People have said that classical music is a dying art form. The problem with this claim is that individuals have been predicting the imminent death of classical music for decades. Despite the assumptions of many that classical music is "outdated," thousands upon thousands of people routinely go to concert halls to hear the old, and the new, sounds of classical music. This course is intended as a survey of classical music, starting in the medieval era, and ending in the contemporary age. In addition to history, this class will incorporate a great deal of listening, allowing students to hear and distinguish between the various styles of classical composition. If all goes well, there will be a free field trip, on the final day of class, to a concert played by the Boston Symphony.


Prerequisites
An open mind and a willingness to listen to a good amount of classical music.

Students will be guided to create various artworks using the digital medium and to learn techniques such as digital painting/airbrushing, vectors, photomanipulation, professional brochure making, and others. The class will focus mainly on Adobe programs including Photoshop, InDesgn, and Illustrator. Students will also create a supervised final independent project of their choosing, incorporating the concept/concepts learned in the course with their own interests and creativity.


Prerequisites
None.

This course examines the events before and during the recent financial crisis. We begin with the various causes of the financial crisis. We then proceed to examine the policy actions of the fiscal and monetary authorities with special emphasis on the debate surrounding these policy measures. This course aims to provide the students with a basic understanding of the causes and the effects of the recent financial crisis.


Prerequisites
Interest in current events is a must. Knowledge of economics is not required.

“I want your love and all your lover’s revenge, you and me could write a bad romance.”- Lady Gaga

“Sweet love, sweet thorn, I took your thrust . . . whereby I since am slain [. . .]”- Edna St. Vincent Millay

This course will focus on the idea of “bad romance” through the different lenses of music, literature, film, and philosophy. As a class, we will seek to uncover the meaning of romance and what it means when love has gone awry. Musically, we will be looking at artists as varied as Lady Gaga to Billy Joel. Literature will aid us in our investigation of “tainted love” through texts ranging from Greek mythology to Shakespearean plays to modern poetry. We will also be looking at films ranging from Casablanca to 500 Days of Summer as well as exploring the psychological aspects of love gone wrong, through the concept of romantic love as disease and mental disorders that flirt with the idea of love. This course hopes to provide a deeper poetic and philosophic understanding of the nature of “bad romance” in contemporary society and throughout the ages. Each class will be part lecture, with multimedia aspects, and part discussion.

What are the differences between Republicans and Democrats? Why is there such a fuss about immigration? Who is the Tea Party? And what does the government actually do with my (parent’s) money?

If you’ve ever asked these questions, this is the class for you! We’ll be exploring the current political landscape of the United States, discussing how different groups and events have impacted politics, and debating some of the most polarizing issues in the news today. This class has two main objectives: to deepen the student's understanding of modern America--its strengths and its challenges--and to provide students with the opportunity to discuss complex issues with peers.




Prerequisites
Students must be willing to actively participate, and they will be expected to maturely and respectfully discuss topics that may be difficult and sensitive.

The short story is alive and well in America, and has been for nearly two centuries.

We will read short stories by American authors from the 1830s to the present. We'll pay close attention to each story, learning different ways of approaching, engaging with, and communicating our experience of literature. we'll always go beyond "I liked this part," to questions about why, figuring out together how the author's structural choices impact our experience of a story. Class will be heavily discussion-based--and together, we'll figure out how to ask good questions about our reading and clarify for ourselves and others what we're thinking.

But this class will go beyond discussions of individual stories to tell a short story of its own. The story of how the short story has shaped and been shaped by America: its literary traditions and cultural history, from the many oral storytelling traditions and belief strucures that came together to create the unique storytelling tradition in the American South, to the rise of magazines in America, to the state of the short story in this modern post-modern age. We'll throw in some more ancient history too, spending some time on where storytelling comes from in the human experience--what deep human urges and needs it has seemed to fill across cultures and centuries, and why people love it so much.


