Course Catalogue

1.      Drama: Fall/Spring Semesters: Drama class is an Introduction to the nature of theater as a performing art.  Students study selected plays from the perspectives of actors and directors, and the strategies of playwrights to develop the ability to imagine the play in performance and to appreciate the range of theater’s possibilities. Students focus on acting and character development through exercises, techniques, and improvisation. They also engage in intensive, script-based scene work to find deeper meaning in the written word.  Movement for Actors, Preparation for the Actor, Vocal Production, Tech Theater, Textual Analysis.

2.      True Crimes: Fall/Spring Semesters: This course will focus on the origin, development and analysis of literary genre of mystery. Student will solve and analyze each mystery he or she reads. Students will get the opportunity to wear different hats, detectives, psychoanalysts, lawyers among other things as they try not only to solve crimes but to look at the five w’s and how; who, what, where, when, why and how. (Texts: Helter Skelter; The True Crimes of the Mason Murders, Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper--Case Closed, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote)

Fall Semester: Students will explore and analyze the history and emergence of mystery Literature. The focus will be on the interrelationships between crime, criminal justice, and mass media.

3.      Art & Literature Fall/Spring Semesters

This exciting course will expose you to a whole new world of visual intrigue. Come with an open mind and curiosity. This course begins with Renaissance European art and moves to art in the 20^th century from various cultures. It his designed to accommodate students of many levels of learning. The books are all high interest works inspired by visual art. The books will generate various discussion topics related to art. Reading from the books will be assigned a few times a week. When there is no reading due for the day we will be working on projects in class. We will cover Ekphrastic poetry and try to create our own. We will go on at least two trips to museums in New York. The class requires you to collaborate with your peers to create projects. 

Fall Semester: Renaissance Art and the Dutch Masters

4.      Yearbook: Fall/Spring Semesters (one section – by application only) Yearbook is a course designed to help students to gain 21st century skills. The class is designed in order to publish Midwood’s Yearbook while meeting the Walsworth Publishing Company’s deadlines. Students take the class during their senior year of high school. Students learn to be timely, responsible, creative, and dedicated to a course that they will take ownership of. They will have the most input on the outcome of the yearbook with the instructor’s facilitation. Yearbook is a challenging course in which students have the unique opportunity to write a book, prepare a publication for printing, run a business, and record history. This course is designed to provide students the opportunity to work with advanced technology, strengthen their analytical and problem-solving skills, improve their communication skills, and manage tremendous responsibility. Students will plan and apply proper journalistic skills to publish a yearbook for Midwood High School.  Students must be passionate about yearbook in order for them to be able to do a good job and to endure all the hardships that yearbook production entails. They need to be committed, dependable, self-motivated, ethical, discreet, and careful. They must be able to cooperate with each other in an unbiased and unprejudiced manner. They must be able to treat and view the administration, faculty, staff, and student body in an unbiased manner. 

5.      Public Speaking Fall/Spring Semesters

This class will cover the basic elements of public speaking.  The student will prepare and present several (minimum of six) brief speeches with emphasis on content, organization and delivery. Students will focus on skills involved in selecting, researching, organizing and delivering effective speeches. Students will use verbal, written and visual techniques. They will also practice and learn peer and self-evaluation of speeches. Communication:  Students will communicate effectively in both speech and writing. Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to do the following. 

a.       give speeches;

b.      participate in debates

c.       exhibit appropriate speaking/presentation behaviors while delivering the speeches; and

d.      Deliver coherent, articulate speeches.

e.       evaluate speeches and determine what makes a speech in/effective

6.      A Study of Utopian & Dystopian Literature Fall/Spring Semesters

“How could things be different?” Often, such a question could be answered by imagining that things are much worse. Or, that things are much better.  The texts will primarily be novels and short fiction, mixed with readings and research regarding larger, nonfiction topics that are evident in society today.  Reading: The Handmaid’s Tale, Brave New World, The Giver, The Man in the High Castle, Animal Farm, and Fahrenheit 451.  Questions will constitutes of issues of dystopia, and how might we envision a utopia? How do forms of injustice present in today’s world, such as race, gender, and oppression, shape these visions of alternate societies? How do those societies relate to the world in which the author was writing? What responses do dystopian fictions solicit from their readers? Our discussion of these and other questions will be informed by nonfiction readings that provide historical and critical contexts.  Summative assessments throughout the semester will require students to research, synthesize, and present their findings.

