Drama Workshop
Graphic Storytelling
Introduction to Creative Writing
Speech 9/10
English Seminar
Graphic Storytelling
Introduction to Creative Writing
Shakespeare
Speech 9/10
Drama Workshop
Expository Writing
Film Theory
Graphic Storytelling
Honor Writing Seminar
Journalism
Shakespeare
Speech 11/12
Yearbook
Drama Workshop
Expository Writing
Film Theory
Graphic Storytelling
Honor Writing Seminar
Journalism
Shakespeare
Speech 11/12
Yearbook
Course #124
Grade 11-12
Semester - 2.5 credits
This course is designed for eleventh and twelfth graders with a strong commitment to writing
This workshop is aimed at developing the student’s ability to write poetry and short fiction. Daily writing is required. Students will read and evaluate the effectiveness of poetry and fiction of various styles, and work to craft their own pieces, which will be shared and revised with their peers. Emphasis will be placed upon the student as editor and curator of their own work and that of their classmates, as they create a portfolio of both poetry and fiction.
Please Note: Intro to Creative Writing is not a prerequisite for this course.
Course #116
Grades 11-12
Semester - 2.5 credits
This course is designed to help students prepare for the type and depth of writing expected in college. Assignments are structured to teach writing as a process. Close attention is paid to gaining analytical skills, sentence and paragraph structure, word choice, organization, and coherence. There is strong emphasis on rewriting for the purpose of developing clarity and coherence in students’ writing. Students write a variety of essays including, when applicable, the college application essay.
Course #122
Grades 11 - 12
Semester - 2.5 credits
This semester elective will explore the origins of film, its cultural impact, important film movements, and analytical theory. Class time will be dedicated to viewing and analyzing films, as well as helping students understand the medium’s importance and impact. The philosophy is to expose students to many different types of films, from the silent era of the nickelodeons to present day. A look at the annual Golden Globes and Academy Awards allows insight into how film history has shaped current-day Hollywood. Much of this course is based on journaling and discussions, both formal and informal. Grading will include tests and quizzes, activities and various methods of writing.
Course # 123
Grades 9-12
Semester - 2.5 credits
As part of this course, students will read and analyze important works of graphic literature to understand the core attributes of this medium and how some illustrated novels become timeless while others do not. What began as comic books about heroes and heroines has rapidly become a format for credible, scholarly literature. Within this one-semester course, students will explore how graphic novels began and how they gained popularity to serve multiple audiences as a credible form of literature, celebrated not only for literary insight, but also visual perspective. Students will explore varied techniques in 2-dimensional design leading to the production of an original, creative work to serve as a practical example.
Course #128
Grades 11-12
Semester - 2.5 credits
This seminar offers students the opportunity to explore the writing and editing processes in depth, beyond the skills practiced in English class. Students create original compositions in various styles, including expository, analytical and creative writing. In addition to completing the course curriculum, course participants are trained to serve as peer tutors and editors for our school’s Writing Center. This class is offered both fall and spring semesters. Students may take this course for repeat credit as an independent study.
Course #103
Grades 9-10
Semester - 2.5 credits
This course is designed to introduce ninth and tenth graders to the structure and content of the Creative Writing Workshop. The course is at developing the student’s ability to write poetry and short fiction in an individual and group setting. Daily writing is required. Students must be willing to share and revise their work with their peers in order to evaluate writing techniques and develop the ability to judge effective writing. Emphasis will be placed upon the student as editor of their own work and that of their classmates. This course is recommended to any student with a strong commitment to writing
LITERATURE OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
Course #155
Grades 11 - 12
Semester - 2.5 credits
In a 1775 speech to the Second Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry’s words, “Give me liberty, or give me death,” felt groundbreaking then and consequential now. In his now-famous August 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, Martin Luther King reached out to all saying, “With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.” This semester-long elective will examine speeches, poems, and literature all aimed at increasing awareness of the big questions justice asks us all. This course will examine why words matter.
Course #149
Grades 10 - 12
Semester - 2.5 credits
No writer has reflected the Elizabethan Age with greater accuracy than William Shakespeare; yet, he created characters, developed incidents, and explored themes that are “not of an age, but for all time.” This course provides an in-depth study of several Shakespearean tragedies, comedies, and histories. Students will demonstrate their understanding of the universality, structure, and content of the plays in written analyses, oral discussions, and performance activities.
Course #121
Grades 9 -10
Semester - 2.5 credits
This course helps students gain self-confidence in their ability to organize and communicate ideas to others. This course offers students the ability to practice these important skills in a fun and safe workshop environment. It aims specifically at helping students feel at ease while talking casually to small groups and/or formally to large audiences. During the course students are given opportunities to deliver speeches with various objectives such as to inform, to persuade, to entertain, and to debate.
Course #120
Grades 11-12
Semester - 2.5 credits
This course provides students with opportunities to organize, prepare, and deliver speeches for different audiences and for a variety of purposes. Within this safe and fun workshop class students will grow their own speech-making skills by reading and watching famous historical and modern speeches. In addition, students will be given the opportunity to practice their growing speech skills with each other and with targeted audiences outside the classroom. This course’s goals include increased self-confidence, the ability to organize information clearly and logically, and the ability to persuade others using solid speech-making strategies and supporting data.
Course #148
Grades 11-12
Semester - 2.5 credits
Students in this first-semester course will help to produce the school’s yearbook. The course combines design, writing, editing, and publishing. Students learn to work within an organizational structure that includes senior editors and section teams, and they will also sell business advertisements for the yearbook. In a workshop-style environment, students will collaborate to brainstorm and produce the Medfield High School yearbook, a tradition of timeless excellence.
Note: During the fall semester of Yearbook, students may be considered for a Yearbook Independent Study for second semester. Specifically, students can apply to be editors to take on more responsibility and get deeply involved with the creation of the yearbook!