The AP English Language and Composition course is designed to help students become skilled writers. By their writing and reading in this course, students should become aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects, as well as the way that conventions and the resources of language contribute to effective writing. This is a challenging elective, but available to students at any ability level. We will read authors from many historical periods, including the present. Among other thinkers, students should expect to study George Orwell, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Barbara Ehrenreich, Stephen Colbert, James Baldwin, John Stuart Mill, Malcolm Gladwell, TaNehisi Coates, Joan Didion, and Jonathan Swift. The AP English Language and Composition course may not take the place of the junior year Humanities curriculum of World Literature, an integrated course with World Studies. (It is essential that students engage as responsible citizens in a curriculum rooted in knowledge of our international community—its literature, culture, and history.) Successful completion of summer assignments is required. Students are expected to take the AP exam

Ethics Seminar is an interdisciplinary course that links senior English with the social studies discipline of philosophy. Basing the course on Socrates’ famous statement, “An unexamined life is not worth living,” the seminar studies the idea of what it means to be “human.” Using the basis of ethical theory as the lens to explore this concept, this course studies what is reality, the issue of true knowledge, the formulation of cultural understanding, the determination of values, various definitions of citizenship, as well as characteristics of effective leadership. This study is accomplished within the framework of applied ethical analysis centered on current issues. Ethics Seminar is coupled with the Ethics Forum Extension Program, an extracurricular program open to all students at Souhegan. The Forum, as an extension of the seminar, allows seniors to apply strategies and theory in reaching school, community and global initiatives. College credit is available through an agreement with University of New Orleans.

The primary goal of AP English Literature is to develop critical standards for the independent appreciation of literature and writing by offering a college-level course in the senior year. The course’s thematic approach, focusing on the nature of fate, human beings, and human relationships, is designed for students who are eager to explore literature and writing in an in-depth manner. Essential questions include: How does literature relay ideas and concepts relevant to our universal understanding of life? How do elements of literature and writing contribute to this understanding? Classroom discussion and active participation are an integral part of the course. Writing assignments focus on the critical analysis of literature. Students read works that not only challenge, but also provide richness of thought and language. Students enrolling in this course attend an orientation session in late spring that introduces them to the course guidelines and expectations. Successful completion of summer reading and writing assignments is required. Students are expected to take the AP exam.

Reading fiction, non-fiction and scientific literature students will engage in seminar conversation to examine our essential question. The goals of this interdisciplinary STEAM seminar are for students to develop an understanding of the scientific, ethical and cultural connections involved in sustainable decision-making, and to inform us in the ways that we as global citizens can make a positive contribution toward a viable future for our environment and humanity.

This rigorous interdisciplinary course explores the relationship between literature and film. Students will “read” both literature and film from a variety of genres in order to consider: Why is film so integral to our culture? How does our understanding of literature change when we consider it from the perspective of a filmmaker? How does our understanding of the world change through the lens of the filmmaker? Other questions for exploration include: What happens when literature is transformed into film? Do we approach film and literature differently as readers/ viewers? How do film and literature both inform and reflect society? In this class, students will read/view, discuss, critique, and analyze film and literature, as well as make their own films. We will consider the historical and cultural impacts of film and literature in America as well as the historical and cultural forces that inspire artists to create film and literature.

The United States is governed by an extensive system of evolving laws. Some regulations protect us; some limit our individual freedom and promote commonwealth, and some guarantee rights and privileges. Some legal rules receive nearly universal support, while others give rise to “outlaws.” This seminar will explore the dynamism of American jurisprudence as well as the rationale for lawlessness. We will examine the impact of law on daily lives, the general structure of the legal system, the penal system, and the processes to change and/or create laws. Some potential topics to be covered: Different forms of justice (retributive, distributive, punitive, reward- based, procedural), laws applying to specific groups (based on gender, race, age), religion and the law (blasphemy, anti-witchcraft, evolution), privacy, adolescent rights, and laws in daily life.