Ethel Walker School
Curriculum
Walker’s curriculum combines the traditional areas of liberal arts studies — science, math, history, English, world languages, and the arts — with electives that are relevant to the world today.
The faculty, including both exciting new educators and well-tenured teachers, animate the coursework with discussion-based exploration and project-based learning.
Departments
Explore Our Curriculum
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Visual Arts courses are offered at several different levels. Students with a passion for a particular field may register for the same course over multiple semesters.
The Ceramics class will provide an opportunity for students to develop a body of work that is both conceptually valid and reflective of their artistic style. Sculpture techniques, the science of glazing, and wheel skills are taught to all levels of students, and they will be encouraged to experiment at all times. In addition to developing technique, students will design their own multi-part construction based on exploration of pottery around the world. Each student will be expected to produce work that portrays her creative powers and technical abilities.
Offered Fall 2024 and Spring 2025
This is a one-semester course for the higher-level ceramics student who has already completed Ceramics 1 and has mastered the basics of throwing pottery on the wheel. In this course, students will explore the act of combining hand-built elements with wheel-thrown pieces. Projects will include teapots, nesting bowls, water pitchers, vegetable steamers, ring holders, and citrus juicers. Students will also be tasked with using the principles of design to create an effective and attractive composition for an independently produced original piece of art, which may be either decorative or utilitarian.
Prerequisite: Ceramics 1
Offered Spring 2025
Visual Arts courses are offered at several different levels. Students with a passion for a particular field may register for the same course over multiple semesters.
Drawing is the foundation from which we develop our visual vocabulary as we hone our observational skills. Drawing from observation or from life is a critical skill to develop for anyone wanting to quickly and visually express ideas, as it trains the eye, hand, and brain to translate the 3D form into a 2D illusion. In this multilevel class, whether taken for the first time or as continuation to further develop one’s visual skills, students will be exposed to a variety of “dry media” (graphite, oil and soft pastels, charcoal, etc.) and “wet media” (transparent and opaque painting, including watercolor, gouache, acrylic, and oil), learning the necessary technical skills to communicate their ideas, while continuing to strengthen their knowledge of the elements and principles of design. Students will also discover the expressiveness of color and media application techniques while learning color theory. They may take this class as a repeated course in order to prepare their art portfolios for college admission and to fully develop their visual and unique language. There will be opportunities for students to work on public art projects that enhance our School community.
Offered Fall 2024
Have you ever wondered how your body systems are affected by participating in sports, how the honey bee populations are affecting our food supply, or why we get storms in New England? We will explore questions like these in STEAM 6. STEAM is an integration of science, technology, engineering, art, and math. This course allows our students to practice the science and engineering skills that professionals use every day, engage in hands-on exploration, and design projects as they explore the natural world. Students in STEAM 6 will use real-world phenomena such as athletic concussions, Lyme disease, honey bee populations, animal habitats, and destructive weather to deeply explore the topics of human body systems, reproduction and growth, energy transfer and weather, and climates and human impacts. Students will learn how to develop scientific and engineering questions that can be investigated within the scope of the classroom, outdoor environment, and museums and other public facilities with available resources. They will also learn how to frame a hypothesis based on observations and scientific principles, specify relationships between variables, clarify arguments, and begin to make models that lead into basic experimentation.
Have you ever wondered how chemicals interact in the body, how ecosystems are affected by local interactions with people and industry, or how Connecticut was formed? We will explore questions like these in STEAM 7. STEAM is an integration of science, technology, engineering, art, and math. This class allows our students to practice the science and engineering skills that professionals use every day, engage in hands-on exploration, and design projects as they explore the natural world. Students in STEAM 7 will use real-world phenomena such as the effects of energy drinks, the Farmington River, rock formations, and Talcott Mountain to focus on the topics of the properties of matter, dynamic interactions within an ecosystem, and geologic changes in the Earth. This course builds upon the inquiry mindset developed in STEAM 6 to build competency in developing, using, and revising models to describe more abstract phenomena and design systems. Beyond just following procedures for experiments, students will build skills in planning and carrying out investigations that use multiple variables and provide evidence to support explanations or solutions.
Basic computational skills are reviewed, and problem-solving, patterns, estimating, and mental math skills are emphasized. Topics introduced include decimals, fractions, exponents, scientific notation, ratios, rates, proportions, percents, measurement, graphing in the coordinate plane, and an introduction to variables and solving algebraic equations.
Prerequisite: Department placement
This course is for students who have completed Foundations of Mathematics or an equivalent course. Topics include further exploration of decimals, factors, fractions, integers, exponents, ratios, proportions, and percents, as well as graphing on the coordinate plane, linear equations, algebraic expressions, and solving algebraic equations and inequalities.
Prerequisite: Foundations of Math or department placement
Students entering this class are expected to have studied positive and negative numbers, the basic properties of numbers, and simple equations. The course covers all topics of elementary algebra, including verbal problems, factoring, graphing of linear equations, radicals, solving linear and quadratic equations, and linear systems.
Prerequisite: Pre-Algebra or department placement
This course is for students who have completed a full year of elementary algebra. Plane geometry relationships are developed as part of a logical system, and the student learns to write short proofs based on these relations. Algebraic and numerical applications are provided, and units on right triangle trigonometry, three-dimensional figures, and coordinate geometry are included.
