2026–2027 Course Catalog

This course is an introduction to the Arabic language and culture. Students work with a variety of media to master reading and writing the Arabic alphabet and develop listening and speaking skills in both the Modern Standard Arabic that is understood by more than 300 million Arabs around the world, and the Levantine dialect used in Jordan, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon. With an emphasis on developing communicative skills and an understanding of grammar, Students learn the basic linguistic structures of the Semitic Language family and develop an appreciation of Arabic calligraphy art. Through a blended instructional format, students use iPads to complete online homework through apps, interactive websites, videos, recordings, as well as the tried and true pen and paper. Much of the content is introduced through homework and then practiced and activated in class through collaborative activities and speaking experiences. Class is conducted mostly in Arabic with some English when needed.

This course advances students’ Arabic skills into the intermediate level of proficiency in all language skills, both in the communicative Levantine dialect as well as in the Modern Standard Arabic. This class continues the blended instructional format, students continue to build their communicative skills and expand their knowledge of grammar. In class, students are exposed to authentic material and are engaged in collaborative work that fosters a deeper understanding of the values and practices of the Arabic culture. Students in this class continue the use of iPads to submit a variety of homework assignments through apps, interactive websites, videos, recordings, as well as the tried and true pen and paper. This class is conducted mostly in Arabic.

This course builds upon students’ language skills developed in Arabic 200 or its equivalent, to advance into the Arabic 3 level of communication skills in the language. Students at this level continue to expand their knowledge of grammar as they apply their skills through collaborative real-world assignments. This continues to help students advance their language skills in the Modern Standard Arabic and the Levantine dialect. Students continue to learn through a variety of homework assignments, apps, interactive websites, videos, recordings, as well as the tried and true pen and paper. This class is conducted in Arabic.

At this level, students continue developing their language skills through authentic material in the Levantine dialect alongside literature in Modern Standard Arabic. Grammar is integrated through classroom discussions and activities. In this class, students expand their understanding of grammar and enrich their vocabulary as they engage with the material through homework assignments apps, interactive websites, and videos. This class is conducted in Arabic.

The Art of Seeing and Drawing: Foundations of Visual Communication and Drawing Skills
This introductory drawing course provides a foundational experience in the art of seeing and the fundamental principles of studio art in a supportive and creative environment. Using a competencies-based learning approach, students focus on acquiring and developing essential artistic skills through practical exercises, individual projects, and constructive critiques. Proficiency in various drawing mediums, understanding and application of composition, perspective, visual aesthetics, and the ability to observe and interpret the visual world are emphasized. The course cultivates critical thinking and analytical skills through creating, evaluating, and critiquing artwork. Completing this course equips students with a robust artistic and academic skill set, serving as a solid foundation for advanced art courses or personal artistic endeavors. It also prepares students for AP Drawing.

The Art of Seeing and Photographing: Foundations of Visual Communication and Photography Skills
This introductory photography course provides a foundational experience in the art of seeing and the fundamental principles of design in a supportive and creative environment. Using a competencies-based learning approach, students focus on acquiring and developing essential artistic skills through ambitious projects, and constructive critiques. Proficiency with digital camera operation and advanced digital editing, understanding and application of compositional devices, perspective, visual aesthetics, and the ability to observe and interpret the visual world are emphasized. The use of analog film cameras and darkroom printing will be an additional option for the final project. The course cultivates critical thinking and analytical skills through creating, evaluating, and critiquing photography, as a vital contemporary art form. Completing this course equips students with a robust artistic and academic skill set, serving as a solid foundation for advanced photography courses and personal artistic endeavors. It also prepares students for AP Photography. Scheduling priority will be given to 9th-11th graders.

This course offers an opportunity for creative expression through the medium of videography. For inspiration, we will study current films and the history of film and video. After and introductory project to establish basic skills, students will pursue an ambitious final project. Each student will receive guidance in writing an adapted or original screenplay, for the purposes of creating a short film of their own. This course will develop skills in writing, directing, acting, camera operation, and editing. Final projects may be submitted to the annual Deerfield Academy Film Festival.

Haven’t you always wanted to be an architect? This course introduces students to major movements and themes in architecture, significant architects and buildings throughout history, contemporary architectural issues, and basic drafting and model building techniques. Students will develop an appreciation for architecture and become conversant with its history and vocabulary. Students will complete several studio drawings and renderings that would prepare them for other architecture courses in the curriculum. This course is not open to students who have taken Architectural Drawing & Design.

This introductory painting course offers a foundational experience in the understanding of color and various painting mediums, such as pastels, watercolors, and acrylics, in a nurturing and imaginative environment. Students use a competencies-based learning approach to acquire and develop essential artistic skills through practical exercises, individual projects, and constructive critiques. Understanding and applying color theory, composition, visual aesthetics, and the ability to observe and interpret the visual world with color are emphasized. The course fosters critical thinking and analytical skills through creating, evaluating, and critiquing artwork. Completing this course equips students with a comprehensive artistic and academic skill set, serving as a solid foundation for advanced art courses or personal artistic pursuits.

Learn how to draw, design and think like an architect! Students will be introduced to principles and elements of two-and three-dimensional architectural representation and design. Projects range from drawing traditional architectural views by hand and digitally, to rendering drawings using pens and watercolors, to building physical and digital models. Instruction is given in architectural design, drafting, planning, and materials and construction methods based on the principles of classical architecture. Students will design a range of buildings and spaces, including residential and civic projects. Studio work is supplemented with readings in the history and theory of architecture.

This course offers an opportunity for students to pursue more ambitious projects in videography. The class will expand upon the study of current films and the history of film and video, for inspiration. Each student will receive guidance in writing an adapted or original screenplay, in any genre, for the purposes of creating a short film of their own. Students will further develop advanced skills in writing, directing, acting, camera operation, and editing. Final projects may be submitted to the annual Deerfield Academy Film Festival.

AP Photography/2-D Design: Advanced Visual Thinking, Inquiry, Technique, and Portfolio Development
The AP Photography course is tailored for students interested in inquiry-based thinking and developing a photography/2-D design portfolio. It places a strong emphasis on enhancing proficiency in digital and analog photography, applying principles of composition, perspective, and visual aesthetics, and demonstrating the ability to observe and interpret the visual world. Students work to build a portfolio of images based upon a self-selected theme. The class routinely takes field trips to a myriad of locales to diversify source material. The course also focuses on cultivating critical thinking and analytical skills through creating, evaluating, and critiquing artwork. Portfolio submission to the College Board is a requirement. May be taken as a 6th course p/f if space available.

See ART309 description. Please note students requesting the graded section receive priority in scheduling.

AP Drawing and Painting: Advanced Visual Thinking, Inquiry, Technique, and Portfolio Development
The AP Drawing course is tailored for students interested in inquiry-based thinking and developing a drawing and painting portfolio. It places a strong emphasis on enhancing proficiency in various drawing mediums, applying principles of composition, perspective, and visual aesthetics, and demonstrating the ability to observe and interpret the visual world. The course also focuses on cultivating critical thinking and analytical skills through creating, evaluating, and critiquing artwork. It is important to note that prior experience in drawing and making art is a prerequisite for enrollment in this course, and eligibility will be determined by the department. Portfolio submission to the College Board is a requirement. May be taken as a 6th course p/f if space available.

See ART319 description. Please note that students requesting the graded section receive priority in scheduling.

Would you like to know more about the place where you’re going to school? Old Deerfield, including buildings part of Deerfield Academy, Historic Deerfield, and the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, provide an ideal laboratory to study architecture, history, and historic preservation. Through field trips, discussions, and hands-on projects, including perspective sketching and water coloring, students will develop an awareness of architectural and preservation philosophy and learn about why the buildings in Deerfield look the way they do. A particular emphasis will be placed on future development in town and on campus and how the existing built environment can/should influence those decisions.

Through a series of exercises, this year-long course will require students to develop an understanding and working knowledge of three-dimensional classical architectural design through drawing and both hands-on and digital building processes. Formal design concepts will be introduced, including form, function, site/environment, and circulation, within the context of principles like balance, proportion, and rhythm. A personal vision for each student will be developed over the course of numerous projects and students are encouraged to be independent, creative, and passionate about their individual paths. Students will utilize a variety of steps, including research, preliminary sketches, process models, and peer critiques, to create an original Sustained Investigation. Students are expected to submit a portfolio to the College Board at the end of the course to receive an Advanced Placement score. May be taken pass/fail as ART329P.

See ART329 description. Please note that students requesting the graded section receive priority in scheduling.

Post-AP: Contemporary Perspectives in Visual Arts: Exploring Creativity Beyond AP Drawing
This course allows students to delve into visual arts beyond the Advanced Placement Drawing syllabus. With a primary focus on studio work, specifically drawing and painting, students will draw inspiration from various contemporary artists. The course aims to provide a broader perspective and the opportunity to develop each student’s creative voice. Throughout the course, students will engage in various activities, including examining renowned artists’ practices, taking field trips to art galleries, exploring three-dimensional work, and being exposed to relevant process films. Through a combination of research and hands-on practice, students are encouraged to discover their unique voices for self-expression, aiming to produce artwork that reflects personal expression and breaks new ground, going beyond the examples presented at the beginning of the unit. AP Drawing is a prerequisite for enrollment in this course. May be taken as a 6th course p/f if space available.

See ART400 description. Please note that students requesting the graded section receive priority in scheduling.

Students will approach the global art world as active participants and engage with its forms and content as they read, discuss, and write about art, artists, and art-making over time. We will explore the whole of the world’s visual imagery, from prehistoric times to the 21st century. They will understand how the following “big ideas” spiral across topics and units: culture; interactions with other cultures; materials, processes and techniques in art-making; artwork’s purpose and audience; and theories and interpretations of art. Students will develop their facility for visual analysis, contextual analysis, comparison, and argumentation. The goal is for students to experience art rather than memorize facts about it, and to establish an engaging dialogue about art and history. Through seminar discussions of nightly reading, students will approach art from different angles and consider its relevance to our own world and perceived notions of beauty, power, and identity. Students will also learn to make interdisciplinary connections, as art history offers the rare opportunity to examine other disciplines through sensory experience. Course may be taken as HIS420 or ART420.

This course builds upon the formal skills and ambitious thematic work established in the Intro and AP Photography courses. Students will have an opportunity to further develop personal artistry through the medium of photography. Projects will involve the building of a personal website, construction of art supplements for college applications, field trips to seek new source material, and pursuance of a self-selected theme throughout the school year. Emphasis is placed on intentional work with the camera and creativity in the digital and/or analog darkroom, encouraging students to develop a unique artistic voice and experiment with creative techniques and a mix of materials. Students will deepen their understanding of visual language through critical analysis, collaborative discussions, and exposure to contemporary art. There will be an opportunity to exhibit work in galleries and a variety of spaces around campus. Completion of AP Photography is a prerequisite for enrollment. May be taken as a 6th course p/f if space is available.

See ART430 description. Please note that students requesting the graded section receive priority in scheduling.

Honors Studio Art: Mastery and Creativity in Visual Expression
This course builds upon the foundation laid by previous courses, challenging students to achieve mastery and creativity in their visual expression. Emphasis is placed on individualized projects, encouraging students to explore their unique artistic voices and experiment with creative techniques and mediums. Students will deepen their understanding of visual language through critical analysis, collaborative discussions, and exposure to contemporary art movements. The course includes in-depth studies of influential artists, allowing students to draw inspiration from diverse perspectives. Students will continue to refine their portfolios and will have the opportunity to exhibit work in the Reed Gallery of the Hess Center for the Arts. Students in this course will also work collaboratively with classmates to create a final group project. This course is a capstone experience, preparing students for advanced study in the visual arts or professional artistic pursuits. Completion of AP Drawing and Post AP is a prerequisite for enrollment. May be taken as a 6th course p/f if space available.

See ART509 description. Please note that students requesting the graded section receive priority in scheduling.

This course will explore selected biological topics including cell structure and function, genetics, biotechnology, evolution, ecology and human physiology. For each topic, students will engage in hands-on experiments in order to develop essential lab skills. Students will learn collaboratively through experimentation, discussion, observation and analysis.

Biology Accelerated is an comprehensive introductory survey course intended for students who have a high level of interest in science and have demonstrated strong study skills. The course will be organized around the eight characteristics of life and emphasis will be placed on developing laboratory skills, collaboration and critical thinking. Because this course requires a facility with reading and integrating knowledge, eligibility will be determined by the department, which will consider student grades and endorsements from previous science teachers.

Honors Biology is a demanding course for students interested in exploring the function of living systems in depth. Students should expect a significant amount of homework each night with a large investment in reading and writing. We will focus on the complex mechanisms at work in living systems and repeatedly draw connections across concepts as the year progresses, so students should be comfortable defining terminology and developing basic mental models independently. Because the number of concepts we may encounter is significant and exceptions to biological principles abound, students who thrive in this course will be able to prioritize essential information and face uncertainty with flexibility. In the lab, students will apply principles of experimental design, employ molecular biology tools, and conduct statistical analyses of lab results. Assessments will place an emphasis on argumentative writing and applying concepts in unfamiliar contexts. Because this course requires a high level of reading comprehension and day-to-day work requires working knowledge of fundamental chemical principles (including intermolecular forces), eligibility will be determined by the department, which will consider student grades and endorsements from previous English, history and science teachers.

This course is a survey of the human body systems. Students will gain an overall understanding of the systems while exploring the themes of homeostasis and “form fits function.” Significant time will be spent in the lab observing and testing physiology. Grades will be based on frequent assessments, lab write-ups, and individual and group presentations.

This course will begin with an in-depth look at the structure and function of the immune system. We will then consider the mechanisms of different types of diseases and how our body systems can be compromised. Our investigations will include; cancer, Covid-19 and Ebola. Grades will primarily be based on assessments and individual and group presentations and projects.

