels? And both of these options seem, at least at first glance, patently absurd. As it turns out, however, these alternatives to the Euclidean parallel postulate do not lead to absurdity but to different geometries that are just as consistent as Euclidean geometry. This course begins with a close look at the Euclidean parallel postulate and then turns its focus to the main ideas of the two general types of non-Euclidean geometry: hyperbolic geometry (in which the sum of the angles of a triangle is always less than 180 degrees, but not fixed) and elliptic geometry (in which the sum of the angles of a triangle is always greater than 180 degrees, but not fixed). We will also discuss the philosophical consequences of these nonEuclidean geometries. Prerequisite(s): Geometry

Optimization

(M. Kaplan) (One Semester, Fall/Spring TBD)

Optimization problems occur every day and range from figuring out the absolute latest time to set your alarm clock in order to arrive at class on time to maximizing the return of a stock portfolio. The diverse applications are manifold and include real-world problems in finance, manufacturing, airline scheduling, farming, sports and politics. The aim is to minimize or maximize a value, called a cost function (money, time or effort, for example), in the presence of restrictions. These restrictions come in the form of equality and inequality constraints which relate the sought-after variables to each other and potentially bound their values. In this class, we will explore optimization methods to find the ideal set of unknowns which causes the cost function to reach an extreme. Due to the complexity of the problems we encounter, we will implement iterative numerical methods using computer programs to find the optimal conditions. Prerequisite(s) Algebra II. We will touch on aspects of matrix algebra and calculus and employ Mathematica and Python to execute our algorithms, but no prior experience with programming, linear algebra or calculus is necessary—we will learn all we need to know as we proceed.

Advanced Topics in Mathematics

(Hanisch) (2x per week)

Among the various branches of higher mathematics are analysis and algebra. Too often in advanced coursework, perhaps as a result of the natural tendency towards specialization, sharp yet artificial boundaries are placed between them. Indeed, prominent mathematician John Stilwell lamented, “Algebraists do not discuss the fundamental theorem of algebra because ‘that’s analysis’ and analysts do not discuss Riemann surfaces because ‘that’s topology’.. ”

This course aims to remedy this by providing a unifying study of the deeper aspects of both analysis and algebra. The topics we cover will be influenced by the students, and may include the foundations of our number system, leading into ring and group theory, some set theory and logic, probability theory, and the foundations of calculus. This latter topic should appeal to students who have taken or are currently taking calculus, as well as those who will take calculus in the future. Prerequisite(s): None. Although first year calculus is not strictly a requirement, students should have some familiarity with the fundamental ideas of calculus, or at least be willing to learn a good deal on their own concurrently.

Independent Research in Mathematics (The

Department)

Students work one-on-one with a mentor on a focused research project. Topics are to be determined by interest and inclination of the student.

Note: Students must submit a research proposal to the department chair by June 1 to be considered for Independent Research in Mathematics. Proposal guidelines can be picked up in the High School Office or in the Mathematics Department. Math research is limited to 8 students

MUSIC

All music courses meet two periods per week unless otherwise noted.

Performance Study and Ensembles

The Music Department will offer the following large ensembles based on student needs and interests. It is recommended that students interested in large ensembles rank two choices. Please consult with your current instrumental teacher if you need to know more about any group.

The Music Department is committed to helping students thrive in our ensembles. Students enrolled in any ensemble are required to practice regularly outside of class. The Music Department provides additional support to individual students by offering a Music Resource Room where students can practice with the help of a teacher during the school day, and we offer a wide-ranging list of private lesson options for those students who wish to support the ensemble experience by studying privately.

Large Ensembles

Brass Choir (horns, trombones, trumpets)—Pickering/Lormand

Chamber Strings (violins, violas, cellos)—Kwon

Concert Band (woodwinds, brass, percussion)—The Department

High School Chorus Eagen

Jazz Performance The Department

Symphonic Ensemble (string, winds, brass, percussion)— Grow/The Department

Advanced Percussion Techniques (The Percussion Section) (Lin)

This class builds skills required to play in a percussion section of the larger Saint Ann’s ensembles. Advanced study of snare drum, xylophone, glockenspiel, timpani, vibraphone, bass drum, crash cymbal, tambourine and various other percussion instruments is emphasized. Later in each term, students are invited to play in the percussion section of any number of the larger ensembles like the Brass Choir, Symphonic Ensemble, or Concert Band. Percussion ensemble music compliments percussion section work.

Bach Ensemble and Chamber Singers

(Gilbert/Eagen)

Open to advanced vocalists and instrumentalists, we’ll explore the rich world of early music, from Renaissance madrigals to Baroque cantatas to chamber instrumental works by J.S.Bach. We will work on many aspects of Baroque performance practice, including style, ornamentation, and the relationship and interdependence of words and music. Singers and instrumentalists will work both separately and together to prepare one-on-a-part music, advancing both their technique and high-level ensemble skills. Keyboard players will learn how to interpret and realize a figured bass and will learn how to play the portative organ. Perfect for musicians who can independently hold a part and are eager to dive into the world of early music! Singers can register for both HS Chorus and Chamber Ensemble to maximize rehearsal time

Brass Choir

(Pickering/Lormand ) (2 double periods per week)

The Brass Choir is an ensemble for advanced brass players. Musical and technical skills are cultivated through the study and performance of major brass ensemble compositions representing a wide variety of styles. The Brass Choir will perform in multiple settings during the year.

This class will meet for two double periods. One double period we will rehearse as a Brass Choir and one double period we will rehearse either with Symphonic Ensemble or Concert Band (as decided by the directors). All members are encouraged to take private lessons/seek outside practice assistance. Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor(s)

Chamber Players

(The Department) (1x per week)

This class is for students interested in the challenges and rewards of playing chamber music. Chamber Players groups are organized based upon enrollment. Duos, trios, quartets, or quintets will be coached once a week and each semester culminates with a performance. Because of the skills required to perform chamber music, students are strongly encouraged to take private lessons/seek outside practice assistance. An audition is required for all students who will be participating in the chamber music program for the first time; students currently participating will be placed at an appropriate level.

Chamber Strings

(Kwon/The Department)

This class is for students who are already studying a string instrument and want to strengthen both their individual and ensemble skills. Students will explore a variety of exciting repertoire and gain a deeper understanding of different performance styles along the way. Emphasis will be on refining instrumental technique as well as exploring more advanced skills like shifting and vibrato. Students are strongly encouraged to enhance their class experience with personalized private lessons.

Concert Band

(The Department) (3x per week, 1 double period and 1 sectional)

Concert Band is an ensemble which combines woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments to perform large ensemble repertoire in various styles as well as review and perfect fundamentals. We will perform in the winter and spring choral/instrumental concerts. High school musicians will meet for one double period and one sectional. This course will include sectional coaching, as well as full ensemble playing. Repertoire will be chosen to the level of the players and will give everyone the unique experience of playing larger scale ensemble music in a community of dedicated musicians.

Creative Improvisation Ensemble

(Elliott)

For all musicians who wish to explore the infinite through improvisation. Dedication to at least one instrument is required. We will work as a collective. Creating structures for musical improvisation is a kind of architectural practice. Free thinkers and those who like to work outside of “the box” are encouraged. We will explore collaborative creation, performance practice, and philosophies of music.

High School Chorus

(Eagen)

High School Chorus is open to anyone who loves to sing. The chorus sings repertoire from choral traditions from around the world, developing skills in ear-training, part-reading, vocal technique, and style through multi-part singing. On occasion, Chorus collaborates with Symphonic Ensemble and Brass Choir to perform major orchestral works. No previous singing experience is required.

