Humanities
We believe that adolescents learn best when they are active, solving real problems and applying the concepts learned in class to their own experiences. Study in the Humanities is designed to provide an experiential, interdisciplinary approach to organizing themes that reveal the connections between the traditional disciplines. Our program offers challenging reading and writing assignments at each grade level designed to engage students with important ideas. Students exhibit a variety of writing styles and forms, emphasizing creativity and informational and argumentative writing.
With an added emphasis on speaking, listening and public presentation skills, students must demonstrate an ability to think critically and be an effective communicator through a variety of mediums. Students also learn to gather and assess sources to assist building their competency as a skilled information processor. Students are required to successfully complete the following courses (or equivalent coursework) in the humanities before earning a diploma:
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Grade 9 Cultural Foundations [English, social studies including history, geography, and government
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Grade 10 American Studies [English, social studies including U.S. History, and government] and Economics
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Grade 11 World Literature and World Studies
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Grade 12 Senior Seminar or Advanced Placement English Literature or Advanced Placement Language & Composition
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Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?
Cultural Foundations is the first course in the core Humanities program combining work in English and social studies (government and geography.) In English, Cultural Foundations engages students in a reading and writing workshop model designed to develop critical thinking and writing skills while building reading stamina and fluency. Students explore the complex, often contradictory relationships between populations, the morals and ethics they seek to embody and/or challenge, and the larger society in which they live. They investigate the stories that shape our culture and the reality in which we live. Students examine various genres of literature including poetry, short fiction, personal narrative and the novel. Social studies includes government and geography. Students will examine the inspiration for and the themes of the founding documents, as well as look at what these documents mean for both government and civic responsibility. Students will also study political parties and political ideologies, including their own perspectives. Using both historical references and modern thought, students also explore what role individuals play in a society and how societies influence and inform individual thoughts and action.
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What is the American experience? To what extent do we live up to our own ideals? What events, circumstances, and people have shaped America?
American Studies is the second level course in the core Humanities Program. Students learn to analyze the historical events, trends and beliefs that have influenced the development of the United States. Students explore controversial issues, both historical and contemporary, and their reflection in American literature. In addition, students will examine how writers both influence and reflect culture. Through various literary genres, students examine diverse perspectives of the American experience. Students focus on critical reading, developing creative and analytical writing skills, while demonstrating competency through projects and exhibitions. Students successfully completing both Cultural Foundations and American Studies will have fulfilled state requirements of two units of English and two units of social studies (including U.S. history, and government).
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This course is designed to introduce students to both Macro- and Micro-Economics. The course examines the different economic systems that exist in the world, with special emphasis on the mixed economy of the United States. Additional concepts covered in this course are the principles of supply and demand, money and banking, personal finance, the stock market, employment, business cycles, and the role of the government in maintaining a healthy economy. This course is designed to provide students with a background in economic principles. This semester Economics course is a graduation requirement beginning with the class of 2023. Students are encouraged to complete this requirement in 10th grade. However, students may complete it in 11th or 12th if it impacts their course of study.
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World Studies and World Literature are the third of the core requirements in Humanities building on the Division 1 curriculum.
World Studies
Why are there oppressive governments and how do they maintain control? Is there one right form of government? How do systems of beliefs shape culture, history, and societies? How do beliefs create conflict? What cultural understanding is needed to navigate the increasingly global world? How has colonization had enduring impacts on the world?
World Literature
How do different cultural practices reflect the character of a people? What elements of the human experience are universal? How does literature reflect political and social dynamics in the world? How do individuals seek power within a culture and how do cultures seek power within the world?
Students demonstrate proficiency in the areas of reading, writing and research, speaking and listening, and language use. Students read selected complex text sets including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, memoir, drama and non-fiction essays from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Middle East and Europe, while the writing curriculum focuses largely on various forms of analysis in argument and exposition.
GRADE 12 REQUIRED COURSES
Senior Seminar or AP English Literature or AP English Language and Composition
Seniors are required to enroll in either an interdisciplinary senior seminar or Advanced Placement English Literature or Advanced Placement English Language and Composition.
Senior Seminar
How shall I live in the new millennium given the historical tension between permanence and change?
Each seminar combines English with a second discipline. Students explore serious questions about who they are, what they believe and how they will assume their place in the world. Seminars emphasize critical reading and writing, Socratic dialogue and oral presentation. The seminars that follow link English with social studies or science and will be offered if there is sufficient enrollment.
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How do questions of law and justice impact society today? How has the US system of law and justice developed over the course of time?