Honors Bio 2: Research in Biochemistry
Dive into the world of enzymes and contribute to real scientific discoveries! In this year-long, research-based course inspired by the BASIL (Biochemistry Authentic Scientific Inquiry Laboratory) college-level curriculum, students will work in pairs to investigate an uncharacterized enzyme using both wet lab and computational methods. Over the course of the year, students will develop skills in a variety of techniques including bacterial cell culture, protein expression, chromatography, gel electrophoresis and protein activity assays. Students will also employ computational methods to predict enzyme function based on sequence and structural features. Parallel to this work we will read and formally discuss current scientific articles with a focus on engaging in scientific dialogue, replicating published experiments and critiquing scientific data.Collaboration is a critical skill in this course, and will be assessed in laboratory practicals in the winter and spring. Students will also create a poster presentation in order to share their work with the Deerfield community in the Science Symposium. Other assessments include research deliverables (annotated diagrams, presentations of data, student-generated protocols) and journal club presentations/discussions. Students entering this course should have a working knowledge of protein structure, gene expression and solution chemistry. Because strong collaboration, intellectual risk-taking, perseverance and independent thinking are key to success in any research project, eligibility will be determined by the department, which will consider student grades and endorsements from previous English, history and science teachers. Please note that due to the nature of this course, the course capacity will be smaller than a typical Deerfield course.

This course introduces students to the fundamental properties of matter and serves as a bridge between physics and the life sciences. Throughout the course students will learn to critically evaluate data, identify patterns, and develop ways of evaluating scale and proportion, and use these skills to make predictions. Compared to CHE205, the computational aspect of this course is de-emphasized. Students are expected to have a working knowledge of math skills including, but not limited to, unit conversions, order of operations, solving multiple step equations, graphing skills, and fluency with elementary operations and fractions. Most complex problem-solving in this course will take place in the classroom where students will have the support of their teacher and classmates.Incoming repeat 9th graders can be eligible for this course if they have a 9th grade physics credit from their previous school.

The content covered in Chemistry is covered in this course, although at a faster pace and greater depth. Additionally, the introduction of thermodynamics and its application in biochemistry provides a strong foundation for students taking advanced biology classes. Although advanced mathematics is not required to be successful in this course, students must have strong mathematical problem solving skills. Once a topic is introduced conceptually, it is assumed that students in this course will be able to apply mathematical tools to problems with minimal support and be able to move quickly through computational aspects of the course. This course is best suited to students who have an interest in solving challenging problems both independently and in small group settings. With some independent work, students can be well prepared for the AP Chemistry exam. As this course requires self-motivation, strong collaborative skills, and a high level of mathematical competence, eligibility will be determined by the department, which will consider student grades and endorsements from previous math and science teachers. Incoming repeat 9th graders can be eligible for this course if they have a 9th grade physics credit from their previous school.

Honors Chemistry 2: Research in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
This course introduces topics from biochemistry and molecular biology and culminates in a student designed research project. Exact topics covered in the fall and winter terms will vary depending on student interest. Core topics include concepts and techniques related to molecule biology and will include DNA isolation, gel electrophoresis, polymerase chain reaction, primer design, and CRISPR-cas9 gene editing. Parallel to this work we will read current scientific articles with the goal of acquire the tools necessary to identify interesting questions. A willingness to creatively engage with complex concepts embedded in highly technical research papers (CRISPR as an example) to achieve a deeper understanding of current topics in molecular biology is central to success in this course. This work will continue into the winter term when students develop independent projects. The spring term will be devoted to carrying out projects in groups of 2-4 students. Collaboration will frequently take place across sections. Students will write a final paper and create a poster presentation for the Science Symposium. Assessments will include short writing assignments, annotated diagrams, research proposals, and significant presentations of laboratory outcomes. Students entering this course should have a working knowledge of gene expression, cellular energetics, signal transduction and basic molecular biology concepts. Because this course requires considerable perseverance when working with challenging scientific articles, and day-to-day work requires working knowledge of fundamental chemical principles (including intermolecular forces and computational aspect of solution and buffer construction) and biological principles (including signal transduction), eligibility will be determined by the department, which will consider student’ grades and endorsements from previous English,history and science teachers. Please note that due to the nature of this course, the course capacity will be smaller than a typical Deerfield course.

This course is an introduction to Mandarin Chinese for students with little or no background in the language. Students learn the basic communication skills in Mandarin and explore related cultural aspects. The course begins with an introduction to the sound system and moves on to basic skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students develop their language skills and culture awareness through daily collaborative activities and practice using text, audio and video materials as well. By the end of the year, students are expected to have good pronunciation, oral and aural proficiency for basic communication, and foundational grammar for simple sentences and short paragraph building.

In this Chinese 2 course, students will continue to build upon the foundational skills acquired in Chinese 1. Through an immersive curriculum integrating aspects of Chinese culture, students will develop their abilities in listening, reading, writing and grammar structures, with a particular emphasis on speaking proficiency. Through this course, students will learn to communicate effectively in a wide range of typical real-world contexts, such as ordering at a restaurant, what to say at a doctor’s appointment, and how to lead a campus tour. This course aims to provide students with the linguistic and cultural foundation necessary for effective communication in the Chinese-speaking world.

In this intermediate level course, students reinforce what they have acquired in the previous levels and expand and deepen their skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing by studying a variety of materials. Students focus on speaking and writing in a coherent, linguistically appropriate manner, using well-formed paragraphs through daily practice, storytelling and projects. Cultural content is integrated into each topic of discussion. Finishing the course, students are to be able to carry out rather fluent conversations about daily life and personal experiences and have acquired solid reading and writing skills to get ready for the next level.

In this Chinese Level 4 course, students will cultivate a high level of proficiency in the Chinese language, with a specific focus on the fluency of spoken language, reading comprehension, and writing proficiency. Students will engage with a diverse array of authentic materials that will provide them with a comprehensive understanding of Chinese language, culture, history, geography and contemporary social issues such as gender equality, climate-change, and health and well-being. Additionally, students will engage in a systematic study of Chinese vocabulary. The course also develops research and presentation skills, including several class projects. This course will expose students to the format and content of the Chinese Advanced Placement Language Examination.

This course is for students who wish to pursue the study of Chinese at a more advanced level. Students will further develop overall language proficiency through studying a variety of authentic materials and audiovisual sources that cover topics including culture, values, education, art, fashion, social issues, as well as controversial issues in contemporary Chinese society. They will expand their vocabulary and enhance their grammar to handle these broad subjects in both reading and writing. They will also build fluency with confidence and competency in Chinese by engaging in discussion, collaborative work, and projects about various topics. Furthermore, students will develop a more enriched understanding of the traditions and changes in Chinese culture and society.

This advanced course offers a comprehensive exploration of modern Chinese literature and writing. Students will delve into a diverse array of texts, including narrative fiction, films, poetry, and critical essays. With a focus on Chinese literature from 1920-1990, students will hone their ability to critically examine literary works and gain a deeper understanding of their cultural and historical contexts. Discussion about domestic and international current events is also a component of this class. This course is an ideal opportunity for students to expand their knowledge of Chinese literature, history and culture, and hone their analytical and critical thinking skills.

Chinese 7 Honors may be offered to students who, in consultation with the department and with its endorsement, wish to pursue an individualized course in Chinese. It will not be offered every year.

This hands-on, project-based course traces the development and use of the Roman alphabet from ancient inscriptions and medieval manuscripts to modern typography. Students will learn to recognize, analyze, and write in several historical styles including uncial, gothic, and italic. Readings and class discussions will reflect on the role and influence of the written word in art and communication.

This course is designed for students interested in the history, literature, and legacy of ancient South Asia. Beginning with the Sanskrit language—its rudiments, extent, and influence—we will proceed to an in-depth study of particular sacred and secular texts composed in South Asia between 1500 BCE and 500 CE. Course objectives are: a familiarity with basic Sanskrit and Indo-European linguistics, a working knowledge of the ancient history of South Asia, and an acquaintance with the major literary products of ancient Indian civilization. We will read selections—in translation—from the Vedas, Upanishads, Yoga Sutras, and the epic Mahabharata (including the Bhagavad Gita), as well as texts covering the six darśanas, or orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy. The principal theme of the course will be exposure to (and sympathy with) an ancient tradition still embraced by millions of people worldwide.

In this two-term course, students with little to no computer programming experience will learn how to code. This course equips students with a basic understanding of the world of technology and fosters logical algorithmic thinking. Students will be introduced to core concepts and principles of programming, which will be applicable to different platforms and languages as students venture further into computer science. This course stresses problem decomposition with an emphasis on independent problem solving. This course does not fulfill the Science graduation requirement.

In this course students learn how to make interactive games using a structured game-making language and development environment. Through a series of individual and team-based design projects students create engaging and beautiful games while learning and applying structured thinking, and problem-solving and debugging skills. This course does not fulfill the Science graduation requirement.

This course teaches fundamental topics of computer science including problem solving, design strategies and methodologies, data structures, and algorithms. This course stresses problem decomposition with an emphasis on independent problem solving and teaches students to develop solutions that can scale up from small, simple problems to large, complex challenges. Students will write, test, and debug solutions in an object-oriented programming language. This course is rigorous and requires extensive work in and out of class. Eligibility will therefore be determined by the department with consideration of grades and comments from previous math and science teachers. This course does not fulfill the Science graduation requirement.

This course follows Honors Computer Science and covers the analysis and design of fundamental data structures. Students learn to use these data structures to code algorithms that effectively solve complex problems. Topics covered include linked lists, trees, graphs, breadth-first and depth-first searches, hash tables, and recursion. Through extended individual and collaborative projects, students learn principles for good program design, and the use of data abstraction and modular program composition in writing clear and effective programs. This course does not fulfill the Science graduation requirement.

Digital Logic and Computer Architecture provides a foundation for students to understand the hardware and design of the modern stored program computer. Modularity and the art of managing complexity are core concepts that allow students to understand the conceptual stack of ideas behind processor design. Students study number systems, transistor physics, combinational and sequential logic, memory design, finite state machines, instruction set architectures, and assembly programming. In each unit students simulate, build and test functioning computer components. This course often requires independent learning and culminates in an extended project. This is a lab-based course and fulfills the Science graduation requirement.

This course is intended to be a first experience in dance, a fun splash into the world of dance! Elementary level students survey a variety of dance forms such as hip-hop, jazz, and modern as well as social and popular dances. There is an emphasis on injury prevention for athletes. Students will gain an appreciation for and an understanding of dance as an embodied art form and athletic activity by exploring the question of “What Is Dance?” This course will be 90% movement and 10% academic inquiry and all academic assignments will be completed during class. Students who sign up for this course are encouraged to continue to Dance 1. May take as a 6th, pass/fail course. \n

See DAN100 description. Please note that a one-term p/f course does not fulfill an arts graduation requirement. Complete the DAN100P, DAN110P, and DAN200P for one term of graduation credit.

This course is intended to be a continuation of the material covered in the introductory level dance class offered during the fall term. However, any elementary-level students may sign up for this course. No previous dance experience is necessary. Students in this course create personalized movement plans focusing on strength and flexibility conditioning. This course will be 85% movement and 15% academic inquiry. Academic work will explore introductory Dance Anatomy and Current Affairs in Dance. Students will have an opportunity to perform in the Student Choreography Showcase. May take as a 6th, pass/fail course.

See DAN110 description. Please note that a one-term p/f course does not fulfill an arts graduation requirement. Complete the DAN100P, DAN110P, and DAN200P for one term of graduation credit.

This advanced beginner level course continues the study of the dance techniques and subjects covered in Dance 1, while further incorporating additional genres of dance at a faster pace. This course will be 85% movement and 15% academic inquiry. Academic work explores Dance History and Appreciation. Students will have an opportunity to perform in the Spring Dance Concert. May take as a 6th, pass/fail course.

See DAN200 description. Please note that a one-term p/f course does not fulfill an arts graduation requirement. Complete the DAN100P, DAN110P, and DAN200P for one term of graduation credit.

This Intermediate course is geared towards the dedicated student of dance. Dancers will train in a variety of techniques including ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, jazz, modern, musical theatre dance, and tap, as well as other social and popular styles of dance. Multiple performance opportunities will be available for dancers throughout the year with both faculty and student choreographers. This course will be 80% movement and 20% academic inquiry. Academic work focuses on Dance Composition, Dance History and Appreciation, and Current Affairs in Dance. May take as a 6th, pass/fail course.

See DAN300 description.

This advanced intermediate course is a continuation of Dance 3 and is designed to meet individual needs. Dancers will train in a variety of techniques, including ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, jazz, modern, musical theatre dance, and tap as well as other social and popular styles of dance. Multiple performance opportunities will be available for dancers throughout the year with both faculty and student choreographers. This course will be 80% movement and 20% academic inquiry. Academic work focuses on Dance Anthropology, Dance History and Appreciation, Current Affairs in Dance, and Dance Composition. May take as a 6th, pass/fail course.

See DAN400 description.

This advanced course is tailored to meet the individual needs of committed and independently motivated dancers. Students work closely with the dance faculty to hone their technique while synthesizing artistry, embodied skill, and critical analysis. Multiple performance and choreographic opportunities are available throughout the year. This course will be 80% movement and 20% academic inquiry. Academic work focuses on the intersecting disciplines of Dance Anthropology, Dance History and Appreciation, Current Affairs in Dance, and Dance Composition.

This course is designed for the pre-professional dancer with aspirations to dance beyond DA or to pursue a career in a related field. Students have the opportunity to curate both embodied and academic work based on their individual interests and goals under the close mentorship of the Dance Director and Dance Faculty. The ratio of Academic to Embodied work will vary depending on the personalized plans created to support the unique goals of each student.

This course offers a year-long introduction to the field of economics. In the first half, we will cover a range of approaches with a particular focus on institutions, economic history, and contending schools of economic thought. Topics include the role of cultural, legal, and political institutions, as well as perspectives informed by class, gender, race, and environmental lenses. The second half of the course surveys the foundations of micro and macroeconomics, with specific attention to neoclassical models of individual behavior, aggregate economic performance, and fiscal and monetary policy prescriptions. Topics include: supply and demand analysis; consumer and business behavior; market structures (competition, monopoly, oligopoly) and market failures (poverty, inflation and unemployment).

In the first half of the year, students are introduced to microeconomic theory through the study of such concepts as supply and demand, the law of diminishing returns, marginal utility, and the theory of the firm and industry. The second half of the year focuses on macroeconomic analysis and its historic development from Keynes to Friedman. Such concepts as national income analysis and monetary and fiscal policy are covered in depth. We also focus on public policy, globalization, and current political/economic issues through the use of case studies and supplemental readings. Honors Economics is a fast-paced, rigorous course that prepares students for both the Advanced Placement Microeconomics and Macroeconomics exams. Strong analytical and mathematical skills are required, so eligibility will be determined by the department, considering applicants’ grades and teacher endorsements from previous math and humanities courses. The prerequisite is precalculus, and the course is open only to seniors and post-graduate students.

