In humanities, we explore the fruitful question of what it means to be a human. We explore this question via literature such as Walden and other readings. In addition, we look at this question through different lenses, with our past units including education, rhetorical analysis, and satire. We demonstrate our knowledge of these units through presentations, essays, and creative projects.
As part of our Education unit, we were tasked with answering the question of the extent AI should play a role in the education system. We answered this question via a synthesis essay, which brings in opinions and data from many different sources and ties them all together. We began by hand-writing in a 2-hour block. Then, we did a reflection on what we did well and what we could improve on. With this reflection complete, we typed out our essays and made changes to improve them. I decided to take the stance that AI should be used sparingly in the classroom setting, in the sense that it should only be used for repetitive and mundane tasks that do not contribute to learning. To view my completed essay, click here.
As part of our summer homework, every junior entering Mass Academy has to read Walden by Henry Thoreau. Essentially, Walden is Thoreau’s tellings of his experience of going to live in the “wilderness” and his reflections on life. As the culmination of our Walden experience, we create a play that relates to the ideas or concepts that are present in the book. I worked with Dasha, Ananth, and Aishani to create our play entitled “Henry: Portrait of a Depressive”. Our goal was to point out the hypocritical nature of Thoreau, which we argue is the result of the trauma that he experienced in his earlier life. We aimed to approach this via a satirical lens, kind of like a Family Guy episode. Hence, our title is modeled after a Family Guy title. To view the skit, click here.