The United States is governed by an extensive system of evolving laws. Some regulations protect us; some limit our individual freedom and promote commonwealth, and some guarantee rights and privileges. Some legal rules receive nearly universal support, while others give rise to “outlaws.” This seminar will explore the dynamism of American jurisprudence as well as the rationale for lawlessness. We will examine the impact of law on daily lives, the general structure of the legal system, the penal system, and the processes to change and/or create laws. Some potential topics to be covered: Different forms of justice (retributive, distributive, punitive, reward- based, procedural), laws applying to specific groups (based on gender, race, age), religion and the law (blasphemy, anti-witchcraft, evolution), privacy, adolescent rights, and laws in daily life.
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How can we participate in creating a more just and sustainable world?
In this inquiry based seminar, students will develop and expand their understanding of the scientific, ethical and cultural connections involved in just and sustainable decision-making. Working as social scientists and environmental scientists, astute readers and skilled communicators, we will investigate issues at the intersection of the human and natural world. Our collective aim is to build our capacity as global citizens to make positive contributions towards creating a more just and viable globe.
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What is our reality? Who are we? How do we think? What is good? What values are important? What is just? What is the meaning of life?
Ethics Seminar is an interdisciplinary course that links senior English with the social studies discipline of philosophy. Basing the course on Socrates’ famous statement, “An unexamined life is not worth living,” the seminar studies the idea of what it means to be “human.” Using the basis of ethical theory as the lens to explore this concept, this course studies what is reality, the issue of true knowledge, the formulation of cultural understanding, the determination of values, various definitions of citizenship, as well as characteristics of effective leadership. This study is accomplished within the framework of applied ethical analysis centered on current issues. Ethics Seminar is coupled with the Ethics Forum Extension Program, an extracurricular program open to all students at Souhegan. The Forum, as an extension of the seminar, allows seniors to apply strategies and theory in reaching school, community and global initiatives. Ethics/Social Studies is offered for dual enrollment credit through the University of New Orleans.
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This rigorous interdisciplinary course explores the relationship between literature and film. Students will “read” both literature and film from a variety of genres in order to consider: Why is film so integral to our culture? How does our understanding of literature change when we consider it from the perspective of a filmmaker? How does our understanding of the world change through the lens of the filmmaker? Other questions for exploration include: What happens when literature is transformed into film? Do we approach film and literature differently as readers/ viewers? How do film and literature both inform and reflect society? In this class, students will read/view, discuss, critique, and analyze film and literature, as well as make their own films. We will consider the historical and cultural impacts of film and literature in America as well as the historical and cultural forces that inspire artists to create film and literature.
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The story is the same: we are alive and dead, awake and asleep, young and old. Things change and are the same, and change again and are the same. – Heraclitus
The primary goal of AP English Literature is to develop critical standards for the independent appreciation of literature and writing by offering a college-level course in the senior year. The course’s thematic approach, focusing on the nature of fate, human beings, and human relationships, is designed for students who are eager to explore literature and writing in an in-depth manner. Essential questions include: How does literature relay ideas and concepts relevant to our universal understanding of life? How do elements of literature and writing contribute to this understanding? Classroom discussion and active participation are an integral part of the course. Writing assignments focus on the critical analysis of literature. Students read works that not only challenge, but also provide richness of thought and language. Students enrolling in this course attend an orientation session in late spring that introduces them to the course guidelines and expectations. Successful completion of summer reading and writing assignments is required. Students are expected to take the AP exam. This course is under review with SNHU for dual enrollment credit.
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What choices and strategies do essayists wrestle with as they attempt to persuade their audiences?
The AP English Language and Composition course is designed to help students become skilled writers. By their writing and reading in this course, students should become aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects, as well as the way that conventions and the resources of language contribute to effective writing. This is a challenging elective, but available to students at any ability level. We will read authors from many historical periods, including the present. Among other thinkers, students should expect to study George Orwell, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Barbara Ehrenreich, Stephen Colbert, James Baldwin, John Stuart Mill, Malcolm Gladwell, TaNehisi Coates, Joan Didion, and Jonathan Swift. The AP English Language and Composition course may not take the place of the junior year Humanities curriculum of World Literature, an integrated course with World Studies. (It is essential that students engage as responsible citizens in a curriculum rooted in knowledge of our international community—its literature, culture, and history.) Successful completion of summer assignments is required. Students are expected to take the AP exam. This course is under review with SNHU for dual enrollment credit.
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What does it mean to develop effective communication skills for the 21st Century?
The evolution of digital media has created emerging markets in digital publication and varying forms of communication. SaberDigital Magazine will incorporate 21st century digital storytelling tools to create internet content for The Claw, our online digital magazine www.shsclaw.sprise.com. Students will learn various written forms such as short stories, poetry, and journalism supplemented with digital storytelling techniques to accomplish a dynamic reading/viewing experience for our audience. Students taking this class can choose to write stories based on personal interests, create videos or photomontages, or explore the world of digital journalism. If a student chooses the English track, they will focus on writing and reporting competencies. Students choosing the technology track will focus on video and audio storytelling competencies. Students will create, evaluate, and collaborate to meet publication deadlines. Students will participate in small group and full class discussions, as well as writing and media production workshops. Students may choose to earn Technology credit.
