CTY humanities classes provide students with meaningful enrichment in the liberal arts. With close guidance from the instructors, students have the opportunity to work with advanced material, sharpening their reading, writing, and critical thinking skills and strengthening their foundations for future work. Please refer to our Eligibility web page. Sample syllabi for all courses are also available.
Writing and Imagination
Writing is an act of imagination; it builds from the raw materials of life experience and encounters with language. Students in this course read, write, and discuss a variety of genres from poems and short stories to essays and articles. They are encouraged to approach writing as a craft and to discover the processes and techniques that writers in all genres share. For example, students learn strategies for generating ideas, and they explore the concept and techniques of point of view.
Based on the model of a writing community created in the graduate-level courses in Johns Hopkins University’s Writing Seminars, this course brings together students and instructors who, as experienced writers themselves, serve as mentors to guide students through the process of creative writing. During writing workshops, both the instructor and peers offer detailed criticism geared toward revision. Through this process of writing, critiquing, and revising, students develop confidence in their own writing and creative powers. Sample texts: Materials compiled by the instructor; a supplemental text such as The House on Mango Street, Cisneros, or Past Perfect, Present Tense: New and Collected Stories, Peck. Students must have completed grades: 5 or 6 Session 1: All residential sites, Brooklandville, La Jolla, Sandy Spring
Session 2: All residential sites, Alexandria, Brooklandville, Sandy Spring Top
Elements of Drama
Samuel Johnson observes that “The stage but echoes back the public voice.” Plays provide us with unique opportunities for self and cultural reflection; they also represent a rigorous form of artistic expression that instructs as it entertains. This course examines the difference between language and action as it governs dramatic conventions and informs our cultural values and ideas. This course introduces students to close reading techniques and literary arguments in order to develop their critical reading and writing skills. For example, students might interpret the storm scene that opens Shakespeare’s The Tempest as a metaphor for the tumultuous actions throughout the play. Students are also challenged to think imaginatively by writing and revising dramatic dialogues and their own scenes. In addition, students read literary criticism, such as Aristotle’s Poetics, and explore the development of the theater from its origins in Ancient Greece to the present. Students receive a thorough introduction to the elements of drama: character and plot development, gestures and body language, stage direction, costume, scenery, and lighting. As students research and write critical papers and explore dramatic conventions, instructors encourage them to expand their literary tastes and develop an individualized approach to literary study. Note: This is not an acting class. Sample texts: Death of a Salesman, Miller; Antigone, Sophocles; The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde; Twelfth Night, Shakespeare; The Piano Lesson, Wilson. Field Trip Fee: $65 Students must have completed grades: 5 or 6 Session 1: Chestertown, Palo Alto
Session 2: Palo Alto Top
Heroes and Villains
Whether as the evil sultan of Moroccan legends, Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth, Dracula, or Darth Vader from Star Wars, the villain, like the hero, is an archetype who appears in literature, drama, and local lore across cultures and centuries. Narratives about heroes and villains are an important part of our shared traditions. Why do we create them, and what do they say about a society? While the idea of a hero or villain is a concept familiar to all of us, closer investigations of the development of heroes and villains in literature often place them somewhere along the wide spectrum between good and evil, rather than at one end or the other. Through misunderstood villains such as Shelley’s Frankenstein and anti-heroes such as E. B. White’s Templeton the rat, students explore what it means to be a hero or villain, and how those terms have changed with time. Examining the plots, characters, and themes from fiction, drama, fairy tales, and heroic myths, students gain the skills necessary for close textual reading and hone their abilities to respond in writing to works they read or see. Possible writing projects include narrating an example of heroism or villainy from students’ own experiences and rewriting a well-known story from the point of view of the villain instead of the hero. Sample texts: Shane, Schaefer; Greek Gods and Heroes, Graves; The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson; Dungeon Vol. 1: Duck Heart, Sfar and Trondheim; The Thief Lord, Funke. Students must have completed grades: 5 or 6 Session 1: Chestertown, Palo Alto, South Hadley, Pasadena, Windward
