Humanities
JCHS Humanities courses encourage the intellectual and emotional growth of our students, supporting them in becoming sophisticated thinkers, confident writers, careful readers, informed citizens, and effective leaders.
The courses cultivate critical and creative thinking and inspire students to generate empathy and compassion for human experience in all its variety. English courses present students with appropriately challenging texts that contain original thinking, innovative stylistic choices, and masterful prose. The articles, essays, poems, plays, novels, and memoirs often expose students to perspectives and experiences beyond those familiar to them. These published works also illustrate the various components of composition such as rhetorical devices, tone, evidence, structure, organization, syntax, and grammar.
Our history courses engage students in careful reading of primary sources, interdisciplinary connections, and voices of both first person histories and officially sanctioned narratives. Students will learn to discern bias, assess cause and effect, and compare recurrent historical themes. We focus not only on economic and political history but on socio-cultural trends as well.
The Humanities Department’s mission is to see each student develop the ability to:
- Reading: Analyzing texts critically; reading closely; identifying symbolism, thematic elements, and rhetorical devices; analyzing argument and evidence; identifying tone and devices; understanding poetic and dramatic devices; identifying bias and perspective.
- Writing: Identifying and articulating a thesis in a paragraph or essay; supporting a thesis with evidence; writing analytic and persuasive essays, short stories, and poems; using mentor texts; understanding rules of grammar.
- Research: Defining and refining a research question; finding appropriate research from books, journals, and the Internet; using databases; quoting and citing others’ work appropriately; developing note-taking and bibliography skills.
- Other: Historical reasoning; honing effective oral presentation skills; working collaboratively with peers; understanding and responding respectfully to different points of view.
Click on any course name below to learn more.
English Core Courses
Subject Area: English
Open to: 9
In English 9, students develop a rich foundation for the study of world literature, with an emphasis on non-western literature. They encounter a range of engaging 20th and 21st century texts representing several literary genres and several regions, including Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. As they study world literature, students refine their critical reading abilities by learning to recognize textual patterns and analyze the writer’s choices. The study of postcolonial world literature allows students to challenge normative assumptions by engaging with non-western experiences while learning to identify and explain the historical and cultural structures and systems that have impacted social inequality. Throughout the course, students will build their composition skills, including crafting clear arguments and using evidence effectively. The study of vocabulary and grammar will be integrated into the curriculum. While the emphasis will be on analytical writing, students will also have the opportunity to work on creative projects.
Subject Area: English, American Studies
Open to: 10
In this course, students will study American Literature from the Colonial period through the 20th century. Over the course of the year, students will read and analyze texts ranging from Native American trickster tales, to fugitive slave narratives by Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs, to fiction by canonical 19th and 20th century writers like Willa Cather, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and James Baldwin. Students will build on their knowledge of literary genre and form, and deepen their analytical writing abilities by writing frequent argumentative essays which will go through extensive drafting and revision. Students will learn how to add complexity to their analytical essays by incorporating outside research and scholarly sources into their papers. Several units will be taught in coordination with U.S. History and AP U.S. History, enabling students to learn about literature with a richer sense of historical context.
Subject Area: English
Open to: 11
This writing-intensive course provides juniors with the tools to become more confident and proficient academic writers. Students will work on analytical essays on a range of contemporary topics, all designed to help them cultivate their ability to make and support persuasive arguments. Readings will be primarily non-fiction, and will include a wide range of essays about key debates in contemporary culture as well as book-length studies like Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow. Students will also study the elements of the personal essay in the second semester, and cultivate their own writing style as they work on crafting their college essays. Over the course of the year, students will compose a minimum of six essays, all of which will go through an extensive drafting and revision process.
Subject Area: English
Open to: 11
The AP English Language and Composition course focuses on the development and revision of evidence-based analytic and argumentative writing and the rhetorical analysis of both fiction and nonfiction texts. Through frequent writing assignments, students evaluate, synthesize, and cite research to support their arguments. Additionally, they read and analyze rhetorical elements and their effects in nonfiction texts from a range of disciplines and historical periods. Students will read a wide variety of non-fiction texts—from newspaper editorials, to philosophy, to literary non-fiction, to memoir, to speeches—all with the intent of discovering how an author crafts an argument. In conjunction with their Biology class, students will read Frankenstein and complete an EVERlab project exploring the ethical ramifications of creating human life. Advancing their mastery of all of the elements of powerful composition, students will be challenged to develop a more versatile and bold writing style, learning to adapt their writing voices to meet the demands of genre, audience and occasion.
Please Note: Students enrolling in AP Language and Composition will be required to complete the Summer Assignment consisting of reading two memoirs and completing a writing assignment by August 11, 2023. Students who do not complete the Summer Assignment by August 11 will be enrolled in Writing and Rhetoric: Making the Case.