This Spring term class focuses on interdependencies between nature and economy from a political economy perspective. Throughout the term, students will explore case studies and develop both theoretical and empirical foundations for critically evaluating environmental policies. Topics include traditional cost/benefit approaches, plastics and e-waste management, sustainable farming, and just transition frameworks.

A Second Look: Reading, Thinking, Writing 1
Reading serves as the foundation of learning. In A Second Look, students read and reread to improve this fundamental skill because a second look at any text offers students the opportunity to uncover meanings they may have overlooked in a first encounter. Through a wide-ranging survey of literary genres, students explore different forms and functions of literature in service of recognizing the multifaceted ways that meaning takes shape through written language. A series of iterative writing prompts animate students’ journeys through these texts: reflective informal writing, imitative vignettes, observational paragraphs, short claim-driven works, and poetry. Students cultivate mutual respect and hone their skills as listeners through regular seminar discussions. Through these repeated practices, students will emerge from this classroom experience more attentive, patient, and confident in their ability to closely read and respond in preparation for their coming year of writing in The Workshop.

The Workshop: Reading, Thinking, Writing 2
In The Workshop, students engage with stages of the work of writing every time they meet. Through the patient, earnest practice of a year’s writing intensive work, the course focuses traditional humanistic habits – seminar discussion, close reading, an expansive and iterative writing process, peer and instructor critique – toward shared pursuit of meaning in critical and imaginative reading, thinking and writing. This shared practice foregrounds revision – the author’s license to begin and begin again, try this way, try that way – at every step between informal response and final, considered drafting. It begins with attentive sentences and paragraphs. It results in discerning arguments. The movement between informal writing, ongoing collaborative critical discussion and critique, refinement, and presentation is regular, repeated, consistent and coherent. Students immerse themselves in a communal social space where experiment, play, imagination, curiosity, listening, feedback, work process, and eventual mastery of form take priority. They learn to feel and understand the connections between reading and thinking, thinking and writing, writing and reading through experience and shared conversation. They exit their year’s work as skilled critical thinkers and writers whose voices belong in a wider community of thinkers and writers.

“The American Dream” is a familiar phrase, but what does it mean? Whose dream is it? Is there just one dream for all Americans? How has it evolved over time? Do considerations of gender, race, ethnicity or class affect the pursuit of this dream? In this course, students examine texts from different genres and time periods that focus on the pursuit of an American Dream in order to gain an understanding of how this peculiarly American idea helped to shape the culture and literature of the United States. Along with the reading of various texts, students will hone their close reading skills, critical thinking skills and formal writing skills. Students will practice the writing process from brainstorming to copy-editing. Texts may include: Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Nella Larsen’s Passing, Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers and short stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, E.A. Poe, Anzia Yezierska and others, as well as poetry and essays.

An interdisciplinary, co-requisite course combining Honors US. History and eleventh-grade English, American Studies tracks intersecting threads of history, literature, art, and culture throughout the development of the United States. By examining the works of historians, artists, filmmakers, and writers from both the past and present, students develop a nuanced understanding of the political, cultural, intellectual, and social forces that shaped the country and continue to influence the present. Close analysis of primary and secondary sources, discussion and debate, research, and reflection will form the foundation for a variety of creative and analytical assessments – from papers and poems to podcasts and films – that ask students to advance arguments of their own about the challenges and opportunities inherent in the country’s evolution. Meeting each class day, American Studies is a team-taught course that can, with some additional self-study, prepare students for the AP U.S. History exam. As the course requires developed analytical skills, recommendations may be made by the History and English Departments, which will consider feedback from previous History and English teachers.

Writing what’s new is inextricably linked to reading what’s come before. With that in mind, this three-genre writing workshop offers a survey of American literature with a focus on craft. How does effective writing work? What are the components? How do authors make art? As we survey the past, we’ll learn how to write well in the present. Students will create, present, critique, and revise significant creative writing of their own, including a complete short story, a folio of poems, and short nonfiction pieces. Fiction, nonfiction, and poetry will be equally represented across the year, and we’ll read authors such as Whitman, Dickinson, Morrison, Fitzgerald, Baldwin, and 20th and 21st century poets. Students will practice their critical and analytical writing skills both in response to their peers’ work and to the work of authors we read.

In this course, we will use a wide range of American short stories, poems, and novels to sample the many voices and issues that have populated American literature. Students may encounter writers ranging from Edith Wharton and Nathaniel Hawthorne in the 19th century to Alice Walker, Arthur Miller, and Toni Morrison in the 20th. The variety of story styles and ideas helps students to understand better how literature has changed over time and to hone their analytical skills by discussing how the stories work. The purpose of the course is to provide a breadth of exposure as well as a chance to sample modern literature.

There is an aphorism, often attributed to Mark Twain, that goes, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” In this course, students will explore the validity of that claim, reading literature that revolves around recurring strains of thinking in American life. From conspiracy theorizing and consumerism to abuses of power and the notion of American exceptionalism, students will be asked – through various presentations, discussions, and analytical/creative writing – to consider if the echoes of this nation’s past resonate with the present. This class will read work by Lorraine Hansberry, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Celeste Ng, Arthur Miller, Toni Morrison, Colson Whitehead, as well as several contemporary journalists.

The fault lines and flashpoints that have shaped American identity and driven the struggle to define the American Dream have also produced much of our greatest literature. This course will delve into novels and short stories that examine some of the most influential and contested fault lines across the American journey, from conflicts between European settlers and Indigenous tribes to the agony of slavery, the rebellion and passion of the 60’s, the fights over borders and belonging, and the shock of 9/11 and its consequences. Possible texts include The Color of Lightning, Beloved, Indian Killer, The Vaster Wilds, Lost Children Archive, Obasan, The Nickel Boys, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk and short stories by Tim O’Brien, Jim Sheperd and Jocelyn Nicole Johnson.

American Rebels: Lone Voices in American Literature
American literature has been shaped by voices that challenge the status quo, question authority, and redefine societal norms. American Rebels explores works by authors who have pushed boundaries—whether through radical ideas, unconventional characters, or distinctive narrative styles. We’ll strive to identify the importance of nonconformist voices and perspectives in advancing both political and literary culture, and the various forms in which we can cultivate our own rebellious thoughts and actions. To develop our own distinctive, defiant writing style we’ll incorporate regular personal journaling, guided and unrestricted creative writing, analytical and argumentative essays, as well as personal narratives. Our texts will include works by Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, J.D. Salinger, Flannery O’Connor, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and Claudia Rankine.

The American Dream is about opportunity and self-invention—but what if the “self” you seek to create is at odds with the status quo? In this course, we will encounter characters who clash, deviate, and wander astray. In a wide range of American novels and short stories, we will consider what pushes certain characters to the cultural margins, why they struggle against accepted conventions, and how their perspectives uniquely help us understand the American experience. Interrogating what it means to be both a “misfit” and an “outsider,” we will frequently engage in close readings, written reflections, creative exercises, and analytical essays. As we seek to understand the varied means by which authors express ideas, we will sharpen our reading skills and develop our own voices. Authors may include William Faulkner, Toni Morrison, Flannery O’Connor, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Lorraine Hansberry, and J.D. Salinger.

Future Shock: Apocalypse and Dystopia in Contemporary Literature
The ground-breaking “dystopian” novels of the 20th Century, such as Orwell’s 1984, Huxley’s Brave New World and Kubrik’s A Clockwork Orange, have produced an extraordinary and growing body of literature that imagines future worlds shaped by current trends, for better and worse. What kind of societies will genetic engineering, AI technologies, virtual environments, climate change, terrorism, population growth and resource wars produce? What will be the fate of the institutions and ideals that presently define us? What will happen to our fundamental notions of liberty, the individual, and human relationships? Will human beings flourish or fail? This course will examine these questions through several of the finest recent literary dystopias and will approach the reading in a primarily seminar-style, discussion format. Writing assignments will be predominantly creative responses to the reading, with an occasional foray into relevant essays, short stories and films. Possible texts include Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell; Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood; The Road by Cormac McCarthy; The Dazzle of Day by Molly Gloss; The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Naylor; Speak by Sarah Hall.

This course will examine the importance of narrators to fiction. Do they lie? Do they omit or distort information? We will consider the function of the narrator as fundamental to how a reader interprets a text. What happens when an author intentionally includes an untrustworthy, unreliable and even unstable narrator? What about a narrator who only knows part of a story but tells it anyhow? How much do the questions of who tells the story and how they tell it influence how the story is received? By reading texts with different types of narrators and forms (such as parallel or split narration) we will explore these and other questions to gain an understanding of how narrative form complicates the meaning of the text as a whole. The goal of the course is for every student to make the transition from talking about what a text says or what happens to making interpretive arguments about how a text works and what its meanings are. Students will also develop a vocabulary for discussing, analyzing and writing about narrative form. Students will practice the writing process: brainstorming, drafting, revising and copy-editing to help take their writing skills to the next scholarly level. Authors may include Agatha Christie, Michael Cunningham, Henry James, John Mullan, Edgar Allan Poe, Virginia Woolf and others.

The Empire Writes Back: A First Experience in Postcolonial Literature
In his poem “Conqueror,” American poet W. S. Merwin addresses an unnamed invading force: “When they start to wear your clothes / do their dreams become more like yours…when they start to use your language / do they say what you say…” We’ll continue the interrogation—and do so from many different angles. Our concern in this course will be literatures by writers from the former colonial world; we’ll read works in English from a number of different regions, which may include South Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. These works contend with a range of issues to do with identity, language, power, freedom; we’ll engage critical theorists to help us navigate these and other issues. Our readings will vary geographically, temporally, as well as by genre: essay, novel, poetry, drama, film. And our own writing will take multiple forms, while the drafting process will include feedback in writing support groups and culminate in students reading their work aloud to the class.

The tutorial approach to learning is a very old method of education that allows students to explore ideas on their own terms. For this class, students will compose their own reading lists and syllabi on one of the following topics: Understanding Love, Wealth & Work, The Value of Art and Philosophy, or Staring Down Mortality. Thus, students might explore the works of Jane Austen alongside Gary Shteyngart, or perhaps compare the dystopias of Octavia Butler with those of Kazuo Ishiguro. The class will meet in groups large and small to discuss the progress of their knowledge-building on the specific topic. Students will also be asked to deliver lectures, write a variety of papers, and participate in seminar discussions.

This course explores democratic emergence, resiliency, and decline from ancient Greece to the present-day United States, focusing on a series of case studies drawn from Harvard Business School Professor David A. Moss’s Democracy: A Case Study and Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. Particular attention will be given to questions of political judgment and leadership and how that finds expression in the writings of Thucydides, Plato, Sophocles, Madison, Paine, Horace Mann, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King, among others.

Poetry Now: Poems, Parables & Images
In this one-term course, students will immerse themselves in the physical world of poetry. They will study and explore the means by which poems are written of and in the physical world, and the ways they are presented to the world as artifacts in broadsides, chapbooks, installations, books, and sound exhibits. They will read and reconfigure significant poems, parables, and literary images, beginning from the premise that learning to discover the uses that a text may have in the life of its reader takes time, energy, conversation and contemplation. They will work with poems and other short texts by Franz Kafka, Jorge Luis Borges and Clarice Lispector, Arthur Rimbaud, C.P. Cavafy, Rainer Maria Rilke, Anne Carson, Bernadette Mayer, Alice Notley, and many other visionary authors. Through a deliberative process of notebook work, dialogue, and engaged hands-on creative projects, students will apply their discoveries to a consideration of what Michel de Certeau terms “the practice of everyday life” and to the ongoingness of intellectual pursuit.

Inside Out: Coming to Terms With Climate Change
This course will use non-fiction, fiction, poetry and documentary film to establish an understanding of the origins and implications of the greatest challenge ever faced by human civilization and to explore the art, the politics and the ethics of confronting climate change both individually and collectively. Writing will be mostly creative responses to the reading, and as far as possible, we will exchange the classroom and the seminar table for the surrounding fields and woods, where walking will be the forum and the catalyst for our discussions as we consider the ways in which climate change is beginning to question, transform and redefine even our most fundamental ideals of success, community, leadership, education — and what it means to be human. May be taken as PHI420.

This course will present opportunities for students to explore, interrogate, and reflect upon the experience of elite, residential learning. In the course of reading fiction and nonfiction pieces exclusively framed within American boarding school settings, students will examine questions surrounding these institutions in general, as well as our own discrete roles within them. Readers will confront the works of Kendra James, John McPhee, Tobias Wolff, Lacy Crawford, Lorene Cary, Curtis Sittenfeld, and Shamus Khan. Through the course of various creative and analytical writing assignments and regular Socratic dialogue, students will synthesize their own experiences with those of the selected authors to arrive at a more nuanced and focused understanding of this idiosyncratic approach to education.

This one-term course offers seniors an opportunity to strengthen their academic writing before they head off to college. The course is designed not only to ensure that students feel capable and confident in foundational writing skills of thesis-formulation, organization and structure, use of evidence, grammar and punctuation, and citation of sources; students will also have a chance to build more advanced skills, including how to effectively incorporate secondary sources and how to apply their skills to writing tasks across a range of academic disciplines. As a way of building these skills, students will complete a variety of writing assignments, and they will have quite a bit of choice as to what they write about. Student will also read short pieces – essays, articles, short stories – to provide common material on which to write, but the focus of this course will be on the writing itself. As such, students can expect a lot of writing practice, a lot of 1-on-1 instruction, feedback, and conferencing, and, hopefully, a lot of growth.

Over two million books are published globally every year. In this course, we will read a small sampling of the texts released in the last twelve months as a way to try and understand our current moment. We will explore a range of genres, from fiction to poetry to memoir, and consider them in the context of their creation. The course will be driven by questions about the way in which literature does or does not reflect our reality, and how we might use literature to gain a deeper understanding of human experience. For the final text of the course, students will choose a recently published text to study before sharing their revelations and understanding with the class.

How did we get from Achilles to Spiderman? What are heroes really good for? Where did the concept originate? Who is allowed to be a hero? In this course students will explore these questions by tracing the evolution of the concept of hero from ancient times to the present. The Greeks proposed that a hero should originate from a position of prestige and undergo a tragic downfall. Today we might see things differently. With a focus on literary analysis, students in this course will examine drama, film, and novels to reach their own conclusions about heroism. Highlighted authors will be drawn from Arthur Miller, Sophocles, Albert Camus, Elizabeth Gonzalez James, Cormac McCarthy, and William Shakespeare.