Session 2: Bethlehem, Chestertown, Palo Alto, South Hadley, Windward Top
The Middle Ages
Were the Middle Ages really the “Dark” Ages? How did the ideals of nobility, piety, and chivalry shape medieval people’s lives? How did the flowering of art, culture, and science in Andalusia under the Moors compare to advances in the rest of Europe? Students consider these questions and more as they explore the cultural, social, and intellectual life of the medieval world from the fourth to fifteenth centuries. Students examine a rich variety of medieval literature, including excerpts from Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and French vernacular fables. They also become familiar with characteristics of Gothic and Moorish architecture and use the legacy of art to trace the social, political, and religious character of the period. Projects range from writing reports on medieval inventions to making paper models of a stained glass window. Sample texts: The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer; The Penguin Atlas of Medieval History, McEvedy; The Rise of Islam, Child; Beowulf. Students must have completed grades: 5 or 6 Session 1: Bethlehem
Session 2: Palo Alto, South Hadley Top
The Renaissance
The European Renaissance brought radical changes to Western civilization: reason surpassed revelation, strong city-states and a growing merchant class replaced feudalism, and scholars began to view the classics through a humanistic lens. Using primary sources, such as Vasari’s The Lives of the Artists, this course spans the Renaissance period and considers developments in philosophy, science, commerce, government, and industry. Students explore Renaissance cultural history by reading excerpts from works of literary masters such as Shakespeare and studying pieces by artists such as Giotto, Dürer, Brueghel, and Michelangelo, comparing experiences described in literature with those depicted in art. Students complete both individual and group projects, which may include researching and writing a report on discoveries in astronomy, interpreting and performing scenes from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and designing and constructing a model of Florence’s Duomo. Field trips to local museums or dramatic productions complement topics covered in class. Sample texts: Italian Renaissance, Roberts; Reformation and Counter-Reformation, White; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare; The Lives of the Artists, Vasari. Field Trip Fee: $65 Students must have completed grades: 5 or 6 Session 1: Palo Alto
Session 2: Bethlehem Top
Model United Nations and Advanced Geography
Whether nations are trying to save whales, track the spread of disease, or care for refugees, they present their concerns to the United Nations as a step toward international cooperation. How the UN achieves its goals remains controversial, nevertheless, understanding the UN and how it works is essential to the study of international relations. In this course, students learn how the UN addresses global concerns. They study the structure, authority, and processes of the UN through lectures, readings, discussions, and research. In addition, they examine how physical, economic, cultural, and political geography influence and inform policy maker’ decisions. Students hone their writing, speaking, and critical thinking skills as well as gain a working knowledge of international relations and geography. Students assume the role of ambassadors for a model United Nations simulation. Each student researches a particular country and determines where this country would stand on issues before the UN. As novice diplomats learning the art of compromise, students negotiate resolutions, learn parliamentary procedure, and build coalitions to represent their nations’ best interests. Students draft position papers and refine resolutions which are presented to a mock meeting of the General Assembly, Security Council, or another UN organ. Sample texts: World Cultures: A Global Mosaic, Ahmad; Basic Facts About the UN; The New York Times; an atlas chosen by the instructor. Students must have completed grades: 5 or 6 Session 1: All residential sites, Brooklandville, Sandy Spring
Session 2: Chestertown, Loudonville, Palo Alto, South Hadley, Thousand Oaks, Alexandria, Brooklandville, Sandy Spring Top
Journeys and Explorations