Prerequisite: Algebra 1
This course serves as an introduction to the French language through reading, writing, speaking, and listening. By the end of the year, learners will be able to talk about very familiar topics, including: themselves; the weather; their likes, dislikes, and preferences; their families and homes; and their favorite pastimes and hobbies. Learners will also discover the many places in the world where French is spoken through music, video, artifacts, and projects.
This course serves as an introduction to the Spanish language through reading, writing, speaking, and listening. By the end of the year, learners will be able to talk about very familiar topics: themselves; the weather; their likes, dislikes, and preferences; their families and homes; and their favorite pastimes and hobbies. Learners will also discover the many places in the world where Spanish is spoken through music, video, artifacts, and projects.
In French 1B, learners will continue to expand their vocabulary and build upon the structures they acquired in French 1A. By the end of the year, not only will they be able to talk about themselves and the familiar topics covered during the previous year with greater confidence and in greater complexity, they will also begin to develop narrative competency in multiple time frames as they talk about what they did in the past and what they will do in the future.
The theme for sixth grade is “Laying Foundations,” and there is no better way for students to grapple with this theme than by learning about the foundations of humankind. Sixth Grade Humanities is an investigation into ancient civilizations through the lenses of history, geography, literature, the arts, belief systems, technology, architecture, and customs and traditions. Cultural sensitivity and ethical exploration are core principles of this hands-on, project-based class. Among other activities, students participate in an archaeological dig; create a mini-museum; design a 21st-century version of Babylon’s legendary hanging gardens; and prepare a Greek feast fit for the gods of Mount Olympus. Field trips to local historical societies and museums, coupled with outdoor excursions for native materials for projects, bring the research aspect of this class to life. Reading global mythologies and identifying the stories around which they have shaped their own lives helps students to connect with children of long ago and with those who live throughout the world today — including their own classmates.
This course focuses on allowing our students to see how our world looks today. With the purpose of allowing our students to understand the way that geography impacts our lives, students will undertake a unit on reading and understanding maps as well as a unit on important geography terms, including the study of geography itself, climate, and vegetation. They will then study various regions, focusing on themes of geography, including themes of place, location, and the movement of people and ideas.
This course takes as its basic question, “What does it mean to be American?” Students explore the foundation of American democracy, examining the ways in which the American government functions, and how citizens engage in that process. Students dig deeper into the experiences of three groups who have been influential in the development of this country: Indigenous Peoples, Black Americans, and the Latinx community. Students also have the opportunity to explore groups that resonate with their own American experience. Students use a variety of sources ranging from primary documents to academic articles to help them improve their ability to think like historians.
This course is designed to challenge students to assess the modern globalized world through the study of systems and processes that have shaped the countries and cultures that exist within it. Students will learn to work collaboratively in researching topics such as exploration, colonization, revolution, industrialization, and globalization. Global History provides students with an intensive introduction to, and ongoing instruction in, the research and writing process. Students will also develop historical thinking skills such as evidence evaluation, corroboration, and interpretation, deploying these skills not only to study the past, but to grow as critical consumers of information in the digital world.
This course takes a thematic approach to the study of the history of the United States from early European and Native American encounters to the start of the 20th century. Rich content and intentional skill instruction work simultaneously throughout the year, as students engage with a variety of written, visual, and primary and secondary sources, hone their historical thinking skills through developing evidence-based arguments, and communicate their ideas through clear and compelling speaking and writing.
This course requires the ability to read a wide variety of texts closely, write incisively, and argue persuasively. Political and economic forces are viewed through the lens of social movements. Students explore extensive primary and secondary sources, consider the conflict and unity underlying these movements, and draw conclusions. Instead of interpreting issues and evaluating people solely through their 21st-century lens, students are encouraged to consider two questions: what did the people they are studying know and what could they have known? Assessments will largely center around document-based writing, and students will use scholarly sources to complete a final research paper.
Prerequisite: Departmental approval
In a democracy, nothing is more important or powerful than elections. In this course, students will examine what is certain to be one of the landmark elections in American history — the 2024 Presidential Election. In order to understand and contextualize this election, we will examine the history of American elections and the political process. Some of the questions students will ask and aim to understand are — who can vote and how has that changed over time? What are some of the obstacles to voting and why do they still exist? What the heck is an electoral college? What role does the media play in our elections? What are the candidates’ positions and policies? What is and why do we have a two party system? Why do certain citizens support certain candidates and what does that reveal about our nation? What role does money play in our elections?
Offered Fall 2024
Advanced Elections 2024
Open to Grades 11-12
Credits: 0.5
Prerequisite: U.S. History and departmental approval
This course takes place amid the already contentious 2024 presidential election. This advanced level course is designed for students who are interested in diving deeper into the complexities of the election cycle and the history of U.S. elections. Students will examine the health of our democratic system, the campaigns themselves, and the role of the media in our elections. Students will develop in-depth analysis of complex topics. Students will complete advanced level research and writing assessments. Students will also consistently demonstrate independence and preparedness with their work.
