English

ENG 101/111/121: English Foundations
Full-year program (3 credits)
College Prep
This program offers a year of comprehensive English instruction to students who are still developing their proficiencies in reading, speaking and listening, and writing. Students enrolled in English Foundations acquire the knowledge and skills needed for further coursework by taking three interconnected classes: ENG 101: Scaffolding for Reading Comprehension, ENG 111: Complex Communication, and ENG 121: Writing Foundations. Like subsequent courses, Foundations explores one unifying topic each year, allowing students to engage with contemporary issues as they develop the competencies that will allow them to thrive at Kents Hill.

ENG 201: The Nature of Self
Full-year course (1 credit)
College Prep
The Nature of Self is an entry-level English course designed to introduce students to several genres of literature and build their communication skills. Throughout the year, students will read essays, personal narratives, poetry, short fiction, and novels that explore the ways in which people construct their identities. They will also embark on their own journeys of self-discovery through the writing they produce, learning how to present their ideas, tell their stories, and form their arguments.

ENG 211: Honors The Nature of Self
Full-year course (1 credit)
Honors
The Honors version of The Nature of Self is a writing-intensive, seminar-style introduction to participating in the literary arts as a conscientious reader, writer, and conversationalist. Students will read deeply across genres and think critically about language as both artistic expression and practical tool for communication. Like the College Prep version of the class, the Honors course will also explore the ways in which works of literature represent and question constructions of identity. Freewriting, journal entries, creative assignments, and formal essays will improve students’ communication skills and instill in them responsible habits for reading, writing, and thinking across academic disciplines.

ENG 301: Multicultural Literature
Full-year course (1 credit)
College Prep
Multicultural Literature is a year-long course that introduces Kents Hill students to literature from around the world. The course examines work from a wide range of cultures and carefully considers each text’s unique social and historical circumstances. Although specific reading assignments vary from year to year, students always encounter multiple genres and forms and grow familiar with such foundational literary elements as character, setting, theme, and point of view. Multicultural Literature also builds upon the heavy skills focus of the 100- and 200-level English courses by continuing to emphasize the development of several skill areas, particularly reading, speaking and listening, and writing.

ENG 311: Honors Multicultural Literature
Full-year course (1 credit)
Honors
Multicultural Literature is a year-long course that introduces Kents Hill students to literature from around the world. The Honors version of this class examines work from a range of cultures and considers each text’s historical contexts, but also features a heavier and more challenging reading load, including multiple college-level reading assignments. Like their peers, Honors students encounter a variety of genres and forms and study important literary elements. Multicultural Literature also builds upon the heavy skills focus of the 100- and 200-level English courses by continuing to emphasize the development of several skill areas, particularly reading, speaking and listening, and writing. Honors students complete activities to bolster reading comprehension and interpersonal communication skills, but also hone advanced skills by giving regular presentations and participating in graded seminar discussions.

ENG 401: American Literature
Full-year course (1 credit)
College Prep
This course investigates American literature through critical and analytical lenses. Students will explore the diverse American literary experience through its correlation with historical influences and a selection of central themes. The primary goal of the class is to build solid interpretive reading skills and teach the process of analytical writing through intensive classroom discussion and regularly scheduled essays. Students should expect an introduction to a variety of American voices and perspectives through full-length texts, short stories, plays, and/or poetry. Featured authors may include but are not limited to Edith Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Frederick Douglass, Zora Neale Hurston, Eudora Welty, J.D. Salinger, Sylvia Plath, Jhumpa Lahiri, Ha Jin, and Junot Diaz.

ENG 411: Global Voices, Global Perspectives
Full-year course (1 credit)
College Prep
Global Voices, Global Perspectives is a year-long course that introduces students to writers, artists, and thought leaders from around the world who are speaking about contemporary issues that transcend geographical borders. Through a diverse range of perspectives, we will engage with these voices as mirrors to better understand our own experiences and as windows to investigate the world around us. The course focuses on developing critical skills of reading, writing, thinking, questioning, and engaging in dialogue; seeks to develop strong habits of learning and doing; and intersects with Kents Hill’s focus on character. Through these competencies, students will hone their voices and agency so that they are empowered to think, act, and communicate for impact.

ENG 501: Creative Writing
Full-year course (1 credit)
College Prep
Creative Writing is designed to help students develop their creative expression through the written word. Students will explore the craft and art of creative writing, learn how to identify successful elements of creative writing, develop oral and written articulation skills by properly and thoughtfully giving and receiving feedback, experience the wonders and intellectual empowerment of a “writing community,” and use writing as a tool for self-discovery and scholarly exploration. Students will compose their own creative writing portfolio and they will have the opportunity to broadly publish their work in Juxtapose, Kents Hill’s literary magazine. Texts may include The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott, Creating the Story by Rebecca Rule and Susan Wheeler, and The Truth of the Matter by Dinty Moore.

ENG 521: AP English Literature and Composition
Full-year course (1 credit)
Advanced Placement
Designed to mimic a college-level course, AP English explores a variety of literary genres in intensive, student led, daily discussions moderated by the instructor. In addition to regularly scheduled short papers and longer critical analyses, students prepare for the AP exam by writing weekly in-class essays from previous AP exams. Readings include but are not limited to novels, plays, and poems from authors such as Joseph Conrad, Robert Penn Warren, Toni Morrison, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Virginia Woolf, Leslie Marmon Silko, Walt Whitman, Maya Angelou, Richard Wright, and Samuel Beckett. Prerequisite: instructor permission. Students are required to take the AP Exam and pay the accompanying fee.

ENG 601: College Writing Seminar
Full-year course (1 credit)
Dual-Enrollment
College Writing Seminar is a rigorous, year-long course that focuses on a variety of college-level essay genres. Students will draw on personal experiences, reading assignments, and original research as they explore a unifying course topic or theme; written assignments will include narratives, analyses, argumentative essays, and research papers about the same topic or theme. Prerequisites: instructor permission. Students who successfully complete this course will receive college credit. Additional course fees apply.