From Shoshone interpreter Sacajawea and her pivotal role in the Lewis and Clark expedition to daredevil reporter Nellie Bly and her 72-day trip around the globe in the late nineteenth century, people have always been compelled to travel and explore. Whether incredibly difficult or relatively easy, such journeys seldom leave travelers or the places they visit unchanged. Encounters with other places and people can alter not only how we view the world around us but also how we view ourselves. In this course, students follow the paths of famous explorers and their expeditions. For example, they may sail with Marco Polo in search of silk and spices or trek across polar ice floes with Sir Ernest Shackleton. Inspired by what they learn, students plan, map, and conduct their own explorations. These could entail researching a specific region’s culture, politics, history, and environment. One student might choose to visit Lake Tanganyika and its chimpanzees with Jane Goodall, while another might explore the Amazon River Basin aboard the Calypso with Jacques Cousteau. Throughout the course, students develop the skills necessary to appreciate the diversity and commonalities of places and people around the world. Students complete their classroom travels with a better understanding of how societies and cultures have developed through exploration. With the knowledge and research skills they acquire, students are ready to embark on their own journeys of lifelong learning. Sample texts: Amelia Earhart, Wood; Around the World in a Hundred Years, Fritz; Spirit of Endurance: The True Story of the Shackleton Expedition to the Antarctic, Armstrong and Maughan; an atlas chosen by the instructor. Students must have completed grades: 2 or 3 Session 1: Brooklandville, La Jolla, Windward
Session 2: Alexandria, Sandy Spring, Windward Top
Stories and Poems
The proverb “variety is the spice of life” captures the approach to reading and writing in this course. Exploring a rich array of stories and poems from different cultures, countries, and generations, students learn to identify literary devices and incorporate them into their own writing. For example, students might read Verna Aardema’s Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears: A West African Tale and then write their own pourquoi tales to explain a natural phenomena. They could incorporate comparison into their descriptions after observing how Marie Louise Allen effectively uses simile in her poem “First Snow,” or they could examine how Gary Soto’s short stories evoke the people and places of his childhood and base their own stories on the people and places they know best. Class sessions are designed to allow students to experience the rich interplay of reading, writing, and conversation. For example, a morning may find students moving seamlessly from discussing an assigned story in small groups to writing reflective paragraphs to participating in independent reading of works they choose themselves. Or students could be asked to draft poems, share their poems with classmates, and participate in readers’ theater. Students leave the course with an appreciation for diverse genres and voices, as well as a sense of the many opportunities open to them as readers and writers. Sample texts: Baseball in April and Other Stories, Soto; The Cow of No Color: Riddle Stories and Justice Tales from Around the World, Jaffe, Zeitlin, and Sherman; A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetry Forms, Raschka and Janeczko; materials compiled by the instructor. Students must have completed grades: 2 or 3 Session 1: Pasadena, Sandy Spring
Session 2: Brooklandville Top
The Ancient World
The period from 2000 BCE to 300 CE saw complex and fascinating cultures flourish all around the world. In this course, students learn about daily life, social structures, governments, economics, and religions in the ancient world, and consider how traces of these civilizations live on today. In addition to reading historical accounts of ancient societies, students explore their myths, legends, and arts. For instance, students may examine the images on Grecian urns to reconstruct a typical meal—its food and the rituals surrounding it. By discovering which mummified animals have been found in pharaohs’ tombs, students may discern Egyptians’ beliefs about the world and the afterlife. Similarly, they may analyze the meaning of dragon images on the garments of Chinese emperors and generals, or consider how Indian oral traditions reflected in the 2,000-year-old epic poem Ramayana shaped the politics, religion, and art of modern South Asia. In addition to group work, students complete individual research on topics of their choosing. They acquire critical thinking and research skills in addition to developing an appreciation for the richness and diversity of ancient cultures. Field trips to museums complement classroom work. Sample texts: Ancient Rome, Connolly; The Ancient Greeks, Rees; India: Exploring Ancient Civilizations, Barr; Eyewitness: Ancient China, Cotterell; The Kingfisher Book of the Ancient World, Martell; City, Macauley; Ancient Egypt, Hart. Field Trip Fee: $65 Students must have completed grades: 3 or 4 Session 1: Brooklandville, Pasadena, Sandy Spring, Windward
Session 2: Alexandria, Brooklandville, Sandy Spring, Windward Top
Writing and Reading Workshop
