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WR 121
Trimester: Fall 2025
Course Description
This course is designed to engage in the type of writing you’ll be expected to do in college and beyond. We will explore writing as both a tool of communication and an instrument to create knowledge. This course is offered in conjunction with Portland State University and reflects PSU’s Writing 121 course in its design and philosophy. This is a writing-intensive course; therefore, you will be given quite a bit of studio time to write in class.
English 10A
Trimester: Fall 2025
Course Description
In this class we will explore some complex questions, doing our best to avoid the pitfalls of easy answers. Toni Morrison, an expert in understanding human contradictions, will be one of our guides. We’ll also turn to the insights of William Shakespeare. These texts and the questions they present will challenge our thinking and demand that we sometimes sit with our uncertainty. In addition, we will consider how communities shape us and how our relationships affect the way we view the world.
Creative Writing
Trimester: Winter 2025-26
Course Description
Writing, like any art, is something you have to do a lot to get good at it. You have to keep throwing things against the wall to see what sticks. We’ll spend a good amount of class time working on writing prompts and exercises to get the gears turning and the fuel flowing. You’ll be given the chance to write in three genres; be willing to try something new. Our imagination is one of our most important facets as humans, and this class will make space to take risks and explore its capacity.
English 11B: American Literature
Trimester: Winter 2025-26
Course Description
The United States is a complex, diverse, and dynamic society. Despite that, two relatively simple beliefs seem inextricably bound to the country’s self-image. The first is the ideal that a person is free to be whoever they want and to express themselves however they please. A second belief is that in America, anyone can achieve a degree of security and prosperity that is limited only by their ability and ambition. Taken together, these two beliefs loosely outline what’s come to be known as the “American Dream.” Since being officially coined in 1931 by James Truslow Adams, the American Dream has come to represent the country’s egalitarian promise of prosperity for anyone willing to work for it. Of course, this dream has never been a reality. In this course, we will not focus so much on the history of exclusion from these two ideals, but rather on the tension that exists between them.
Books & Tea
Trimester: Spring 2026
Course Description
Books are companions. Books are mirrors. Books are windows. Most people love to read at some point in their lives. Almost everyone can remember a book from childhood that was their favorite or had an impact on them. However, something often happens as we get older and it begins in school. As reading becomes more and more associated with schoolwork, students tend to fall out of their reading habit. Many of them decide they do not enjoy reading anymore. Some merely feel like they do not have the time. In this class we hope to rekindle some of that joy for reading and will make time to cultivate it. You’ll be given plenty of time to read books that you want to read, and while you’ll have to engage with them in some creative projects, you won't have to write any essays.
English 9B
Trimester: Spring 2026
Course Description
Growing up: it’s something we all have to do at some point, but that doesn’t make it easy. Childhood is often a time of innocence--an innocence we are often oblivious to until it’s been disrupted. In childhood, our worlds are small and shaped by the wonder of imagination, the presence of our families, and hopefully, relatively few cares. However, as we venture into adolescence and ultimately adulthood, things become, well, more. . . complicated. In this class, we will use literature to examine what it means to grow up.
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