Subject Area: English
Open to: 12
Senior Seminar will engage students in close textual analysis, literary discussion, academic composition, formal debating, and creative writing. We will study plays, poetry and prose, both classic and modern, and examine a cross-section of both fiction and non-fiction texts that focus on issues of high interest to graduating seniors. We will move away from the formulaic essay structures, take more risks, and develop personal voice.
This course is integrated with Senior Seminar: Issues in Jewish Thought. In both courses, students will explore common philosophical and theological themes such as the human condition, tradition vs. modernity, the problem of evil, existentialism, and the importance of memory. Course material has been synchronized to offer powerful moments of connection and integration. There will be assessments (both written and performance-based) integrated with Jewish Thought throughout the year.
Subject Area: English
Open to: 12
As the title character, Sula, proclaims in Toni Morrison’s 1973 novel: “I don’t want to make somebody else. I want to make myself” (91). This course will explore narratives of self-fashioning in both fiction and poetry, and will special attention to moments of tension between individual desires and cultural norms. Through reading novels ranging from canonical 19th texts like Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary to modern classics like Toni Morrison’s Sula, students learn how use close-reading techniques to build persuasive arguments about the ways writers use language and literary devices to create meaning. The study of poets ranging from Emily Dickinson to Terrance Hayes will equip students with an understanding of the subtle ways meaning can shift and evolve over the course of a short lyrical poem. In preparation for the Advanced Placement exam, students will become confident writing thesis-driven, tightly organized, analytical essays in a limited amount of time.
This course is integrated with Senior Seminar: Issues in Jewish Thought. In both courses, students will explore common philosophical and ethical themes such as tradition vs. modernity, the problem of evil, and the importance of memory. There will be integrated assessments (both written and performance-based) throughout the year.
Please Note: Students enrolling in AP Literature will be required to complete the Summer Assignment – which involves reading one novel, one book of criticism, and writing an essay – by August 11, 2023. Students who do not complete the Summer Assignment by August 11 will be enrolled in Senior Seminar in Literature and Composition.
History Core Courses
Subject Area: History, American Studies
Open to: 10
This survey course in United States history will examine the major historical forces and events which have shaped our country. Students will review both early and more contemporary American history and examine significant factors that continue to have relevance to our society.. Students will learn to employ primary sources, secondary texts, and multimedia offerings to gain a profound understanding of American history and culture. The course will focus on developing students’ abilities to think critically, write clearly articulated and well-substantiated arguments, and develop the confidence and skills to participate in class discussions and debates. Students will finish the year by writing a major research paper, which will require students to utilize research skills, make clear connections between history and the present, and write cogently and convincingly. This course integrates with the American Literature course to develop a curriculum in which literature supports and reinforces studies in United States history.
Subject Area: History, American Studies
Open to: 10
AP United States History is designed to be the equivalent of a two-semester introductory college or university United States history course. Students will investigate the content of U.S. history for significant events, individuals, developments, and processes and use and strengthen the same thinking skills and methods employed by historians when they study the past, including analyzing primary and secondary sources, making historical comparisons, chronological reasoning, and argumentation. The course is structured around seven themes (American and national identity; migration and settlement; politics and power; work, exchange, and technology; America in the world; geography and the environment; and culture and society) that students explore throughout the year in order to make connections among historical developments in different times and places. A premium will be placed on identifying and contextualizing modern day equivalents to historical events and developments. Finally, while creative projects will occasionally be assigned, the emphasis of this course will be to help students develop clear, concise analytical essay writing skills.
Please Note: Students enrolling in AP US History will be required to complete the Summer Assignment – which involves reading the first three chapters of the textbook and writing responses to short answer prompts – by August 11, 2023. Students who do not complete the Summer Assignment by August 11 will be enrolled in US History.
Humanities Elective Courses
Subject Area: History
Open to: 11, 12
The AP Art History course explores such topics such as the nature of art, its uses, its meanings, art making, and the responses to art. Through investigations of diverse artistic traditions of cultures from prehistory to the present, the course fosters in-depth and holistic understanding of the history of art from a global perspective.
Students learn and apply skills of visual, contextual, and comparative analysis to engage with a variety of art forms, constructing understanding of individual works and interconnections of art making processes and products throughout history. During the course students will engage with selective hands-on processes to develop further appreciation of design, craft, and technique. Visits to local art museums, and significant works of architecture are also an essential part of the course. Students are expected to take the AP Art History exam at the end of the year.
Please Note: Students enrolling in AP Art History will be required to complete the Summer Assignment. Students who do not complete the Summer Assignment will need to enroll in an alternate elective.
