Prep School - English
Columbia Prep's English Department is designed
to help students express themselves critically and creatively about great literature and the world around them;
to give students the wealth of skills and the confidence to approach any type of reading or writing task;
to create independent thinkers who enjoy reading and who make informed choices about the kinds of reading, writing, and ideas they want to pursue.
Learning how to take part in a true exchange of ideas is critical to becoming an educated person, and our goal is to teach students to be complete members of a literature or writing seminar. Students learn to respect the opinions of their classmates, contribute their own thinking to a discussion, and then question their initial ideas and assumptions. The English classroom is an ideal space both to discuss philosophical and ethical questions and to examine the fascinating ways in which our language is used. Our teachers expect students to be changed by reading, and they often choose literature that introduces new perspectives and challenges the ways students think.
Writing
Our English Department teaches the skills and habits needed to produce clear, interesting, and developed writing--no matter what the assignment. We ask students to look at writing as a process, and we explain and practice each stage, from initial pre-writing activities to proofreading final drafts. Students learn that revision is necessary, not only to produce better essays, but also to become better writers. Students leave Columbia Prep confident of their ability to produce effective literary essays that thoughtfully discuss, organize, and support intellectual ideas around clear theses.
Every English class, no matter how advanced or analytical, also includes less formal assignments to develop creative and personal writing. Throughout their time at Columbia Prep, students write short stories, poems, memoir pieces, and personal and persuasive essays. We do this partly to enhance the study of literature, but we also want to encourage these forms of writing for the students' own sake as well. In addition, we offer elective courses in creative nonfiction and creative writing to cultivate these interests and to teach more sophisticated stylistic and narrative techniques.
Curriculum
Grades seven through ten provide students with a wide variety of great literature and writing practice. Some years are theme based (seventh grade focuses on prejudice and tolerance, ninth on coming of age), but at all levels, students are asked to confront and develop an appreciation for different eras and styles of reading.
Once students reach eleventh grade, they begin to determine their own course of study, selecting a new English elective each semester. Teachers design courses based on their expertise and what they love to read. Among their four semesters of English electives, students fulfill distribution requirements, taking at least one class each in pre-20th century literature, American literature, and world literature. Here are some of the courses offered in recent years:
- American Masterworks
- American Outsiders
- The Art of Poetry
- Contemporary American Literature
- Crime and Punishment
- Creative Nonfiction
- English Literature from the Anglo-Saxons to the Renaissance
- Literary Enigmas: Five Unforgettable Characters
- Love Through a Literary Lens, 1850-Present
- Modern American Drama
- Mythology
- New York Literature
- Nineteenth Century American Fiction
- Philosophical Literature: The Search for Meaning
- Satiric Literature
- Shakespearean Comedy
- Shakespearean Tragedy
- Short Fiction: Fantasy and Reality
By the time they graduate, students have an acquaintance with most major genres and periods of literature and are well prepared for college English courses. We also offer additional courses in creative writing and in vocabulary and grammar review. Our Advanced Placement class, open to the strongest and most motivated seniors, offers our most challenging literature seminar and is team-taught by a number of veteran teachers.