Authors read will include:

- The earliest published short stories from Ben Franklin and Washington Irving (think Rip Van Winkle, or Sleepy Hollow)

- "Romantic" period writers like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe, and Herman Melville

- "Realistic" writers like Mark Twain, Stephen Crane and Henry James, together with the first "Uncle Remus" stories out of the South

- Naturalism, where we'll see Twain again and meet Jack London and Willa Cather

- Early Modernism, with Southerners like Faulkner, Eudora Welty, and Flannery O'Connor - and John Steinbeck, the defining writer of the American West

- Moderns and post-moderns like Carson McCullers, Hemingway, Russell Banks, and John Updike

- Special attention to the unique traditions of African-American short story writers like Alice Walker and Jewish writers like Isaac Bashevis Singer

- And lastly, contemporary authors like Cynthia Ozick, Tobias Wolff, and Ha Jin

Along the way, we'll discuss all these things like romanticism, realism, naturalism, modernism, and postmodernism - what all these isms bring to the table, and how they've interacted to create the American short story tradition.



Prerequisites
As you can see, we have a lot to cover! You MUST be prepared to read 30-40 pages a week. And not just read, but read actively: underline, make notes in the margins, and think about what you want to bring up in discussion, things that confused or delighted you. But the only real demand of this class is that you have fun, and help make it fun for everyone else! Having read and thought about the stories is important for that: otherwise, discussions will be boring, slow, and uneven. As long as you are committed to learning and sharing these stories, don't worry about the class being too hard. We aim to go far, but we'll start at the beginning! And nothing about the pace or content is set in stone, except that we won't be accommodating those who don't make the effort to read the stories.

Being able to communicate one's ideas and opinions is crucial to succeeding in today's world. Someone who has command and confidence when speaking publicly will succeed more in all areas of his or her life.

This class will explore the successes (and failures) of historical as well as fictional speeches while challenging students to write their own prepared and extemporaneous remarks.

No homework will be given, but all students are expected to participate in class and be willing to go outside their comfort zones. Each student will be expected to give 5-8 speeches of varying lengths during the course of the semester.

Whether you are more timid or more confident about your public speaking skills, this class will is meant for you.


Topics to be covered:
> Literary devices
> Powerpoint presentation
> Sports speeches
> Extemporaneous deliveries
> Body language
> Preparation
> Body language
> Historical masterpieces
> Terrible blunders
> Humor

I am open to including/amending any topic if the class wants something to be covered.


Prerequisites
Students need only to have the desire to improve their public speaking skills. Furthermore, one needs to be comfortable giving and receiving constructive criticism.

This course examines Shakespeare's Hamlet, discussing the book in relation to the concepts of sanity, gender roles, vengeance, etc. We will tackle such ideas in a small, friendly, discussion-based environment. Student will have some reading outside of class, but no other work will be assigned. Students with ALL academic interests and backgrounds are welcome!


Prerequisites
N/A

In this course, students will participate in a detailed reading of Joseph Conrad’s 1902 novella Heart of Darkness. Major themes of the novella, including imperialism, insanity, and the nature of good and evil, will be located and discussed with respect to the broader philosophical and cultural contexts of the time. Supplemental readings will address Romanticism, Modernism, frame narratives, moral ambiguity, and human nature. At the end of the course, we will read and discuss more recent post-colonial criticism of Conrad, most notably by Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart.


Prerequisites
None

Ever wondered why there are so many hair colors in anime? Why there are so many cat- and dog- and fox- and cute animal- boys/girls? Come with us as we enter a variety of these worlds and explore not only these surface questions but also issues of gender (and the bending of), nationality (of the creators and the characters), and much more. We will focus mainly on the discussion of recent series, and convince you that anime is both worth watching and worth studying seriously from a scholarly perspective.

Homework will consist of watching anime (we will supply all of it) every week and reading an article about it every other week (or so). As this class is open to students of all experience levels, we will do our best to accommodate your interests. (And honestly, what better excuse to watch animated goodies than to be able to say that it's homework?)

Note: As we will be watching some R-rated material, an additional permission slip must be signed for this class.


Prerequisites
One of the following (the first two preferred): (1) A flash drive with at least 3gb free space. (2) A laptop with at least 3gb free space. (3) A decent internet connection.

“The figure a poem makes. It begins in delight and ends in wisdom.”
-Robert Frost

Have you ever read a poem and thought: “This doesn’t make any sense?” If you have, don’t worry—you are not alone. In this course, we will unlock the world of poetry through weekly readings, discussions, and recitations of poetic works by some of the most influential and important poets. This course will cover a range of poets, time periods, and styles. With a better understanding of poetry, you will be able to approach all varieties of literature and even your own writing with greater insight and skill. Poets discussed will include William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, and Wallace Stevens. Students will also have the opportunity to write their own poetry. I hope that you will join our class.