Jazz Performance

(The Department) (3x per week)

We will learn and perform jazz standards and contemporary pieces. Students will explore essential styles of jazz, develop approaches to improvisation, and improve ensemble skills. Students will explore how jazz musicians think about chords and scales and develop a practice that strengthens these skills. All instrumentalists are welcome. Reading skills are required. Jazz Lab sessions will provide an opportunity for each student to develop a practice and an individualized learning program. Performance opportunities—and collaborations with other disciplines—occur throughout the year. Jazz requires dedicated engagement with one’s instrument, and therefore private lessons are encouraged

Jazz Techniques

(The Department)

A class in jazz improvisation and ensemble playing. Instruction in basic scales and chords provides a vocabulary for improvisation. Students are introduced to the jazz repertoire. All instrumentalists and vocalists are welcome. Note: Interested students should prepare an

audition demonstrating a grasp of major and minor scales and chords. Students in this class are encouraged to take private lessons/seek outside practice assistance.

Rock Band (The Department)

Students in Rock Band will play repertoire from rock and pop genres. Along with discussing the history of rock and pop music, the social impact of this music, we will attempt to historically contextualize each piece we play. In addition to using common forms of music notation, the class members will look at developing ear training skills and seek to employ their ears when learning tunes. Basic music theory will be discussed and tunes will be analyzed using music theory concepts based on the historical development of rock music styles. Improvisation will be utilized and supported with music theory as well. Style elements of the sub genres of rock music will be explored.

We will also explore what it means to play this music with conviction and in ways that represent each artist’s approach to playing, singing, and song writing. Goals include deepening the musician’s abilities to play in an ensemble setting and develop listening skills. In addition we will take time to look at caring for our instruments and cultivate an understanding of how to use equipment in a band setting. The students also will have opportunities to perform in school concerts. Students will be expected to prepare by listening to the repertoire and working on parts outside of class. Prerequisite(s): Proficiency on one instrument and an appreciation for the genre

Symphonic Ensemble

(Grow/The Department) (3x per week, 1 double period and 1 sectional)

Symphonic Ensemble is an ensemble which combines all of the orchestral instruments (strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion) to perform symphonic repertoire in various styles. We will perform in the winter and spring choral/instrumental concerts. High school musicians will meet for one double period and one sectional. This course will include intensive sectional coaching, as well as full ensemble playing. As an advanced course, daily practice is a requirement for this class. Repertoire will be chosen to the level of the players and will give everyone the unique experience of playing larger scale orchestral music in a community of dedicated musicians. Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor

Vocal Study and Ensembles

(Clark) (3x per week, 2x per week plus HS Chorus)

Saint Ann’s Voice Class alumni sing at the Metropolitan Opera, London’s West End, Broadway, and the Grand Ole Opry…and YOU can too! The goal of the High School Voice Program is to bring beginning and experienced singers greater skill, comfort and confidence, whether as soloists or choristers. Various related techniques: acting, expression, focus, meditation, breathing, diction, are the foundation of our class work. Find out the kind of singer you are and what your true vocal range is by working with small groups (classes are mixed with students of all grades). Art songs (in English, Italian, French, Spanish and

German) and repertoire from the American Songbook, including Broadway and Opera will be taught and performed in solo concerts. Additionally, singers will join together to explore the rich and broad canon of western and non-western choral music. Performance opportunities include choral concerts, the winter Voice Recital, and the spring Musical Theater Workshop. Who doesn’t want to be a more confident singer? There is no audition and no judgement. All are welcome, even (and especially) seniors who have never sung a note in public. Bye-Bye Brooklyn Sing Along in the final assembly will be here before you know it, so let’s start singing! Students in Vocal Studies/Ensembles will also participate in High School Chorus.

Q: How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

A: High School Voice Class or the N, R, Q, W trains.

Instrument Instruction

African Drumming (Vann)

This class builds hand percussive techniques and knowledge of West and Central African rhythms. Advanced study of djembe drum, DunDunba, Sangba, Kenkini, conga and various other percussion instruments is emphasized. We will be working towards each student knowing multiple parts on various percussive instruments. We will explore the link between drumming, dance, and song, as well as popular music’s connection to traditional rhythms and patterns. We hope to perform for a school event. Students may also be asked to play for West African dance classes

Bassoon (Henderson)

The bassoon is a relatively rare instrument that can play music from the Renaissance to the present. It is most commonly heard in orchestra, chamber music, and new music. In this course students will learn the fundamentals of playing the bassoon with the goal of creating a beautiful sound and building solid technique that can be used in any musical setting.

Double Bass (Langol)

This course is designed for the beginning and intermediate double bass player. The course work focuses on developing performing skills and good double bass playing technique through the study of recognized method books, classical pieces, popular music, and jazz. The students are provided an opportunity to focus on skills and repertoire specific to their instrument through the study of solo and ensemble literature with the goal of playing in an ensemble setting. Tone production, technique development, basic bowing technique, and maximally effective practice strategies are the focus of class assignments. Prior string playing experience is a plus. Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor

Guitar 2 (Goldfinger)

This course is designed to enhance performance skills on the guitar by learning a more advanced repertoire and a deeper exploration of musical styles and theory. Prerequisite(s): Guitar 1 or permission of the instructor

Guitar 3 (Goldfinger)

This course is designed for students to take their guitar playing to the next level. Students will learn complex repertoire, music theory, and advanced guitar techniques. The goal is to develop a deeper understanding of the fretboard and functions of the guitar through the performance of compelling pieces. Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.

Percussion: The Drum Set

(Lin)

This class will teach the fundamentals of drum set playing. This includes developing a sense of time, sound production and proper technique. These goals will be achieved through the use of various playing styles which include; Rock, Funk, Jazz, Soul and Pop music. This class also includes ear training, an essential component that enables students to learn various rhythmic idioms from both past and current recordings.

Theory, Composition, and Music Technology

Composition Studio (Elliott)

Open to all music creators who wish to share work, explore new approaches, sharpen technique, and engage in a broad conversation about musical philosophy. We will explore instrumentation, notation, setting words to music, and electronic techniques. For guidance and inspiration we will study the works of creators from a variety of traditions. Our goal will be to produce live performances, recordings, and archival materials for sharing our work. Collaborations are welcome. Experience with production and notation software is useful but not required.

Music & Computers 1

(Langol)

This class explores the use of electronic keyboards, computers, and software in making music reflective of various musical idioms. Our focus is on understanding the bigger concepts around recording and making music with current music technology in contemporary musical idioms. Students are introduced to MIDI editing and sequencing using industry standard music production tools. An overview in the music production skills such as sampling audio and drum programming is provided along with opportunities to apply these

ideas to individual music making projects. This class is for the student with no experience or a beginning knowledge of using music technology. In addition to advancing skills as music technologists, students will be exposed to fundamentals of music theory and various compositional methods as required. Music making is examined through various styles and through the lens of popular musical idioms spanning hip hop, EDM, rock and pop. Project work will apply these ideas, as will the musical desires of each student. Previous experience with composition is desirable, though not necessary.

Music & Computers 2 (Langol)

This advanced class continues to explore ideas and solidify skills established through previous music and computers lab experience. Each semester different sets of plug-ins and a variety of sound design techniques are used to facilitate a deeper understanding of sound design and synthesis. An understanding of how sound works is established while discussing basic recording techniques and effects processing. The foundational knowledge and skills needed to understand current music production techniques are covered through the year.

Sampling techniques going back to Musique concrète—spanning the beginnings of hiphop to J. Dilla up to the present—are studied and applied to musical projects. A number of approaches to using drum machines and drum programming are further developed in an effort to open up creative options. Contemporary musical genres from hip hop to EDM are pulled apart structurally and technologically in order to see what makes this music work while providing a framework for students to examine their own creative process. All of this may be looked at through the exposure to the history of electronic music making in all musical idioms up to the present day.

Time for the pursuit of individual personal musical goals is provided in a guided learning environment. Avenues for strengthening harmonic knowledge, keyboarding skills and ear training are provided and encouraged throughout the course. Prerequisite(s): Music & Computers 1 or adequate middle school Music Lab experience, and permission of the instructor

Musician’s Practice/Theory Fundamentals (Elliott)

This is a class for any musician—instrumentalist, singer, composer, improviser—who wishes to develop fundamental literacy. We will study pitch, rhythm, and all aspects of musical language. What are intervals? How do keys work? Why do some instruments have transposed parts? Musicians from every tradition use pitch and rhythm to express themselves. In this exploratory musical laboratory students will build their fundamental musicianship through ear training, harmonic exploration, instrumentation, and all manner of useful musical skills. This class is for anyone who wishes to build skills in performing music of all kinds. We will look at notation systems, learn how chords work, and explore arranging and composition.