7.      Literature and Psychology Fall/Spring Semesters: What can the scientific study of the mind tell us about literature? What can literature tell us about the ways our minds and brains do—and do not—work? By looking at literature, psychology, and philosophy, we will try to answer these questions. Topics will include the relationship between literary form and problems of the mind, such as self-knowledge and other minds; a priori knowledge; language acquisition and use; reductionism, and behavior; psychoanalysis and hysteria; neurasthenics, anxiety, depression, the uncanny, abjection, cognition, hallucination, psychosis, fantasy, individuation, archetypes, and the cognitive study of literature.

8.      The AP English Literature and Composition Fall/Spring Semesters. This course aligns to an introductory college-level literary analysis course. The course engages students in the close reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature to deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure. As they read, students consider a work’s structure, style, and themes, as well as its use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone. Writing assignments include expository, analytical, and argumentative essays that require students to analyze and interpret literary works.

9.      The AP English Language and Composition Fall/Spring Semesters – This course aligns to introductory college-level rhetoric and writing curriculum, which requires students to develop evidence-based analytic and argumentative essays that proceed through several stages or drafts. Students evaluate, synthesize, and cite research to support their arguments. Throughout the course, students develop a personal style by making appropriate grammatical choices. Additionally, students read and analyze the rhetorical elements and their effects in non-fiction texts, including graphic images as forms of text, from many disciplines and historical periods.

10.  AP Capstone is a diploma program from the College Board based on two yearlong AP courses: AP Seminar and AP Research.  Students who earn scores of 3 or higher in AP Seminar and AP Research and on four additional AP Exams of their choosing receive the AP Capstone Diploma. 

11.  AP Capstone Seminar is a foundational course that engages students in cross-curricular conversations that explore the complexities of academic and real-world topics and issues by analyzing divergent perspectives. Using an inquiry framework, students practice reading and analyzing articles, research studies, and foundational, literary, and philosophical texts; listening to and viewing speeches, broadcasts, and personal accounts; and experiencing artistic works and performances. Students learn to synthesize information from multiple sources, develop their own perspectives in written essays, and design and deliver oral and visual presentations, both individually and as part of a team. 

12.  AP Capstone Research allows students to deeply explore an academic topic, problem, issue, or idea of individual interest. Students design, plan, and implement a yearlong investigation to address a research question through learning research methodology, employing ethical research practices, and accessing, analyzing, and synthesizing information. The course culminates in an academic paper and a presentation with an oral defense.

13.  AP African American Studies Students in African American studies look at the history, politics, culture, and economics of North American people of African descent.

From the slave economy to the civil rights movement, and from the blues to hip-hop, African Americans have had a huge role in shaping American society and culture. If you major in African American studies, you will learn about their achievements.

You will also examine the hardships African Americans faced during their history. Further, you will dive into the difficult issues, such as unequal educational opportunities, they deal with today.

Scholars in African American studies play a key role in the development of modern academics. By focusing on people and viewpoints that have been ignored, in other fields, they lead the way in integrating minority experiences into all academic subjects.

Elective Offerings for Social Studies

JUSTICE AND LAW SEQUENCE- Open to Humanities and LASI students

Introduction to Law 

This is a one term survey course that introduces the basic concepts of the legal system in the United States.  This is a prerequisite course that must be taken before all other law electives.  Fall course.

Criminal Law

Should a fifteen –year old accused of murder be tried as an adult and sent to adult prison? Should a person with long criminal records be allowed to plea bargain and escape punishment? Do people accused of crimes have too many rights?  These questions will be debated along with many others when looking at  criminal law and the criminal justice system.  This is a one term course, second course in the sequence.  Spring course.

Prerequisite Intro to Law

Civil Law

Should cigarette manufacturers who placed a warning on packages be required to pay damages to a smoker who develops cancer?  Should a building pay damages to a tenant whose apartment flooded as a result of a broken pipe?  These are the types of cases that are decided in civil court. The primary goal of civil law is to protect people by helping them avoid problems and resolve conflicts.  Students will look at tort law as well as family law.  This is a one term course and is the 3rd course in the sequence.  Fall course.

