English
Explore the human experience.
In the Branson English classroom, we investigate, explore, question, analyze, and fall in love with our literary texts every day. From Homer to Shakespeare, Mary Shelley to Frederick Douglass, Jhumpa Lahiri to Zadie Smith, students immerse themselves in vibrant, diverse worlds. We aim to offer all students of all identities the pleasure and value of seeing themselves reflected in the texts they read, and to learn, with empathy and compassion, about cultures and experiences rarely explored.
In our innovative classes, you will learn through student-driven and student-lead conversations, multimedia presentations, collaborative projects, design thinking, connections to visual media, and more. You will constantly have opportunities to explore the connections between the work of the classroom and prescient issues in the world, the society, that emanates beyond the academic space.
Most importantly, you will explore the essential nature of writing, digging deeper than “thesis, evidence, analysis.” You’ll engage in a conversation between yourself, the text, and your audience. You’ll explore how writing engenders epiphany through both the strength of language and the clarity of vision.
English Requirements
12 units (4 years)
All students take English I in the ninth grade and English II in the tenth grade. In the eleventh and twelfth grade, students choose from semester electives and must take an English class each semester.
Meet Our English Faculty
Yearlong Courses
- English I
- English II
Fall Semester Courses
- American Transcendentalism
- Courage. Spoken. Here.
- Disruptive Mirrors and Dissenting Voices in Latin America
- Poetics of Place: The Literature of California
- Soul on Ice: Incarcerated Worlds
- Shattered Worlds: Dystopian Literature
- The Monsters We Make
- Voices from the Margins: A Journey Through Immigrant Narratives
Spring Semester Courses
- From Story to Screenplay: Adaptation and the Craft of Dramatic Writing
- Literature of the Lonely
- Plotting Marriage, Making Plans
- Sports and Literature
- State of Mind
- The Feminine Gaze: Feminine Literature and Feminist Literary Theory
- Unnatural Boundaries
- War and Witness
For a complete list of English courses and their descriptions, read the 2022-23 Curriculum Guide.