Prerequisite: U.S. History and departmental approval
Offered Fall 2024
Covert Ops: Women Spies will be a case study of CIA and OSS agents Valerie Plame Wilson, Lindsay Moran, Gina Haspel, Mary Bowser, Virginia Hall, Elizebeth Friedman, and Elizabeth McIntosh who served their country with distinction; however, their country continues to redact their stories and their accomplishments. Students will embark on the hard work to make sure that female spies’ legacies are acknowledged, critiqued, and validated. We will actively remember women’s and people of color’s contributions to the United States to acknowledge resistance movements and individuals and to create lasting change in our society. In Covert Ops, students will focus less on political and military history, and more on questions of culture, especially in terms of gender, race, religion, class, and power. We will examine recently declassified CIA files from female intelligence officers during WWII, and focus on Virginia Hall’s (known as the Limping Lady) legacy in the advent of the Office of Strategic Services through her biography. In the present, we will work with Valerie Plame’s redacted autobiography, Fair Game, within the context of the War on Terror.
Prerequisite: U.S. History
Offered Fall 2024
Advanced Civil Rights Movements Around the World
Open to Grades 11-12
Credits: 0.5
Prerequisite: U.S. History and departmental approval
Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” From Selma to South Africa, students will explore the long arc of justice. In this course, students will examine the fight for Civil Rights that networked political and social leaders and ideas around the world. We will study the movement’s connection to the international struggle against colonialism and the development of global Black politics through the work of W.E.B Dubois, Marcus Garvey, Nelson Mandela, and others. Students will develop in-depth analysis of complex topics. Students will complete advanced level research and writing assessments. Students will also consistently demonstrate independence and preparedness with their work.
Prerequisite: U.S. History and departmental approval
Offered Fall 2024
ECE Advanced Contemporary Issues in Sports
Open to Grades 11-12
Credits: 0.5
Prerequisite: Departmental approval
This course examines issues, challenges, opportunities and constraints within the domain of sport. The course will explore socio-cultural, economic, political and other related issues in sport. Students will locate sport as a social institution, and as such, examine the impact of sport in American culture and how American culture impacts sport. The course will cover sport at the youth, intercollegiate, professional and international level, considering how sport at these levels is differently experienced by individuals, communities, organizations, and broadly by society. Students will also engage in discussion of issues in sport relative to gender, race (ethnicity), differing physical and intellectual ability, sexual identity, and gender identity. Students will develop in-depth analysis of complex topics. Students will complete advanced level research and writing assessments. Students will also consistently demonstrate independence and preparedness with their work.
Prerequisite: Departmental approval
Offered Fall 2024
In this class students will gain an understanding of the cultures of ancient civilizations through the study of the objects they produced. We will grapple extensively with issues such as who decides what is art, the ethics surrounding display and repatriation, and the difference between art, artifact, and cultural object. By studying the objects produced by these great civilizations, we will gain a better understanding, not simply of the objects themselves, but of how they fit within the context of their time and place.
Offered Fall 2024
Advanced Introduction to Economics: Microeconomics
Open to Grades 11-12
Credits: 0.5
Prerequisite: Departmental approval
Modern microeconomics studies how society’s needs can be met when consumption and production decisions are made by individuals seeking their own benefit. This course will teach foundational concepts in microeconomics, including incentives, supply and demand, the law of diminishing returns, marginal analysis, and equilibrium prices. We will also examine behavioral economics, which criticizes the dominant microeconomic school of neoclassical economics. Finally, students will examine and debate the proper role of government in regulating the economy by considering how governments should shape markets in order to lessen such problems as affordable housing shortages, pollution, global warming, and widespread obesity. Modern economics has a foundation in mathematical analysis and while this course will not involve any calculus or advanced mathematics, students will need to create and interpret graphs of economic situations.
Prerequisite: Departmental approval
Offered Spring 2025
At the 7th grade level, students maintain their momentum and build new skills by continuing an exploration of the various genres of literature. We read a challenging collection of texts that may include: Cast Away; Howl’s Moving Castle; Poetry Speaks Who I Am; Romeo and Juliet; Good Master, Sweet Ladies; and The Outsiders. Other texts, including individual poems, myths, fairy tales, short stories, and essays, are carefully selected to be appropriate to the age and developmental level of seventh grade students. Teachers strive to help students truly love to read. Students will learn to present their work to an audience — aloud and in writing. Students continue to enhance their composition skills through a study of analytical writing, with an emphasis on the process of writing, not just the final product. Language mechanics, also taught in English 7, concentrates on understanding the passive voice, parallel structure, audience engagement, and logical flow. Students will read beyond the curriculum in this course. They will also have many opportunities for creative writing in a wide variety of genres.
In English at the eighth grade level, independent thinking and writing play major roles, as every student is encouraged to further develop their creative and critical skills in response to literature and in preparation for secondary school. Through discussion and writing, which include analytical and personal essays designed to promote mastery of essay writing, each student is supported as they learn to express herself clearly, accurately, and fluently. In this way, student voice is at the heart of English 8. We read short fiction, novels, narrative nonfiction, poetry, and drama. Texts may include Macbeth, The Poet X, The House on Mango Street, and One Last Word, among others.
