Innovative Courses in the Upper School
On Friday, February 24, students in grades 9–11 participated in an annual curriculum round robin, during which department chairs and faculty members talked with students about choosing courses for the 2017–2018 school year. In the Upper School, we have expanded our elective program in addition to adding two new Advanced Placement courses. As we look to be strategic and intentional about the education of girls, we continue to re-envision the academic program at Ellis, providing a more robust course of study, enhancing our interdisciplinary offerings, and redefining education for young women in a global society.
Within the English department, students in grades 10–12 may now choose to take Modern Family: Domestic Structure in Short Fiction. In this elective, students explore short stories from a variety of genres whose focus is on the family unit. In doing so, they compare traditional domestic structures across multiple cultures and trace the evolution of the "modern family." Students in grades 11 and 12 may also elect to take The Woman Warrior in Literature and Film. In this course, students explore depictions of pop culture and literary icons such as Wonder Woman, Mulan, and Katniss alongside select Second and Third Wave feminist texts on gender theory.
Within the History department, students in grades 11 and 12 may elect to take either a full year elective in Economics or History Seminar: Gender and Power, a trimester elective. Economics covers the fundamentals of macroeconomics and facilitates students’ capacity for economic reasoning. In the course, History Seminar: Gender and Power, students study a wide range of historical texts exploring gender and the historical and cultural contexts that produced them.
AP Comparative Government and Politics joins the two other AP History Courses: AP United States History (grade 11) and AP European History (grade 12). In grades 11 and 12, students can elect to take AP Comparative Government and Politics to explore the global diversity of governments and politics outside the United States.
The Science department has expanded the scope of the Anatomy elective to include a trimester of organic chemistry in a new elective entitled Introduction to Anatomy and Organic Chemistry. The anatomy portion of the course takes a systems-based approach to the structures of the human body. The organic chemistry portion focuses on structure, naming, and 3D stereochemistry of organic molecules and their functional groups.
Finally, we are pleased to be able to offer AP Computer Science Principles as a culminating course in our computer science sequence for students in either their junior or senior year who have completed Computer Science II. This new offering is designed to introduce students to the central ideas of computer science, to instill ideas and practices of computational thinking, and to have students engage in activities that show how computing changes the world. The course is rigorous in nature, but rich in opportunities to apply creative processes to computational artifacts.
For a complete listing of the course offerings, please see the 2017–2018 Upper School Course Catalogue. Students should consult with their advisor, and in grades 11 and 12, the Director of College Counseling, as they finalize their choices. Course selections for the 2017–2018 school year are due by Monday, March 13, 2017.
Envision Her at Ellis
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