Humanities
Humanities class, taught by Ms. Small, is a discussion-centered class combining elements of both History and English to ultimately figure out an answer to the question "What does it mean to be human?". Over the course of the year, we analyze various different kinds of poems, satires, historical accounts, and videos in order to better understand rhetorical/syntactical techniques as well as key themes presented.
Walden Skit
Over the summer, we read Henry David Thoreau's memoir Walden and detailed our reflections on each chapter in an ongoing Walden journal. After coming to school, we were put into groups and tasked with creating a skit incorporating some element of Walden. My group's skit was a parody of the speed dating show "The Button" with Thoreau himself as the main prospect for love. We ended up performing our skits at the Bournedale retreat, which I still have pretty vivid memories of (all good ones, of course).
Education Essay
In the beginning of the year, we had a unit on education where we really broke down the structure of our education system to its bits and pieces and looked at how it changed over the years and what brought about those changes. We ended up writing a summative essay for the unit on a topic of our choice (relating to education), and I chose to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the restorative justice punitive model in today's schools. I didn't really think punitive models had much of an impact on education systems, but as I wrote my essay, I began to see how something as small as punishment can be crucial to the functionality of a school, and society as a result.