Writing is fundamental to success in the upper school and this course lays a strong foundation for writing in the humanities as well as an introduction to studying literature at the high school level. Students will practice writing personal essays, research papers, rhetorical arguments, and literary analysis over the course of the year. Students will read reviews, watch Moth story performances, participate in research that reflects their own interests, and analyze poetry, fiction, and non-fiction writing. Students will also engage deeply with their own writing process, identifying strengths and learning to revise and edit areas that need improvement. To help bolster their writing toolkit, students will learn grammar, vocabulary, and MLA style and citation. Students will also work to build reading habits through book circles and common course texts which may include works from our visiting writers, Shakespeare, and a selection of short fiction, poetry, and essays chosen by the instructor.
In this course, students will expand their knowledge of literature and genre as they explore novels, plays, poetry, and creative nonfiction from literary traditions across the globe. They will build their lexicon of literary devices and terms as well as learn to analyze these both verbally and in writing. Students will continue to build on their foundation of writing skills as they practice analytical writing in academic essays as well as creative pieces demonstrating their understanding of each genre. By the end of the year students will be comfortable encountering and engaging with a wide range of literature as they work toward becoming independent learners, thinkers, and writers. Works may include Much Ado About Nothing, Antigone, A Raisin in the Sun, Parable of the Sower, Homegoing, When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, and texts from our visiting writers.
What does it mean to be a writer? How does an author find her style? The Visiting Writer Seminar is a semester-long course in which students have the special opportunity to immerse themselves in a study of one writer’s works. Throughout the semester, students read a critical mass of texts by that writer before the course culminates with the author’s visit to Walker’s. During this visit, the writer will teach master classes, conduct writing workshops, and participate in class discussion.
The Fall 2024 visiting writer is Malinda Lo. Lo is the author of numerous titles including Ash (2009), Huntress (2011), A Line in the Dark (2017), Last Night at the Telegraph Club (2021), which won the 2021 National Book Award in Young People’s Literature, the Stonewall Book Award, and the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, and its sequel, A Scatter of Light (2022). She has also published several other short fiction and nonfiction pieces in anthologies, NPR, and The New York Times.
Offered Fall 2024
This course will explore a range of Asian American voices and stories in texts published since the eighties. We will learn from an array of experiences and identities, and we will do so through a variety of literary forms and genres, including fantasy, short fiction, personal essay, and poetry, as well as a longer work of fiction or memoir. Much of our work will involve careful attention to craft; as a result, we will produce both analytical and creative pieces in conversation with the pieces we read. Possible texts include Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, Night Sky With Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong, Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu, Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, and work by Amy Tan and Maxine Hong Kingston.
Offered Fall 2024
Questions about the relationship between humans and the natural world have been some of the most essential throughout all of literature, from Tang Dynasty poetry to contemporary climate fiction. In our current, pivotal moment, those questions have become increasingly urgent as ecological systems continue to be affected and remade by human-caused climate change. Global problems require global imaginations, and a wide array of writers are lending their voices and cultural traditions to explore how humans have and might develop different relationships to the environments in which they are enmeshed. In this class we will study stories, poems, and creative nonfiction. Possible texts may include Orion Magazine and works by Camille Dungy, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Ursula K. Leguin, Ross Gay, and many others.
Offered Fall 2024
In this course we will study folklore and fairy tales from around the world. We will talk about the ways in which folktales and fairy tales derive from oral tradition and as such reflect and affect the cultures from which they emerge. We will read stories from a wide variety of origins. We will also discuss various modern retellings of fairy tales, including Ash by Malinda Lo, our Visiting Writer, which is a retelling of the story of Cinderella, and we will consider the ways in which, with the advent of mediums such as podcasts, telling tales has once again taken on an oral element as well as a literary one.
Offered Fall 2024
How does movement — across and within nation-state borders — impact people in various ways? How do they write about their experiences before, during, and after this physical act of migration through literature? How can literature itself be impacted by movement? These are some of the questions we will explore together in Migrant Literature. In this course, you can expect to read literature by authors from around the globe. We will sample literature contextualized in migration by various authors — primarily women and queer authors of color — with a focus on modern literature, though we will begin the course with historical literature by migrant authors.
Offered Fall 2024
This course dives into the profound and influential body of work by the Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison. Students will examine Morrison’s novels, essays, and interviews, embracing the complexity of her themes, characters, and cultural contexts that define her work. They will listen to what Morrison herself has said about her writing process, the influences that shaped her narratives, and the role of the writer in society. Students will start by reading two of her early novels, The Bluest Eye and Sula, examining how these novels lay the foundation for her exploration of identity, race, and gender. Students will study the historical and cultural landscapes within which these novels are situated. They will finish the semester reading her Pulitzer Prize winning novel Beloved, whose protagonist is drawn from real historical events. Morrison’s storytelling lays bare the kind of truth that only fiction can achieve.
Offered Fall 2024
In Queer Literature, we will explore literature through the lens of queer theory and immerse ourselves in texts by queer authors. In this way, we will work together to question: What does it mean for literature to be called queer literature? In what ways does queerness — as a verb and a noun — transform our experiences as readers and writers? How can writing be used to bring awareness and justice to lived experiences of queerness? We will sample queer authors from across identities and locations in this course.