Prerequisites
No prerequisites--just a desire to read and talk about poetry. One important note: This class is designed as a high school-level course and does include some challenging material. However, motivated middle school students are welcome and encouraged to sign up.

CREATIVE AND CRITICAL THINKING about Dreams and Dreaming

Dreams have been described as the doorway to the unconscious. But do we understand what we dream, or why? In deep sleep, we recreate our past memories; do we also dream and create the future? Are our dreams trying to tell us something? We’ll compare the answers to these questions put forth by philosophers, cognitive neuro-scientists, psychologists, and storytellers. We’ll discuss the brain and the mechanics of dreaming, the theories as to where dreams come from and what they are, including the different categories of dreams, from ancient times up to the present and open all these theories to class debate. Discussions will include Freud, Cayce, Einstein and Carl Jung. One class will be devoted to the artwork and dreams in Jung’s Red Book, which was withheld from publication for over 50 years.

Each class will include examples of the creative use of dreams and dreaming in famous literature, art, music and film. Special attention will be given to oneiric film-making. Recent movies to be shown will include Avatar, Inception and Alice in Wonderland, as well as classics by Ingmar Bergmann and Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s eight dreams.

In this course, we will learn about limits and derivatives and their applications. I am willing to slow the pace of the course in order to ensure the mastery of concepts, or speed it up if it’s easy. This course can be taken while taking trigonometry, but will be repetitive if taken with an introductory Calculus Course.


Prerequisites
Prerequisites: Algebra II Recommended: Trigonometry Overlaps with Calculus

Linear algebra and the theory of finite-dimensional vector spaces is key to any student in physics or mathematics. This class will take a proof-based approach to vector spaces, linear maps, inner products, eigenvectors, and eigenvalues. Proof techniques will be taught along the way. Since each class will build on the previous class material, skipping classes is not recommended.


Prerequisites
High school algebra, willingness to learn proofs.

Analytic number theory is a branch of number theory that uses mathematical analysis to solve number theoretic problems. In this course, we will delve into the field of analytic number theory by looking at several notable problems: divergence of the sum of the reciprocals of primes, the twin prime conjecture, the Collatz conjecture, and Dirichlet's Theorem on arithmetic progressions.

(Note: This course is not a rigorous treatment of analytic number theory; it is merely intended to expose you to the field, and we hope that you will continue to explore on your own after the conclusion of the class.)


Prerequisites
An intuitive understanding of Single-Variable Calculus is helpful, but not necessary. Any further mathematical knowledge necessary to tackle the problems will be covered in class.

The title is a first. The course combines these two great fields. Vision dates into pre-history and Computational Photography is some 30 years in the making. The student becomes becomes part of the scene. Keen students even in middle school could learn from the course. The students will take digital cameras apart. They will also learn how to See.


Prerequisites
Strong interest is the only prerequisite

This course is meant to meant to teach the basics of Matlab, an analytical tool used by scientists and engineers. Students will become familiar with the interface, the many capabilities of this tool and basics computer programming. By the end of the class, students will be able to write their own scripts.


Prerequisites
A willingness to learn!

This course will be an overview of plane and solid Euclidean geometry. We will derive theorems about triangles, circles, polygons, and solids from basic geometric facts; and use them to solve problems. Problems will be drawn from both textbooks and middle-school and high school math competitions. Classes will be a mix of lectures and problem-solving sessions.


Prerequisites
understanding of algebra, through the level of Algebra 1

Organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon, the backbone of all life on Earth. This course will provide an introduction to organic chemistry, reactions, and mechanisms. We will learn basic synthesis processes and the way mechanisms demonstrate how a reaction proceeds. At the end, we will be able to understand the steps in the creation of some simple medicines, biological molecules, or hormones. Topics will include nomenclature, nucleophilic substitution reactions, elimination reactions, alkene chemistry, and benzene chemistry.


Prerequisites
One year of high school chemistry. It is recommended that you understand what VSEPR theory, pi bonds, and electronegativity mean.

Welcome to the wonderful world of optics! For the duration of this course, you will learn about the behavior and properties of light, and we will discuss everything from rainbows to LEDs to cameras! You will also participate in fun experiments and projects.


Prerequisites
A willingness to learn and geometry.

This course will give a brief overview of basic principles in biology by discovering exactly what went wrong in cancer. We will discuss topics such as central dogma, cell cycle, cell signaling, cell aging and more.
Since this course is meant to be introductory, we will not be concerned with the details of these processes but rather to understand the fundamental principles that govern them through media and interactive activities.


