English
Chair, Mr. Heavey

Course Listing
Department Faculty

Throughout the four years of Tabor’s English curriculum, two principles guide the students’ learning and the department’s teaching: first, that students enjoy the acts of writing and reading; and, second, that they become skilled at these acts, able to persuade and move an audience through their writing and to discover the “truth” within a text.  Striving to develop creative and critical thinkers, the English faculty works to ensure that each student, upon graduation, is a skillful writer and reader.

During a student’s first two years, the focus is on development of the basic skills of close reading and expository writing. Students practice and master several different writing styles and are introduced to the main genres of literature: fiction, poetry, drama, and non-fiction.  Throughout the entire English curriculum, students study vocabulary and writing with grammatical correctness.  Juniors study a selected survey of American literature, while seniors in the first semester read selected texts including Hamlet and in the second semester choose from a variety of elective courses. Upper-class sections continue to strengthen the essential skills of critical writing and close reading learned during the freshman and sophomore years.