Prerequisites Intro to Law and Criminal Law

Constitutional Law 

This one-term course includes a behavioral study of the role of the United States Supreme Court. The class examines philosophies of activism and judicial restraint. Judicial review and important court decisions in such fields as integration, reapportionment and freedom of religion are analyzed.  Legal reasoning and research skills are also emphasized.  This is an excellent course for students who might wish to pursue law as a career.  This is the 4th course in the sequence.  Spring course

Prerequisite Intro to Law, Criminal Law and Civil Law

Holocaust and Genocide

Explores the history of the Holocaust both as an event in itself and as the indispensable example for those seeking to comprehend the modern problems of genocide and mass killing in general. Investigates the origins and history of Hitler’s war against the Jews and other targeted groups, including the experiences of victims, the motives of perpetrators, and the ethical and moral problems the events present. Follows these same concerns through other examples of genocide into the twenty-first century, paying particular attention to how the history of the Holocaust can shed light on the continuing problems of large-scale racial and ethnic violence.  College credit can be earned  through SUNY.  5th course in sequence but can be taken independently.

Open to all grade 12 students

Human Rights in the Modern World  2

This course will explore the historical and philosophical roots of the concept of human rights.  It will examine the ways in which human rights are contested in contemporary societies, particularly those outside the United States.  It will expose students to the ways in which international institutions and organizations attempt to protect human rights and prosecute human rights violations.  Students will also examine issues such as the universality of human rights, cultural relativism, individual and group rights, economic and political rights.  It will also examine issues at the forefront of human rights today including the status of women, children, and refugees, LGBTQ rights, and the use of torture.  6th course in sequence. 

No prerequisites and open to grades 10-12 in any program.

HUMANITIES TRACK SOCIAL SCIENCE SEQUENCE

Social Studies Research

This is a year long course that has students investigate real world issues from multiple perspectives.Students learn how to synthesize information from different sources, develop their own perspectives from research-based written essays, and conduct their own research projects.Selected projects will be entered into a citywide contest with the chance to earn college scholarships.Students who successfully complete this course can continue to in the social science sequence to earn college credit. Open only to Humanities students. 

Sociology

This is a course outline for a full-year, elective course in sociology. In this course, students will engage with themes in sociological inquiry applied within relevant and engaging contexts, both historical and contemporary. The course will deal with issues including, but not limited to group behavior and dynamics, socialization, critical theory, socioeconomics, and the interaction between various groups of people and the institutions they are subject to. The course will make use of technology to support student research, writing, collaboration, and collection of assignments. Students will engage with materials in a project-based format. In most units, students will create a product designed to address or bring attention to an issue of current sociological interest. Students can earn college credit through SUNY.  Priority to continuing Social Science Track students.

Also open to 11th grade LASI students with 80 average or higher.

Classism/ Racism and Sexism

Analyzes the connections between and among classism, racism, sexism, and heterosexism and homophobia, their mutually reinforcing nature, and the tensions arising from their interrelations. Particular attention will be given to the ideological and personal aspects of these phenomena, and to their institutional guises in American society.  Offered term 1 in 12th grade.  College credit can be earned through SUNY.  Priority to continuing Social Science Track students.

Also open to all 12th grade students with 80 average or higher.

Urban Social Science

This course studies city and urban life.  It examines the social, historical, political, cultural, economic, and environmental forces that have shaped urban environments.

Also open to all 12th grade students with 80 average or higher.

OTHER ELECTIVES

A.P. Human Geography

A one year, single period Advanced Placement course designed to introduce students to the systematic study of patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of Earth’s surface. Students learn to employ spatial concepts and landscape  analysis to examine human socioeconomic organization and its environmental consequences. They also learn about the methods and tools geographers use in their research and applications. 

For 11th and 12th grade students by application.

HISTORIOGRAPHY: CHANGING PERSPECTIVES IN AMERICAN HISTORY   Term 2

This one term course is presented to primarily senior students in the Gilder Lehrman Scholars Program finishing a four-course sequence.  It will also be open to other Midwood students interested in taking an elective to broaden their historical knowledge.  This course centers on examining issues concerning such figures as Christopher Columbus, Thomas Jefferson, Bill Clinton and Malcolm X, and such topics as the legacy of the Alamo, the flying of the Confederate flag and the exploration of outer space.

No prerequisites- open to grades 11 and 12

Human Rights in the Modern World 1 and  2

This course will explore the historical and philosophical roots of the concept of human rights.  It will examine the ways in which human rights are contested in contemporary societies, particularly those outside the United States.  It will expose students to the ways in which international institutions and organizations attempt to protect human rights and prosecute human rights violations. Students in term 1 will study modern examples of genocide since WW2.  Students will also examine issues such as the universality of human rights, cultural relativism, individual and group rights, economic and political rights. In term 2,  students will also examine issues at the forefront of human rights today including the status of women, children, and refugees, LGBTQ rights, and the use of torture.  Students in the Justice and Law sequence will take term 2 only. 

No prerequisites and open to grades 10-12 in any program.