Erin McKeon

Rooms 141 and 164

emckeon@westfieldnjk12.org

Westfield High School - Modified Schedule for Extended School Closure

Please click the above link for access to the schedule.

English I: Forging Identity through Language and Literature

The main goal of English I, Forging Identity through Language and Literature, is to examine how individual people, communities, and cultures form and maintain distinctive identities in an increasingly globalized world. The literature we study, which will be organized by thematic units, will explore the ways in which written and oral language reflect the essential aspects of the human condition as well as examine the diversity of people and cultures. Many of the texts will focus on rites of passage, development of moral and ethical codes, and various cultural and social identities.

English III: Exploring American Voices

Encompassing the cultural richness of the American experience, the course includes the study of Native American works, Puritan literature, revolutionary voices, abolitionist rhetoric, slave narratives, transcendental philosophy, Gothic tales, regional literature, and the energetic range of 20th and 21st century expressions of the experiences of immigrants, soldiers, flappers, wanderers, protestors and ordinary citizens. Emphasizing either the chronological sweep of American literature or a thematic development of important issues and ideas, English III offers all students the opportunity to express themselves as independent thinkers within the context of their rich heritage. Through juxtaposing student voices in the classroom with the voices of the authors of the texts, the course emphasizes the value and power of individuality and honors the diversity of race, class, gender, ethnicity, religion, experience and ideology that characterizes American culture.

Project '79

The goals of the Westfield school system include a commitment to develop each child's learning potential to the fullest extent possible. With that commitment comes the realization that no single approach to learning will work for all students. Just as programs have been developed to meet the particular needs of gifted, learning disabled, and remedial learners, Project '79 is an attempt to reach yet another group of students—those whose intelligence ranges from average to above average, but for a variety of reasons are not succeeding academically.

I hope our Project classes will feel genuine, open, tolerant and safe. As members of the Project community, each student will contribute in their own ways toward creating a better learning environment for all. As a program, we hope to build confidence, breakdown barriers and broaden horizons.