Music Scoring for Multimedia

(Langol)

This class targets the ideas around electronic music composition specifically for film, dance, puppetry, theater, and animation with an emphasis on film music. Open to students with advanced skills, an interest in performance/composition, and a facility with music making software, this workshop/class allows students with experience in MIDI and sound processing to realize their creative ideas using the myriad tools of the music lab. Software technology enables composers to achieve unprecedented variety and richness in manipulating recorded sound to create original compositions in support of other art forms that include film and dance. Exploring various compositional approaches and various electronic music making methods opens a door to endless musical and sonic possibilities. The development of listening skills and musical analysis are employed in the course work and these become an important part of utilizing compositional methods and style. Prerequisite(s): Music lab experience, facility on an instrument, and permission of the instructor

Songwriter’s Toolbox

(Eagen, Hathaway)

This class will give you the tools you need to pen and perform that song you’ve had on a loop in your head for years but never shared with the world. Throughout the year we will concentrate on the art of lyric and melody writing, as well as introduce the students to harmony, rhythm and arranging. You’ll gain many practical tools for your toolbox, including the fundamentals of music notation and the ability to play a few essential chords and chord progressions on piano and guitar. As we listen to and analyze the structure of songs we love, we’ll explore the role of songwriters in history from blues to Tin Pan Alley to MTV and beyond. Throughout the year, you’ll have informal chances to workshop and share your songs, and at the end of the course, you’ll record your original songs and direct your own live performance or music video. If you are an experienced songwriter you will spend the year deepening your craft; however, no formal musical training or experience is required to take this class. All students who are eager to write, sing, play and perform their own songs and those of their classmates are welcome.

Music Literature

Music History

(Elliott)

Where does music originate? How have humans made and conceived music through the ages? As we pursue questions about the origins of music we will consider music as a fundamental expression of culture. By considering the context for musical expression and performance practice, we will discover the ways that a group’s music reflects its cultural foundations. Students will develop critical listening skills through an exploration of the elements of musical languages manipulated with dazzling invention and imagination by musicians through the ages. This class is recommended for any student who wishes to broaden their experience and knowledge of musical traditions.

Opera

(Clark)

People who love opera are obsessed and cannot get enough. The stories are rich in intrigue (historical and fictional), the music is gorgeous, the personalities are huge and the production demands are mind-boggling. There is a reason it is known as “the extravagant art.” This class is designed for the opera curious, and it is a unique opportunity to see what it’s all about, taught by an opera singer who lives and breathes the art form. You will get to know opera from the ground up, from Monteverdi through contemporary works. We will definitely see some crazy new stuff in addition to classic works. You don’t need to be a musician or singer to love opera, and you will NOT be asked to sing (nor discouraged from humming along.) The class work involves libretto reading, audio listening, and video watching. Twice a week, we will peer into the scandalous lives of the great composers and opera stars, and experience opera together LIVE! Class participation includes three daytime trips to the Metropolitan Opera and a bit of reading and written work. (And maybe even some HD Broadcasts!). There is no need to be afraid of opera anymore! It’s calling you.

Women In Music

(The Department) (1x per week)

This class will journey through the contributions of women in music by exploring works of past and living composers and by examining the changing roles and attitudes towards women composers and performers. A performance oriented course, the class will spend time learning and preparing works for a special evening performance dedicated to showcasing too often under-celebrated women in music. Students are also welcome to perform their own compositions at the concerts. The class hopes to collaborate with other departments and take field trips to hear rehearsals and performances by female composers around the city

RECREATIONAL ARTS

Basketball

(The Department)

This course will prepare the students for both the physical and mental aspects of basketball, and is open to all skill levels. Students will learn basketball vocabulary, explore strategies, and raise their overall basketball IQ. Students will have a chance to implement their skills in half and full court games during class time.

Challenge Course

(The Department)

Students are faced with challenges through group activities and will set individual as well as collective goals. Team work, leadership, and trust building are major components of this class. We will explore horizontal and vertical climbs on our climbing wall and learn various climbing and belaying techniques.

All courses meet for a full year unless otherwise noted.

Biology Courses

Biology

(The Department) (required)

This is a dense, grand tour of the most definitive aspect of this planet. Biology takes us to the wild world inside a cell, and nudges us to take a close look at the genetic and evolutionary relationships of living things. Laboratory work, in a double period, is an integral part of the course, both illustrating principles presented in lectures and providing experience conducting qualitative analysis. This course covers vital topics in this field such as cytology, genetics, biochemistry, taxonomy, evolution, and ecology.

Advanced Biology

(Kaplan)

This is an intense and rigorous immersion in a comprehensive study of biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, botany, evolution, and anatomy and physiology. Lectures and discussions are supplemented with occasional in-depth labs and articles from journals such as Nature, Science, and Scientific American. The only way to cross the ocean of information, enjoying the fast pace and laboratory work, is to be a bonafide biophile! Note: Students are expected to have a thorough grasp of ninth grade biology topics. The class meets one seminar period each week in addition to regular class time. Prerequisite(s): Biology and Chemistry

Genetics (Harbison)

We are in the midst of a scientific revolution fueled by new technologies and our expanding understanding of genetics. At the same time, there are myriad things we don’t know. We can find our ancestors, make glow-in-the-dark animals, and treat diseases with mutated viruses. The future is both bright and terrifying, like something out of a science fiction novel. In this class, we will explore different topics in genetics and use various model organisms in developing basic molecular biology lab techniques. Topics may include, heredity, fundamental molecular genetics, CRISPR and genetic modification, evolution, genome-wide studies looking to identify genes responsible for things like schizophrenia or depression, and the ethical considerations of genomics, including the misapplication of genetics in eugenics. Genetics is a key component to modern biology and a fascinating field that affects our lives on a daily basis. Prerequisite(s): Biology

Infections and Immunology (Levin)

Do you know how a patient’s genetically edited T cells are able to vanquish the patient’s own cancer? Can CRISPR technology be used to combat globally devastating diseases like malaria? How does our body fight the most microscopic of microbial infections? This course, an investigation of health and disease through the lens of the immune system, will answer these questions and many more! We will begin our study where the immune system begins: in the bone marrow. Next, we will dive deeply into innate and adaptive immunity, learning about B cells and T cells, and using the microscope to visualize various cell types. We will study the mechanisms of vaccines, immune deficiencies, and diseases of autoimmunity, as well as the genetics and ethics of bone marrow transplants. The fall semester will conclude with an investigation of novel cancer immunotherapies, including CAR T cells, checkpoint inhibitors, and more. For the second half of the year, we will study globally significant infections including (but not limited to) malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, cholera, HPV, dengue fever, and COVID. We will focus on the health impact of these diseases on under-resourced populations and learn about vital contributions to global health care by organizations like Partners in Health. We will also study current research on therapies, ranging from the simple (mosquito nets, soap) to the complex (genetic engineering). Throughout the year, students will be challenged to solve patient mystery cases, and they will engage in academic debate about complexities of modern medical ethics. Our learning will be supplemented by readings from The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker, articles from scientific journals like The New England Journal of Medicine, and works of literature. Prerequisite(s): Biology

Marine Biology

(Zayas)

Come dive into the ocean! We will embark on an exciting journey through a variety of marine ecosystems, from the vibrant coral reefs to the mysterious ocean floors. We will explore the fascinating organisms that inhabit these environments—ranging from tiny plankton to massive whales—and understand their roles in maintaining the balance of marine life. Topics may include oceanography, marine food chains, the impact of human activity on marine ecosystems, and conservation efforts to protect our oceans. By the end of the course, you will have a deeper appreciation for the beauty and complexity of marine life. Let’s unravel the mysteries of life under the sea! Prerequisite(s): Biology

Chemistry Courses

Chemistry

(The Department)

This is a broad, sweeping, fast-paced survey course introducing students to the fundamental principles of chemistry, and to the basic techniques a chemist uses. Topics include stoichiometry, atomic and molecular theory, basic atomic and molecular structure, and gas laws. Thermodynamics, chemical equilibrium, and acid-base chemistry may also be covered. Students develop facility working with calculators and become intimate with the Periodic Table.