Prerequisites
None

In this course, we will discuss the mechanisms of the bizarre world of quantum physics. Topics will include: the mathematics necessary for quantum theory, the statistical nature of particles, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, the Schrodinger equation, Dirac notation, and spin.


Prerequisites
You should be fairly comfortable with math. I will cover the necessary material from calculus and linear algebra since most of you will probably be unfamiliar with those subjects.

For many chemical reactions in our body, if to be performed outside, we might need to put it in a hot oven over years. But cells can do it within split seconds, with the "Enzyme". This course introduces the basic concepts about the enzymes: what enzymes are, their roles in living systems, and how they work in terms of kinetics and mechanisms.


Prerequisites
basic understanding of biology and chemistry, some familiarity with single-variable calculus is helpful but not required.

Everything has a limit. Luckily, we have yet to experience first-hand the consequences of exceeding the carry capacity of our species. Despite our lack of world-wide catastrophe, we as humans are pushing the resources the Earth provides to near extinction. In this course, we will explore what this means to us now, and in our future. How has science given us the ability to continue to support a rapidly growing population? What are the results of using science to manipulate the qualities of our natural resources? This class will illustrate to students the impact exponential growth of humans has on the Earth and how it is negatively affecting both our environment and our health.


Prerequisites
A willingness to learn and discuss.

This class would be a brief introduction into the nanomaterials world, from atoms to nanostructures. Students will be immersed in a nanoscale world
where atoms are disposed in multiples patterns to generate a wide range of materials.
Some of those materials are essential for our life; some other will be the next
generation of materials in apparel, computers and medicine applications. Students will prepare a short presentation (5 min) focused on some nanomaterial applications.


Prerequisites
Chemestry concepts

A broad overview of modern physics, including nuclear and atomic physics, astrophysics, and quantum mechanics. Topics will include but are not limited to: the basic model of the atom, both classical and modern; nuclear fission, fusion, and reactors; the nature of light and the history of our understanding of it; basic quantum mechanics; basic relativity; black holes. The topics covered on the last day of class will be determined by a student vote.


Prerequisites
This being a class on physics and its departure from classical laws, a basic understanding of classical physics would be helpful but is not required. All necessary background students are unfamiliar with will be covered as necessary.

How can a change in one nucleotide in a genome of three billion bases cause a devastating disease? How do proteins take on different functions within a living cell when they are made of the same “alphabet” of 20 amino acids? How can cells function and react to a constantly changing environment without a “brain”?

Learn how biological organisms function and survive, starting with the basics of physical science and working our way up!

This class will look at biology in the context of chemistry, physics, and more, going from the simplest reactions and compounds to the diverse populations of cells working in the human body. Create a dynamic picture of molecular/cellular biology as a process in your head and forget about memorizing names and reactions!


Prerequisites
You should have some background in biology, chemistry, and physics so that you can recognize a few key terms and concepts. If you can describe (not necessarily in great detail) cells, chemical reactions/bonds, and energy/forces, you should be set.

Take a journey through spacetime—change the way you view the world and see how time intertwines with space in the theory of special relativity! Topics to be covered include (but are definitely not limited to) inertial reference frames, Minkowski diagrams, Lorentz transformations, time dilation/length contraction, causality, “paradoxes,” four-momentum.

This discussion seminar will bring high school juniors and seniors together with a variety of historical and modern sources on the value and aim of education. We will ask: What does it mean to be an educated person? In particular, what is the purpose of a modern-day American liberal arts education? Should the focus of education be vocational, political, cultural, moral? What is the role of education in building a society?

To kindle discussion, we will read excerpts from classics such as Rousseau's Emile, more recent works such as Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind, and newspaper and magazine articles by cultural critics such as William Deresiewicz and Stanley Fish. However, students are encouraged to add to and alter the syllabus by bringing in readings of their own. The topics we ultimately cover will be driven by students' interests and the questions they find important.

This class requires no prerequisites, other than a willingness to speak up in class and an appreciation for lively discussion and personal reflection. Assignments will be limited to short excerpts of books, online articles, and one-page (300 word) response papers on each week's readings.


Prerequisites
None

ESPrinkler will be a weekly seminar series. Each week, a different teacher will lead a class on a topic of their choice. Anything is possible! This class is open to everyone and has no prerequisites.


Prerequisites
none