Second (Winter 2025/26) Trimester Classes
Literary Criticsm
Duration: 1 Trimester
Honors Option Available
Grade: 12
Required Course
Essential Questions:
How does literary criticism enhance our understanding of literature?
What is the function of literature?
We will explore the above essential questions by focusing on a variety of theoretical and critical approaches in reading literature with the goal being a better understanding of literature. More importantly, we will explore the function of literature in modern life.
We will concentrate on the following objectives:
How to recognize subtle and complex differences in language use.
How to think creatively about problems by using literature as a broadening of one’s own experience and practical knowledge.
How to defend a critical judgment against the informed opinions of others.
CCSS Addressed:
RL 1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
W 4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
SL 4: Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that the listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks.
Texts will include a variety of literature including poetry, essay, novel, short story, and drama. Authors include James Baldwin, Sandra Cisneros, Franz Kafka, Ernest Hemingway, Isak Dinesen, W.B. Yeats, Oscar Wilde, and Emily Dickinson.
This will be a writing intensive course and we will work to reinforce the skills that are crucial to prepare for senior exhibitions and survival in college. These include text-based analysis, constructive discussion, research, in-depth inquiry, critical thinking, and strategies for clear, academic writing.
Academic Integrity and the other AI:
During our in-person class time, the use of technology is limited and students will know ahead of time when it’s needed. Working collaboratively with others outside of class, in an effort to understand the material, is encouraged, however, it is imperative that each student develop their own interpretation of the texts, with their own annotations and excerpts.
The temptation to rely on AI generated text is ever-present, and while it may help seekers understand terms, concepts and events, submitting any text that’s copied and pasted verbatim is plagiarism.
Using AI as a resource, a place to begin, makes perfect sense; submitting another’s text, whether it’s produced by a human or AI, is cheating.
Relying on AI compromises the ability to distill, interpret and write about patterns across the texts and materials we interrogate, and makes contributing to class seminars with depth and authenticity impossible.
Do the learning on your own; it matters.
Honors option:
The honors option for Literary Criticism is three-fold. First you will read the novel, The English Patient, by Michael Ondaatje. The library has multiple copies. Then you will write 2 papers (7-10 pages) on the novel using two different critical lenses of your choice.
Timeline: TBA
Have a good trimester.
Mr. Brown
jbrown@riverdale.k12.or.us
Film Noir or a Crime Film
Duration: 1 Trimester
Honors Option Available
Elective
Essential Question:
How has the original film noir movement (classic noir) evolved into a film genre…or is it just a style of the crime film genre? How would you define the differences between film noir/neo-noir and the crime film genre?
Pulp Fiction (1994), Se7en (1995), L.A. Confidential (1997), Fight Club (1999), Memento (2001), Sin City (2005): all relatively recent films with gritty plots, seedy characters, and dim lighting are products of a sixty-year film genre…or a film movement…or a film style…or film mood…whatever. A more specific question: what is the difference between film noir/neo-noir and the crime film? As with anything, it all depends with whom you ask. We will explore classic noir, which most critics argue began with John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon (1941) and died with Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil (1958). Regardless of what critics think, noir is a psychologically disturbing, highly contested, inherently American brand of films dealing with life in the shadows…but isn’t the crime film the same thing? Would noir even exist without The Petrified Forest or Little Caesar? We will screen classic noir, neo-noir, and varieties of crime films including gangster and heist films. You will approach these films as texts; and, with a critical eye analyze narrative construction, character types, themes, and aesthetic styles. You will understand the ethical and moral dilemmas inherent in these films. We will place classic noir, neo-noir, and the crime film in its historical and cultural constructs. More importantly you will be introduced to different critical and theoretical approaches helping you answer the EQ’s.
We will concentrate on the following objectives:
How to recognize film noir as a cultural phenomenon that is historically extensive, complex, and diverse.
How to appreciate the conditions of production that prompted this genre/style/mode.
How to identify noir style, themes, narrative strategies, and character types.
How to understand the distinctions between classical and neo-noir.
CCSS Addressed:
W.11-12.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
SL.11-12.5: Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and understanding of presentations.
RL.11-12.3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop over the course of a text.
Tentative List of Films:
Little Caesar (1931)
The Petrified Forest (1936)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
The Big Sleep (1946)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Touch of Evil (1958)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
The Godfather (1972)
Chinatown (1974)
Blade Runner (1982)
Goodfellas (1990)
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
LA Confidential (1997)
Oceans 11 (2001)
Brick (2005)
Welcome to Mock Trial this year. This is a very fun and very competitive class. We will write, practice, and perform all in preparation for the competition towards the end of February/beginning of March 2026. If we qualify for state, state takes place on March 14-15, 2026.
The following is from Civics Learning Project, the sponsor of Mock Trial:
Overview
The High School Mock Trial Competition is one of CLP’s most popular and enduring programs. It begins with more than 70 teams competing in regional competitions across the state and culminates with the state finals competition in Portland.
Students work together with classmates, teachers and volunteer attorney-coaches on a hypothetical case. They develop and sharpen critical analysis, public speaking and interpersonal skills. They become more poised and self confident – and they learn about the U.S. justice system in the process.
Each participating team will compete in a regional competition. Winning teams from each region will be invited to compete in the state finals in Portland on March 14-15, 2026. The winning team from the state competition will represent Oregon at the May 4-8, 2026.
The mock trial experience is designed to clarify the workings of our legal institutions. Students take on the roles of attorneys, witnesses, court clerks, and bailiffs. As they study a hypothetical case, consider legal principles and receive guidance from volunteer attorneys in courtroom procedure and trial preparation, students learn about our judicial system and develop valuable life skills (public speaking, team building, strategizing and decision making to name a few) in the process.
Since teams are unaware of which side of the case they will present until minutes before the competition begins, they must prepare for both the Prosecution and Defense. All teams will present each side at least once.
Mock trial judges are instructed to follow the evaluation criteria when scoring teams’ performances. Even with rules and evaluation criteria for guidance, not all scorers evaluate a performance identically. While Civics Learning Project and competition coordinators work to ensure consistency in scoring, the competition can reflect otherwise, as in real life.
Each year, the mock trial case addresses serious matters facing society today. By affording students an opportunity to wrestle with large societal issues within a structured format, Civics Learning Project strives to provide a powerful and timely educational experience. It is our goal that students will conduct a cooperative, vigorous, and comprehensive analysis of these materials with the careful guidance of teachers and coaches.
How It Works
Teams of 8-18 students argue a case before 3-judge panels composed of attorneys and educators or other community representatives. They will put on the case three times – arguing each side at least once.
For 2024/25, Regional competitions will take place at the following county courthouses: Clackamas, Deschutes, Jackson, Linn, Morrow/Umatilla, Multnomah, and Washington. Based on the number of teams registering, Civics Learning Project decides whether to add or subtract regional competitions, and assign teams to the regions. Regions can be added!
The top teams from each region compete in state competition at the Hatfield Federal Courthouse in Portland for the Oregon title. This year the State Finals take place on Friday & Saturday, March 14-15, 2026.
Oregon’s winning team will send eight students to the national championship on May 4-8, 2026.
Advisory is a class that meets weekly, directly after our school wide Community Meeting. Students are assigned to an advisor as they enroll and remain with the same advisory group throughout their time in high school. Activities completed in Advisory help students work toward fulfilling the state's Personalized Education Plan requirement for graduation. Advisory also plays an important role in RHS culture by creating a safe and nurturing space for students to develop relationships in a group of peers and a strong connection with an adult in the school. Advisory time is also used to process senior exhibition preparation, problem-solve school issues that may arise, and to make time in high school for fun.