Laboratory work is an integral part of the course, both in illustrating principles presented in lectures and in providing experience conducting qualitative analysis. Note: This course is open to sophomores and above. Freshmen may take it with the permission of their Grade Dean and the Science Department Chair.

Advanced Chemistry

(The Department)

Advanced Chemistry is designed to give students the experience of an intensive collegelevel course in which they will hone their ability to think critically about chemical phenomena. We will discover why some chemical reactions happen while others don’t, how quickly reactions happen and how far they will proceed (thermodynamics, kinetics, and equilibrium). We will also revisit, and explore in greater depth, some of the topics from first year Chemistry including stoichiometry, gas laws, and bonding. Additionally, we will discuss applications of chemistry such as electrochemistry, buffer systems, and solubility. The rapid pace of the course requires independent learning and preparation on the part of the students, and weekly labs add to the time commitment. Advanced Chemistry is for those who seek a deeper understanding of matter, relish wrestling with equations, and who find chemical reactions exocharmic. Prerequisite(s): Chemistry

Transition Metal Chemistry: Color, Reactivity, and Applications in Art

(K. Fiori)

Have you ever stared at the center of the periodic table and wondered when you are ever going to get a chance to learn about these metals? Have you ever wondered why rubies are red and sapphires are blue even though their chemical compositions are nearly identical? Have you ever wanted to understand how pigments and glazes get their intense colors? These questions and many others will be investigated in this course. We will explore the unique properties and reactivity of these often-ignored metals. Weekly labs are guaranteed to be colorful. We will make our own pigments and paints, make models depicting the structure of minerals, and explore the acid-base and redox properties of transition metal complexes. This course will cover many topics not discussed in Chemistry or Advanced Chemistry.

Physics Courses

Physics

(The Department)

This course provides a systematic introduction to the main principles of classical physics such as linear, projectile and rotational motion, forces, gravitation, energy and momentum, waves, fields, electricity, and optics. We emphasize the development of conceptual understanding and problem solving skills. The class includes a laboratory component. Note: this course is open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Freshmen require permission of their Grade Dean and instructor.

Physics: Mechanics and Relativity

(Kandel)

Mechanics and Relativity is a physics course that emphasizes deep problem solving, along with the philosophical and historical dimensions of the subject. Because we focus our efforts on mechanics (though we briefly discuss thermodynamics, electromagnetism, and optics), we can go into far greater depth. Students strive for a sturdy grasp of physical theories, utilizing diverse modes of thinking: qualitative reasoning, pure intuition, rigorous analysis. We consider the big questions: Where is the Earth in relation to the cosmos, how is it moving, and do its local laws generalize to the Universe? There are wonderful stories behind all of these, in which theories rise and fall, and human beings struggle to overthrow the mental constraints of their forebears. We study the astronomers of the Ancient Greeks, the Copernican Revolution, and the beautiful contributions of Galileo, Newton, and Einstein. In all of these realms, we not only tackle daunting problems, but we bring attention to the problem-solving process itself, to gain insight into our own learning processes; and we consider the wider philosophical implications. For example, does the unprecedented accuracy of Newtonian predictions threaten our belief in free will? Does the very concept of Laplace’s demon imply that the future is predetermined? We employ mathematical methods to describe trajectories, orbits, and the strange physics within a spinning spaceship. By the end of the year, we are forced to question many of our deepest assumptions as we tackle the paradoxes of Special Relativity and the implications of the Big Bang model!

Analytical Physics

(Pelzer)

This second-year physics course builds on the material from a first-year Physics course with an emphasis on deeper, more complex problems. The course focuses on conceptual analysis and mathematical modeling. Topics include fluid dynamics, sound and light, electricity and magnetism, and particle physics. Quantum mechanics, general and special relativity, fission and fusion, thermodynamics, optics, and other advanced mechanics topics may also be covered. This class will serve as a prerequisite for Electricity and Magnetism. Prerequisite(s): Physics

Electricity and Magnetism (Smith)

This course is an in-depth, calculus-based, proof-driven study of oscillations, waves, electric fields, magnetic fields, and radiation. Its purpose: Derive the speed of information.

Prerequisite(s): Analytical Physics. Note: Calculus is recommended as a prerequisite and second-year Calculus is recommended as a corequisite. These requirements can be waived only with approval from the student’s Analytical Physics teacher and their math teacher.

Additional Courses

Dream, Sleep, Consciousness (Kandel)

We spend a third of our lives asleep, yet rarely examine this fascinating state with scientific rigor. In this course, we’ll combine hands-on investigation with insights from multiple scientific disciplines to explore the mysteries of sleep, dreaming, and consciousness. We’ll study the transitions through different states of awareness each night - from the strange imagery that appears as we drift off, through the complex narratives of our dreams, to the flood of memories upon waking.

This class is fundamentally experiential—you’ll be the primary subject of investigation! We’ll draw from neuroscience, cognitive psychology, evolutionary biology, and anthropology to inform our personal exploration of the dream world. We’ll examine theories of lucid dreaming from both modern science and wisdom traditions around the world, understanding how different cultures have approached this universal human territory.

A major component will be designing and conducting your own original research projects. What aspects of sleep, dreaming, or consciousness intrigue you? How might you gather meaningful data about these deeply personal yet scientifically measurable experiences? Through this focused study, you’ll gain practical techniques for improved sleep quality, enhanced dream recall, and greater awareness of conscious states.

Environmental Science (Perez)

Discussions around climate seem to happen daily: endless news reports about the hottest day/ month/year on record, climate strikes and art vandalism, devastating natural disasters across the globe, even debates around gas stoves and the effectiveness of recycling. Environmental issues are getting more airtime than ever before. But what does the climate crisis mean for us in New York City, the US, and the world as a whole? How can we change our perspective from “climate doom” to practicing radical hope for our future?

In this course, we will break down the past and current relationship between humans and the planet, focusing on solutions and climate resilience. Topics will include environmental science (ecology, biodiversity, human impact, climate change), environmental justice (its history, triumphs, and resistance), how the arts can play a role, and space to explore topics that interest you. Scientists, artists, philosophers, historians, musicians, authors… Come one, come all!

Forensic Science (A.

Jackson)

Do you like crime shows or have an interest in criminal investigation? While many of these shows have become popular in recent years, they do contain an element of factual investigative techniques. Forensic science is the application of science that can be applied in criminal cases. Forensic science is used to examine physical evidence that can be used to establish connections between suspects, events, and circumstances. The individual characteristics of a crime scene requires forensic science to be a combination of all branches of science. The ultimate goal is to provide students with an overview of this field of science with an emphasis on crime scene procedures, blood spatter, fingerprinting, and pathology through lectures, labs, and case studies. .

Independent Science Research

(The Department) (1x per week)

The Independent Science Research Program grants students the opportunity to design experimental strategies to explore personally perplexing questions of science: What would happen if...? Why is it that...? How does...? Research objectives are as unique and varied as the investigator. Topics are multidisciplinary, ranging from biology and chemistry to the physical fields.