Trapped in temperatures plummeting as low as 52 degrees below zero, explorer Adolphus Greely desperately scribbled, “We have been lured here to our destruction. We have done all we can to help ourselves, and shall ever struggle on. It is not the end that affrights anyone, but the road to be traveled to reach that goal. To die is easy; very easy. It is only hard to strive, to endure, to live.” This course will examine the lives and journeys of 19th and early 20th century polar explorers– the astronauts of their time. These intrepid adventurers sailed into the enigmatic frozen regions, striving to master nature itself. Through the study of modern fiction, documentary film, and nonfiction, we will seek to appreciate these historical figures and their will to discover and survive in earth’s most hostile environments. This research-based, student-driven course encourages exploration of individual interests.

Wander into the realm of the unknown and confront the things that go bump in the night. Through a selection of modern horror, spanning novels, short stories, comics, and films, students will dissect a chilling body of work. We will not only explore contemporary stories but also pay homage to the masters who paved the way for the genre. Anticipate a dynamic blend of critical and creative writing projects. We’ll strive to appreciate and even emulate scary storytelling from all over the world– tales that challenge our understanding of the most primal human emotion: fear. Unearth the secrets of suspense, untangle the threads of terror, and emerge from this course with a greater appreciation for the artistry behind the stories that haunt our imaginations.

Complexity arises from the simplest of premises: the more we look, the more we see. It’s a premise that leads from seeming-simple textual study to profound depths and critical insight. Students in this year-long course will apply slow thinking principles to the study of significant contemporary novels under the premise that learning to discover what uses a text may have in the life of its reader takes time, energy, conversation and contemplation. They will enjoy and deliberate over novels by authors from Europe and the United States including Elena Ferrante of Italy, Jon Fosse of Norway, and Rachel Cusk of Great Britain. As we read, we will look at the novels through the lens of friendship and conversation, and we will study conversation, as outlined in Alison Wood Brooks’ book, TALK, alongside literature throughout the year. Through a careful process of auditing understanding and meaning in dialectical notebooks, we will develop our capacity for distinction, comparison, opposition, definition, and dialogue. Students will also write a senior meditation in the winter term and complete a portfolio of original writing in the spring term.

Writing prompt: describe a moment when everything changed, all of a sudden and without much warning. Masters of the short story form have made it their business to intricately compose moments of immediate transformation, as if the above prompt is the guiding inquiry in their work. This class will examine short stories of sudden transformation by reading George Saunders and the nineteenth-century Russian masters in juxtaposition. Therefore, along with reading Saunders’s Tenth of December and Liberation Day, we will also examine A Swim in the Pond in the Rain, which features stories by Chekhov, Tolstoy, Turgenev, and Gogol. Students will write analytically and creatively in response to these works with a keen focus on detail and craft. Ultimately, the work in this class will remind us of the tragic beauty of impermanence and the unrelenting potential of our own short stories.

Whether debating the dining hall’s best dish or fondly remembering our favourite family meals, food can act as a means of connection and a way to help us to understand a culture and community. Through readings by Angela Hui, Anthony Bourdain, Jessica B. Harris, Michael Pollan and others, we will explore various approaches to writing about food and what those writings can tell us about the world around us. After studying a range of approaches, ideas, and genres, students will explore an element of their own identity and community through food. Along the way, we will conduct interviews, carry out research, and share favourite foods with each other.

In this creative writing class, we’ll experiment with the many shapes a poem can take. We’ll practice seeing the world as poets, reading as poets, and writing poems. Through exercises, you’ll use the resources of your particular imagination to overcome your internal censor, and through revision, you’ll learn to shape your words artfully. Much of class time will be spent in workshop, that is, in community-minded discussion and critique of student writing. We’ll examine issues of craft such as syntax, diction, rhythm, imagery, structure, and sound. Exercises will stem from the readings and aim to stretch both skill and imagination. This class will encourage oddness, reward risk-taking, challenge the intellect, and require playfulness. We’ll read closely and widely in late 20th century and contemporary poetry, and students will practice writing critically in response to what they read. Authors and texts may include Victoria Chang, Danez Smith, Larry Levis, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Lucille Clifton, Robert Hass, Brenda Hillman, and The Poem Is You, an anthology by Stephanie Burt. This class will be taught by a published poet with decades of experience in the genre.

“Walking, ideally, is a state in which the mind, the body, and the world are aligned, as though they were three characters finally in conversation together, three notes suddenly making a chord.” Here Rebecca Solnit contemplates this everyday human motion. There’s a long and storied history of writers thinking about walking, and walking to think (across rural landscapes and urban), then capturing their experience in language. We’ll explore some of these works—by contemporary writers Rebecca Solnit, Robert Macfarlane, Garnette Cadogan, Teju Cole; and by earlier writers James Baldwin, Virginia Woolf, Walt Whitman. We’ll consider what they teach us, determine what we think, and go on walks to do the work ourselves. And then we’ll write—and so join the tradition. In our composition cycles, we’ll follow a drafting process that includes feedback in writing support groups and culminates in students reading their work aloud to the class.

Libraries, museums, lecture halls. Like most students, you’ve spent time in these. But how well did you pay attention? Was everything as it seemed? Or did you miss something? Appearances can be deceiving. Once you step into the shadowy corners of fantasy fiction’s hallowed halls, you may never look at a librarian or professor and their stack of books in the same way. In the world of fantasy fiction, take nothing for granted—secrets and magic lurk close at hand, waiting to be discovered. A bewitched manuscript found in an Oxford library might unexpectedly summon supernatural creatures. A mysterious bookshop might appear in New York just to offer a confused graduate student magical portals to other worlds. Or a cryptic note buried in a professor’s office might set in motion a dangerous quest for answers to a father’s unexplained disappearance. Anything is possible. As we work our way through a series of captivating tales, students will gain a deeper understanding of how fantasy writers blend the magical and mythical with suspense to create powerful stories that explore the human experience through the lens of unlimited imagination. Writing projects will include both critical and creative pieces.

Here in the Pioneer Valley, the dark greens of late summer transition to a rich panoply of color as temperatures shift from hot and humid to crisp and cool. Come winter, cold and quiet dominate the New England landscape and creatures of all sorts scurry to hibernate. They sleep until the return of the sun, which arrives in spring to thaw ice to water and paints a gray world bright. Students in this cross-disciplinary, place-based course will experience these changes through outdoor excursions that lead them to contemplate their relationship to the natural world. Field study will offer the opportunity to practice the close observation required to successfully write about place, while classroom study of relevant historical context and such contemporary environmental writers as Robin Wall Kimmerer, Kathleen Moore, Kevin Fedarko, Terry Tempest Williams, and Cheryl Savageau will animate students’ understandings of both what they see and new ways of seeing. Over the course of the year, students will develop historical research and writing skills with the goal of composing a long-form braided essay that combines personal narrative with nature writing, research, and critical engagement with the readings from the term.

In this introductory course, students learn basic French communication skills – while also exploring the cultures of the Francophone world. They engage in their own learning through collaboration, investigation and practice using text, video and audio materials. Students learn to write and speak in the present, past, and future tenses and give commands. An emphasis on speaking, listening, reading and basic writing guides the course. Students leave the introductory level ready for further French language acquisition.

This second level course focuses on increasing communicating skills, both in written and oral form, through the lens of grammatical acquisition. Students are exposed to, and expected to master, the past tenses and the future tenses that they will use in their writing and speaking. The study of negatives, and several pronoun categories will be integrated along the way. Reading a variety of Francophone texts, along with video skit performances, daily oral participation, and individual and group projects will establish the natural use of the acquired grammar.

This course is for students with a high degree of aural-oral proficiency. In addition to an in-depth study of grammar, students develop conversation skills and read a variety of short literary works from France and the Francophone world. Various technology sites will be used to enhance both written and oral production. As with all honors classes at Deerfield, French 2 Honors requires a substantial and consistent work ethic in order to master the material in a satisfactory manner.

The third year of language study is pivotal. Using the skills gained in the first two levels as a springboard, the students expand and deepen their knowledge and comfort level with language use. Intensive grammar review of the items covered in the previous levels allows students to deepen their understanding of the past and future tenses as well as the conditional mood. The reading of their first substantial novel opens them up to the diverse francophone diaspora. An end of year project puts to use all of the skills acquired in the first three levels of language study.

The honors track for level 3 continues exposure to advanced grammatical structures, which includes all tenses within the indicative and subjunctive moods, and a more sophisticated application of pronouns. Through the study of literary texts, students understand grammar and structure in context. Papers, skits, daily analysis, and class debates engage the students with the material. As with all honors classes at Deerfield, French III Honors requires a substantial and consistent work ethic in order to master the material in a satisfactory manner.

This course is for students who would like to pursue the study of French at a more advanced level. Students examine grammar more deeply through literature, continue to develop oral proficiency through discussion, and further hone their reading comprehension through the study of selected historical periods and their accompanying texts. A textbook is also used when grammar and structure review is necessary. Papers, skits, daily analysis, and debates help students engage with the material.

This honors course emphasizes oral proficiency, composition, and literary and oral analysis. Students will read a variety of genres from the Francophone world. This class will also examine French history through various films. As with all honors classes at Deerfield, French 4 Honors requires a substantial and consistent work ethic in order to master the material in a satisfactory manner.

What can French cinema reveal about the cultures and societies that produce it? This course explores major works from the past sixty years of French and Francophone film—from the postwar boom and the French New Wave to the present—through close viewing, discussion, and analytical writing. Students develop the tools of film criticism while situating influential works by directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Agnès Varda within their broader cultural and historical contexts. This course is taught in English; work can be submitted in either English or French. Do not need French language experience for this course.

This honors course emphasizes oral proficiency, composition, and literary and oral analysis. Students will read a variety of genres from the Francophone world. This class will also examine French history through various films. As with all honors classes at Deerfield, this course requires a substantial and consistent work ethic in order to master the material in a satisfactory manner.

This is a topics-based course for advanced speakers of French who have finished French 5 Honors. The course is especially designed for those students who wish to continue their French studies at the college level. Readings explore a wide variety of topics such as issues of contemporary France and the European Union. Open to students with permission of the instructor. This course may not be offered every year. Strong students can choose to take the AP exam. As with all honors classes at Deerfield, this requires a substantial and consistent work ethic in order to master the material in a satisfactory manner.

This is a topic course for advanced speakers of French who have finished French VI-Honors at Deerfield, or its equivent. It is a course especially designed for those students who wish to continue their French studies. Readings will continue beyond the French VI-Honors curriculum and explore French colonization and the questions emerging in its aftermath, both in the colonized world and in France itself. This course may not be offered every year.

Who were the ancient Greeks? What did they think? How did they express themselves? And what is their relevance today? This course provides an introduction to the Greek language, specifically the dialect of Athens during the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. Precise, intricate, and beautiful, Attic Greek was a language of philosophy (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle), history (Thucydides), oratory (Demosthenes), tragedy (Sophocles, Euripides), and comedy (Aristophanes). The course introduces students to the vocabulary and grammar of Attic Greek, while exploring themes in Greek history, literature, and mythology. Knowledge of Latin is not required or expected.

The second year of ancient Greek is designed to bring students from the rudiments of grammar to authentic texts. Beginning with a comprehensive review of Attic morphology, syntax, and vocabulary, the course graduates to advanced topics in Greek grammar and relevant social and historical content. Students proceed to authentic texts in both poetry and prose during the first term; the second term of Greek 2 will be spent on Plato’s Crito, an accessible and foundational example of classical Greek prose and ancient philosophy.

The third year of ancient Greek is a survey of classical Greek literature, beginning with the Fables of Aesop and concluding with the philosophy of Aristotle. Students will gain proficiency in the dialects of ancient Greek and the composition and analysis of Greek prose and poetry. Designed for advanced readers of ancient Greek.

Health Seminar I is a ninth-grade course designed to support understanding of the complexities surrounding mental and physical health, healthy relationships, and substance use. The class examines depression, anxiety, and eating disorders in depth as well as the difference between mental health and mental illness. Students discuss the effects of nutrition, social media, and artificial intelligence on mental wellbeing and learn about resources available to them both at Deerfield and beyond. This course analyzes the effects of alcohol, cannabis, opioid, and nicotine use, particularly when consumed during the prefrontal cortex’s formative years. Students end the course by learning about topics relevant to sexual health as well as characteristics of healthy and abusive relationships.

Health Seminar II is a tenth-grade course seeking to support ongoing student awareness of issues related to mental health, healthy relationships, and addiction. Building off foundational concepts delivered in the 9th grade, course instructors guide student discussion around components of abusive relationships, the opioid crisis, and consequences of alcohol abuse. Students are also introduced to the effects of hallucinogens, stimulants, and cannabis. During the addiction unit, the Deerfield Police Department’s Educational Resource Officer visits all tenth-grade health sections to collaborate with instructors.

This course examines the development of a number of early societies spanning multiple continents and many thousands of years. Those societies may include Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and Mesoamerican cultures. Course materials include a wide array of historical and literary texts that provide insight into the ways ancient peoples organized themselves and explained the world around them. We will explore cross-cultural interactions across time and space with a focus on the ways that religious and cultural exchange shaped and continue to influence the world around us. Topics may include the literature of early Mesopotamian civilizations, the social structure of Egypt and Mesoamerica, and the political organization of classical Greece and Rome. Each 100-level history course provides students with a foundation of core skills, including source analysis, discussion and debate, inquiry-based research, and analytical writing and presentation.

Using literature and a rich variety of historical sources, this course studies the cultural, political, and economic consequences of colonialism in selected countries in Africa and Latin America. Each unit explores how the forces of conquest, colonization, and commerce have shaped the lives of individuals and communities in these countries. The interdisciplinary course materials also focus on the process of upheaval and change associated with revolution, decolonization, and independence in these regions. The course texts rely heavily upon indigenous voices and investigate a range of countries that may include Brazil, Haiti, Mexico, Peru, Nigeria, South Africa, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Each 100-level history course provides students with a foundation of core skills, including source analysis, discussion and debate, inquiry-based research, and analytical writing and presentation.

