The English Department asks students to examine literature as a reflection of the human experience. The countless voices of that experience are represented by numerous literary genres, from poetry to drama to essay to the novel. Students read extensively from American, British and world literatures. Students write in a number of rhetorical modes, and build a vocabulary that enables them to communicate with precision and force. Students learn to recognize their own narrative voice, and work during their time at Gann to make that voice one of insight and clarity.

As Juniors, students may take the AP Literature and Composition course, and may select from a broad range of Senior electives.

Ninth grade English is focused on building the essential skills of reading critically and writing articulately. The course units are organized around modes of writing: narrative, argument, and cause and effect. In each unit, students are asked to read short stories, poems, and essays representative of that mode. In addition, the centerpiece of each unit is a longer text such as a novel or a play. The essential skills for each mode, such as understanding narrative structure or evaluating evidence within an argument, are clearly delineated to students so that they can focus on these skills in both their reading and writing. The course also instructs students in basic punctuation, grammar, and language usage. Assessment includes shorter, paragraph-length responses which focus on a particular task (such as how a certain narrative differs from a newspaper account of an event), as well as longer, fully-realized analyses. Above all, we encourage our freshmen to become seriously engaged with the literature they read, to make connections between the reading and their own lives, and to write with conviction and care.  

The syllabus for tenth grade English encompasses the broad history of British Literature, extending from 900 CE to the present, and is organized around a number of provocative themes. In the first trimester, readings focus on the relationship between self and society; the second trimester is devoted to literature about love and relationships; in the third trimester we study the long tradition of heroes and villains. Primary texts generally include Frankenstein, Othello, Beowulf, and 1984, as well as poetry from all periods. The course also contains a unit on the modernist short story, covering works from James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, and Katherine Mansfield; an extensive unit on the sonnet; and a unit on post-colonial literature from South Africa. Writing in tenth grade concentrates on critical thinking and close reading. We guide students to produce increasingly complex works of literary analysis and teach them to choose quotations usefully. Students also submit frequent response papers as well as creative non-fiction and, occasionally, their own fiction and poetry. We also cover more advanced grammatical concepts in the sophomore year, and vocabulary acquisition continues to be a significant component.  

The eleventh grade class surveys American Literature from the 19th century to the present. In addition to exploring the themes that have driven American Literature, students also examine the way in which a writer’s stylistic choices affect his or her narrative voice. Reading proceeds chronologically, beginning with Puritan writers and working forward to contemporary literature. Longer texts typically include Walden, The Scarlet Letter, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Great Gatsby, among others. Students also read widely in American poetry and study short stories from Poe, Hawthorne, and O’Connor. Students in the course write formal analytical essays, shorter response papers and a number of creative pieces. Writing instruction in the junior year focuses on revision and style. Students also continue their vocabulary study.  

Our AP course, which is accredited by the College Board, prepares students for the Advanced Placement literature exam and is equivalent to a first-year university-level English class. The course provides an overview of American literature from its earliest works to the present day. Readings include many of the works covered in the non-AP course, in addition to additional examples of particularly complex literature. AP titles in past years have included Moby-Dick, Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, and Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. Students explore literature both from an aesthetic and a historical perspective and encounter the major themes that have shaped American literary thought. Because of the nature of the AP examination, we set aside class time for students to practice writing impromptu essays on set themes. Students also continue to write more formal essays, as well as their own creative work, sharpening the skills from earlier grades. Students are required to revise their work frequently and to focus on editing for style. As ever, we stress vocabulary development heavily. Admission to the course is based on the recommendation of students’ 9th and 10th grade teachers.  

Are you ready to explore worlds beyond objective reality - or to question what objective reality is? Join this class, in which we will read a wide array of European, American, and Latin American literature. Works include classic ghost stories by Dickens, Le Fanu, Bierce, and W.W. Jacobs; "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Coleridge; The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Stevenson; "Le Horla" by Maupassant;; The Trial or Metamorphosis by Kafka; Aura by Fuentes; and Lost Horizon by Hilton. We will also study episodes from Twilight Zone and/or X-Files. After writing and revising your own original ghost tales, the class will compile a collection and market it to raise money for a good cause.  

Discover the brilliance, humor, and poignancy that pack the works of American Jewish authors. Travel their footsteps from Europe to the tenements and sweatshops of the Lower East Side. Follow the stories of Yezierzka and Cahan, whose characters came to this country without a penny but grew into the assimilated, ungrateful, paranoid families of the next generation, typified in texts by Roth and Bellow. Explore why some writers want to escape their Jewishness while other writers seek to define themselves by it. We will read books that celebrate the status Jews can only achieve in America, while other books warn of the fragility of Judaism's existence in a secular land where bigotry lurks. Every text will add a twist to the complicated narrative of the American Jewish experience. Jews have our own place in the American canon, and this course will look at how, over our nation's 200-year history, and Am Yisrael's 5000-year history, that stake was claimed.  

This class will begin with a brief study of the figures, images, and themes in Greek mythology before launching into a two-trimester-long study of how these recurring images (and those from the myths of other cultures) function within and deepen iconic and contemporary fiction. Some writers base stories on mythological personae and themes; others base their writings on those from the Bible; still others seem to have their own vivid and resonant private symbology. We will examine what makes myth relevant in 20th and 21st century fiction and vice versa. In addition to many shorter and longer literary works, students will also read Greek myths and works and pieces by Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, Northop Frye, and Sigmund Freud, and watch three to four movies which employ these themes. Students will write several analytical essays and movie reviews, and one shorter work of myth-based fiction each term.  

In the Shakespeare Seminar we will study several of Shakespeare's tragedies and comedies, as well as many of his sonnets. The emphasis will be on close reading of the works and appreciation of them as both drama and poetry. Film clips will supplement our discussions. Additionally we will practice speaking Shakespearean verse; student readings of monologues and scenes will be an integral part of the course. As the calendar permits, guest speakers, performers, or an outing to a play being performed locally may also enrich our understanding of Shakespeare's art.  

This is not your mother's Women in Lit class! Consider what it means to have a woman's voice - and to craft a narrative that reflects the female experience. We will start our course with an examination of the emergence of a feminist voice in American culture, from literature to politics to sports. We'll consider the changing role of women in a range of American cultures, and will focus, in particular, on the representation of the adolescent girl in popular culture. Our texts will include Toni Morrison's THE BLUEST EYE, Edwidge Danticat's BREATH, EYES, MEMORY and other contemporary works. The final assessment for the course will be a trimester-long personal narrative project based on Sandra Cisneros' THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET.