English Department Introduces New Sophomore English Curriculum

COURTESY OF ALBERT YUK/DEERFIELD SCROLL

Disclaimer: Scroll Faculty Advisor Justin Romick helped design and curate The Reading and Writing Workshop’s curriculum.

Amidst course selections last spring, students noticed a shift in the English curriculum: a new, sophomore English model, The Reading and Writing Workshop, had replaced the long-running Defining Literary Traditions course.

Sophomore English Teacher Christian Austin, who was a primary driver of this change, explained that the new course moves away from largely British texts towards an amalgamation of colonial, British, and other literary pieces that define modern-day society. A major part of the new course was the sophomore declamation, which English teachers had revised to encourage more creative expression. The department shifted the sophomore declamation—which had traditionally required students to memorize and perform another author’s poem of their choice—to align more with freshman and junior declamations. Students now have to write, declaim, but not necessarily memorize, a piece about an obsession they cannot stop thinking about.

Mr. Austin believes the new declamation will prepare students for the junior-year declamation, college applications, and what he calls “personal writing.” Additionally, he hopes that the new declamation will “produce genuinely entertaining pieces for students to listen to…that end up being fun for students to write.”

Students have reacted to this declamation change with a mix of positivity and skepticism. Some returning juniors held positive but nostalgic views. Skylar Ricketts ’27 favored the old declamation, sharing, “I enjoyed it [the old sophomore declamation] because it was different… Memorization allowed me to appreciate another author’s work more because I had to learn it, recite it, and say it with inflection.” They continued, “You have to use a different part of your brain…to enter yourself into another author’s shoes. I don’t think that you can really get that with your own writing.”

Current sophomores have responded to the change with ambivalence. Associate Editor of the Scroll Celine Chang ’28 felt the new declaration missed the interpretative aspect in its recital: “I really like public speaking, and I’ve done interpretative reading. And so I was really looking forward to the declamation, because it’s not only about memorization, but also being able to express text really clearly…But I’m pretty open to change, honestly.” Moreover, English department teachers designed The Workshop to feature mainly in-class writing and naturally discourage the use of artificial intelligence. Both Mr. Austin and Dean of Teaching & Learning and English Teacher Hadley Westman believe students would not be able to benefit from using AI. As Mr. Austin puts it, “the muscle of writing is strengthened” through The Workshop’s in-class writing exercises.

Ms. Westman cited artificial intelligence as a contributing factor in creating The Workshop, saying, “The arrival of AI technology was part of the picture as we designed the course. It was not the sole motivating factor… but it was a shared understanding that in this landscape…we need to be providing more explicit opportunities for them [sophomores] to both practice, receive feedback on, and learn from the experience of writing…and to be able to help you do that in a space that does not involve AI.”

Additionally, by employing shared rubrics and major assessments, the new sophomore English course aims to reduce discrepancies in grades between classes. Teachers of The Workshop contend that creating a shared set of assessments makes it easier to assess the entire 10th-grade class’s strengths and weaknesses, empowering 10th-grade and 11th-grade teachers to better understand how to teach and address their students’ needs with a baseline that they are familiar with.

Despite mixed opinions regarding different aspects of its creation, The Workshop is positioning Deerfield students and faculty to take new steps in today’s changing classroom environments.