Departments

Either scroll down or click on the name of the department to jump to one specific place:

Art; Community Service; Dance; Drama; English; French; Math; Music; Physical Education; Science; Social Studies; Spanish

Art
Art classes work primarily in the studio, which has design space, pottery wheels, a kiln, and a darkroom.  Classes work with a variety of media and include:  drawing and painting, ceramics, design, printmaking, fashion design, yarn arts, and photography.  There are also classes that examine the multi-disciplinary nature of art and history.  These include Art History, the History of the Self Portrait, and Art and Politics.  Some art classes have a community service focus.  Recent classes in this field have designed sets and props for the plays, have knitted hats for the infants at the NICU, and have made clay mugs for all of the Early School students to reduce their use of paper.  Students are required to take eight Cultural Art courses to graduate and at least two of these must be Visual Art courses.

Community Service
Community Service is at the heart of a Quaker education.  Service is a part of many of the all school activities that we do, including two full days of service before the Winter Break.  On campus service takes a variety of forms.  Some students work on campus in Construction Maintenance classes that upkeep buildings, take out the trash and recycling, and otherwise keep campus beautiful and clean.  Students design and produce our Yearbook for service credit.  Some students travel to Lakewood Elementary School (Durham) where they tutor young students who are English language learners.  Students can also earn community service credit while working as a tutor in our Peer Tutoring program.  Students are required to take two Community Service credits each year to fulfill graduation requirements.

Dance
There are many opportunities to be involved in the Upper School Dance Department.  It begins with an Improvisation and Dance course that teaches the basics of movement and partnering.  This tends to be the first Dance class that all students take, regardless of prior dance experience.  Students move into a Modern Dance:  Collaborations class where they are a part of the Winter Dance Concert in December.  Advanced students take Advanced Dance:  Choreography and Performance where the focus is on the production of student choreographed works.  Each year a few students work over the summer on a proposal and come into the school year ready to set a piece on their peers.  Students design the piece, choose the music, design the costumes and lighting, and get their pieces ready for performance.   In the spring there have been different dance outreach classes that have worked on designing a work as a service.  Some of these classes have taken performances to local schools, others have been focused on a specific topic (like Peace and Poetry Dance Outreach).  Dance classes can fulfill the Performing Arts category of the Cultural Arts graduation requirement or they can be Physical Education classes. To see these photographs of the Winter Dance Concert 2007 in original size, click on the picture.

Drama
The Upper School Drama Department usually puts on two shows a year, a smaller show in the fall for the Advanced Acting students and a larger show in the spring that is open to everyone who auditions.  In the winter, students can participate in Improvisation classes that led to two performances.  All students, regardless of experience, start in Beginning Acting, a chance to explore theater games and work in small groups.  All students in Beginning Acting are directed in the performance of a monologue and a short scene.  Some Advanced Actors have the opportunity work as the teaching assistants and student directors for this class.  Other opportunities in drama have included an evening of student-written and directed One Act plays.  For this class, students worked in Beginning Play Writing to develop scripts that they perfected the next year in Advanced Play Writing.  Students cast their plays and brought them to performance.  Our Spring Show 2008 will be Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.  All drama and improvisation classes fulfill the Performing Arts category of the Cultural Arts graduation requirement.

English
The offerings in our English department are varied and reflect the strengths and passions of our teachers.  With two exceptions all language arts classes are term long classes that allow students to look in depth at one particular author or topic in a trimester class block.  English classes are structured by level of difficulty.  All freshmen take an introductory-level Foundations of Literature course.  In small classes, students read classic novels, shorts stories, and plays while they work on the basics of analytical writing.  Sophomores have a choice among many term-long electives at the intermediate-level.  There are a number of choices for juniors and seniors as they move into the upper and advanced-level courses.  Some juniors chose to take year-long American Literature while others continue taking term-long courses.  There are two different advanced-level tracks for seniors, each focusing on the literature of a different part of the world through time.  Many classes fulfill requirements as either English or Social Studies.  The department is excited to move toward a humanities-focused approach for the entire sophomore year curriculum.  Students are required to take an English course every term, twelve are required to graduate.

French
Our French department offers the language from French I through a class on French Literature and Composition.  In the classroom there is an emphasis on the speaking and writing of French.  Classes tend to be small, which allows for plenty of individual attention and focused speaking time.  Students are exposed to contemporary French literature and cinema, in the more advanced classes they read novels that are read by French high school students.  Every other year or so there is a trip to France during the End of Year session that allows students of French an opportunity to take their skills to another level.  This trip includes a short home-stay that allows students to visit a local Lycée (high school) and a community service component.  One year (3 credits) of Foreign Language is required to graduate although most students take much more than that. These photographs from the most recent End of Year experience in France (2007) can be viewed in their original size by clicking on the image.

