In this block, the students engage in reading, theater games, short story writing, essay writing, research and when possible, an assembly performance as ways of exploring the American literary tradition. They learn about the conditions in Europe and elsewhere that gave rise to the discovery of America and the American experience. Looking at poetry and fiction from contemporary and canonical writers, they explore literary America through the idea of the “New Eden.”
Instructor: Alexios Kritas
The objective of this course is to bring to the student an understanding of the physical body and how through it we interact with the world around us. We begin this block with a review of the skeletal and muscular systems. We then proceed to study the nervous system as the foundation for the study of the human senses.
Instructor: Carolyn Ver Pault
The Ninth Grade studies history through the art of the Stone Age, ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, the early Christians, the Renaissance in northern and southern Europe, the Baroque and the 19th and 20th Centuries. Students learn to see great works of each culture as symbolic of the consciousness of the people in a particular place at a given time. Students learn primarily through observation: most homework assignments consist of a careful description of a work of art which is discussed in the following class.
During the History of Drama block the students study Native American ritual performance, and 4th and 5th Century Greek theatre; they read Oedipus the King and Shakespeare as well as contemporary selections. Through class games, discussion, performance and writing they show their understanding of the issues in the plays. As a final activity, they select a hands-on project such as building a theater or making a mask.
Instructor: Deirdre Somers
This course will create a cognitive-experiential learning environment (situation) in which students relate conceptual understanding to practical implementation. The students will work in groups and thus learn first-hand the political and personal art of cooperation and compromise. Each group will create its own society that reflects the personal ideals of the individuals and the geographical, cultural, political and economic forces that shape all societies. Knowledge, content, cooperation, and application of the research process are emphasized through a variety of experiences. These include written assignments, research work, and oral presentations. Students read Animal Farm by George Orwell in preparation for this course. As representatives of their society the students will present their culture to the high school, parents, and faculty members during the last week of the course in main lesson.
Instructor: Emmie O'Neill
This course focuses on the history of modern China beginning in 1850 and moving through to the 1990’s. The course begins with the Opium Wars, which drags China into international trade and the slow painful process of modernization. Next the students look at how China changes from an imperial state to a republic and finally a communist nation. At the head of the Peoples Republic of China stands Mao Tse-Tung. The students will study in detail the policies and personality of the man who shaped present day China. In this course the students read Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie. This book takes place during the Cultural Revolution in China and tells the story of two city boys who are sent to a remote village to be “re-educated”. Students will be expected to create a main lesson book and take a final exam for the course.
Instructor: Emmie O'Neill
We learn how to compute the number of possible arrangements of things in a particular order and without regard to order. Examples will be taken from dice and playing cards.
Instructor: James Harrell
This main lesson block is a study of heat and energy principles and applications. Heat transfer, thermal expansion, temperature scales, change of state, and measurement of heat are explored in relation to everyday applications. In addition to understanding the ideas in a qualitative manner, mathematical relationships and functions are developed and used to quantify investigations.
Instructor: Peter Goble
This course will serve as an introduction to basic chemistry concepts. The block will begin with measurement and SI units. Students will be asked to distinguish between the classes and phases of matter in terms of properties, structure and composition. We will then focus on atomic structure with an emphasis on understanding the basic Bohr model. Laboratory activities will be an integral part of this class.
Instructor: Carolyn Ver Pault
We will begin with a study of cell structure and cell study techniques. Theoretical and applied biochemistry will be a main focus. Students will then begin a study of comparative physiology with an emphasis on human physiology, hygiene and health.
Instructor: Carolyn Ver Pault
The students are concerned with the present moment, their immediate environment, and what is going on around them! The ninth grade English curriculum addresses these concerns by focusing on attentive observation and accurate description in writing exercises and in the literature selected for class reading.
Students write daily journal entries throughout the year, most of which will be on teacher-assigned topics designed to strengthen skills of objective observation and precise written expression. Grammar reviews are done in the classroom on a regular basis to support student writing.
Vocabulary study has a weekly rhythm. Students complete one vocabulary workbook unit per week, which is reviewed and corrected in class on the same day each week (allowing adjustments for holidays). Every Tuesday a test is given on the vocabulary words studied that week.
Reading is done with an eye for accuracy of comprehension. By year’s end, students are expected to be able to answer the following questions about any given text: who, what, where, and when? We explore the descriptive element in narrative fiction through the reading of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities and several short stories. We also ponder what a human being really is by looking carefully at selections from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and The Life Story of Helen Keller. In conjunction with the midwinter History of Drama block we will, of course, read and perhaps perform a play.
Instructor: Alexios Kritas
The students do basic eurythmic exercises, such as three-fold walking, and contraction and expansion. Using forms and gestures, the students enter into the inner being of the movement of sound, speech and tone. Speech eurythmy includes: vowels and consonants, poems/poets studied in literature lessons, rhyme forms, meter, construction, thinking/feeling/willing forms, Apollonian and Dionysian forms, symmetrical and geometrical forms. Gestures for soul moods, color, the planets and the zodiac are studied. Tone eurythmy includes: pitch, rhythm, beat, major, minor, dissonance, the intervals and tones.
Instructor: Natasha Lish
This is a basic course that introduces students to the fundamentals of the foreign language and culture. Elementary grammar is presented and reviewed. Simple readings are used to improve pronunciation, and comprehension. To enhance written and oral proficiency the students create and perform situational scenes.
Instructors: Reina White, Julianne Schneider, Perla Yanovitch
In movement class, students will cover one or more of the circus arts (juggling, balance boards, unicycle, partner acrobatics, group pyramids, devil sticks and diabolos), partner dances (swing, waltz, polka, hustle, salsa), and Bothmer gymnastics (rod work, balance and centering work). Students will also consider concepts of fitness and health such as posture and physiology.
Instructor: Bonnie Bolz
Specific subject areas of study include a review of elementary algebra, linear functions, equations and inequalities, systems of linear equations and inequalities, radicals and complex numbers, quadratic functions, equations and inequalities, rational expressions and functions, as well as an introduction to exponential and logarithmic functions and equations.
Instructor: James Harrell
This course covers the same content areas as Algebra IA but at a slower pace.
Instructor: Rosemarie Ferrara
The Ninth Grade completes units in volleyball, basketball and softball. The students play minor team games such as kickball and dodge ball and participate in cross-country and/or track. During these units, students learn skills, terminology, and rules. They also apply their knowledge and skills to game situations.
Instructors: Virginia Kramer, Paul LeSueur
Fine Art I
In the freshman year, the students work with artistic methods that help express moods of great contrast: pencil, black crayon, scratchboard and relief printing. The illusion of space and form in a drawing requires a vocabulary of tone description. The white of the paper is affected by a multitude of marks and textures as the students attempt to find the nuances of grays between the contrasts of black and white. Scratchboard technique demands a pace slow enough to reveal the image desired and yet dramatic enough to capitalize on the limitations of the medium. The presence of gray is illusionary, formed as the black coating is removed to reveal the white beneath. The creation of linoleum block prints builds on these expressive qualities of high contrast.
Instructor: Nancy Metz
The students begin the 11 week block by either learning to knit or by refreshing their knitting skills through knitting a small stuffed toy made of commercial yarn. The preparation of raw sheep’s wool for spinning follows this and includes washing, carding and color blending of various kinds of wool. Next, the students create order out of chaos by learning to spin the cleaned and combed wool into yarn on a drop spindle. When they have mastered that tool, they move to spinning on a spinning wheel and learning to ply two threads together on the wheel. They all knit (or crochet) something from their handspun wool and present it at the final review.
Instructor: Jeffrey Katzman
One of the goals for this block of dancing is to prove to the students that dancing is fun. The freshmen are introduced to social (ballroom) dancing. The basic steps, a few variations of these steps, and changes of positions are taught in the waltz, fox-trot, lindy, tango, and cha cha. The responsiveness of the students to the music, and to each other as partners working together as a team, is an important aspect of this unit. The girls are encouraged to be good followers, and the boys are encouraged to be strong leaders. To add to the fun, each day presents a new challenge in which points are awarded in contests combining just being lucky with best dancer awards.
Instructor: Robert Weschler
The Ninth Grade is the beginning of a two-year joinery curriculum focusing on hand tools. Students start with traditional joints for boxes, drawers, shelves, and chests. Then each student makes a dovetailed letter box using many tools and techniques. The project involves basic principles of drafting, creating a material- and cutting list, and laying out the parts on lumber. The parts are cut out with handsaws and squared with hand planes. Basic marking and layout techniques are taught. In order to ensure a tight fit, the emphasis is on precision and accurate, systematic execution of saw cuts and chisel work. Students learn to use a plough plane to fit the bottom of the box into the sides, to glue up their box, and to repair small defects or inaccuracies. If time allows, the front of the box is decorated with a carving.
Instructor: Atta Turck