SWS - School Within a School

American Studies is a cooperatively taught, three credit integrated U.S. History and American Literature course. Through this interdisciplinary, project-based approach, students will study the Origin of “Race” and Reconstruction, with Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whitman, Indian “Removal” with Lakota Woman; Robber Barons, Immigration, Spanish-American War, and World War I with Forgotten Fire, and The Jungle; The Twenties and Great Depression with The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath; Harlem Renaissance, World War II, America in the Fifties, Cold War and Vietnam with The Catcher in the Rye and The Things They Carried; Final Four Decades research projects and current events. Students will have many opportunities to refine research and writing skills, and will also prepare for SAT’s.

Enrollment in the Humanities Seminar is also required for this course (below). Honors students will complete the American Studies curriculum, with the addition of reading and writing assignments, research projects and class presentations.

American Studies Humanities Seminar further integrates the SWS English and history curriculum. The seminar meets twice monthly on Thursday evenings, and includes one field trip per quarter. The course begins with a required local hiking trip to promote cooperation, self-confidence and team building skills. Throughout the year field trips may include Salem, Boston, Newport, RI, and Provincetown. Our Thursday evenings include guest speakers such as artists, poets, Native Americans, and activists. The year ends with a two day visit to Martha’s Vineyard.

A cooperatively taught two credit integrated history and English course. In the fall this project-based class looks at the rise of Hitler through the lens of psychology, propaganda, film, art, and novels, including Stones from the River, Maus I and II, Man’s Search for Meaning, and The Sunflower. We will also learn about other genocides that have occurred before and after the Holocaust. Why did the perpetrators kill? Learn stories of courage and compassion, and visit Boston to view German “Degenerate Art”, Holocaust survivor Samuel Bak’s work, and the New England Holocaust Memorial. During the spring we explore the history and legacy of racism in our culture through science fiction, advertising, children’s literature, Hollywood film, Disney, television, psychology and novels, including The Giver, Warriors Don’t Cry, A Gathering of Heroes and Their Eyes Were Watching God. Students will also complete college essays and scholarship letters. This course, as former students have said, “had an amazing impact” on them, one that has continued to affect them long after graduation.