High School Courses

List of 3 items.

• Photo Darkroom Intensive

  Ages: 15+ (alumni welcome)

  This enrichment course allows you the time to dive deeper into photo and darkroom processes. We learn to use digital negatives, print more photos in the darkroom, and work with alternative photographic processes like cyanotypes, image transfers, and salt prints. All that is required is a willingness to experiment.
  
  

  Instructor: JC Johnson, Ensworth Visual Arts Instructor

  Dates: June 3–7  9 a.m.–12 p.m.

  Capacity: Min 5, Max 10

  Cost: $200 plus, $30 materials fee

• Reading & Writing in the Woods

  Grades 9-12

  What do the woods beyond our fence smell like in the morning? How does the light fall in the forest hour by hour? Take a few days to rest in the woods this summer, cultivating a bond with literature, each other and the land. Beginning with the woods, rivers, and farmlands outside our own back door, the week includes an overnight camping trip. Our readings, like the course itself, are short and sweet and include selections from American nature writers such as David George Haskell and southern agrarians such as Wendell Berry. Min. 4/Max. 10

  
  Instructor: David Berry, Ensworth English/Theater Instructor
  Dates: Week 1 (June 3–7)
  Morning: 10:00am–12:30pm
  Cost: $195 + $25 Trip Fee

• Create Your College Portfolio: Visual and Performing Artists

  Rising Juniors and Seniors

  This course offers rising juniors and seniors an opportunity to develop an art portfolio in preparation for college applications. Students use this workshop to create digital files either of their 2D / 3D work or recorded audition performances to be included with portfolio submissions. Through a collaborative effort, students and instructors carefully curate work to build individualized portfolios and peer presentations to get a jumpstart on the college application process. Min: 6 Max: 14
  
  Dates: Week 1 (June 3–7), 1–4 p.m.
  Instructor: J.C. Johnson, Ensworth Visual Arts Instructor
  Cost: $200, plus $10 materials fee

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List of 1 items.

• Credit Courses

  Successful completion of the following courses may be used to satisfy Ensworth diploma requirements.  Each course is graded using the grading scale published in the Ensworth Handbook.  Courses are open to non-Ensworth students unless otherwise specified.  Courses taken by Ensworth students are added to their transcripts and course grades are included in GPA calculations.  Unless specified otherwise, courses earning semester credit are scheduled for 60 hours of class time and meet for four weeks from Monday, June 3 through Friday, June 28, five days/week, Monday through Friday, for three hours/day.  Courses earning yearlong credit are scheduled for 120 hours of class time and meet for 6 weeks from Monday, June 3 through Tuesday, July 16 (except Thursday and Friday, July 4 and 5), five days/week, Monday through Friday, for four hours/day.  Unless otherwise designated, the minimum enrollment for each class is five students.

  ART Studio Art 1

  Rising Grades 9–12
  This course is for the student who loves drawing and painting and wants to advance their technique and compositional skills. Assignments are designed to advance a student’s ability to depict objects through direct observation and the use of one’s imagination in developing interesting subject matter. In class exercises and formal projects include the use of graphite, charcoal, pastel and water-based painting media. The creative process is supported by textbook readings, written assignments, and discussions of historical, contemporary and multicultural art.

  CREDIT: Semester lower course credit in Visual Arts

   

  ART Studio Art 2

  Rising Grades 10–12
  This course is designed for students who enjoy studio art and want to continue to progress their artistic skills. Students explore a variety of drawing media, water-based paints, and relief printmaking methods. Students investigate more advanced compositional arrangements, thematic choices and the appropriate use of reference materials. The creative process is supported by textbook assignments and the study of old master, multicultural and contemporary artists through presentations, discussions, and critique.

  PREREQUISITE: Studio Art 1 or departmental approval  

  CREDIT: Semester lower course credit in Visual Arts

   

  ART Studio Art 3

  Rising Grades 10–12
  This masters level course is designed for visual arts students who want to deepen their exploration in a wide range of techniques and methods in the classical disciplines of drawing, painting, and printmaking. Conceptual approaches to composition and subject matter also engage students in greater experimentation and inquiry. Students learn to support their ideas with correct appropriation and original reference material. Advanced media use, such as oil paint, screen printing, drawing, and mixed media techniques are explored. Students must have a strong commitment to advance their projects outside of class to keep pace with the production expectations of the course.