Independent Science Research is a cooperative endeavor between a student or several students and their chosen mentor. Saint Ann’s science teachers, as well as auxiliary research investigators, serve as advisers. Students will be matched with potential mentors based on mutual research interests and expertise. Research work proceeds at a pace stipulated by the project as well as the ambition of the research team. Research groups are expected to meet regularly, i.e. every week. After completing a year of exploration, students summarize their projects in a formal research paper. In the spring, discoveries are made public though a poster session and oral symposium. Note: This course bears one half credit. Prerequisite(s): Students MUST submit a research proposal to the Science Department by June 1 to be considered for approval by the department. This program will be limited to 14 projects. Proposal guidelines are available in the Science Office and High School Office

SEMINAR

Acting for the Camera

(Goodhart/Lebowitz-Nowak)

We will practice various acting techniques on-camera and explore how our performances change and shift depending on the various elements unique to this medium. The first half of the year will be focused on script analysis and audition prep by working on scenes from films and television shows that are currently on air. The second half of the year will focus on producing our own short film. The script will be generated in class and all aspects of the film’s production (filming, sound, editing, and of course acting) will be done by the students. Students will learn some of the skills necessary to be an independent filmmaker.

American Sign Language

(Hamilton-Caillet)

The ASL Seminar is designed so that it could be a multi-year enrollment and will cover deaf culture and history while developing students’ communication skills using ASL. No matter if you’re a beginner or if you’ve attended the lunch classes in the past, there is always more to learn!

For the sake of immersion, the class will meet silently and use writing tablets for communication until students are confident in their Signing. Some reading will also be assigned from popular books like Sara Novic’s True Biz , Nyle DiMarco and Robert Siebert’s Deaf Utopia , Mary Herring Wright’s Sounds Like Home, or Milan.

Art Journal

(The Department) (Spring Semester)

The Art Journal is a yearly publication celebrating the vigor and creativity of our school’s artistic community. A team of editors and associate editors will meet weekly to collaborate on production of the journal—which will publish work created that year by high school students, faculty, and staff, in any genre or medium. Anyone with a passion for visual art, photography, or book design and layout is welcome. Note: Because the work is heaviest in March and April, students should expect to give several extra hours a week during this period.

Birds! (Velikonja)

In this seminar we will learn all about birds, from behaviors to morphology and from peregrines to house sparrows. We will spend as much time as reasonable outside watching birds (especially in the early fall and late spring)—there’s a lot to see in Brooklyn Bridge Park! When it’s too dark and cold to go out we will learn about bird bodies and habits, about migrations and invasive species. Join me to learn to look and listen anytime, anywhere—your journey on planet earth will never be the same.

Chinese Music and Classical Chinese Dance

(Qiu) (Fall Semester)

In this single semester seminar course, students who are interested in learning classical Chinese dance will select and learn the choreography of a traditional piece. This year they will learn to dance with Chinese fans. Students who are interested in music can also write a Chinese song, learn to sing a Chinese song or play a Chinese song on their instruments. They will then perform it at the Chinese Lunar New Year assembly. Commitment: students can choose to participate in dance or music (or both) in consultation with the teacher.

Experimental Composition

(Spann)

Experimental music, electronic music, noise, sound art, electroacoustic music…These genre identifiers abound in both DIY subcultures and art institutional settings, but they are fluid and hard to define. With this in mind, students will come together with a shared love for strange and hashtag-defying music to share works in progress and develop their own creativity and compositional ability. We will talk about how material and technological histories shape the music that we love.

Weekly seminars will consist of student presentations of finished and unfinished work for group analysis, feedback and discussion. While this is not a project based or technical class, semi-weekly exercises and prompts will be given to foster less conventional approaches to composing with sound. Knowledge of music theory or notation is not required, nor is specialization in any one particular instrument. Our mini projects and exercises will be supplemented with short readings and listening materials to engage with musicians working under modes such as musique concrete, electroacoustic music, electronic music and sound art, with a focus on local and living artists.

Reading and listening materials will include: Halim El-Dabh, Maryanne Amacher, Matana Roberts, DJ K-Swift, Miss Tony, Odwalla1221, Beatriz Ferreyra, Sarah Hennies, Elysia Crampton, Eliane Radigue, Aki Onda.

Filling the Void

(Klein) (Fall Semester)

We will explore the ancient lost wax casting method of creating metal objects. We will begin with the reductive method: carving a ring from a block of solid wax. Then we will consider additive sculpture: building a small object using French modeling wax. We will tour a midtown casting house and have both objects realized in metal. We will then learn simple finishing techniques to refine your pieces. There will also be the opportunity to work in porcelain to complement your metal work.

French Cinema and Film Theory

(Lee) (Spring Semester)

This seminar explores the history of French cinema from its origins to today, from the Brothers Lumières, to poetic realism, to the New Wave and today’s global turn. Considered as the Seventh Art, how does film define itself in relation to literature, theater, painting, and also in relation to the world it represents, in particular the aftermath of World War II? We will examine how film, from its modest origins to its contemporary forms, remains in France a space of contestation which questions any strict opposition between fiction/documentary, city/country, “haves/have-nots,” and reinvents itself in the process. Film criticism by Bazin, Virilio, Barthes, Deleuze. The schedule will include film viewings.

High School Literary Magazine

(English Department)

The High School Literary Magazine is created by a board of students and faculty advisers whose goal is to find and publish excellent high school writing. The Board, which includes 18 to 20 staff members and a few high school editors, meets once a week during a seminar period to discuss submissions and decide which to include. Editors (and staff members who are interested in helping out) also produce the magazine itself, finding student artwork, preparing selections for layout, designing, and composing the final publication.

Because the work is heaviest in March and April, students should expect to give several extra hours a week during this period.

High School Mentoring

(Friedrichs/Garber-Browne)

High school mentoring is a program for juniors and seniors interested in working with middle school students. Interested students complete a letter of interest and attend a series of trainings and check-ins throughout the year in order to participate. The mentors then meet regularly in small groups, along with a health teacher, to plan monthly sessions for eighth graders. These sessions occur in the 8th graders’ regular health classes and provide an opportunity for the younger students to hear from a fellow teen who is not so far removed from their own experiences.

Mentors will also be able to become involved in Upper Middle School GUST and community meeting. Additionally, mentors who are not yet trained will have the opportunity to become certified in teen Mental Health First Aid. Interested students should contact Meli Garber-Browne prior to registering.

Nietzsche and Modern Thought

(Aronson)

“Here then, in a mood of agitation, we are heard to knock at the gates of the present and the future: will that ‘transforming’ lead to ever-new configurations of genius, and especially of the music-practicing Socrates? Will the net of art which is spread over the whole of existence, whether under the name of religion or science, be knit every more closely and delicately, or is it destined to be torn to shreds under the restlessly barbaric activity and whirl which calls itself ‘the present’? Anxious, yet not despairing, we stand apart for a brief space, like spectators allowed to be witnesses of these tremendous struggles and transitions. Alas! It is the magic effect of these struggles that he who beholds them must participate in them!”

–Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy

Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the most misunderstood, one of the most ill-used, and also one of the most important philosophers of the modern era. Through his provocative, indirect, and often-poetic style of communication, he challenges his readers to “practice reading as art” and to take a fresh and serious look at the foundation of Western culture. Nietzsche’s philosophical investigations relate in one way or another to almost every important branch of philosophy—from ethics to epistemology to metaphysics to philosophy of art and literature to philosophy of science to philosophy of language. We will read his Genealogy of Morals and sections from The Gay Science, Beyond Good and Evil , The Birth of Tragedy, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra . And, whether you agree with him or not—and in many cases it may well be that you do not—his influence on the world of philosophy, the world of psychology, and the world of art and literature is unquestionable. In line with this, we will move, with Nietzsche in hand, to consideration of: Freud, modern philosophy of language (by way of Ludwig Wittgenstein, W.V. Quine and Nelson Goodman), Thomas Kuhn’s ideas regarding the nature of scientific paradigm shifts, and modernist and post-modernist literature and art. There are no prerequisites for this course other than a willingness to think hard and a desire to “practice reading as art.”