This course serves both as an introduction for students who have never studied Asian history and as a means, for those with foundational background, to further explore the societies, politics, and belief systems of India, China and Japan. While students focus primarily on one of the three regional civilizations each term, they also trace the complex web of commercial and cultural exchange paths that crossed Asia and stretched to Europe, Africa, North America, and Oceania. Along the way, they inquire into the relationship between these early pathways and modern global ones. Secondary source texts provide scaffolding for the course, but we spend even more time examining philosophical texts, early historical treatises, travelogues, and manuals on ruling and warfare. We additionally pay close attention to the role of racial/social hierarchies in shaping power dynamics, both in Asia and in a globalized, modern world. Each 100-level history course provides students with a foundation of core skills, including source analysis, discussion and debate, inquiry-based research, and analytical writing and presentation.

How did the universe begin? How has the universe developed over time? How do humans fit into this evolving story? Where is the future heading? These are questions that origin stories from different cultures have addressed for thousands of years. This course explores the modern scientific origin story of how the universe and life within it has grown more complex over the last 13.8 billion years. This tale, itself thousands of years in the making, has been woven together by a wide spectrum of thinkers and scholars from numerous scientific and historical fields. Together, students will engage powerful ideas and common themes across the entire time scale of history, from the Big Bang and creation of star systems to the emergence of the Earth’s first microorganisms and the recent rise of human societies. Because Big History relies upon content, concepts and texts drawn from many disciplines, students will need to carefully weigh how scholars develop and justify their claims about the past, and how, over time, new claims serve to refute or refine earlier ones. Students will also have the opportunity to create their own narratives, explanations and arguments in response to Big History’s essential questions. Each 100-level history course provides students with a foundation of core skills, including source analysis, discussion and debate, inquiry-based research, and analytical writing and presentation.

In this AP Seminar course, students explore the complexity of global food and fresh water systems while developing their skills as critical thinkers and strong communicators. The course focuses on current local and global issues related to freshwater availability and infrastructure, agriculture and food production, and water and food insecurity. The course teaches students to develop their own strong research questions, understand and analyze arguments, evaluate multiple perspectives, synthesize ideas, collaborate effectively, build and communicate their own arguments in both written and oral formats, and reflect on their increasing ability to engage with real world issues as engaged global citizens. Throughout this interdisciplinary course, students deepen their understanding of freshwater access and food systems through debates, seminar discussions, independent research, collaborative projects, oral presentations, guest speakers, and field trips. Students research freshwater issues and the environmental, economic, cultural, and health impacts of widely differing food systems and learn to both collaboratively and independently propose solutions and work actively for positive change. Most of the second half of the year will be spent working on a team project and individual research-based essay as part of the College Board Assessments for AP Seminar. As the course requires strong critical thinking skills and the ability to manage independent research projects, eligibility may be determined by the department.

This course examines selected themes in the history of Europe, from the medieval period to the recent past. Major topics include the Renaissance, the Reformation, politics, society and culture in early-modern Europe, the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, the era of the French Revolution and Napoleon, the emergence of modern political ideologies, nation-building and imperialism in the nineteenth century, the world wars and the advent of the Cold War. With additional self-study, students taking this course can be well prepared for the AP European History exam. As the course requires solid analytical skills and the ability to manage a substantial reading load, eligibility may be made by the department, which will consider the endorsements of past History and English teachers. To view a typical assignment students are expected to read and annotate in 70 minutes, click here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mh-xkBIVkLPEdToH1Qnnzlu6FZ02MC2u/view?usp=sharing

This course in American history prioritizes depth over breadth in exploring certain critical junctures in the political, social, economic, and cultural history of the United States from pre-colonial times to the present, including its relations with other countries. We will ask how history and identity are inextricably linked, consider the ways in which history is the set of stories we choose to tell, and examine the competing values that have shaped the development of the United States as well as the forces of continuity and change. This course stresses the skills of a historian, including careful reading, critical thinking, primary-source analysis, discussion skills and analytical writing; its core assessments will extend beyond writing to activities that include debates, roundtables, simulations, and research-based projects.

This course, for students who are excited by historical inquiry and have demonstrated aptitude in prior humanities classes, is a fast-paced survey of United States history from colonial times to the late 20th century. Using a college-level textbook that is supplemented daily with excerpts of primary sources, as well as occasional secondary source readings and videos, students examine major themes and developments in social, economic, and cultural history within a framework of a political narrative. With an emphasis on careful reading, critical thinking, primary-source analysis, research, and analytical writing, students engage with one another and with the text to develop both a command of the substantial material and the skills of a historian. With additional self-study, students taking this course can be well prepared for the AP U.S. History exam. As the course requires solid analytical skills and the ability to manage a substantial reading load, eligibility will be determined by the department, which will consider the endorsements of past History and English teachers. A typical night’s assignment students will be expected to read and annotate in 70 minutes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RmBWAk8r7o2Iksg8_UYBpW02XtNd7Y-L/view?usp=drive_link

An interdisciplinary, co-requisite course combining Honors US. History and eleventh-grade English, American Studies tracks intersecting threads of history, literature, art, and culture throughout the development of the United States. By examining the works of historians, artists, filmmakers, and writers from both the past and present, students develop a nuanced understanding of the political, cultural, intellectual, and social forces that shaped the country and continue to influence the present. Close analysis of primary and secondary sources, discussion and debate, research, and reflection will form the foundation for a variety of creative and analytical assessments – from papers and poems to podcasts and films – that ask students to advance arguments of their own about the challenges and opportunities inherent in the country’s evolution. Meeting each class day, American Studies is a team-taught course that can, with some additional self-study, prepare students for the AP U.S. History exam. As the course requires developed analytical skills, recommendations may be made by the History and English Departments, which will consider feedback from previous History and English teachers.

The Nazi regime relied on long-standing strains of anti-Semitism as well as newer racial ideologies to gather support for their purposeful and highly systematic attempt to destroy the Jewish population in Europe. Beginning with an introduction to the roots of anti-Semitism in Europe, this course then explores the political, social and economic factors in Europe that made Adolf Hitler’s rise to power possible. It also examines the origins, development, and implementation of the Nazi Germany’s genocidal policies and their relationship to the Second World War. Using diaries, speeches, bureaucratic documents, memoirs, films, and historical scholarship, this course considers accounts by perpetrators, victims, survivors, bystanders and rescuers in order to wrestle with the motivations and suffering of the various people involved. Finally, the course investigates the aftermath of the Holocaust and its legacies today, including the historical scholarship of the last generation of Holocaust studies.

With its celebration of innovation, return on investment, and creative destruction, capitalism appears to be about the future. But it can be understood only by studying its past. Together we will investigate the global origins, development, and spread of capitalism from its earlier stages to the present. We will pay special attention to investment, credit and money, conceptions of growth, the corporation, labor movements, technology and the environment, race and gender, consumer cultures, and the role of the state. Drawing on new historical scholarship, documentaries and podcasts, and a diverse array of primary sources, we will develop a critical understanding of capitalism as a system and ideology created and shaped by individual choices, social struggle, and government actions. After four months spent mastering core concepts and collaborating at the seminar table, students will design and embark on a two-month research project on a related topic of their choice.

There may be nothing more important to human beings than our ability to enshrine experience and recall it. While philosophers and poets have elevated memory to an almost mystical level, psychologists and neuroscientists have struggled to demystify it. This two-term, interdisciplinary course combines history, the neuroscience of how our brains create and retain memories, and the varied ways in which societies around the world have recorded and explored the concept of memory. While the course aims to explore the theme of memory globally, the course focuses specifically on two areas: the United States of the mid-to-late 19th century, and the Middle East of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The course examines the legacy of figures such as John Brown and Yasser Arafat, asking “How should we remember important polarizing leaders?” Texts will include E.L. Doctorow’s novel Ragtime, the 2017 play Oslo, and the 2020 memoir entitled The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine; students will compare these literary texts with their own research on historiographical interpretations. Students will also study resistance in the face of heavy odds and debate how these conflicts over memorialization affect our contemporary world.

Heroin, “Oxy,” fentanyl, carfentanil. These drug names, along with names of pharmaceutical companies set to pay billions in fines and civil liability, punctuate news stories about an opioid crisis that blossomed in the ‘90s and that has continued, unabated, in the pandemic era. Why, among developed countries, does the US stand out for this problem? Whose problem is it? Our course begins just up the road in Greenfield. We then trace opioids to their sources, mapping the global web of narcotics-trafficking routes and identifying stakeholders who both benefit from and are crippled by one of the world’s most lucrative renewable commodities. To understand opium’s power, we examine its history, exploring man’s economic, political and even artistic addictions to opium through topics as varied as the 19th- century Opium Wars, 20th-century music, and 21st-century film. Students will read portions of Sam Quinones’s award-winning Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic. They will additionally interview substance-abuse specialists and travel to a courthouse to meet with social workers and legal experts in the field. Assessments in this one-term elective include debates, student-run discussions, and a short independent research project.

How have people banded together to affect social change? Why have different social movements used different tactics—withholding labor, engaging in violence, inspiring laughter or shock or horror—to achieve societal recognition and government protection? This class will explore the history of protest movements, along with the cultures and environments from which they arose. We will consider how successfully protest movements created lasting change, and we will identify and interrogate our metrics of success. Themes of this class include the preconditions of popular activism, the speed and scope of governmental change, and the complexities of coalition-building. The class will investigate case studies in labor, racial justice, and the gay liberation movement, among others. We will engage with a broad range of media, including historical monographs, film, music, law, and art.

Challenging the traditional conception of the Cold War as a bipolar struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, this course wrestles with the local, regional, and global significance of the Cold War. Students will gain an understanding of how the Cold War intersected with decolonization movements, shaped regional conflicts, and influenced the development of nations around the world. Shifting focus from the superpowers, the class will highlight the agency of local groups in various regions of the Global South and will examine the ideological, political, cultural, and socio-economic dimensions of the conflict. It relies on historical scholarship as well as documentaries, memoirs, art, speeches, policy documents, and intelligence files. Assessments include group presentations, response papers, and a final independent research project.

Brazilian History, Culture & Identity
Brazil, the largest country in South America, has long desired international economic and political power but has yet to attain the status of a developed nation. Contemporary conversations about Brazil’s future prompt many critical questions about this nation’s complex past. Beginning with independence and moving to the present, this course examines the political, economic, social, and cultural evolution of the Brazilian nation-state. Students will investigate a variety of significant themes including the tensions between political ideals and realities under both democratic and authoritarian regimes; race, gender, immigration, and citizenship; and the formation of national culture and social hierarchies in this diverse country. Students utilize scholarly works along with “popular culture” including music, film, photography, and literature to explore the making (and remaking) of racial and national identity. Assessments include participating in and leading class discussion, response papers, and presentations.

Students will approach the global art world as active participants and engage with its forms and content as they read, discuss, and write about art, artists, and art-making over time. We will explore the whole of the world’s visual imagery, from prehistoric times to the 21st century. They will understand how the following “big ideas” spiral across topics and units: culture; interactions with other cultures; materials, processes and techniques in art-making; artwork’s purpose and audience; and theories and interpretations of art. Students will develop their facility for visual analysis, contextual analysis, comparison, and argumentation. The goal is for students to experience art rather than memorize facts about it, and to establish an engaging dialogue about art and history. Through seminar discussions of nightly reading, students will approach art from different angles and consider its relevance to our own world and perceived notions of beauty, power, and identity. Students will also learn to make interdisciplinary connections, as art history offers the rare opportunity to examine other disciplines through sensory experience. May also be taken as ART420.

We often say that understanding history is essential for understanding the present, but what does that actually mean? This course takes today’s news as a starting point for historical inquiry. As major stories unfold in real time, students will ask what history can—and cannot—tell us about them. How have societies in the past confronted problems similar to those facing the world today? What are the advantages and limits of thinking comparatively across time and place? Topics will vary based on the latest headlines, but major themes are likely to include technology, war, mass migration, environmental change, and foreign intervention. Rather than arriving at settled conclusions, students will practice sitting with uncertainty, weighing competing interpretations, and developing their own views through discussion, debate, and analytical writing. The course will culminate with an independent research project connecting a contemporary issue to its historical antecedents.

The Dutch historian Pieter Geyl described the practice of history as “an argument without end.” In this advanced research seminar, students will prepare to join the argument by immersing themselves in the literature on a topic of their choice, exploring the methods historians use to unlock meaning from diverse kinds of sources, and producing a piece of original scholarship of publishable quality. In the Fall, students will read and discuss exemplary academic articles and monographs and converse with working historians to sharpen their skills of crafting research questions, locating and analyzing documents, constructing arguments through narrative, positioning arguments in the literature, revising substantively, and reaching an intended audience. In the Winter, students will embark on a self-directed project while guided, supported, and challenged by faculty, librarians, and their cohort of scholars. They will emerge from the course with an article-length (16-24 page) project they are ready to share with the Academy and intellectual communities beyond campus. Because success in this course requires strong analytical thinking and writing skills, facility with challenging readings, and the ability to sustain motivation and steady progress over a months-long independent project, eligibility will be determined by department.

Who were the Romans? What did they say about the world? And how did they say it? Latin 100 provides beginning students with the tools they need to ask and answer these questions. The course emphasizes the vocabulary, morphology, and syntax of classical Latin, direct engagement with Roman literature, and the rudiments of Roman history, culture, and mythology. The study of etymology and the comparison of Latin with English are fundamental components of Latin 100.

Designed for students with previous exposure to Latin, whose primary goals are Latin reading comprehension, ancient history, mythology, and the legacy of Latin in English. The primary textbook is Hans Ørberg’s Lingua Latina per se illustrata. Latin 200 takes a reading-based, immersive approach to the acquisition of vocabulary, morphology, and syntax. This course prepares students for Latin 300. Qualified students may advance to Latin 400 with instructor permission.

A continuation of Latin 200, Latin 300 likewise takes a reading-based, immersive approach to Latin vocabulary, morphology, and syntax. The focus is on the comprehension of authentic Latin prose and poetry, ancient history, mythology, and the legacy of Latin in English. In the spring, students are introduced to the fundamentals of Latin poetry, including metrics, scansion, and figures of speech and thought. This course prepares students for Latin 400.

This is an advanced literature seminar, conducted in English, offering a rigorous study of Vergil’s Aeneid and exploring Rome’s place in the history of western Europe. Through the study of language, literature, and history, students will seek to understand Roman identity and its influence. The course assumes a thorough grounding in Latin vocabulary, grammar, and prosody. It covers the selections of the Aeneid found on the AP Latin syllabus and familiarizes students with the nature of that exam.