  PREREQUISITE: Studio Art 2 or departmental approval; masters

  CREDIT: Semester upper course credit in Visual Arts

   

  ART Studio Art 4

  Rising Grades 10–12
  This masters level course is designed for serious art students who want to continue to build their portfolios. Advanced painting, drawing, intaglio, silkscreen, printmaking, and mixed-media methods are further explored. Students engage in increasingly complex compositional schemes and conceptual subject matter. Students must have a strong commitment to advance their projects outside of class and to keep pace with the production expectations of the course. Studio 4 is a semester of challenging coursework for the passionate artist and a prerequisite for AP Studio.

  PREREQUISITE: Studio Art 3 or departmental approval; masters

  CREDIT: Semester upper course credit in Visual Arts

   

  ART Studio Art 5

  Rising Grades 10–12
  This masters level course is designed for serious art students who want to continue to build their portfolios for college review, or to create additional college-worthy work for AP Studio. Advanced painting, printmaking, drawing, and mixed media methods are specifically tailored to boost students' techniques and hone their particular styles. Students continue to explore innovative composition and conceptual subject-matter. Students must have a strong commitment to advance their projects outside of class and to keep pace with the productions expectations of the course. 

  PREREQUISITE: Studio Art 4 or departmental approval; masters

  CREDIT: Semester upper course credit in Visual Arts

   

  ENG Literature: Literary Adaptations

  Rising Grades 11–12
  Have you ever watched a movie based off of a favorite book and found yourself aghast at the changes made to the plot or the characters?  Can a movie really ever capture that which makes a story beautiful? Can an adaptation tell the story better? This course explores these questions as we read classic and modern literature and analyze the films and other adaptations that they inspired. Authors and works studied vary according to student and instructor input, but may include Shakespeare, Austen, Tolkien, and/or Shelley.

  CREDIT: Semester upper course credit in English

   

  ENG Literature: Revenge Literature

  Rising Grades 11–12
  In popular literature and theatre, revenge has been a recurrent theme that has thrilled audiences, but beneath the surface of tension, audiences come to a greater understanding of issues of love, death, gender, race, family honor, politics, grace, and forgiveness.  We explore these themes and the revenge device in Greek and Elizabethan theatre, and contemporary literature.
  CREDIT: Semester upper course credit in English

   

  HIST The Art of Historical Investigation 

  Rising Grades 10–12; minimum 10 students
  This course focuses on developing the Core Skills through researching, writing, and collaborative projects. As a result of sustained, focused investigations, students gain additional proficiency locating and interpreting relevant primary and secondary sources for both assigned topics and topics of their own choosing. Students share their successes as well as the challenges they encounter throughout the research and writing process.

  CREDIT: Semester lower course credit in History
  

   

  MATH Integrated Geometry/Algebra

  Rising Grades 9–11
  This course introduces Euclidean Geometry through an algebra intensive approach. Main concepts studied include angles, parallel lines, congruent triangles, plane figures (circles, polygons), coordinate geometry, introductory trigonometry, and 3-dimensional figures. In addition to working problems that intentionally review algebra skills throughout the course, students utilize technology to explore concepts and test conjectures. Students also study logic and write coherent proofs.

  PREREQUISITE: Algebra 1 & Ensworth Mathematics Department approval

  CREDIT: Year lower course credit in Mathematics

   

  SCI  Materials Science

  Rising Grades 11–12; minimum 10 students
  How does stuff break?  To answer this question, students investigate how stuff is made and in doing so, will break stuff! Destructive and nondestructive tests will be conducted to investigate catastrophic failures such as bridge collapse, airplane structural failure, containers that leak, pipes that burst, and electrical failures. Advances in materials are at the core of significant technological advances, and we are in a materials revolution today! Students experience a hands-on introduction to materials science, engineering, and technology, joining researchers who push boundaries further than ever before, using biology, chemistry, and physics to expand our technological frontiers. 

  PREREQUISITE: Science Levels 1 and 2  

  CREDIT: Semester upper course credit in Science

   

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