Classes
FOR THE GIFTED WRITER
Meeting Times: Tuesdays, 5:00-6:30 PM
Instructor: Eric Hansen (St. Paul’s School)
Cost: $60
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Is your child a gifted writer who needs enrichment? This workshop is designed to identify their strengths and push them to more advanced levels of accomplishment as writers. Eric’s 11 years of experience teaching English and his years as a published author and poet make uniquely qualified to instruct the gifted writer. Sign up today!
GETTING READY FOR HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH
Meeting Times: Tuesdays, 6:30-8:00 PM
OR
Thursdays, 6:30-8:00 PM
Instructor: Eric Hansen (St. Paul’s School)
Cost: $60
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Whether your child is headed to a private school in the fall or a public school, the rigors of high school English can catch kids off-guard. Eric knows the demands intimately and can prepare your child for these demands. Sign up now!
WRITING YOUR COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY
Meeting Times: Thursdays, 5:00-6:30 PM
Instructor: Eric Hansen (St. Paul’s School)
Cost: $60
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Writing your college application essay can be stressful, so get a head start (and a leg up) on the task by sitting down with an expert who can get you—and keep you—on-track. Sign up here!
CONTEST, SCHOLARSHIP, AND LITERARY MAGAZINE WRITING
Meeting Times: July 17th, 19th, and 24th, 10:00 AM-12:00 PM
Instructor: Suhaila Tenly (Carver Center for Arts & Technology)
Cost: $125
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Are you interested in winning money and prestige for your writing? Sign up today for the Contest, Scholarship & Literary Magazine writing workshop. This workshop is designed for students looking to tailor their writing skills to meet certain contest, scholarship, and literary magazine criteria and aesthetics. Learning from a former editor-in-chief of Grub Street and current literary arts teacher at Carver Center for Arts & Technology whose students win prizes yearly, you’re sure to “graduate” from these sessions with publishable writing! Prerequisite: Students should come to the first class with some of their own writing samples and a contest, scholarship, or literary magazine.
CREATE YOUR OWN RADIO SHOW
Meeting Times: July 17th, 19th, and 24th, 12:00 PM-2:00 PM
Instructor: Matthew Byars (WYPR, St. Paul’s School for Boys)
Cost: $125
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Learn how to use GarageBand to make your own radio show on any topic you want: sports, celebrities, current events, or whatever interests you. You’ll learn how to write, organize, and record your program, and we’ll even put it in iTunes for you, as well as post it on our Student Podcast Player.
INDIVIDUAL TUTORING SESSIONS
Instructors: Eric Hansen, Mike Paulson, Faith Shearin, Matthew Byars
Meeting Times (pick any one hour window from the following times):
Hansen: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Paulson: Mondays and Tuesdays from 4:00 to 7:00 PM
Byars: Mondays and Tuesday, 4:30-5:30 PM
Cost: $50/hour; $90/two (consecutive) hours
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Individual tutoring sessions allow kids or adults to get one-on-one help with a professional writer for whatever length of time they choose. It’s kind of like tutoring, but unlike some tutoring experiences, it allows you to have face time with a writer who is active in their field. Sessions are a la carte, so you can come just once, or multiple times if you’d like.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS
Meeting Times: July 16th-20th, 9:00 AM-Noon
Number of Sessions: Five
Instructor: Michael Paulson (Friends School)
Cost: $125
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J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic trilogy has captivated readers for over half a century and served as a template for generations of fantasy authors. The word “hobbit” has entered the vernacular, and the characters peopling these novels are now a part of our cultural literacy. But aside from the terrific storytelling, The Lord of the Rings constitutes a legitimate text to study and explore, offering an engaged reader provocative questions and challenging dilemmas. In this course, we will investigate the trilogy using a set of essential questions involving thematic issues, characterization, mythical archetypes, narrative structure, and other lenses through which these books can be considered. By using this specific analytical framework, we will dig deep into the rich soil of Tolkien’s work. Employing focused writing prompts and intensive class dialogue, we will achieve a deeper understanding of a literary phenomenon that has spread from page to screen and beyond. Please note that students must read The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King in advance.
THE NARRATIVE OF NOIR
Meeting Times: July 9th-13th, 9:00 AM-Noon
Number of Sessions: Five
Instructor: Michael Paulson (Friends School)
Cost: $125
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The Narrative of Noir is a course that is about more than just hard-boiled detectives and drizzly, neon milieus. In its own right, noir is a legitimate literary sub-genre that, when done well, holds a mirror up to the present and examines our world in a different (albeit often darker) light. Make no mistake: the works we read are serious and have agendas. This class is not a history of noir, though we will cover some aspects of its evolution; it is more of a limited but intensive inquiry into themes, ideas, motifs, styles, and hallmarks of the genre. The reading list includes Raymond Chandler’s classic novel, The Big Sleep, as well as Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, a shining example of “neo-noir” that takes the form popular in the mid-20th century and puts a 21st century gloss on it. These texts have been selected because of their power to stimulate and provoke, to raise questions, perhaps offer answers, and provide avenues for further discussion. Using a set of Essential Questions, we will explore a small but pivotal slice of the world of suspense. Students should read the course texts in advance.