Latin 5 Honors: Survey of Latin Literature
This two-term advanced seminar examines sacred and secular Latin texts from the Middle Ages, with particular attention to reading and analyzing illuminated manuscripts. Texts studied may include selections from the Latin Vulgate, the Colloquy of Aelfric in Latin and Old English, legends of saints and travelers, and the Roman Missal.

The Latin 6 seminar, conducted in English, is a special topics course, designed for advanced students in the Latin curriculum who have completed Latin 5. The texts of the course will continue a survey of Latin authors (as begun in Latin 5), with emphasis on student interest. Along with central texts, students will gain experience in prose and verse composition. Special topics, such as epigraphy and historical linguistics, will be explored where appropriate.

From the extent of our privacy to the limits on the powers of government to the meaning of equality, the United States Supreme Court is the arbiter of many critical issues in American society. This one-term course examines the Court’s efforts to balance the often conflicting rights of individuals with the broader interests of society. In doing so, the course considers the proper role of the Court itself. Topics for debate may include privacy issues, equality under the law, and freedom of speech. Assessments primarily consist of moot courts in which students assume the role of lawyers and justices to examine, argue, and rule upon recent or current issues before the Supreme Court.

This is a course in first year algebra with emphasis on such topics as the properties of the real number system, solving first degree sentences in one variable, the fundamental operations involving polynomial and rational expressions, systems of linear equations in two variables, fractions, factoring, ratio, proportion, variation, exponents, roots, quadratic equations, and problem solving. All of the material of a typical first year of algebra will be completed as well as a variety of enrichment topics.

This course is designed for a student who has already studied some or much of the material that is covered in a typical first year algebra program, but who would benefit from additional work with the topics of Algebra I. The fall term is devoted to a review of the basic skills and ideas of real numbers, followed by single-variable equations and inequalities and then work with linear relations and their applications in the late fall and winter. Students end the winter with the study of quadratic relations and their applications and spend the spring term on introductions to exponential relations, probability and statistics, and the idea of functions.

This course is designed for students who would benefit from significant reinforcement of topics from Algebra I as they pertain to geometric problems. The emphasis in this course is on recognizing the geometric relationships in shapes and solids. New concepts are introduced using inductive reasoning and exploration. Students who complete this course will be prepared for a 300-level course.

This course integrates material from both plane and solid geometry. However, the development of the material requires extensive use of the skills and concepts already studied in algebra. The major emphasis is the study of the properties of two and three dimensional geometric figures from both a deductive and inductive reasoning approach. Additional topics include material from analytic geometry, exercises in logic, the graphing of functions and relations and elementary trigonometry. Students who complete this course will be prepared for a 300-level course.

This course meets the standards of a second year algebra course, and is designed for students whose background indicates a need for a review of material from previous courses. The course moves at a somewhat slower pace than MAT305. Students who complete this course are prepared for a 400-level mathematics course.

This course is intended for students who have had success in MAT105 and MAT205 or the equivalent. The course material is developed with an emphasis on the functional approach and most topics include a range of applied problems. The main focus of the course is the analytical development of the linear, quadratic, polynomial, exponential and logarithmic functions. Other topics developed include an analysis of both the real and complex number systems, systems of equations in two and three variables, and an introduction to trigonometric functions. Students may take a 200-level and this 300-level course concurrently. Students who complete this course are prepared for a 400-level mathematics course.

The course follows the same material as MAT305 but in greater depth. Students in this class are frequently asked to solve non-routine problems and to apply familiar concepts in new problem situations. Students may take a 200-level and this 300-level course concurrently. Successful completion of this course normally advances a student to Math 409.

This course is intended as a follow-up to Algebra II or an equivalent course. It is designed to complete the study of the elementary functions (linear, quadratic, exponential, logarithmic, and trigonometric). Additionally, the course presents material from finite mathematics including an introduction to probability and statistics, and the normal distribution. Throughout the entire course modeling of real phenomena is emphasized.

This course is a follow up to MAT305 and as such continues the development of functions and relations. The course includes a thorough study of polynomial, rational, exponential, logarithmic and trigonometric functions, an analytical development of conic sections, polar equations and graphs, matrices, and an introduction to data analysis. Calculator based graphing technology is incorporated into the course, and the instructional approach relies on students’ immediate access to this technology.

This course is designed as a continuation of Math 309. The topics covered in this accelerated course include all those listed under Math 405 but the pace is such that the material will be completed by the end of the winter term. Successful completion of this course typically advances a student to Math 519 (AP Calculus BC).

This course is intended for students who have demonstrated an interest in pursuing additional mathematics courses at Deerfield but have found themselves unable to achieve their goals in their time remaining at the school. Students who have only earned credits in Algebra I and Geometry only by the end of their sophomore year may be eligible for this course by teacher recommendation. In addition, some students in Algebra II may also be recommended for this course. Students should be prepared for a course that is rigorous, challenging, and requires significant independent effort to succeed. The course is designed to move students through fundamental content from Algebra and Precalculus that will prepare them for success in the senior year in one of Deerfield’s 500 level courses. All students will complete a study of polynomials, logarithmic, exponential, and trigonometric functions before branching to additional content.

This course follows MAT400. It is also intended for students who have completed 405 and who do not wish to study calculus at this time. This course provides a continued emphasis on the development of functions and relations, including a thorough study of polynomial, rational, exponential, logarithmic, and power functions. Further, data analysis and difference equations are used to model real world phenomena. Calculator and computer based graphing technology are incorporated into the course.

This course follows Math 400. It is is intended for students who would like to begin the study of Calculus as well as reinforce their Precalculus skills in preparation for college. This course provides a continued emphasis on the development of functions and relations, and develops further Precalculus topics such as sequences and series and provides a deeper understanding of exponential, logarithmic, and trigonometric functions. In the winter and spring terms, this course provides a thorough grounding in limits and Differential Calculus.

While this course does not qualify as full Calculus course, it will provide students an advantage in college level Calculus. It will also qualify as a full Precalculus credit in combination with MAT400.

This course offers an introduction to the derivative and the integral and their applications. The pace of this course allows for some review of precalculus topics when necessary.

This course is intended for students with demonstrated success in MAT 405 or its equivalent. It follows the Advanced Placement AB syllabus, which incorporates an introduction to the derivative and the integral and their applications. Students in this course should be prepared for a rigorous course of mathematics, an accelerated pace, and are prepared to take the AP exam in May.

Are you interested in using data sets to make compelling arguments and tell interesting stories? Would you like an introduction to why Data Science is a growing field across so many industries? Would you like to design and execute a data project aligned with your interests in social justice, environmentalism, or some other area? Students in this course will analyze the patterns in data, apply methods of data collection and sampling, and perform statistical analysis on data sets to explore measures of center, spread, correlation, and uncertainty. They will learn how to clean a data set to reveal patterns and consider how bias affects choices around data manipulation and use. In the final trimester, students will engage with data story-telling and decision-making: exploring visualizations, distributions, trends to tell data stories and make decisions. The course will culminate in a capstone project in which students use data to explore a topic or issue based on their interests and present their findings. Throughout the course, students will use computational software to explore and analyze data.

This course follows the Advanced Placement BC syllabus, which incorporates an introduction to the derivative and the integral with their applications and work in infinite series. This four-term course, which begins in the spring term of the sophomore or junior year, is for students who are outstanding in mathematics at the highest levels. Open to students who have completed Math 409 or the equivalent, with permission of the department. Exceptional mathematics students entering Deerfield in the fall term with demonstrated excellence in precalculus may consult the mathematics chair as to placement in the fall. Students in this course are prepared to take the AP exam in May.

This course follows the Advanced Placement BC syllabus, which incorporates an introduction to the derivative and the integral with their applications and work in infinite series. This four-term course, which begins in the spring term of the sophomore or junior year, is for students who are outstanding in mathematics. Open to students who have completed MAT409 or the equivalent, with permission of the department. Exceptional mathematics students entering Deerfield in the fall term with demonstrated excellence in precalculus may consult the mathematics chair as to placement in the fall.

This course follows the Advanced Placement Statistics syllabus, which introduces students to the major concepts and tools for collecting, analyzing, and drawing conclusions from data. As an Advanced Placement course, students in this course should be prepared to follow a fast-paced and rigurous course of study. Students are exposed to four broad conceptual themes: exploring data by observing patterns and departures from patterns, planning a study by deciding what and how to measure, anticipating patterns by producing models using probability and simulation, and studying statistical inference by confirming models. May be taken concurrently with precalculus or a 500-level or higher course. Students in this course are prepared to take the AP exam in May.

Advanced Calculus with Introduction to Multivariable
This course continues the study of single variable calculus and introduces topics from multivariable calculus. Topics may include understanding the relation of series and convergence to calculus, work with parametric, polar, and vector forms in more than two dimensions, optimization problems, advanced integration, and a broad introduction to differential equations. An open-source textbook and Sage, an open-source software package which does symbolic manipulation and advanced graphing, is used extensively in this course.

This course follows Math 519 and covers the major topics of Multivariable Calculus, including optimization problems and vector calculus, and concludes with an introduction to ordinary differential equations. Students completing this course will have learned the content of Calculus 2 and 3 in a typical undergraduate setting.

Linear Algebra begins with the concept of systems of linear equations. From this foundation, Linear Algebra uses the mathematical objects and operations derived from vectors and matrices to construct a more abstract system of concepts that has broad relevance in higher mathematics as well as myriad practical applications. Topics studied include linear independence, subspaces, linear transformations, bases and dimension, orthogonality, determinants, eigenvalues and eigenvectors, and matrix diagonalization. Applications investigated include simple economic models, predator-prey ecological models, cryptography, and Markov chains. This course may be taken concurrently with MAT619.

Special Topics is designed for students who have completed the math curriculum, including Linear Algebra and Multivariable Calculus, and are looking to delve more deeply into advanced mathematics. Topics covered will depend on the interests of students and teachers, and may include Differential Equations, Number Theory, Combinatorial Algebra, or others.

Anyone can sing! This course offers students the opportunity to learn new styles, techniques, and skills and become better at singing all kinds of music. Class time consists of rotating coaching by primary instructor and our professional staff, student-led rehearsals, and guest artist visits (masterclasses and performances) from renowned musicians. Students develop vocal technique, emotional expression, and teamwork skills while exploring historical context, music theory, compositional architecture, performance psychology, and group dynamics. Each term features performances in a wide range of musical styles and genres, including pop, modern, classical, folk, and much more, often in collaboration with the Honors Vocal Ensemble class. Evaluations are based on growth across each term, not perfection or pre-existing talent. Daily practice is expected and participation in the Deerfield Chorus (one night per week) is required of all Vocal Ensemble singers. Concerts happen on Friday evenings throughout the year. No audition or previous experience required. May take as a 6th, pass/fail course.

See MUS200 description.

This course provides an opportunity for woodwind, brass, and rhythm section players (guitar/bass/keyboard/drums) to collaborate in a variety of ensemble settings including concert band, jazz ensemble, jam band, small woodwind and brass ensembles, and percussion groups. Groups play a wide variety of musical styles from around the world including jazz, classical, latin, hip hop, R&B, rock, reggae, and pop. Concerts happen on Friday evenings a few times throughout the year. May take as a 6th pass/fail course.

See MUS210 description.

This course offers instrumentalists the opportunity to work in small ensembles, learning and performing repertoire by the world’s greatest composers. Class time consists of rotating coaching by the primary instructor and our professional staff, performance classes in the Concert Hall (including peer feedback), student-led rehearsals, and guest artist visits (masterclasses and performances) from renowned chamber musicians. Students develop instrumental technique, emotional expression, and teamwork skills while exploring historical context, music theory, compositional architecture, performance psychology, and group dynamics. Each performance cycle culminates with a Chamber Music Showcase Concert, which is open to the public and professionally recorded, after which students are re-assigned new groups and new repertoire. Daily practice is expected. Students in Chamber Music class form the Principal core of the Deerfield Orchestra, which meets on Monday nights 6:15pm – 7:45pm. Participation in the orchestra is required of all chamber musicians except pianists. Private lessons are required in order to access the repertoire. By signing up for this class, you are also signing up for 24 private lessons during the year, to be scheduled outside of class time. The Academy covers the cost of required music lessons for students enrolled in this course. No additional fees will be charged. Throughout the year, there are five orchestra performances and two chamber music showcase concerts, all of which happen on Friday evenings.

See MUS220 description.

Open by audition to advanced and experienced choral singers who have already taken MUS200 and who have departmental approval. This course offers students the opportunity to learn new styles, techniques, and skills and become better at singing all kinds of music. Class time consists of rotating coaching by Dr. Pfitzer and our professional staff, student-led rehearsals, and guest artist visits (masterclasses and performances) from renowned musicians. Students develop vocal technique, emotional expression, and teamwork skills while exploring historical context, music theory, compositional architecture, performance psychology, and group dynamics. Each term features performances in a wide range of musical styles and genres, including pop, modern, classical, folk, and much more, often in collaboration with the Vocal Ensemble class. Evaluations are based on growth across each term, not perfection or pre-existing talent. Daily practice is expected and participation in the Deerfield Chorus (one night per week) is required of all Honors Vocal Ensemble singers. Private lessons are required in order to access the repertoire. By signing up for this class, you are also signing up for 24 private lessons during the year, to be scheduled outside of class time. The Academy covers the cost of required music lessons for students enrolled in this course. No additional fees will be charged. Concerts happen on Friday evenings throughout the year. May take as a 6th, pass/fail course.

See MUS409 description.

This course is an extension of MUS210. Students must have already taken Band class and have departmental approval. In addition to participation in MUS210 ensembles, students in Honors Band will prepare and perform solo repertoire. Private lessons are required in order to access the repertoire. By signing up for this class, you are also signing up for 24 private lessons during the year, to be scheduled outside of class time. The Academy covers the cost of required music lessons for students enrolled in this course. No additional fees will be charged. Concerts happen on Friday evenings a few times throughout the year.