Poetry Writing Workshop (Skoble)

Poetry is a craft as well as an art. Poems don’t happen, they are made. In this workshop we learn how to use the tools of poets. We take poems apart to see how they work, and we put things together to see if they work. Construction and experimentation, exploration and imitation are the processes we use to help us create poems. The poetry workshop is open to all, including dancers, thespians, musicians, athletes, and astrophysicists. We meet one double period each week to share our efforts, to read and discuss, and, of course, to write.

Romanticism

(Ingall/Gear/Rutter)

Some would say that between 1790 and 1840, everything important was invented: the novel, the poem, the nation, the individual; atheism, childhood, Frankenstein, and photography. From the Romantic Era we’ve pulled our contemporary notions of art and artist, intensity and authenticity, nature and the city, unconscious and dream. We will study poetry and fiction, a wee bit of philosophy, visual art and music.

Student Internship in Technology @ Saint Ann’s (The

Department)

This elective seminar will allow students to explore the realm of either Information Technology or Computer Science in an educational environment. The focus of the seminar will be different based on which area you are interested:

1. Information Technology: The primary focus will be on technical support, and students will also learn how to manipulate and work with large datasets in database and spreadsheet applications, become familiar with network and wireless protocols and architecture, and work towards eventually being able to perform certain technical support tasks, under the supervision of the Technology Department staff. This will require one to two periods per week, scheduled in periods where the student and their mentor are mutually available.

2. Computer Science: The focus will be on helping design, set up, implement and run the new maker-space located in the computer center. Students will be individually trained on devices and equipment, under the supervision of the Computer Science department.

3. Digital Literacy Teacher’s Assistant: In this role, students will co-teach sixth grade Digital Literacy, a once weekly class. Students will co-facilitate the sixth grade class, which is about coming of age in an increasingly data-driven world. Sixth graders will examine how digital technologies and the media impact how we are informed and make decisions and how to stay safe online and create authentic and positive digital identities. Teacher’s Assistants will co-facilitate class content and support with classroom management.

The Lore of Mushrooms (Fiori) (Fall Semester)

The quiet hunt. Surrounding you in the forest are fungi in their many forms. The deliciously potent porcini. The ling chih, a mushroom that makes a tea so soothing it is a common leitmotif in Chinese art. The ancient hallucinogen soma, known now to be quite toxic, but appearing with its speckled red cap in thousands of years of painting and literature. The deadly amanitas, which are responsible for more deaths than any other mushroom family. These, along with about 100,000 other species of mushroom-forming fungi, lay before you, presenting a world of exploration so vast that you could devote your life to it and still be a humble beginner.

This is partly a biology course, but also an ode to a fungal form. It is about foraging— the seeking of a hidden treasure that surrounds you—as much as it is about mushrooms themselves. And foraging we will do! To take full advantage of the fall season, we will start the semester with several field trips to nearby parks where we will look for, examine, and identify mushrooms. When the cold weather keeps us indoors, we will study the science of mushrooms, investigate the role of fungus in culture and literature, and learn how mushrooms can be used for environmental rehabilitation and for creating renewable building materials. We will cultivate reishi, oyster and shitake mushrooms from spore cultures in media that range from coffee grounds to fallen tree limbs to recycled books.

The Ram

(Donohue/Patterson)

For more than 30 years, student journalists at The Ram have sought answers to interesting questions. Why doesn’t our school mandate community service? What’s up with all the construction? Why did we buy that new building? What’s Alex Darrow’s favorite movie? How did the robotics team boot up? Does GUST still serve its purpose? Where’s the best bacon-egg-and-cheese in the Heights? What actually is a Saint Ann’s “Steamer”?

Join us as we produce a monthly newspaper. Mandatory staff meetings, for all editors and staff writers, will take place once a week during the Monday seminar period. Expect to make a serious time commitment, as all writers will contribute to every issue.

We are also eager to commission work from illustrators and photographers. No need to sign up here; please reach out to editors in fall.

The Task of the Translator (Schmidt) (Fall Semester)

What makes a good or bad translation? Is translation a creative act? What does translating a work really do to it? Though the work of translation has in the last few years been radically transformed by advances in machine translation, translation is also, perhaps as a consequence, more interesting than ever as a site of critical and literary engagement. We will read foundational texts that have shaped the field of translation studies and discuss various aesthetic and political questions raised by literary translation. If you have ever wondered how a translation comes into being or been interested in translating a work of poetry or prose that speaks to you, please join us. Participants are encouraged to use the space to solicit feedback if they are working on a translation project on their own. Knowledge of a second language is not required for this seminar.

What is Enlightenment?

(Lee) (Fall Semester)

“Dare to know! (Sapere Aude!)” was the rallying cry of the writers, scientists, and political philosophers whose thinking gave rise to what became known as the Enlightenment—a period which saw revolutionary fever spread from France to the Americas, as arguments around self and other, and equality and inequality, fueled the rise of new democracies. Through literary and philosophical works, including Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality, Voltaire’s Candide and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this seminar explores how scientific discoveries and world explorations led to new perspectives on ourselves and other cultures, and how literature helps make sense of what it means to be human. Questions of nature or nurture, the relation between persons and things, and science and society will be considered, along with the Enlightenment’s legacy on film.

Yearbook Staff Photographers and Editors

(Venable)

Calling all photographers, artists, designers, and bookmakers! Come be a part of a collaborative process that weaves together the images and memories of a year in the life at Saint Ann’s. Bring your artistry and creativity to help make a book that will be cherished by the whole community. Senior editors will learn InDesign, Photoshop, project management, the basics of book publishing, while practicing their leadership skills. Editors work closely with staff photographers throughout the year to take the photos that will be incorporated into the final book design. Staff photographers will spend the year photographing people, places, and memories throughout the school year on 35mm film and digital cameras as well as printing in the darkroom and learning how to scan negatives. Note: Editors are expected to meet twice a week during the Wednesday and Friday seminar periods. Staff is expected to attend at least one day each week from September through the end of March. Prerequisite(s): Two years of photography or portfolio review. Open to Juniors and Seniors.

THEATER

All theater classes meet one double period per week (90 mins) unless otherwise noted.

Acting: Imagination and Characterization

(Barnett, Lamazor)

This acting class will help you to walk truthfully in your own shoes—and in the shoes of a wide array of fascinating, fierce, funny, villainous, heroic, complex characters. You are invited to choose text from a play, film, poem, or historical speech, to become a character from a beloved short story or novel, or to interpret song lyrics. Part of our work and play will include group improvisation, scene work, storytelling, and theater games; part will include solo performance. This is a great class for actors who want to deepen their craft and prepare audition monologues. Writers who want to take their words from page to stage are welcome. For students who want to act in a mainstage play or sharpen skills of public speaking, this class will give you the joy, confidence, tools, and experience to have fun and Go For It! Class trips to the theater and visits by guest artists will inspire us.

Acting: Scene Study

(Victorson)

This class will focus on texts from plays and screenplays and bringing these words to life through activated storytelling. In our weekly class, students engage in text analysis, improvisation, character work and playing a character’s objective. We will look at scripts by classical and contemporary playwrights and explore a variety of styles, characters and themes. Rehearsals will take place both in and outside of class with scene presentations happening every few weeks during class. Class trips to see plays will also be a part of this class. This class is open to students who have some previous experience in an acting class or with permission of the teacher. This class is a great way to experience the process of being in a play. Prerequisite(s): Permission from the instructor

Dialects, Accents and the Actor’s Voice (Osborn) (1

period per week)

The wonderful world of dialects, speech, and vocal production awaits you. Funny voices, accents, and more are explored in this class in which the vocal side of acting is stressed. Poetry and contemporary and classical texts are used, and we work on several class projects including improvisation and scene and monologue work. Past years’ material included The Importance of Being Earnest, Riders to the Sea , Monty Python and the Holy Grail , Harry Potter, and The Enchanted . We incorporate relaxation techniques, voice building, and breathing to help actors deal with the demands of auditions and performance. This dynamic and practical class is tailored to the specific needs of its students.

