At the end of the month of December, the students have been studying creation of suspense in the work of Edgar Allen Poe. Specifically, the students read "The Cask of Amontillado" and analyzed how Poe created suspense within the story. As a class, we looked for foreshadowing, dramatic irony, repeating sounds and words, and other suspense building techniques. The students found these elements within the text and noted them.
As we move into January, the students will be moving on to a unit called One Book, One School. In this unit, all members of the faculty and student body will be reading Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. This book has themes of nonconformity in high school that students will find intriguing. While the book will pose serious questions to students, it will also serve to bring together the school community. At the end of the unit, the students will be analyzing the theme through a project on www.glogster.com.