Gathering together a community of young writers and readers, this course helps students develop the vocabulary and critical thinking skills necessary to discuss writing and reading in sophisticated ways. Students explore a range of reading and writing assignments, some of which they choose themselves with the instructor’s guidance. Approximately half of each day is devoted to writing and half to reading. Writing is taught by having students do what professional writers d gather material, decide on topics, confer with peers, draft, workshop, and revise. Daily lessons and one-on-one conferences address writing skills from sentence construction to the use of imagery. In reading workshops, students choose texts to read and respond to in their journals; they may also read short stories and novels to discuss as a class. Working with the instructor, students develop close reading skills and an appreciation for authors and genres that are new to them. Cooperative learning and constructive criticism are emphasized, and detailed responses from the instructor and peers play an essential role in each student’s growth as a reader and writer. Note: As part of their homework, students in this course may be expected to borrow books from their neighborhood libraries. Sample texts: Independent reading assignments supplemented by instructor-selected short stories and novels; America Street: A Multicultural Anthology of Stories, Mazer; Esperanza Rising, Ryan; Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Taylor. Students must have completed grades: 3 or 4 Session 1: Brooklandville, La Jolla, Pasadena, Sandy Spring, Windward
Session 2: Alexandria, Brooklandville, Sandy Spring, Windward Top
Writing Workshop: Modern Fantasy
Novelist Caroline Gordon once said, “A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in any other way.” Readers of modern fantasy are transported into magical worlds where people, places, and things are often not what they appear to be. Animals speak, toys come to life, and eccentric characters perform seemingly impossible feats. Worlds are turned upside down, and the familiar becomes the unknown. In this course, students learn to identify the traits that characterize modern fantasy. They venture into extraordinary places such as Narnia in C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and witness battles between good and evil like those that take place in Susan Cooper’s Over Sea, Under Stone. Students may read Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart and experience what might take place if characters could come alive from the pages of a book. The course’s workshop approach affords many opportunities to engage in close reading, participate in informed discussion, and reflect upon what these fantastic worlds tell us about our own. In addition, students respond to modern fantasy texts in a variety of written assignments, including literary analysis and reflective writing. Armed with their newly developed understanding of the genre and an appreciation for its nuances, students then craft original pieces of fantasy. Sample texts: The Black Cauldron, Alexander; The Golden Compass, Pullman; Redwall, Jacques; materials compiled by the instructor. Students must have completed grade: 4 or 5 Session 1: Brooklandville, La Jolla, Sandy Spring, Windward
Session 2: Alexandria, Brooklandville, Sandy Spring, Windward Top
Pirates: History and Culture
Pirate culture first developed during ancient times for political, economic, and military reasons, and acts of piracy have been documented in seas all over the world. Julius Caesar was captured and held for ransom by Cilician pirates; the Alawi sultans worked with pirates based along the Barbary Coast to bring riches to Morocco; Sir Francis Drake, commissioned by none other than Queen Elizabeth I, raided harbors and attacked the Spanish Armada in the Caribbean Sea; and Japanese pirates called Wakō established a forceful presence along the Chinese and Korean coasts between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. And pirates are still active in the world today especially in places like the Pacific Coast of Latin America and the Straits of Malacca in Southeast Asia. Students in this course examine the formation of pirate fleets and study the profiles of famous privateers and pirates like William Kidd, Edward Teach (“Blackbeard”), and Ching Shih, the woman pirate who took over her husband’s fleets off the coast of China after he died. They explore how and why the varieties of pirate culture and laws developed over time and in different parts of the world. Students analyze the socio-economic and political forces that led to the rise of piracy and the reactions of governments to this threat on the high seas. By using pirates as a lens through which to study world history and geography, students leave this course with a greater understanding of the historical forces of trade, colonialism, ethnicity, nationalism, politics, and even art and literature. Sample texts: New course. Students must have completed grades: 4 or 5 Session 1: Brooklandville, La Jolla, Sandy Spring, Windward
Session 2: Alexandria, Brooklandville, Sandy Spring, Windward Top | 