Math
Math offerings range from Integrated Math 110 (an Algebra I-based course) through Calculus with a number of options in between.  Math teachers recognize that math is not every student’s first love and realize that there is value in being in a math class where all of the students learn and perform on a similar level.  To meet that end, both the 200 level Integrated Math courses (Geometry) and the 300 level Integrated Math courses (Algebra II/Trigonometry) run in two parallel classes.  The 210/310 classes move through material at a faster pace and expect a more in-depth coverage of the curriculum.  The 200/305 classes are more project-based and move through material at a slower pace to allow for maximum retention of concepts.  Students can move through the classes in a variety of ways based on the recommendation of the teachers.  The math curriculum is also tailored to meet the entry requirements for the University of North Carolina school system which now mandates that every student applicant have a year of high school math beyond Algebra II.  To fulfill this requirement students can take Pre-Calculus (Math 410), Introduction to Statistics (Math 402), Advanced Statistics (Math 420), or Discrete Math (Math 401).  Term-long math electives are offered based on student interest.  These have explored Advanced Topics in Calculus, Economics, the SAT Math section, or the History of Math (From Zero to Infinity).  Nine math credits (3 years of math) are required to graduate, but most students take four years of math.

Music
Music classes in the Upper School seem to depend upon the talents of the students who make up a particular class.  The Music Ensemble courses tend to become a student band, although the particular type of band will vary tremendously from class to class.  There is also a Music Exploration class for students who are interested in learning more about musical styles and theory.  A Music 101 class allows students to explore all different types of music before writing and performing their own original pieces.  Students have created independent bands, quartets, and music ensembles.  The Upper School a capella group, the Quaker N’Oats, is thriving this year.  Within the requirements for Cultural Arts students must take one Music credit.

Physical Education
Physical Education credit can be earned by playing on one of the Upper School Varsity athletic teams.  Students can also take any of the many physical education courses that are offered each term.  From biking and hiking to gym sports and Frisbee golf, there are a number of courses to fit different abilities and interests.  We have a Yoga program that includes introductory and advanced levels of yoga taught by a certified instructor.  Students are required to take two physical education credits each year.

Science
All first-year students take Introduction to Biology as their entry into the science department.  From there, most sophomores take Chemistry to fulfill their year of required Physical Science.  From these two classes the offerings within the science department are varied.  Interested students can pursue advanced-level courses in either Biology or Chemistry.  There are two very different advanced biology tracks – one is term-long topic focused (some topics have been Anatomy and Biotechnology); the other follows the Advanced Placement Biology curriculum.  Two years of Physics are offered, the class alternates between Mechanical and Electrical Physics, allowing students to take two continuous years of Physics.  In the team-taught Environmental Science course, students focus on the science of contemporary environmental issues with emphasis on the reduction of our “carbon footprint” on the planet.  These concepts are reinforced as students improve the existing physical plant of our campus.  They have built solar panels, reconstructed the roof and walls, and worked on the heating system in an effort to take one campus building “off the grid.”  While students are required to take two full years of science courses to graduate (one year of Biological Science, one year of Physical Science), most students take four years of science and some will take more than one class each year.

Social Studies
Similar to the English department, the Social Studies department’s offerings are varied.  There is one year-long Social Studies class that all students are required to take in their junior year, US History.  All other courses are term-long offerings that are distributed across regions and time.  Like the English department, Social Studies courses are structured by level with the expectation that the upper and advanced level courses are for juniors and seniors.  Some Social Studies courses are offered on an every other year basis.  Some courses also cross-register in the English department.  All students are required to take Geography, one European History course, and one Non-Western History course in order to graduate.  With these requirements (plus US History), students can take their 9 required classes in any subject that interests them.

Spanish
The Upper School Spanish department offers classes from Spanish I to Spanish VI.  Spanish classes focus on conversational and written Spanish skills.  Students are exposed to contemporary Spanish literature and cinema.  In the more advanced classes, students participate in analysis of Spanish poetry among other advanced topics.  Occasionally, classes travel into the Durham community to practice their Spanish with native speakers.  During the End of Year Program there is often a trip to a Spanish-speaking country that allows students to develop their skills through community service work and home stays with local families.  One year (3 credits) of Foreign Language is required to graduate although most students take much more than that. These photographs from recent End of Year trips to La Isla, El Salvador (2005, 2006) can be viewed in original size by clicking on the image.