Open to students who have already taken MUS220 with departmental approval. This course offers advanced instrumentalists the opportunity to work in small ensembles, learning and performing repertoire by the world’s greatest composers. Class time consists of rotating coaching by Mr. Bergeron and our professional staff, performance classes in the Concert Hall (including peer feedback), student-led rehearsals, and guest artist visits (masterclasses and performances) from renowned chamber musicians. Students develop instrumental technique, emotional expression, and teamwork skills while exploring historical context, music theory, compositional architecture, performance psychology, and group dynamics. Each performance cycle culminates with a Chamber Music Showcase Concert in the Concert Hall, which is open to the public and professionally recorded, after which students are re-assigned new groups and new repertoire. Daily practice is expected. Students in Chamber Music class form the Principal core of the Deerfield Orchestra, which meets on Monday nights 6:15pm – 7:45pm. Participation in the orchestra is required of all chamber musicians. Private lessons are required in order to access the repertoire. By signing up for this class, you are also signing up for 24 private lessons during the year, to be scheduled outside of class time. The Academy covers the cost of required music lessons for students enrolled in this course. No additional fees will be charged. Throughout the year, there are five orchestra performances and two chamber music showcase concerts, all of which happen on Friday evenings.

What is “the good life?” How do you define “right” and “wrong”? What do you do when confronted with an important decision that puts “right vs. right”? The study of ethics, morality and philosophy – and a clear understanding of those terms – provides an opportunity to acquire reading, writing, and oral communication skills to engage in respectful and authentic dialogue while encountering complicated questions. Students explore and sharpen their own moral reasoning by investigating the strengths and weaknesses of historical and contemporary ethical frameworks. We will study questions that are of timeless importance, and we will discuss how such questions affect our lives today. The assignments to be completed invite independent and balanced reasoning through oral, written and other varied forms of assessment and submission. Class discussions focus on the applications of theories to ethical issues and personal perspectives.

This course tackles the big questions that shape modern lives: What is justice? What is liberty? What is equality? When is the state allowed to restrict our freedoms, and why? How should goods be distributed in a just society? The class will explore these and related questions through both classical and contemporary readings. In addition, students will devote considerable time to analyzing, constructing, and critiquing arguments about political issues. The class will equip students to think carefully and critically about the difficult and often controversial topics that come up in their lives as citizens.

Self-Driving Cars, the Metaverse, Siri and Alexa… Roombas! Artificial Intelligence (AI) is seemingly all around us. But what is AI? How does it work now, and how might it work in the future? What are the benefits and the dangers of AI to individuals, to groups, and to human kind? What kind of moral duties (if any), might humans have to intelligent systems as they develop and “learn”? How will AIs “learn” to make moral judgements? Can they? Students will explore these questions by applying key ethical concepts to these emerging issues, practicing reasoned argument and perspective taking skills, and applying their understandings to creatively imagine what an ethical relationship between humans and AI might look like in the future.

Inside Out: Coming to Terms With Climate Change
This course will use non-fiction, fiction, poetry and documentary film to establish an understanding of the origins and implications of the greatest challenge ever faced by human civilization and to explore the art, the politics and the ethics of confronting climate change both individually and collectively. Writing will be mostly creative responses to the reading, and as far as possible, we will exchange the classroom and the seminar table for the surrounding fields and woods, where walking will be the forum and the catalyst for our discussions as we consider the ways in which climate change is beginning to question, transform and redefine even our most fundamental ideals of success, community, leadership, education, and what it means to be human. May be taken as ENG420.

Would we have Isaac Newton’s theory of motion without the philosopher Rene Descartes? Would we have Albert Einstein’s theory of gravity without the philosopher Ernst Mach? This course will explore why approaching science from a philosophical perspective is still relevant today and crucial for scientific progress. We will start by answering the question, what is science trying to do and how does it work? We will then explore different topics in physical and biological sciences, such as quantum mechanics, evolution, and consciousness. There are many contrasting views and it will be up to the students to understand and critique them so they can form their own unique perspectives. No background knowledge of philosophy is needed.

This course will examine a range of questions about the nature of happiness. What is happiness, and why does it matter? Is it the main thing we should pursue in life, or are there other things that are more important? Is it a kind of pleasant feeling, or is it something more “objective” than that? What assumptions about happiness are implicit in the ways that psychologists, economists, and writers of popular media measure and talk about happiness? We will consider these and other questions, engaging with historical and contemporary work from philosophers, scientists, religious thinkers, and contributors to popular media. The primary aim of the course will be to introduce you to rich traditions of philosophical thinking about happiness, and to equip you to begin thinking with some degree of rigor and discipline about questions of happiness as they arise in your own life.

From its inception in ancient Greece, the central occupation of Western philosophy has been gnothi seauton – to “know thyself.” In this course, we will ask what sort of things are we: are we only material beings, or do we have a soul? What can we know? Why be good? How should we organize human society? In this course, we will read several great thinkers from the full history of Western philosophy (e.g., Plato, Augustine, Rousseau, Wilson) to see the different ways in which these and other questions have been answered. While investigating some of the treasures of philosophy for their insights into the human person, we will also learn to think slowly and read carefully. This course aims not only to impart information about the history of philosophy but to help us think more accurately about ourselves.

This is an introductory physics course that includes the study of kinematics, forces, energy, and electricity. Students develop and apply models through guided inquiry, group discussion, and collaborative hands-on investigation. They learn to communicate through multiple visual, mathematical, and computational representations. This course focuses on the concepts, principles, and ways of thinking that will underlie students’ further study of science.

This is an introductory physics course that includes the study of kinematics, forces, energy, and electricity and magnetism; it moves at a faster pace and with greater depth than Physics 1. Students learn to develop and apply models through guided inquiry, group discussion, and collaborative hands on investigation. They learn to communicate their thinking through multiple visual, mathematical, and computational representations. This course focuses on the concepts, principles, and ways of thinking that will underlie students’ further study of science.

This is an algebra-based, introductory physics course appropriate for 10th-, 11th- and 12th-grade students who have not previously taken a high school physics course. Students cultivate their understanding of physics through lab-based investigations as they explore topics such as: kinematics, forces, energy, momentum, oscillations and wave behavior, and topics in modern physics. This course builds skills in problem-solving, experimental design, data analysis, and modeling. It is a great course for students who enjoy learning through collaboration and experimentation.

Students in this class will spend the year working to understand an electric vehicle’s inner workings through a hands-on process of deconstruction, design, and reconstruction. The course’s primary focus is converting a vehicle with an internal combustion engine to run on electrical power. Students are offered a unique opportunity to solve problems by testing practical designs and bring their ideas to fruition through the hands-on construction and implementation of their ideas. Students will be assessed on their ability to collaborate effectively, demonstrate independence, resilience, and time management. Additionally, students will study topics including, but not limited to, gear ratios, thermodynamics, DC motors, fuses, switches, motor controllers, variable resistors, rolling resistance, battery charging, battery management, torque, amperage draw, and energy efficiency. Throughout this process, students will directly apply principles from their first-year physics course, such as electromagnetism, Newtonian mechanics, and electric circuits, to understand these topics.

In this course, students will study, design, and build permanent infrastructure systems. The course is organized around increasingly complex hands-on challenges starting with basic construction and design principles. Students will work individually at times and in groups so that they may balance individual accountability and improve their group dynamics. Grading is based mostly on performance in the challenges as well as engineering notebooks with minimal testing. Please note that due to the nature of this course, the course capacity will be smaller than a typical Deerfield course.

In this course, students will study, design, and build mechanical moving systems. The course is organized around increasingly complex hands-on challenges starting with basic Newtonian physics, and culminating in a fully designed and built system. Students will work individually at times and in groups so that they may balance individual accountability and improve their group dynamics. Grading is based mostly on performance in the challenges as well as engineering notebooks with minimal testing. Please note that due to the nature of this course, the course capacity will be smaller than a typical Deerfield course.

Students in this class will spend the year working to understand an electric vehicle’s inner workings through a hands-on process of deconstruction, design, and reconstruction. The course’s primary focus is converting a vehicle with an internal combustion engine to run on electrical power. Students are offered a unique opportunity to solve problems by testing practical designs and bringing their ideas to fruition through the hands-on construction and implementation of their ideas. Students will be assessed on their ability to collaborate effectively, demonstrate independence, resilience, and time management. Additionally, students will study topics including, but not limited to, gear ratios, thermodynamics, DC motors, fuses, switches, motor controllers, variable resistors, rolling resistance, battery charging, battery management, torque, amperage draw, and energy efficiency. Please note that due to the nature of this course, the course capacity will be smaller than a typical Deerfield course.

This hands-on, second-year course is designed for students who want to continue to explore physics. Emphasizing lab-based learning and real-world applications, the course builds skills in problem-solving, experimental design, data analysis, and modeling. The course will explore mechanics, electricity & magnetism, and other topics such as nuclear physics, astrophysics, thermal physics, and optics & waves, with opportunities to investigate how these concepts connect to the world around us. Students will apply mathematics, including trigonometry, to develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills through collaborative and individual projects. This course is ideal for students who enjoy learning through exploration and experimentation.\n

This project-based course is designed for students interested in exploring modern physics, specifically quantum mechanics. We deviate from the traditional wave-based approach in favor of a field-theory approach, which allows us to model multiparticle systems. The course first introduces the limitations of classical mechanics that motivated the quantum revolution. I then introduce the standard approach to quantum mechanics. We then apply this knowledge to investigate key experiments that violate classical mechanics, demonstrating the predictive power of quantum mechanics. Students will tackle several small projects focused on single-particle systems before exploring the unsolved “quantum-to-classical transition” problem using many-particle systems. This course is ideal for students who enjoy learning through the exploration of open-ended problems. A background in programming is beneficial; however, all necessary programming skills will be taught.

This is an advanced course for students who are interested in studying physics beyond the introductory level. The course will help students build and expand on their skills of problem-solving, experimental design, data analysis, and modeling. The course will explore mechanics, electricity & magnetism, and other topics such as nuclear physics, astrophysics, thermal physics, and optics & waves. Calculus will be used as required. Work in this course can be extensive and demanding. Because this course is rigorous and requires extensive work in and out of class, eligibility will be determined by the department with consideration of grades and comments from previous math and science teachers.

How can we act responsibly within the political communities of which we are a part? How can we cultivate our own civic identities and bridge differences in values in our pluralistic world? This course examines the historical development and modern manifestations of citizens’ rights and responsibilities in different political structures. Case studies from inside the United States and around the globe will empower students to understand how political frameworks at different levels of government make possible public participation. Through the analysis of sources such as foundational national documents and critical political commentary produced over a long history of informed civic debate, students will study the organization and functions of electoral government, the rule of law, duties and privileges of citizenship, and the historical role of compromise in shaping democratic systems. Students will apply this content to analyze current events playing out in real time, learning not only how to be historical commentators, but also practice the art of expressive freedom as they discuss political questions and controversies. Along the way students will build on the 100-level history course skills of source analysis, discussion and debate, inquiry-based research, and analytical writing and presentation.

As politicians launch their campaigns for the 2028 United States presidential election, this course will put the headlines of the news cycle in historical perspective and challenge students to think critically about the mechanics of democracy. In this introduction to major topics in political science, we will explore the evolution of political parties; the role of advertising, polling, and campaign finance; and debates around suffrage, redistricting, and the Electoral College. A diverse source base will inform our study, including documentaries, podcasts, narrative nonfiction, and social media, as well as primary documents and scholarly articles. This one-term course will culminate with each student analyzing a campaign of their choice. In addition, class will include debates, roleplays, and roundtable discussions as we consider the past, present, and future of American party politics.

This 10-topic policy course investigates US-China diplomacy in the context of China’s major domestic and international priorities from the Cold War to today. The course begins with an overview of U.S.-China challenges today, including the Taiwan question, Indo-Pacific regional security, cybersecurity, and trade tensions. It then steps back to the years just after WWII, when the U.S. laid groundwork for a fascinating and ever-evolving relationship with both the People’s Republic of China and the government in Taiwan. We take as our text Nina Hachigian’s Debating China: The U.S.-China Relationship in Ten Conversations, in which China-side and U.S.-side experts communicate in frank and open exchanges on topics such as censorship, human rights, global development, and clean energy. We additionally use memoirs, documentary footage, art, and the wisdom of guest speakers to enhance our reading of high-level diplomatic exchanges. Finally, overviews of the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the Nixon visits, Deng Xiaoping’s “economic miracle,” and China’s Belt and Road Initiative help us track a relatively consistent and informed US policy towards China, even as we note important departures from that policy. Students discuss and debate their way through most of the course, and they wrap up with independent research on a present-day policy issue of their choice.

This course will examine the causes, conduct, patterns, and effects of asymmetric warfare from antiquity to ISIS. The course will draw on primary sources, historical texts, films, and case studies to reflect multiple perspectives. While case studies may range from Spartacus to Syria and from the Algerian FLN to the Colombian FARC, our common goal is to develop a framework for understanding the role of the United States in the fight against ISIS and al-Qaeda. Towards that end students will read academic theories of political violence in order to enhance their capacity to engage with social science research about topics that may include terrorism, truth and reconciliation, de-radicalization and reintegration of fighters, the role of intelligence services, and counterinsurgency tactics such as torture and assassination. Major themes of the course include the role of memory and identity in the construction of narrative and ideology; the primary skills it develops are critical thinking, writing, and discussion, assessed through policy memos, roundtables, and a major research project.

Would you rather go through life unable to remember, or unable to forget? What happens to a person if they are raised alone in a locked room, with little to no human interaction–will they ever learn to speak? Can the power of the group make you disbelieve your own eyes? In this elective you will learn about psychology’s most famous (and infamous) personalities and experiments as we analyze and interpret behavior and mental processes through activities, demonstrations, and discussion. We will read peer-reviewed journal articles, watch footage from original case studies and experiments, and think critically about the work of psychologists such as Solomon Asch, Albert Bandura, Elizabeth Loftus, Stanley Milgram, Philip Zimbardo and B.F. Skinner (to name just a few). You will leave this course with a demonstrated understanding of key topics in Social, Cognitive, Behavioral, and Abnormal Psychology, while also learning about the ethics and methods psychologists use in their science and practice. This class is highly participatory in nature, and you will be asked to apply the concepts we study in class to your everyday life.

The course explores the expression and claims of religion throughout our world. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, all identified as Abrahamic religions and all deeply connected to the Prophet Abraham, are the religions of over half of the world’s population. This class both looks at how that came to be and why. A primary consideration of this course is how the belief in a supernatural moral authority, named Yahweh, God, Allah, or by many other linguistic names, informs an understanding of purpose and intervenes in lives lived through an immensurable relationship with humankind. In this class we stand at a distance from personal belief, instead looking at the religious encounter of others through their worship practices, holy days, scriptures, historical figures and contemporary expressions in literature and media.

