Course Description

Level 8 introduces students to literature about Modern history, including the American Civil War and global imperialism. This level emphasizes:

• Identifying a text’s theme and examining its development over the arc of the narrative, including its relationship to the other elements of story
• Analyzing the role of dialogue in character revelation and plot development, and how points-of-view (including the audience’s) create humor or suspense
• Examining how story elements (setting, character, plot, theme, mood, e.t.c.) shape each other; denotative and connotative meanings of words and their effects on meaning, mood, and tone; analyzing how rhyme, sound, and form contribute to meaning; analyzing analogies and allusions to other texts such as myths or religious works; compare and contrasts different text forms and how these forms contribute to meaning
• Writing and grammar instruction includes objective summary of texts; acknowledging alternate arguments; organizing reason and evidence logically; introducing specific claims, clear reasons, and detailed supporting evidence; using words, phrases, and clauses to cohesively clarify relationships between ideas; diagramming sentences; three-level outlining; practicing a formal style for analytical writing; using precise domain-specific language when making a claim.
• Practice using language and story devices to write short stories, poetry, and personal narrative
• Selected literature and history that intertwine in the Modern history (1850 to 2000)

Small Classes

There is maximum of 6 students per cohort (6:1 student-to-teacher ratio) to ensure personal attention.