What can contemporary genre fiction teach us about life in the 21st century? In this course, students will examine their daily lives through the lens of current SF and fantasy literature. Themes will include self-representation in online environments, how we make and identify our friends when we never see them face to face, how we define happiness, and how we make choices about what to do with the power to which we have access. Over the course of the semester, students will analyze the texts we read through discussions and persuasive essays. The class will culminate in an independent short story writing project.

What does it mean to be contemporary? What is the work of a writer in the 21st century? What is your own project as a writer of this period? As a reader? These are some of the questions that will guide students’ progress through this course. Reading the work of contemporary women writers in a variety of genres and producing their own creative pieces simultaneously, students will begin to articulate for themselves what they value in writing that is of their time. The format of the class will be evenly split between literary discussion and writing workshop. Readings may include material from current literary magazines and from collections published within the last decade. Assessments will involve creative work, analytical writing, oral expression, and collaboration. 

Literature, art, film, and music are outlets for society to express how they feel about current events. As a reader, listener, or viewer, we may turn to these mediums to escape the world. As the creator, we may find relief in producing a poem or song that candidly describes how we feel about the world we live in. Senior and postgraduate students in “The Beat Goes On” will uncover how young people reacted to significant world events to leave an enduring message that still resonates with individuals today. The preservation of their voice, both literally and figuratively, will be an important point of class discussion throughout our semester of study in this one term elective. Engaging in interdisciplinary learning, students will develop a comprehensive understanding of the origins of the Beatniks in the United States and why this group developed as an important voice in America. As we chronologically read and listen to the poetry and novels of such prominent figures as Jack Kerouac, Joyce Johnson, Allen Ginsberg, LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), Tom Wolfe, and Ken Kesey, we will simultaneously listen to the emerging jazz music and bebop of this era (Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie) and draw connections between song lyrics, text, and the art of the 1950s-1970s. We will record our own reactions to these texts and songs through free writes, also working to write our own creative piece as a reaction to current events. By completing this course, students will understand how literature captures the response of society to particular historical events. Students will see that we can further our understanding of how people felt during a specific time period by listening to their voices as preserved in music and literature.

This course is an interdisciplinary requirement for IB Diploma Candidates intended to stimulate critical reflection on knowledge and experience gained outside the classroom.

As a culmination of a student's experience in the classroom while at New Hampton School, World Literature and Composition offers students the opportunity to demonstrate and hone their critical thinking and analytical processing skills. Students use literature from around the world as a foundation for discussion and writing prompts that seek to prepare students for college-level discourse.  Throughout the course of both semesters, students will pursue an intensive study of the writing process, addressing the four rhetorical modes of discourse: description, narration, exposition, and argument. Literary analysis skills are developed in conjunction with close, focused reading of multiple texts. Attention will also be given to the college essay and SAT/ACT preparation. Assignments will work to reinforce appropriate use of structure, syntax, audience, tone, personal voice, and point of view.