History

Required, ninth grade
Full year

What happens when peoples with different cultural traditions, different values, and from vastly different regions of the world come into contact with one another? When our globe becomes increasingly connected what new opportunities and challenges are presented? Is progress a zero-sum game? Using case studies from the 1400s to the 1700s, Early World History examines the ongoing development of cultural traditions with an exploration of key cross-cultural encounters that shaped the course of world history and still impact us today. Students critically examine primary and secondary sources with an eye to seeing issues from multiple perspectives. A variety of research, writing, and public speaking assignments allow students to hone their historical understanding and refine their modes of expression.

Required, tenth grade
First semester

This course explores global history from the 1700s to 1920 through a variety of perspectives, including race, class, gender, nation, and community. Our two main themes are the fight for human rights and the building of an international community. After studying the Atlantic Revolutions, the Industrial Revolution, and the Age of Imperialism, students end the semester exploring World War I. To understand different viewpoints, we watch movies, read memoirs, examine art, and engage in formal debates and role-plays. Students practice many skills, including writing, close reading, note-taking, public speaking, and collaboration. From literature and primary sources to movies and debates, the course emphasizes historical empathy, civic engagement, and modern-day connections.

Required, tenth grade
Second semester + second intensive

English and History combine into one, single-block interdisciplinary humanities course to study both world literature and history. This continues the focus on identity and community that is begun in the first semester of both the 10th grade Modern World History and Foundations In Literature courses. Students continue to develop critical reading, researching, and writing skills in the second semester of 10th grade Humanities.

During the intensive term, students choose one of three different tracks and conduct site visits to global organizations based in the Seattle community in order to write a six- to eight-page research paper. They immerse themselves in a research and writing process aligned with the overarching themes of the world history and literature curricula: promoting human rights and building an international community. How can we view each of these three topics from historical, literary, artistic, ethical, environmental, and global perspectives? Students apply the lessons they have learned from their history, English, and humanities courses from earlier in the year to focus on how these historical issues and topics are playing out in both Seattle and in the rest of the world.

First semester, first intensive, or second semester
11th and 12th grades

In keeping with our school’s mission/vision/values, we want our students to become capable and engaged citizens, able to effect political, social, and economic change. This class examines our local and federal governmental systems and structures, Washington State and U.S. constitutions, the judicial system, and the ways that politics and current events influence each other. The course emphasizes the rights and responsibilities of both citizens and government in the ongoing “dance” between the competing interests of liberty and order. The course uses a variety of media including news articles, student-generated blogs, online forums, and podcasts. Class activities include simulations and debates surrounding current issues, panels of guest speakers, and field trips. Students participate in a Mock Congress to build an in-depth understanding of the legislative process. All students also participate in either a local campaign or a practicum of observation and involvement in local government or an activist organization of their choice, and are expected to commit hours outside of school to complete this experience.

11th and 12th grades
Second semester 

Students are coming of age in a world fraught with environmental challenges. Climate change, pollution, and natural resource utilization pose difficult challenges for office holders and voters alike. This course examines our local and federal governmental systems and structures, including the judicial system, and asks how lawmakers and citizens address the competing interests of individual rights and collective interests. How do governments address issues of climate change, which cross international borders and last longer than most terms of office? Through interactions with guest speakers, independent research, and team problem-solving activities, students gain skills to become effective change-makers within political and governmental systems. All students also participate in either a local campaign or a practicum of observation and involvement in local government or an activist organization of their choice, and commit hours outside of school to complete this experience.

First semester

Students focus on understanding society and culture by studying the beliefs and behaviors of human societies around the world. Students learn the concepts and methods of sociocultural anthropology and use them to examine ethnographic writing that addresses common themes such as power, religion, economics, kinship, ritual, globalization, identity, race, gender, and ethnicity and the various ways these themes play out in different societies and cultures. Students show their learning through discussion, presentations, exams, and essays. They also conduct ethnographic fieldwork in the local community and write a final paper that applies these themes. By attempting to understand culture from an insider's perspective while recognizing their own positionality, anthropology students develop reflexivity, empathy, global competence, and intercultural understanding.

Second semester

This course covers many fundamental concepts in microeconomics, including supply and demand, business organization, market structures, business ethics, and personal finance. Students learn about taxation as well as purchasing insurance. The applied economics component allows students to use the concepts and principles they learn in class; students form a company to develop and market a product. Students read The Economist each week to discuss the role of economics in current affairs.

Africa Since 1945 
Art and Social Change
Confucius to K-Pop: East Asia Changes the World 
The Many Faces of Islam
Macroeconomics 
Modern European History 
The Modern Jewish Tradition 
Russia Through the Ages
Small States in a Big World

First intensive
May be taken for fine arts or history credit

Students dive deeply into different topics and methods that have defined art movements over the ages.  Through field trips, studio visits, and in-class presentations, students explore a variety of media and methods that they then employ in hands-on projects.  Classical and contemporary art in the Western tradition--as well as the multitude of cultures that helped shape Western art--provide students with a window on not just historical context, but also on how and why the art was made, allowing them to hone their skills in visual literacy (their ability to “read” images).  By the end of the course, students complete several sketches, drawings, paintings, and other projects that reflect and allude to the movements studied in class.  Activities may include master copies, still life, collage, abstract painting, and others.