African Dance

(Mackall)

African Dance is an exciting survey of the techniques and traditions of dances from the African Diaspora with a special emphasis on the dances of West Africa. Classes are accompanied by live drumming. Note: Participation in the High School Dance Concert in March/April is a requirement of this class and requires attendance at Sunday and after school rehearsals during the second semester in the period leading up to the concert.

Challenging Films and the Art of Cinema

(Dobski) (2 double periods per week)

A film might be considered challenging simply because its characteristics are unfamiliar to the viewer. It might be from a different culture, or time period, or its pacing might be unconventional. Perhaps its photographic style is innovative. The subject matter might be important, but disturbing. Perhaps the narrative is non-linear and requires effort to comprehend. Perhaps there is no narrative at all. These characteristics certainly could be obstacles in understanding or appreciating a film, or puzzles to be resolved. In this course, we will seek to resolve puzzles. To understand the art of motion pictures, the early history of film will be introduced, discussing the development of equipment and techniques for the recording and presentation of moving images. While consistently screening unique, outstanding, and uncommon films, we will simultaneously be addressing the analysis of the formal elements of cinema.

Our survey will include works from the avant-garde (Maya Deren; Oscar Fischinger; Len Lye); documentaries (Nikolaus Geyrhalter; Leni Riefenstahl; Stanley Nelson) US and international feature films (Djibril Diop Mambéty; Terrence Malick; Michael Haneke). Readings will be from various texts and professional journals. Students will post short opinion pieces in Classroom semi-weekly, and also conduct research in order to write essays on selected topics. Based on the films we have been studying, the final project of the year may be an artistic endeavor (painting, playwriting, poetry, music, culinary art, sound design, a zine) or a research project which culminates in data and/or an essay. All final work will be presented to the class.

Costume

Production (Bevans, Shand)

Come explore costume design and construction as you create costumes for our productions, collaborative pieces and personal projects. All experience levels are welcome, as assignments will offer a range of technical skills. In addition to focusing on construction techniques, such as hand and machine sewing, students will have the chance to explore skills such as pattern making, draping and topics such as fashion design and the intersection of art and costume and costume history. Through videos, articles, and podcasts, students learn about the wideranging world of textile crafts—from the history of New York City’s costume shops and the Garment District to the rich traditions of cloth, construction, and its many makers around the world. Participation on a costume crew for one of the mainstage productions will give

each student an opportunity to deepen their construction practice while working together to help run all aspects of wardrobe, hair and makeup for the show. In late May, we celebrate student costume creations at our Annual Clothesline Show. Note: All costume students are required to work on one costume crew for a production, which will require time outside of class.

Dance/Choreography 1

(The Department)

The class focuses on developing students’ choreographic voices through improvisation and the creation of short movement studies. Class begins with a warm-up that integrates different techniques from ballet to African dance to yoga. Students are exposed to different choreographic approaches through studying video and attending performances live or virtually. In addition, students have the opportunity to work with professional choreographers, learning pieces, and taking direction. Dances created both individually and collaboratively are performed in class throughout the year. Dances developed in association with the instructor are eligible for performance in the student dance concert. Both new and experienced dancers are welcome. Note: Participation in the High School Dance Concert in March/ April is a requirement of this class and requires attendance at Sunday and after school rehearsals during the second semester in the period leading up to the concert.

Dance/Choreography 2/3

(The Department)

This class continues the study of Modern Dance technique, improvisation, and composition through solo, duet, and group forms. Emphasis is placed on movement textures, dynamic qualities, partnering, and weight exchange to convey emotional meaning. Formal compositional elements such as symmetry, groupings of multiple bodies in space, and rhythm are investigated. In collaboration with the teacher, student choreographers are encouraged to develop their own work for the dance concert. Students have the opportunity to take direction from professional choreographers during workshops and attend field trips to notable dance performances. Note: Participation in the High School Dance Concert in March/April is a requirement of this class and requires attendance at Sunday and after school rehearsals during the second semester in the period leading up to the concert. Prerequisite(s): Dance/Choreography 1 and/or permission of the instructor.

Dance/Choreography 4

(The Department)

We continue our study of dance technique, improvisation, and composition. Emphasis is placed on the development of the individual artistic voice through complex, expressive dances incorporating solo and group aspects, examination of multimedia techniques, and the use of juxtaposition and collage to expand dramatic possibilities. Students have the opportunity to learn pieces and take direction from professional choreographers. Dances developed in association with the instructor are eligible for performance in the student dance concert. There is a potential for field trips to notable performances. Note: Participation in

the High School Dance Concert in March/ April is a requirement of this class and requires attendance at Sunday and after school rehearsals during the second semester in the period leading up to the concert. Prerequisite(s): Dance/Choreography 1, Dance/Choreography 2/3, and/or permission of the instructor

High School Videography

(Akbari, Mirabella-Davis)

The course is designed to give you an inspiring foundation in both film theory and production. You will develop the skills to tell your own stories through the art and technology of digital filmmaking as you practice camera direction, screenwriting, directing actors and the art of editing. Working in groups, you will write, direct, shoot, and edit a sync-sound short using digital cameras, advanced sound equipment and the Adobe Premiere Pro editing software. Films from this class will be screened and celebrated as a part of our end of year film festival.

Moving Image 1

(Akbari, Mirabella-Davis)

This is a filmmaking course in beginning 16mm film production and black and white cinematography. Working individually, you will write, direct, shoot, and edit your own 5–7 minute short black and white film. With special focus on silent films and the language of visual storytelling, this class will explore groundbreaking work from directors past and present from around the world. You will learn the origins of motion picture film technology, and will engage in hands-on work with 16mm cameras, film stocks, lenses, exposure, lighting and linear editing, as you cut and splice your film together by hand. Films from this class will be screened and celebrated as a part of our end of year film festival. Note: This course is open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors, and it requires constant participation and work outside of class time, including one or more weekend film shoots.

Moving Image 2

(Akbari, Mirabella-Davis)

Drawing from jewels of classic and contemporary cinema, this class is an advanced, auteur film production course that covers directing, cinematography, screenwriting and editing, with emphasis on writing and recording dialogue. You will individually write, direct, cast, shoot and edit a sync-sound, color digital short film. The course will delve deeply into narrative structure, advanced digital camera technology, directing actors and the art of non-linear editing using the Adobe Premiere Pro software. Films from this class will be screened and celebrated as a part of our end of year film festival. Note: This course is open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors, and it requires constant participation and work outside of class time, including one or more weekend film shoots. Prerequisite(s): Moving Image 1 and permission of the instructor.

Moving Image 3 (Dobski)

In this advanced 16mm color film production and cinematography course, students begin by refreshing their skills with 16mm black and white stock, demonstrating proficiency with exposure, focus, camera movement, and lenses. In the first semester, students shoot two to three short assignments in black & white. When ready, students study light and color, then shoot with 16mm Ektachrome for their first color assignment. Simultaneously, students are developing a treatment for a short narrative film; then finally, a storyboard. This project is photographed with color-negative film and transferred to a high-definition file for editing. The final project will have a non-synchronous soundtrack including an original score, and/or a voice over, sound effects, or ADR. Throughout the year, students may collaborate with the Music Scoring for Multimedia course in creating music for any of their short projects. The year will culminate with a film screening mid-May. This course demands much outside-ofschool work throughout the year, constant attention to communication with the instructor, and attention to detail. Prerequisite(s): Moving Image 1 and 2 and permission of the instructor.

Performance Art (Barnett)

In this class, students cultivate an improvisational technique that encourages personal storytelling, spontaneity, and abstract thinking. Students work on individual and collaborative projects. There is a focus on interactive site-specific theater (performances, ‘happenings,’ or installations set outside the traditional stage). Past work has taken place in parks, street corners, storefront windows, in the lobby of school, and the lobby of a hotel. Projects have taken the form of scavenger hunts, dance parties, and games. Given the role of technology in art (and life!) today, this class also offers an opportunity to experiment and explore formats other than live performance. Through trips, screenings—both virtual and inperson—as well as lively discussion, the class learns about the role of performance in history and contemporary culture. This is a course for students with or without previous experience in theater. It is a class for visual artists and dancers interested in working with text, and writers wanting to transform their ideas into physical life. The class also benefits those who feel nervous when speaking in public.