Subject Area: History
Open to: 11, 12
The AP course in Comparative Government and Politics introduces students to fundamental concepts used by political scientists to study the processes and outcomes of politics in a variety of country settings. The course aims to illustrate the rich diversity of political life, to show examples of existing institutional systems, to explain differences in processes and policy outcomes, and to communicate to students the importance of global political and economic changes. Comparison assists both in identifying problems and in analyzing policy making. Additionally, the course covers the major concepts that are used to organize and interpret specific countries and their governments. Six countries form the core of the AP Comparative Government and Politics course: China, Great Britain, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, and Russia. By using these six countries, the course can move the discussion of concepts from abstract definition to concrete example, noting that not all concepts will be equally useful in all country settings. (Collegeboard.org)
Please Note: Students enrolling in the AP Comparative Government and Politics course will be required to complete the Summer Assignment – which involves defining key vocabulary terms and finding and analyzing several articles relating to the six “course countries” – by August 11, 2023. Students who do not complete the Summer Assignment by August 11 will need to enroll in an alternate elective.
Subject Area: History
Open to: 11, 12
The AP European History course focuses on developing students’ understanding of European history from approximately 1450 to the present. The course has students investigate the content of European history for significant events, individuals, developments, and processes in four historical periods, and develop and use the same thinking skills and methods (analyzing primary and secondary sources, making historical comparisons, chronological reasoning, and argumentation) employed by historians when they study the past. The course also provides five themes (interaction of Europe and the world; poverty and prosperity; objective knowledge and subjective visions; states and other institutions of power; and individual and society) that students explore throughout the year in order to make connections among historical developments in different times and places.
Please Note: Students enrolling in AP European History will be required to complete the Summer Assignment – which involves using two pre-course readings to write short answer responses. Students who do not complete the Summer Assignment will need to enroll in an alternate elective.
Subject Area: History
Open to: 11, 12
In this fast-paced course, we’ll be exploring the ideas, theories and methods surrounding the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. We’ll explore the building blocks of psychology through reading, discussion, writing, and analyzing data from psychological research studies. You’ll learn how to connect psychological concepts and theories to real-life scenarios, and how to to understand and interpret research studies and their corresponding data. Units will include the biological bases of behavior, sensation and perception, and learning, and explore multiple branches of psychology like cognitive, developmental, clinical, and social.
Please Note: Students enrolling in AP Psychology will be required to complete the Summer Assignment – which involves using two pre-course readings to write short answer responses – by August 11, 2023. Students who do not complete the Summer Assignment by August 11 will need to enroll in an alternate elective.
Subject Area: History
Open to: 11, 12
Prerequisite(s): US History or AP US History
In this seminar style class, students will examine the impact of the most foundational document in our nation, the Constitution, on important contemporary issues. Special attention will be given to major Supreme Court cases that have challenged and transformed our understanding of the Constitution and our civil rights. We’ll closely examine cases centered around freedom of speech, gun control, the rights of women and minorities, the right to privacy, and the rights of the accused. Students will also learn about, and engage in, the process of judicial review and investigate different kinds of Constitutional interpretation. Through learning activities like discussion, simulations, research, and writing, students will gain an in-depth understanding of the governing document of our country, how it has shaped our history, and how it continues to impact our country today.
Subject Area: English
Open to: 10, 11, 12
Storytelling–specifically strong, well crafted, entertaining narratives–help us make sense of the world. From oral story traditions to TikTok, good stories help us better understand ourselves and frame our relationships with the world around us. The ability to tell a good story is fundamental to vibrant journalism, vivid creative writing, and engaging imaginative multimedia features. In this course, we will explore how to craft compelling narratives in a myriad of ways: through short fiction, creative nonfiction, news reportage, photographic essays, and other media.
Subject Area: History
Open to: 10, 11, 12
Every image tells a story and in this class we will travel through time and across the globe to uncover the meaning behind some of humanity’s greatest artistic creations. Through immersive images and dynamic storytelling, we will unpack the questions which compel art historians: Why and how was this work made? What is it communicating? Who paid for it and why does that matter? Whose story is it telling, and whose is left out? In our class we will learn how we humans have used painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, and other forms to tell stories, assert power, worship the divine, express individuality, rebel against tradition, and construct ideas of beauty. Throughout the year, hands-on art projects related to art we study will allow us to experience first hand the basic principles artists use in their work. By the end of the course, you will know how to look at and discuss a work of art in different ways, from style and technique, to subject and meaning. Course content will be presented in the form of lectures supported by projected slides, videos, and readings. Assessments will be a combination of project-based, individual and group learning, weekly quizzes, and creative, hand-on assignments.
Subject Area: History
Open to: 9
This course introduces students to major trends in the development of human societies and the formation of the complex systems of interconnectivity that characterize our world. One central underlying assumption is that historical awareness is an important conceptual tool for navigating the modern world. Accordingly, we will take an approach that differs from most history textbooks’ standard chronological and geographical framework. Organized thematically, each unit will explore related concepts and case studies from the past while drawing valuable parallels to the present. From the origins of our species and the emergence of the first civilizations, to the formation of the globe-spanning empires that ushered us into the modern era, we will consider the forces that have shaped history. Throughout, students will build the skills necessary for future courses, such as active reading, research, and critical thinking and writing skills.
Please Note: This is an introductory course open to all 9th graders, which may be taken in lieu of Foundations of Computer Science.
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