Offered Fall 2024
This course will sample winners of the big literature awards (like The National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize, Man Booker, etc.) from recent years. Award winners reflect the psyche of a reading public, though in sometimes unexpected ways. A year’s slate of award winners is like a time capsule, and we will crack them open in order to rediscover where the culture has been, of trends that have moved through the culture, and to locate where the culture currently is. Award winners are also, of course, a whole lot of readers’ favorite books. Genres might include fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and drama. The course might focus on one genre over a sequence of years, a sample across a decade, or a diversity of genre winners in one year.
Offered Fall 2024
What does it mean to be a writer? How does an author find her style? The Visiting Writer Seminar is a semester-long course in which students have the special opportunity to immerse themselves in a study of one writer’s works. Throughout the semester, students read a critical mass of texts by that writer before the course culminates with the author’s visit to Walker’s. During this visit, the writer will teach master classes, conduct writing workshops, and participate in class discussion.
The Spring 2025 Visiting Writer is Rachel Zucker. Rachel Zucker is the author of 11 books, including The Poetics of Wrongness, Soundmachine, The Pedestrians, and Museum of Accidents, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 2016 she was a Bagley Wright Lecturer and wrote and delivered a series of talks on poetry, photography, confessionalism, motherhood, and the ethics of representing real people in art. She was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship in 2012, a Sustainable Arts Fellowship in 2016, and residencies from The MacDowell Colony and the Vermont Studio Center in 2018.
Offered Spring 2025
Visual Arts courses are offered at several different levels. Students with a passion for a particular field may register for the same course over multiple semesters.
This course is designed to accommodate students with a desire to learn about art or to continue evolving in their artistic pursuits. Students will work on a variety of media, tools, and techniques through open-ended assignments that challenge them and encourage creativity and originality. Through studio practice, application of the fundamentals of art, and informed decision-making, students will create a body of work that demonstrates a high level of quality and growth over time in content, technique, and process.
Offered Spring 2025
Have you ever wondered how and why the planets move, how energy is transferred in ocean waves, or where all the different species in Connecticut have come from? We will explore questions like these in STEAM 8. STEAM is an integration of science, technology, engineering, art, and math. This class allows our students to practice the science and engineering skills that professionals use every day, engage in hands-on exploration, and design projects as they explore the natural world. Students in STEAM 8 will use real-world phenomena such as car collisions, tidal waves, fossils and dinosaurs, and space exploration to focus on the topics of forces and energy, energy in waves, mechanisms of diversity, and the changing Earth. This course builds upon the problem-solving mindset developed in STEAM 7 to build skills in extending quantitative analysis to investigations, distinguishing between causation and correlation, and using basic statistical analysis to construct explanations and design solutions supported by multiple sources of evidence.
Physics 9 is a laboratory science course in which students develop skills by conducting experiments, working collaboratively, and solving problems that allow them to understand and describe the physical phenomena of the world around them. Through this course, students will explore the major themes of motion, forces, and energy. Students will uncover each physics concept through a hands-on discovery process in which students investigate qualitative and quantitative scientific trends in the laboratory, discuss and argue experimental results to build a class consensus, and collaboratively develop and hone conceptual and algebraic models of the investigated phenomena. Throughout this course, an emphasis will be placed on representing our understanding in multiple ways: verbally, diagrammatically, graphically, and algebraically.
Chemistry is a laboratory-based course that allows students to discover basic chemical principles and understand how to use them to make sense of the world around them. The course covers the scientific method, measurement, atomic theory, nomenclature, chemical quantities, chemical reactions, aqueous chemistry, bonding, and gas laws. Students learn how to work both collaboratively and individually. Laboratory work emphasizes making careful observations, learning correct measuring and data collection techniques, analyzing data, and discussing errors. Projects each semester enable students to explore how chemistry is relevant to their daily lives.
Prerequisite: Algebra 1
This course is for students who have a strong mathematical background, good insight, and solid problem-solving skills. Plane geometry relationships will be explored in depth with algebraic and numerical applications provided. Units on congruence, similarity, polygons, right triangles, trigonometry, circles, plane and solid figures, and coordinate geometry will be included.
Prerequisite: Algebra 1 and departmental approval
In Spanish 1B, learners will continue to expand their vocabulary and build upon the structures they acquired in Spanish 1A. By the end of the year, not only will they be able to talk about themselves and the familiar topics covered during the previous year with greater confidence and in greater complexity, they will also begin to develop narrative competency in multiple time frames as they talk about what they did in the past and what they will do in the future.
Over the last decade, poetry has resurged into daily life across the country. We turn to poetry in times of celebration and consolation, to give voice to community and identity, to post some bit of inspiration on social media and as a rallying cry. Poetry right now is more diverse than it has ever been — both in terms of who gets to write it and the styles in which it is written. This class is a deep dive into that diversity. We will study five books by poets representing diverging and coalescing trends and movements across the poetry landscape, plus a collection chosen by students. We will seek to answer one guiding question: what are the ways that poetry speaks to our particular moment? Coursework will include both creative and analytical projects.
