Literature that changes how you see the world.
The Hudson School English Department fosters diversity, integrity, and independent thinking through deep immersion in literary texts spanning eras, cultures, and writing styles — and through the belief that stories have the power to shape who we become.
Critical thinkers. Compassionate readers. Confident writers.
The English Department promotes the values of diversity, integrity, and independent thinking through intensive engagement with literary texts across eras, cultures, and writing styles. Our curriculum develops oral and written communication skills alongside digital literacy — the ability to locate, evaluate, and critically reflect on information from a wide range of media. We aspire to help students become critical thinkers, compassionate individuals, and good citizens of the world. Students must complete four years of grade-level English for graduation.
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From identity and storytelling to censorship and AP literature.
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Grade 9 — Identity & Storytelling
Students explore what shapes their identities through works by Sandra Cisneros, J.D. Salinger, William Shakespeare, and Ta-Nehisi Coates — alongside film and digital storytelling. A community-building course at its core.
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Grade 10 — American Literature
A survey of American authors from the colonial era to the mid-20th century — Hawthorne, Poe, Emerson, Kate Chopin, Fitzgerald — examines how social, cultural, and political landscapes define what it means to be American.
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Grades 11–12 — Advanced Seminars
Advanced students choose between thematic seminars: Banned Books & Censorship, Underrepresented Voices & the American Dream, The Detective Story, and Postcolonial Literature — plus AP English Literature and creative writing electives.
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Electives — Poetry & Speculative Fiction
Poetry Workshop and a Science Fiction & Fantasy seminar invite students to write, imagine, and debate — exploring the human condition through forms from sonnets to slam, from Ursula K. Le Guin to Octavia Butler.
AP English Literature & Composition.
AP English Literature is run as a college-level workshop and seminar. Students refine critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and advanced writing through the in-depth study of diverse literary texts — including representative genres, periods, literary devices, and social and historical context. Recommended for students with strong reading and writing skills and a commitment to the study of literature and language.
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Stories matter. Come find yours.
Visit The Hudson School’s Upper School campus and see how our English Department turns readers into writers and students into citizens of the world.
Schedule a Visit