Play Production (Kaluza/Wyron)

Each member of a production staff, from the director to the stagehand, has specific duties and skills. Students in this class learn techniques for running a smooth and professional show, taking on the responsibilities for our theatrical projects and productions. Topics covered are construction, maintenance and set-up of props, reading and taping-out scale ground plans, writing cues, calling light and sound cues, and more. This is a course for advanced tech students committed to our theater and productions. Students with an interest in stage management, props mastering, as well as light, set, and sound design are encouraged to enroll and to deepen their experience of backstage work; the vital, unseen, component of

the theater. Note: All students are required to work on at least one production, which will require time outside of class. Prerequisite(s): One year of Technical Theater, or permission of the instructors.

Playwriting

(The Department)

This course invites students to cultivate their voices as playwrights by generating dynamic material through scaffolded exercises and close readings, paying special attention to character development and structure. Students develop their writing practice by reading plays, discussing peer drafts, and preparing scripts to share with collaborators and audiences. Weekly writing assignments and discussions lead to a festival of new student plays in March. Time management and focus are key components of this class that relies on the collaborative efforts of the writing workshop. The remainder of the year is dedicated to experiments in playwriting and gaining familiarity with contemporary plays.

Playwriting Intensive (The

Department)

Playwriting intensive is an investigation into playwriting strategies, movements, and motivations. Plays will be approached from all angles. Students should have experience writing plays, and an eagerness to sharpen their commitment to the craft. In addition to exercises, there will be an emphasis on close reading and critical discussion. From the study of contemporary plays to theoretical texts, this intensive workshop encourages students to challenge their preconceptions, and grapple with wide-ranging theatrical concepts. The workshop culminates in a festival of new work that will offer students opportunities to collaborate and experiment with content, form, and presentation. Note: The festival requires a major commitment of time and energy during the final three weeks of school. Prerequisite(s): At least one year of High School Playwriting and permission of the instructors.

Puppetry and Practical Effects for Film & TV (Rodriguez)

Movie magic often includes puppetry and savvy camera tricks. For example, did you know that Grogu (a.k.a Baby Yoda) is a puppet? Even the blockbuster Barbie movie used practical effects whenever possible. While CGI effects are always advancing, some of the most infamous film and TV effects were created through old-fashioned practical effects and puppetry! In this class we will explore the many ways in which puppetry and practical effects function to create fantasy in filmmaking.

We’ll begin the year by creating our own Muppet-style puppets and mastering “monitor technique” for professional film and TV work. We will then delve into specific practical effects for film, such as perspective, puppetry and prop mechanisms, and editing. Taking inspiration from such pioneers of puppetry as Lotte Reiniger, Jan Švankmajer, Ray Harryhausen, and even Jim Henson, we will culminate the year by creating our own puppet

movie using the skills we’ve learned. Students will have the opportunity to build puppets and props, write scripts, construct sets and backdrops, design lighting and sound, and even edit the footage. Collaborations with the film, tech, and music departments will take place throughout the year to imbue our puppet films with the latest techniques and technologies from across departments. Our puppet creations from the year will also be incorporated into our community-wide Puppet Parade in the spring.

Student-Directed Plays (Lamazor)

We begin by exploring fascinating texts while wearing a director’s hat! Fun and focused on-the-spot directing and acting exercises, creative assignments and prompts using a wide variety of plays, scenes, poems will bring insight and experience as directors, devisers, daring dreamers of dramatic art! You will collaborate with each other, pitch ideas to one another, coach and direct each other. We will take class trips to see groundbreaking and great works of theater! You will become comfortable and confident putting your storytelling ideas into play with empathy, artistry, and energy. Readings IN CLASS may include seminal works such as Peter Brooks’ The Empty Space, Anne Bogart’s A Director Prepares, What’s The Story, SuzanLori Parks’ Elements of Style, Stanislavski’s An Actor Prepares, Maria Irene Fornes’ Conducting a Life, Uta Hagen’s Respect for Acting. There will be no assigned reading homework. As you dream, devise, and dive deeper as directors, you will choose a short play that inspires you to conceptualize, cast, direct, rehearse, and produce to share with our community in an imaginative, authentic mode. You will seek to inspire / learn from the actors that you direct. You will ask important questions, provoke a response in your audience. At year’s end, you will also have a wide-ranging set of notes, blueprints for future devised pieces, directing projects, and plays that matter to you. We will engage with directing as a process and practice in the past, present, and future. Storytelling as a director of theater and film is not to be underestimated, undervalued. We will reveal why the practice and art of the director is exciting/essential, for (and as) humans and artists.

Technical Theater (Kaluza/Wyron)

Technical Theater is both a practical and a theoretical course that serves as an introduction to the behind-the-scenes work that goes into creating theatrical productions. With particular focus on scenery, lighting, audio, and props, students practice creating and experimenting with technical elements as a way to tell stories. This practice ranges from the design process (working out ideas and translating them into something that can be shared with others) to the implementation—with hands-on experience with power tools, lighting gear, sound equipment, and software for programming lighting and sound effects and cue sequences. Students work side-by-side with their teachers, developing basic stage construction skills, building flats and platforms, creating props, and painting. We welcome and encourage students who wish to further develop their technical skills to apply for a position running a production. Note: This class will not meet as a weekly class, but instead will be scheduled into one of the student’s free periods during the week.

SCIENCE COURSE PERIODS

Period A

Biology

Chemistry

Physics

Advanced Biology

Analytical Physics

Marine Biology

Mechanics & Relativity

Transition Metal

Chemistry

Period B

Biology

Chemistry

Physics

Advanced Chemistry

Analytical Physics

Dream, Sleep, Consciousness

Environmental Science

Infections and Immunology

Non A/B

Electricity and Magnetism

Introduction to Quantum Computing

Sex: A Historical and Biomedical

Exploration of Human Reproduction (Interdisciplinary)

TBD

Forensic Science

Genetics

HUMANITIES COURSE PERIODS

Period C (English)

Apocalypse Now and Then (Gear)

The Art of Hell ( Avrich)

Freedom & Belonging (Rutter)

The Green World (Go)

Monsters (Patterson)

The West ( Aronson/Mellon)

Period C (History)

The Cold War in Africa and Asia ( Johnson)

Greek Literature and Culture Through the Ages (Stayer)

Gulf Wars (Flaherty/Steinert-Evoy)

Haiti and the Making of Modernity (Wyatt)

Philosophical Approaches to ‘Meaning Making’ ( Ackman)

Non C/D (History credit)

Period D (English)

California (Stayer)

Crimes and Misdemeanors (Smith)

Fictions & Politics in Pre-Revolutionary Russia (Donohue)

Growing Up Female (Fodaski)

Tragicomedy (Khoury)

Period D (History)

German and French Social Thought in the 19th & 20th Centuries ( Ackman)

The Last One Hundred Years (Kohn)

The Politics of Food (Shefelman)

Premodern Japan (Higa)

Stories from the Arab World (Pesaran)

The West ( Aronson/Mellon)

Sex: A Historical and Biomedical Exploration of Human Reproduction (Levin/Schragger)

HUMANITIES RANKING

WORKSHEET FOR RISING JUNIORS AND SENIORS

Section 1: Period C

1st Choice

2nd Choice

3rd Choice

Helpful Hints:

Each line of section 1 must include an English and History class; one that meets in C period, and one that meets in D.

If you’re interested in taking the interdisciplinary course Sex: A Historical and Biomedical Exploration of Human Reproduction for History credit, you may list it as one of your 3 History course choices.

NO REPEATS (i.e. you may not list the same class twice)

Every class you choose must be a class that you are prepared to take; you may receive any course you list. And you must list six classes in each section.

In section 2, rank all courses listed above in order of overall preference. Don’t worry about what period it meets or which department it is in.