Offered Spring 2025
The most turbulent year in modern U.S. history — 1968. In this course, students will explore the shocking assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, the nation during the height of the Vietnam War and counter protests, the cultural shifts of the 1960s, and the on-going race to space. Students will develop in-depth analysis of complex topics. Students will complete advanced level research and writing assessments. Students will also consistently demonstrate independence and preparedness with their work.
Prerequisite: U.S. History and departmental approval
Offered Spring 2025
Advanced Global Cold War
Open to Grades 11-12
Credits: 0.5
Prerequisite: U.S. History and departmental approval
Though it ended over 30 years ago, it is almost impossible to understand the geopolitical world that we currently live in without understanding the Cold War and its legacy. Students in this class will learn about how and why two superpowers divided the world into “spheres of influence” and will then, through a series of case studies, examine how the entire globe, particularly areas outside of Europe, were affected and shaped by this conflict. Students will develop in-depth analysis of complex topics. Students will complete advanced level research and writing assessments. Students will also consistently demonstrate independence and preparedness with their work.
Prerequisite: U.S. History and departmental approval
Offered Spring 2025
In this course, students will examine the profound contributions of women throughout American history. Students will identify systemic challenges for women and cultivate an understanding of the individual and collective efforts to create change in the 20th century. Students will examine historical events and ideologies to better contextualize contemporary issues. Students will read a variety of primary and secondary sources, engage in deep personal reflections, and participate in collaborative dialogue to explore the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality.
Offered Spring 2025
Advanced History Independent Research
Open to Grade 12
Credits: 0.5
Prerequisite: Previous advanced-level coursework in History and departmental approval
This advanced research course is designed for seniors who are looking to dive deeply in an independent course of research on a topic, problem, issue, or idea of their choosing. Students design, plan, and implement a number of research driven assignments. Students will explore research methodologies, ethical research practices, and further their critical thinking skills. Students will reflect on their process, document their multi-step research, and craft a portfolio of scholarly work. This course culminates in a presentation open to the Walker’s community. This is an intensive course designed for those students who are interested in continuing with humanities research in college.
Prerequisite: previous advanced-level coursework in History and departmental approval
Offered Spring 2025
Human society has always looked for answers to big questions: Why am I here? What is my place in society? How should I behave toward others? What is the nature of good and evil? This course introduces students to tracts of moral and political philosophy from Aristotle to Nussbaum. Ethical reasoning is applied to an examination of contemporary issues such as bioengineering, human rights, social justice, our relationship to the natural world, and the obligations of citizenship. Students will be encouraged to use what they are learning as a framework to develop and support their own opinions on these topics.
Offered Fall 2024
This course will introduce students to systems of social inequality in the United States. We will investigate the structural, interpersonal, and social dimensions of oppression. Course materials will explore the ways that sexism, heterosexism, and racism have developed over time as well as the ways they impact each of us every day. Students will develop language, tools, and skills to create positive social change.
Offered Fall 2024
Macbeth by William Shakespeare is a tragedy of such proportions that even speaking its name is forbidden in theaters across the globe. The Scottish Play, as it is referred to by those bound by both superstition and tradition, was inspired by the history of one Scottish King and written with a desire to please another interested in witches and the supernatural. In this course, we will study different productions of Macbeth in their historical contexts. We will look at the ways that the different themes of the supernatural, greed, ambition, the dangers of allowing a woman to hold power, and the idea of free will evolve throughout the play and through its varied adaptations.
Offered Spring 2025
This course will explore the reasons that we are drawn to the things we fear. The umbrella of horror as a genre covers many different subgenres, including monster stories, psychological thrillers, gothic literature, dystopian literature, and more. We will discuss the way that horror readers read to explore their fears and anxieties, and the ways in which authors write in order to exorcise their own demons. We will also explore the ways in which horror literature trends reflect society and current events. We will read stories from authors both early and contemporary, including but not limited to Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Tananarive Due, Stephen Graham Jones, Nnedi Okorafor, Shirley Jackson, and more.
Offered Spring 2025
Magical Realism fuses rational linear reality with the supernatural, often presenting time in a cyclical fashion. Supernatural or magical events are situated in everyday life and accepted by the characters in the text. These narratives often present events ambiguously, not bending to clear cause and effect explanations. This allows the authors to explore complex themes that challenge the western tradition of rationality and allow for a freer play of imagination. Texts will include authors Gabriel García Márquez, Haruki Murkami, Isabel Allende, and Salmon Rushdie as well as others as time permits.
Offered Spring 2025
In this course we will fully explore a time period and place that many have described as a “Golden Age” in African American arts, music, and culture. The 1920s have become synonymous with flappers and speakeasies, with a continuous party that was wealthy and largely white. However, while what we know of as “The Roaring Twenties” was happening downtown, the area above 96th Street was transforming into another cultural mecca, this one for Black Americans leaving the south for more industrialized areas in the north, creating a safe haven for a creativity that had had few outlets before. In this course we will study the history that led up to the Harlem Renaissance, and we will read several poets and novelists who flourished during the time period, including Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Zora Neale-Hurston, and more. We will look at the ways that place can affect art and explore what Harlem offered that allowed creativity to flourish.
