passionate about literature,” Chris says of his team, which includes longtime TASIS faculty Matthew Federico, Peter Locke, and Anna Kavalauskas Schwartz. “My specific strategy is to outsource as much bureaucracy as possible to technology so we can free up our department meetings for discussion of how to improve our teaching and instill a love of literature in our students.” He often observes literature classes filled with students who say “incredible things.” Recently, the Italian, German, and Russian IB Literature courses have been welcomed under the umbrella of the English department due to their focus on literature; Chris has observed students in these classes give remarkable insights in Italian or Russian. “While it’s always important to infuse essays, projects, and classroom discussions with the life and creativity that are the point and the substance of great literature, I feel the need to broaden the scope of what we do in literary studies,” he says. “When students see that what they read and write spills over into the cut and thrust of their larger world, they see the true power of the word.”
Dr. Love’s List
Dr. Chris Love’s wicked grin shines as he discusses how he doesn’t believe in punishment—only in reward. Even as a dorm parent his favorite consequence is poetry. “I give students the opportunity to learn and recite verse,” he says. Failed room inspection? Meet Coleridge or Whitman. Just as notorious is Chris’s famous “List.” He credits the History department for being “fantastic at incorporating multiple sources” in student work, so he focuses on making a distinction between claims that can be supported by a literary source and those that cannot. A list of stylistic and grammatical advice to prepare students for IB and AP exams and university life beyond, The List encapsulates 37 common errors based on 15
Aurelia has been delighted with the way her English teachers have brought literature to life. “In Dr. Love’s class, I saw myself as a serious scholar. Not only was I allowed to explore a more mature way of self-expression through striving to reach a high standard of expectations, but I was also given stimulating, creative assignments, each with a unique purpose and each highly memorable.”
years of grading student work. Marks like GEN
Alexander agrees. “What made my class so amazing is the way it encouraged you to extend yourself, be it filming a movie or writing an essay, all with the support of a class filled with great companions.”
Says Alexander Secilmis ’19: “The infamous
(generalization) and CITE (citation needed) also target the “gross generalizations that are the plague of social media;” bravo, Chris! “Students begin hating it with a passion and grow to love it.”
List has improved my essay writing unlike anything else. It offers a systematic set of rules to make our writing stronger. It has given me a love of language, an attention to
Chris is proud of the Department. “Literature—and the humanities in general—allows us to formulate vital questions and to do so while grappling with the sense of dilemma and irony that complicate our understanding of human concern.”
detail regarding a word’s connotations, and the added layer of meaning achieved by a certain sentence structure.”
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