Kathleen O’Connell

“Every human has four endowments -self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom... The power to choose, to respond, to change.” -Stephen Covey

Contemporary Topics in Fiction is a senior level English/Language Arts curriculum unit designed to allow students to explore a wide variety of topics and themes that are important in our current society. Students read a variety of literature as well as nonfiction texts that focus on themes of modern identity, the environment, technology, and health sciences. Students will closely analyze narrative texts for commentary on major societal or cultural topics to gain a better understanding of their relevance both at their time of publication and still today. Finally, the culminating assessment of the unit asks students to conduct research on a topic of their own choosing, and ultimately construct a narrative that explores that topic through major themes.

Overall, the course seeks to prepare seniors to enter college and career by introducing them to texts that expose and explore the real issues that matter in our world today. Especially in a vocational/technical school, students need to develop a deep understanding of the things that will directly affect them in their careers and personal lives. This course attempts to bridge the gap for students between high school and independent, adult life. Through rigorous, self-driven research of the topics covered in this course, students will emerge as engaged, global citizens, more cognizant of the world around them and better able to not just contribute in their professional pursuits, but be productive voices of change in society.