The course explores the expression and idea of religion throughout our world and what the world’s religions attempt to explain. Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and Jainism are Dharmic religions that place an emphasis on living a life of purpose by walking a particular path, secure their roots in the Indo-Asian subcontinent, and are observed by approximately one in five persons that inhabit the Earth. This class first looks at Hinduism, arguably a monistic belief system, then explores how Buddhism and Jainism came to flower in Indian soil from Hindu roots and culminates in a brief inquiry of one of the most-read sacred texts, the Tao Te Ching. In this class we stand at a distance from personal belief, instead looking at the religious encounter of others through their worship practices, holy days, scriptures, historical figures and contemporary expressions in literature and media.

Islam, the Qur’an, and the Conference of the Birds
This course seeks to understand the Qur’an as a literary and theological text, using it to also introduce Islam, Islamic theology and modern Islamic societies. It will provide students with an understanding of the historical setting in which the Qur’an was first revealed and how subsequent generations made sense of the scripture. The curriculum and conversations will also lend useful tips on how to consider the emergence of the Islamic claim to truth. Ultimately, the course is designed to help students navigate the Qur’an on their own and to speak accurately and confidently about Islam. In an effort to convey the story of the Qur’an we will read Attar’s The Conference of the Birds, a 12th century Persian metaphorical epic poem, written in a comparable style to, yet published well before, Milton’s 17th century epic Paradise Lost.

“By the grace of God I am a Christian man, by my actions a great sinner, and by calling a homeless wanderer.” In an anonymously written short autobiography, so begins the first story we will read, that of a pilgrim seeking meaning and truth. This is Tolstoy. In scanning the historical horizon of humankind’s fears, needs and hopes, Leo Tolstoy, a 19th century Russian author and philosopher, speaks sincerely to these concerns. First a bacchanalian, then a soldier, then a parent and spouse, and ultimately a committed but suspicious Christian, Tolstoy’s written works speak to the life of the everyday and the death of everyone. Religion became the fulcrum on which he considered death and life, deceit and truth. In this class, through a deep investigation of meaning and nuance in a selection of Tolstoy’s works, as well as others that will complement that effort, we will explore religion, meaning, morality, purpose and truth. Books to be read include The Way of a Pilgrim (anon.), A Confession, The Devil, The Gospel in Brief, and, finally, Three Deaths, which, in some way, concludes in a manner by which our class will conclude, “looking down in majesty on the dead tree that lay flat out on the ground.”

Environmental Science 1 is a survey of topics focusing on how humanity can harness our knowledge of the natural world to provide historical context on the current state of humans’ relationship with the environment, as well as guide humans to create a more sustainable future. Students will investigate anthropogenic climate change, examining both causes and consequences. Students will take advantage of the deciduous forest ecosystems in our backyard. We will take frequent field trips to best take advantage of the natural splendor of the Pocumtuck Valley and the larger New England environment. By exploring the local challenges and opportunities that humans pose for their surrounding environment, students can begin to think of solutions for a more sustainable future.

The modern world is experiencing rapid anthropogenic climatic and environmental changes that present clear and immediate challenges for humanity. Environmental Science 1 Honors will explore a series of topics related to the role that humans play in their respective environments around the globe. Students will draw from the scientific community to understand the failures and successes of humans in preserving their environment and learn of opportunities to further protect biodiversity, stable climatic conditions, and the larger, natural world. Students will be challenged to build upon their previous research experience in advanced science courses to further refine their experimental and analytical skills in areas related to conservation, restoration, adaptation and mitigation. The campus as well as adjoining forests, fields and rivers will serve as field sites throughout the year as students explore the natural world, develop research questions, design independent studies, and critically think about solutions for a sustainable future. Because this course requires self-motivated and skilled analytical science students eligibility will be determined by the department, which will consider student grades and endorsements from previous science teachers.

In this second-year environmental science course, we will explore the methods scientists use to explain ecosystem complexity and interactions between humans and the environment. Our primary goals will be to join the conversation of environmental scientists by reading articles published in scientific journals and to develop the experimental design and analysis skills necessary to conduct our own culminating research project. Core topics include concepts and techniques related to applied ecology, field biology, and ecosystem monitoring. In the lab, we will participate in citizen science projects in collaboration with outside research groups to contribute data to an active scientific community. We will place an emphasis on scientific writing as we respond to the work of other scientists and present our own. Assessments will include short writing assignments, annotated diagrams, research proposals, and significant presentations of laboratory outcomes. This work will continue into the winter term when students develop independent projects. The spring term will be devoted to carrying out projects in small groups. Students will write a final paper and create a poster presentation. Students entering the course should have a working knowledge of ecology, environmental science, and experimental design. Because this course requires confidence when working with challenging primary texts, eligibility will be determined by the department, which will consider student grades and endorsements from previous history and science teachers. Please note that due to the nature of this course, the course capacity will be smaller than a typical Deerfield course.

This interdisciplinary course explores the concept of race as a biological, historical, and sociological phenomenon. We will start with an examination of how the idea of race has evolved over time, follow that with a unit on racial identity and racial representation, and conclude with a study of the driving forces, machinery, and consequences of racism in the United States and across the globe. We will utilize a diverse set of sources to inform our study, including primary documents, scholarly articles, documentaries, podcasts, films, and social media. Our class will include regular visits from instructors across academic departments at Deerfield, each of whom will examine and share thoughts on the concepts of race and racism in their particular area of expertise. Interspersed with those visits, we will utilize small group and full group discussions and reflective writing to help us synthesize information across subject areas. Additionally, we will be asking you to reflect regularly on your own learning in this course–not so much what knowledge you acquire, but how you acquire and process it.

Why do pollution crises like the one that struck Flint, Michigan, in 2014 happen most often in communities of color? How did centuries of colonialism shape the toll Hurricane Maria took on Puerto Rico? How have initiatives to protect wild animals in East Africa or create carbon-offset markets in Brazil led to the dispossession of impoverished people? Why has the National Park Service struggled to attract non-white visitors? As sociologists, we will ask these types of questions as we consider how every environmental problem is a social problem, too. We will investigate how communities have combatted inequities in access to land and resources and threats to the health of their people and landscapes, both in the years since and the decades before the term “environmental justice” appeared in the 1980s. Our exploration will lead us to cognate contemporary movements, such as Land Back, climate justice, Black Lives Matter, and food justice. Throughout, we will ask how “the environment” is being defined, by whom, and to what ends. Readings, audio, and films will take us across centuries and continents. Along the way, students will sharpen their research and communication skills, and learn how to script, record, and edit podcasts.

In this introductory course, students learn basic Spanish communication skills – including vocabulary and grammar – while exploring cultures and traditions. They expand their knowledge of the Spanish-speaking world and engage in learning through collaboration, investigation and practice using text, video and audio materials. An emphasis on speaking, listening, reading and basic writing guides the course. Students complete this level ready for further Spanish language acquisition. Class is conducted primarily in Spanish.

In this course, students continue their exploration of Spanish by focusing on Spanish grammar and vocabulary, applied to “real life” situations. We work to further develop the four language skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing, while at the same time exploring the Spanish-speaking world through a wide variety of materials, including literature, film, music, periodicals, and various web-based resources. Students develop their command of Spanish structures and vocabulary, their ability to communicate when writing and speaking, and a deeper understanding of the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world. Class is conducted primarily in Spanish.

Spanish 3 is an intermediate level course in which students review the grammatical structures from the beginning sequence while developing their communicative abilities. The class also studies in greater depth the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world, using articles, books, films, and other materials as starting points for studying topics pertinent to Latin America and Spain. Conversational fluency is developed through daily pair and group activities, and oral exams and projects push students to express longer and more complex thoughts. The class also focuses on more extensive reading and writing practice, and students are frequently required to write reflections and essays in Spanish. Class is conducted in Spanish.

In Spanish 3 Honors, students review all of the major grammatical structures at a fast pace while developing their communicative abilities. The class also studies in depth the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world, using articles, books, films, and other authentic materials as starting points for studying topics pertinent to Latin America. A full term is devoted to reading a Latin American novel. Conversational fluency is developed through daily pair and group activities, and oral exams and projects push students to express longer and more complex thoughts. The class also focuses on more extensive reading and writing practice, and students are frequently required to write reflections and essays. The students who excel in Spanish 3 Honors are recommended for Spanish 5. Class is conducted in Spanish. Spanish 3 Honors is designed for students who have excelled in Spanish 2. Eligibility will be determined by the department.

This 300 level course is designed to meet the needs of students who speak Spanish in their home environment, but who have little or no formal education in the language. Placement will be determined by the Spanish placement test and subsequent oral interview. The course aims to help students build upon the language skills they already possess while gaining a deeper understanding of their cultural heritage. Students in their course will expand their vocabulary, deepen their understanding of Spanish grammar, learn to recognize and use various language registers, and develop academic reading and writing skills. The cultural content of the course will include topics of identity, bilingualism, biculturalism, the history and usage of Spanish in the United States, and cultural production of Latinx communities. After successfully completing the Spanish for Heritage Speakers course, students will have completed their language graduation requirement. Those students who choose to continue to study Spanish will work with their teacher to determine their level the following year.

Which works of art reveal a moment in the history of a country? Which songs unveil the stories of its people? Which films transport us to a different place and allow us to experience another culture?\nThroughout the year, students are exposed to varied cultural materials and experiences that foster a deeper understanding of the values and practices of the target culture. Individual and collaborative work allows students to develop greater proficiency in the structures of the language and expand their knowledge of the diversity of voices within the Spanish-speaking world. Activities include in-class discussion, group activities, compositions and journal writing centered on the active use of language and a review of the most important aspects of Spanish grammar. Materials include extensive readings (literary and journalistic texts) and audiovisual sources (film). Class is conducted in Spanish.

This course follows most of the curriculum from the regular Spanish IV course but adds a community service component. The Spanish 4- Community Service course is open to those who have finished Spanish 3 or 3 Honors at Deerfield and who wish to serve the community while continuing their Spanish studies. We ask that students speak with their current teacher prior to signing up for this class to express their interest in the community service component. The community service project(s) in which students participate will include teaching Spanish to young children and working with local schools and organizations. Class is conducted in Spanish. The department will determine eligibility for the course.

In this advanced course, students continue to develop oral and written proficiency in Spanish through the study of the literature, cultures, and politics of the contemporary Spanish speaking world. By way of fiction, film, music, and periodicals, students will explore complex topics such as national identity, political resistance, gender and politics, and migration, while deepening their understanding of Spanish structures and vocabulary. The course provides students with the critical tools necessary to engage with Spanish-speaking cultures from local, national and transnational perspectives. This class is conducted in Spanish.

This course allows our most advanced students of Spanish to delve further into the language, cultures and literature of the Spanish-speaking world. The course readings include a broad sampling across both traditional and modern literary genres, so students might read novels, short stories, essays, poetry and theater, and they will also learn about blogs, new media, comics, film, and other visual arts. Through this development of visual literacy students will hone their analytical and critical thinking skills and deepen their appreciation of the depth and range of the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world. By the end of the course, the students will be able to use Spanish flexibly and effectively for both academic and intercultural purposes.

This is a film appreciation course conducted in Spanish. It allows our most advanced students to get acquainted with the grammar of cinema and with the concepts and terminology needed to analyze movies and write film criticism. The course surveys the cinemas of several Spanish speaking countries and encourages students to make fictional movies and documentaries dialog with other artistic expressions such as novels, graphic novels, short stories, and poems. Students also make a few creative audiovisual projects to better understand the cinematic concepts under study.

This is a topic course for advanced speakers of Spanish who have finished Spanish 6 Honors at Deerfield Academy. It is a course especially designed for those students who have reached the top level of our curriculum and wish to continue their Spanish studies. Readings will continue beyond the Spanish 6 curriculum and delve more deeply into Spanish and Latin American literature. Class is conducted in Spanish. This course is not offered every year.

This course explores the principles of acting including ensemble building, improvisation, voice, movement, textual analysis and theater vocabulary. Class assignments include writing and performing monologues, and presenting group scenes and projects. Additionally, students explore various plays from classical to contemporary. No previous acting experience is necessary. May take as a 6th, pass/fail course.

See THE100 description.

Expand your acting toolbox through this physically engaged and intensive class. You will hone articulation and memorization skills while increasing your expressive power and range. Through practical application of a vast array of specific techniques, the acting student discovers which techniques work best for them and are given almost daily opportunities to bring them to life on their feet. No previous acting experience is necessary for 10th and 11th graders. This class compliments and builds on 9th grade Foundations of Acting and may be taken as a 6th, pass/fail course.

See THE200 description.

This dynamic elective is designed for anyone eager to dive into the exciting world of theatre. Exploring improvisation, play analysis, stage acting, playwriting, and many other elements of theatrical art, the course offers students a rich and engaging opportunity to develop their creativity and performance skills. Whether new to the stage or already passionate about theatre, students will have the chance to explore, collaborate, and grow in a supportive and imaginative environment. No prior theater experience is required – just curiosity, commitment, and a willingness to play and push one’s boundaries.

Committed acting students are encouraged to progress to a more advanced study of acting and to contribute to the development of a creative ensemble. In addition to learning more complex acting techniques in preparation for the scene work to come, students delve into the world of directing for theater. Students work on a major directing assignment, which culminates in directing a scene from their chosen play with their peers as performers. Several plays from around the world are read and analyzed throughout the course. No previous acting experience is necessary. May take as a 6th, pass/fail course.

See THE300 description.

Actors and directors are encouraged to continue their study of these two major theatrical elements. Students will work on a selection of new texts and will embark on a second major directing project. Both actors and directors will build upon previous skills, using the classroom as an incubator for exploration and deep study. Exposure to a wide array of plays from various eras and genres will be the core of this class. May take as a 6th, pass/fail course. Course meets concurrently with THE300.

See THE320 description.

Being able to speak successfully in public is an crucial life hack and this dynamic and interactive course is designed to help students develop effective communication skills, build confidence, and express ideas clearly in front of any audience before heading off to college. Through a combination of individual speeches, group presentations, peer evaluations, and instructor feedback, students will learn the principles of effective public speaking, vocal delivery, body language, and audience engagement. Students will acquire useful devices to enhance their presentation skills and strategies for quelling public speaking anxiety. This course also encourages self-reflection, constructive feedback, and the development of leadership skills through communication. By the end of the course, students will be well equipped with the tools to speak with confidence and poise in academic, professional, and personal settings.