• English 8
• Electives
• English Course Selection

Writing to Make Change

Much of the writing we do in English classes is for an audience of one: the teacher. The focus of this writing workshop course will be to generate and craft public writing for a larger audience: writing that moves beyond the classroom, and even beyond the walls of the school.

In the first third of the course, we will study writing in a variety of genres, including personal essay/memoir, fiction, drama, op-eds, poetry, and the graphic novel/the infographic. We will write in response to invitations, identifying issues we are passionate about, and forms—including hybrid forms—we are eager to explore.

In the second part of the course, students will identify their pressing issue and the audience they want to address, and embark on an independent study researching what has been written about that issue and determining what they will add to this conversation. Each student will write up a proposal for their final project: a piece of public writing that will go out into the world to make change.

The final weeks of the course will be devoted to developing, drafting, and revising pieces for publication. By the end of the semester, each student will take action by putting their writing out into the world through publication, contest submission, performance, or some other means.

This writing workshop class will be open to juniors and seniors as an English selective.

Shared texts may include:

Syllabus, by Lynda Barry

Good Talk, by Mira Jacob

Hurricane Diane, by Madeleine George

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot