Departments
QUESTION · ANALYZE · REFLECT · DISCUSS · WRITE · READ
The four-year English curriculum provides students with the skills and habits of mind to read, write, and speak confidently and competently about a broad range of texts. Each year, students hone their analytical skills by drawing on class discussions and independent close readings to craft thoughtful, subtle responses to literature from around the world. A focus on the writing process and revision skills is integral to every course. Classes are discussion and activity-oriented, requiring students to become respectful of multiple perspectives, compassionate for others, and confident in expressing their ideas. All English courses are UC eligible, and all English 3 and 4 classes are designated as Honors courses.
9th Grade Mission Statement
Our mission as 9th grade English teachers is to bring students together from over 70 different middle schools to create communities where we practice reading, thinking, communicating, and listening deeply. We center authors who have been traditionally pushed to the margins so that all students use literature as both mirrors and windows. While writing is an integral part of the English classroom, we believe that the finished product is only as valuable as the intellectual process and documentation of learning it contains. English class is not about possessing knowledge as much as it is about collaboration, empathy, and figuring things out.
—Katie-Rose Breslin, Isabella Henderson, Jennifer Selvin, and Angela Wall, 202111th grade mission statement
To quote Kimberlé Crenshaw, we believe that “The work of social justice is the work of narrative reconstruction.” Our mission as 11th grade English teachers is to expose, explore, and challenge the complex and often contradictory narratives of nationhood, civil rights, belonging, property, and labor that have shaped the United States. We will select texts that are historically relevant and responsive to the moment to address the ways in which stories have both inscribed and deconstructed limiting narratives of “America.” As we engage in deep and sustained reading, conversation, and writing, we encourage students to use their lived experiences to understand and analyze issues such as race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, and citizenship in the United States. Our classes will experiment with language and play with form so that students feel empowered to tell their stories, struggle with interpretation, and invent new ways to envision this country.
—Jennifer Selvin, Thelonious Johnson, Suzanne Shimek, Catherine Fung, and Angela Wall12th grade mission statement
As 12th grade English teachers, our mission is to build on the reading, writing, reflective, analytical, and interpersonal skills that students have been developing through their previous three years at LWHS. As students enter their adult lives, they are prepared to engage in civic dialogue and action. Through the study of diverse texts, we hope to come to an understanding of the societal and institutional conditions underlying justice and injustice, the positions from which we enter dialogues, and strategies for dialogue that allow us to serve more than ourselves.
—Jennifer Selvin, Suzanne Shimek, Catherine Fung, and Robin Von Breton
SAMPLE ENGLISH SYLLABI
- Introduction to Fiction Writing | Johnson
- Journalism | Butterfield
- English 1 | Breslin, Henderson, Selvin, and Wall
- English 2 | Henderson
- English 2 | Jones
- English 2 | Schenk
- English 2 | Shannon
- English 3—Literature of the United States | Selvin
- English 3H—Literature of the United States | Butterfield
- English 3H—Literature of the United States | Johnson
- English 4H—Contagion & Regeneration | Wall
- English 4H—Discourse of Dining | Briggs
- English 4H—Greek Tragedy | Schenk
- English 4H—Leaving Earth | Breslin
English Faculty
List of 1 members.
Lick-Wilmerding High School
755 Ocean Avenue | San Francisco, CA 94112 | 415.333.4021
A private school with public purpose, Lick-Wilmerding High School develops the head, heart, and hands of highly motivated students from all walks of life, inspiring them to become lifelong learners who contribute to the world with confidence and compassion.