In the upcoming school year, Sidwell will update its curriculum with a number of new classes for juniors and seniors.
Set to begin in the upcoming 2024–2025 school year, the science department plans to offer a year-long Advanced Environmental Science course to juniors and seniors. Upper School Science Teacher Emily Boyer, who will teach the course, said students can look forward to “[taking] a deep dive into environmental issues through the lens of climate change.” Boyer also hopes students will develop a deeper understanding of climate change’s science and “become advocates for our environment beyond the classroom.” The Advanced Environmental Science class will delve deeper into several topics rather than skimming a broad range of topics.
Boyer also plans to teach an Ecology and Conservation semester-long course to junior and senior students, which will be less comprehensive than the previous Environmental Science course. In the course, Boyer compresses the topics no longer covered in the current ecology class into a new class while emphasizing the importance of climate and biodiversity conservation, according to the curriculum guide.
The Upper School English Department is also expanding the environmental studies curriculum, adding a senior year Environmentalist Literature course for next school year. According to the curriculum guide, the course seeks to strengthen the connection between human beings and nature through reading and inquiring about environmental issues.
Another upcoming addition to the English Department is the senior class “Haunted: Ghosts, Possession and Gender in Literature,” taught by Upper School English Teacher Samantha Goodwin. The curriculum guide explains that the course will “analyze the motif of ghosts literally and figuratively and the symbolism of feeling haunted after a tumultuous experience across various novels.” The feeling of hauntedness is linked with historical experiences related to women in the selected novels, exploring how trauma can evoke fear and paranoia in “Beloved” by Toni Morrison and “Rebecca” by Daphne de Maurier, among others.
Upper School History Teacher Myles Teasley plans to teach a new Foreign Policy elective in the history department. Teasley looks forward to teaching this course in a Washington setting, close to federal buildings, and he hopes to invite political leaders to speak at the Upper School campus to “enrich the learning experience.”
Teasley believes it is crucial for students nearing the eligible voting age “to be more nuanced and measured about the tough decisions being made.”. Teasley also aims to address both the past and the present, stating that, “the United States is at a crossroads right now where there is increasing disagreement and reassessment.” He hopes his students will consider past trends and present events and leave the class “with [a] greater understanding of how foreign policy decisions are made [and] why they are made.”
The five new classes offered during the upcoming school year for juniors and seniors are part of Sidwell’s ongoing mission to keep the curriculum relevant and engaging for students.
