During the first semester fiction is the focus of English IV, a genre-based study of novels, short stories, poetry, and drama. The course objective is to help the students to think, read, and write. The approach is to practice close analytical discussion in class working towards detailed literary analysis that is the model for regular analytical essays. We begin the semester with Golding’s Lord of the Flies, an accessible but intricate novel, and end with a variety of short stories.

During the second semester we begin with Kingsolver’s Poisonwood Bible, a summer reading assignment, and then divide the remaining time between poetry and drama. The focus continues to be on critical thinking and analytical writing, each undertaken with increasing sophistication. Assessment comes from formal essays, regular written homework, weekly vocabulary tests, and infrequent in-class writings and tests.