SaberDigital Magazine 2 Explores how mobile news stories are reported, produced, and distributed on various digital platforms. Students will learn to create engaging multi-form stories while adhering to the traditional standards of news judgment, accuracy, fairness, and truth. Students will begin to specialize and explore within a format and topic. Formats include podcasting, news broadcasting, social media, and multimedia formats.
SaberDigital Magazine 3
Explores what it’s like taking on a leadership role within a publication. Students will be in charge of a given department within the magazine and will be responsible for its publication schedule, reporters, promotions, and advertisements while building and refining your electronic portfolio and creating original content.
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What is the most effective way to tell a story?
This course is designed for anyone who has had an interest in creative writing and storytelling. We will explore how to use the most important narrative writing skills—including character development, dialogue, setting, and structure—to create our own engaging stories. We will practice with multiple prompts and activities, draw inspiration from examples both classic and modern, produce edited and polished work, and develop our own voice and confidence as writers. If you have ever wanted to write your own stories, books, or movies, this is the perfect place to learn the essentials.
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What are the patterns and distributions of human activity on the earth? How is this human activity evident in the landscape?
The Oxford Dictionary of Geography defines human geography as the study of “relationships between human activities and the physical environment.” This class will reflect this orientation in the context of a challenging elective associated with the Advanced Placement Program, equivalent to an introductory level college class in Human Geography. The course will investigate the following topics: population, cultural patterns and processes, political organization of space, agriculture, industrialization and economic development, and urbanization. We will use an introductory college text and students will be expected to engage in research, critical thinking, writing, and content acquisition activities. Students are expected to complete summer reading and assignments and take the Advanced Placement exam.
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What are the events, philosophies, policies, and personalities that have shaped the United States?
The AP U.S. History course provides students with the analytic skills and factual knowledge necessary to deal critically with the problems and materials in U.S. history. This course prepares students for intermediate and advanced college courses by making demands upon them equivalent to those made by an introductory college level course. Students will learn to assess historical materials and to weigh the evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship. Extensive reading and writing is required of students enrolled in this course. Students will be expected to successfully complete summer reading assignments and take the Advanced Placement exam. This course is under review with SNHU for dual enrollment credit.
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Why do we behave the way we do?
In this course, we will explore ourselves as humans – observing, predicting, and explaining why we behave, feel, and think the way we do. Looking at why we react to certain stimuli helps us better understand our everyday experiences in a new light. If you have ever wondered, “Why?” then this course can offer an explanation. To what extent do genes predispose our individual differences in personality? How do home and community environments shape us? How does our well being change across the life span? Why and how do we remember things? Why do we dream? In what ways are we alike as members of the human family? How do we differ? Seeking answers to these questions helps us gain insight into our lives and the lives of those around us, and ultimately, enriches us. Topics of study will include Human Development, Biological Bases of Behavior, Consciousness, Memory, Thinking, Motivation, Sensation and Perception, Personality, and Psychological Disorders. College credit is available through the Running Start dual enrollment program.
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What is the scientific basis of studying humans? How are societal patterns and human behaviors developed, sustained, and changed?
This course will use the tools and techniques of anthropology, sociology, and psychology to explore elements of human behavior as reflected in everyday life. Students will examine the social constructs that create and reinforce social interaction, organization, institutions, and change. They will investigate major themes, such as how individuals interact with society, how society can be both stable and changing, and the causes and effects of social inequality. Topics explored include: culture, race, gender, conformity and deviance.
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What is true wisdom?
This course offers students a basic understanding of the history of western philosophy, its scope, terms, and methods. Time is spent on the basic constructs of philosophical interpretation and thinking, the basics of philosophical study, the issue of knowledge, the dilemma of interpretation of that knowledge, the complexity of the philosophical mind, evaluation and judgments, the debate contingent on free will, and interpretation of the supernatural with correlation to the concept of good and evil.
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Where do you stand on the global issues of today?
The world is a fascinating and controversial place that can at times, be overwhelming and confusing. This course will choose topics that pique your interest and delve deeply into them in order to gain a better understanding of where the issue derives from historically, why it is important in the present, and what are the future implications. At the end of each unit, we will participate in assessments that emphasize taking a stand on the issue and offering up your informed opinions. This could include, but is not limited to, writing position papers, participating in simulations and debates, or using creative mediums to present your argument. For example, you could create a proposal to the President of the United States on drone warfare, hold a summit between Israel and Palestine, or even write a speculative fiction on Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.