Offered Spring 2025
In this course, we will read literature exclusively written by multiple authors. As we do so, we will work together to define collaborative literature — how does collaboration shape the process and product of writing? How do authors enter into conversation with one another in their collaborative writing processes? How does literature change when it is written collaboratively? We will read works by authors from a variety of locations and identities in order to interrogate these questions. Students in this course can expect to write collaboratively with their peers throughout the course.
Offered Spring 2025
Advanced Studio Art
Open to Grades 9-12
Credits: 1
Prerequisite: Studio Art or other relevant Visual Arts course and department approval
This is a one-year college-level course with heavy emphasis on portfolio production and review. Advanced Art students will produce a series of sequential visual forms while exploring in greater depth a particular visual concern or inquiry, through practice, experimentation and revision. Emphasis will be placed on the elements of art, the principles of design, materials, processes and ideas, and skill development. Students will study and discuss historical and contemporary artists to aid in their own creations and development. Students may choose to submit portfolios to the Advanced Placement program in the spring in Advanced Placement Drawing, Advanced Placement 2D Art and Design, or Advanced Placement 3D Art and Design. The course is taught in the same physical space and time block as the Studio Art course.
Prerequisite: Studio Art or other relevant Visual Arts course and department approval
Students may take this course for either semester but are encouraged to stay in the course for the whole year to help bring the yearbook to publication.
This course allows students to develop the design, writing and photography skills needed to create a thorough, interesting, and dynamic documentation of the life of the School: the official school yearbook, the Pepperpot. This course includes elements of art, image manipulation, design, layout, article writing, research, editing, marketing, publishing, and sales. Students will have additional responsibilities and take greater leadership roles each time the course is taken.
During this course, you will continue to grow as an artist, diving head-first into the world of digital art. We will engage with various software such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Animate, and more. This semester, you will further develop problem-solving skills and acquire introductory-level knowledge in illustration, photo manipulation, and animation. We will build a comprehensive digital art vocabulary through research, group discussions, and hands-on exploration. We will learn to critique work as a class and receive constructive criticism while also enhancing our presentational skills.
Offered Fall 2024
This is a one-semester course designed to cover all facets of movie production, including script writing, working with talent, camera work, sound, directing, locations, costume, props, and post production editing. Genres studied include shorts, feature films, documentaries, and music videos. The course will involve hands-on, small team experience developing production timelines and filming with DSLR cameras after review of best-practice examples of each motion-picture type. Instruction in post-production editing techniques will be taught to allow finished products to be shown to the local community and/or entered into film showcases and festivals.
Offered Fall 2024 and Spring 2025
The course will focus on streaming/live broadcasting and studio production. The course work is designed to create a live-streaming channel dedicated to live and recorded content centered on the Walker’s student experience. It includes aspects of studio work, live interviews, field recording, content production, show hosting, script writing and all in-front of camera and behind camera functions. The goal is to produce shows that air routinely in a published schedule that reflect the interests of the participating students and that mimic an in-house television station broadcast on a streaming platform.
Offered Spring 2025
This course is for students who have completed a full year of elementary algebra and geometry. The year consists of a review and extension of Algebra 1 topics including inequalities, linear equations, operations with polynomials, and application of algebraic skills through verbal problems. Additional topics include functions, exponents, complex numbers, quadratic functions, and an introduction to statistics.
Prerequisite: Algebra 1 and Geometry
In Latin 2, students begin to go deeper with their Latin language skills, learning more challenging and sophisticated grammatical concepts. Learners will build upon the structures they acquired in Latin 1 and engage in the target language with greater ease. Students are assessed through reading novellas of increasing length and difficulty, and explore.
Prerequisite: Latin 1
What is Ancient Rome, and why do we care? In this first-year course, students will learn about the ancient world through geography, mythology, history, archaeology, and, of course, language. Through short readings, plays, and cartoons, students will become comfortable interacting with Latin prose. Special attention will also be given to the context of the ancient world.
This course will examine the complex relationship between gender and medical diagnosis as well as the intricate relationship between patient and doctor. Students will look at medical ethics and mental health from a variety of perspectives. They will read short stories, essays, narratives by faith healers, and reports by members of the medical community. The new field of storytelling — narrative medicine — which emphasizes the importance of empathy by centering the patient’s experience in medical care and diagnosis will also be explored.
Offered Spring 2025
Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Topics in Philosophy is an introduction to thinking clearly about universal questions that have been asked from the beginning of time. We will survey great thinkers from both Western and Eastern traditions and make philosophers of you by entering into the creative activity of thinking deeply. We will think about things which we believe to be of ultimate importance such as how we know what we know, what it means to be a self, what is real, and how we define truth, beauty, goodness, freedom, personhood, and God. Students will develop in-depth analysis of complex topics. Students will complete advanced level research and writing assessments. Students will also consistently demonstrate independence and preparedness with their work.
Prerequisite: Departmental approval
Offered Fall 2024
In order to be a culturally competent global citizen, one must understand the motivations, traditions, and cultural forces that influence the globe, including religion. Though the United States is an increasingly secular state, other parts of the world are strongly influenced by their religious traditions, informing international relations, social values, and the global marketplace. This class will address the religious practices of the major world religions and the vast spectrum of beliefs within each that makes it difficult to generalize about them. To honor the living traditions that we are studying, we will not only examine but will also find ways to experience the Hindu Traditions and various Yogas, Buddhism and Meditation (or the interpretation of a Koan), Taoism and Tai Chi, Islam and Prayer, Christianity and Worship, Judaism and the study of the Torah, and native Aboriginal and American relationships to the Earth. In the midst of this quest, we will consider the way astrology, cults, New Age practices, and mindfulness function as derivatives of religious intent.
Offered Spring 2025
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was conceived in the aftermath of Nazi crimes against six million Jews, Roma people, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities during the Holocaust. In this course, students will investigate both the historical development of a human rights philosophy, genocide in the 20th century, and contemporary human rights issues. We will also learn about the role that international courts play in our understanding and commitment to protecting human rights around the world. This course is designed to examine the terrible crimes of modern world history, but also, importantly, at the resistance and cultivation of justice in their aftermath.
Offered Spring 2025
This course is a continuation of Latin 2. Learners will build upon the structures they acquired in Latin 2 and engage in the target language with greater ease. By the end of the year, learners will be able to read and understand increasingly complex sentences and will be able to comfortably negotiate meaning in a wide range of unfamiliar contexts. Novellas will explore topics in mythology and Roman history.
Prerequisite: Latin 2
ECE Topics in Advanced Latin
Open to Grades 11-12
Credits: 1
Prerequisite: Completion of Latin 3 or equivalent
Special topics in Advanced Latin: Feminae Fortes. This course will look at women writing Latin starting with the earliest known woman writing Latin in the letter of Cornelia to the medieval letters of Eleanor of Acquitaine. We will examine the cultural history of Latin through the writings of women. Some of the women writers studied include Cornelia, Sulpicia, graffiti by women, epigraphy, Martial’s Sulpicia, Vindolanda Letters of Claudia Severa, Perpetua, Proba, and Egeria.
This course serves as an introduction to the Spanish language through reading, writing, speaking, and listening. By the end of the year, learners will be able to talk about very familiar topics: themselves; the weather; their likes, dislikes, and preferences; their families and homes; their favorite pastimes and hobbies; what they did over the past weekend as well as what they are going to do over the next weekend; what they want to do versus what they can or must do, as well as developing the ability to negotiate meaning in unfamiliar contexts.
This course is a continuation of Spanish 1. Learners will build upon the structures they acquired in Spanish 1 and engage in the target language with greater ease. By the end of the year, learners will be able to express themselves in complete sentences on a variety of familiar topics. Specific structures that learners will acquire include what they were doing or used to do and what they will do. Learners will continue to develop the ability to negotiate meaning in unfamiliar contexts.
Prerequisite: Spanish 1
This course is a continuation of Spanish 2. Learners will build upon the structures they acquired in Spanish 2 and engage in the target language with greater ease. By the end of the year, learners will be able to express themselves in increasingly complex sentences on a variety of everyday topics, topics of personal interest, and studied topics. Specific structures that learners will acquire include what they should/could/would have done, what they would/could/should do, necessity, opinions, and feelings. Learners will be able to comfortably negotiate meaning in a wide range of unfamiliar contexts.
Prerequisite: Spanish 2
This course is a continuation of Spanish 3. Learners will examine the history, contemporary life, art, and culture of Spain and Latin America, while reinforcing and building upon the skills developed in Levels 1-3. This course uses authentic literature and film to expose students to Spanish and Latin American perspectives as well as the importance of Spanish in the United States. Learners are expected to make cultural comparisons, participate in individual and group analysis, and draw conclusions about historical and current events. By the end of the year, learners will be able to express themselves fully and spontaneously in paragraph-length language on a wide variety of everyday topics as well as topics of personal or general interest. Learners will be able to formulate and support hypotheses, make arguments, and sustain narration in multiple time frames. Students will be able to negotiate meaning in a wide range of unfamiliar contexts with confidence.
Prerequisite: Spanish 3
In-depth development of speaking skills through cultural readings, group discussions, and oral presentations on selected topics concerning the Spanish-speaking world.
Prerequisite: Spanish 4
This course serves as an introduction to the French language through reading, writing, speaking, and listening. By the end of the year, learners will be able to talk about very familiar topics: themselves; the weather; their likes, dislikes, and preferences; their families and homes; their favorite pastimes and hobbies; what they did over the past weekend as well as what they are going to do over the next weekend; and what they want to do versus what they can or must do. Learners will develop the ability to negotiate meaning in unfamiliar contexts.
This course is a continuation of French 1. Learners will build upon the structures they acquired in French 1 and engage in the target language with greater ease. By the end of the year, learners will be able to express themselves in complete sentences on a variety of familiar topics. Specific structures that learners will acquire include: what they were doing or used to do and what they will do.
Prerequisite: French 1
This course is a continuation of French 2. Learners will build upon the structures they acquired in French 2 and engage in the target language with greater ease. By the end of the year, learners will be able to express themselves in increasingly complex sentences on a variety of everyday topics, topics of personal interest, and studied topics. Specific structures that learners will acquire include what they should/could/would have done, what they would/could/should do, as well as expressing counterfactuals, necessity, opinions, and feelings. Learners will be able to comfortably negotiate meaning in a range of unfamiliar contexts.
Prerequisite: French 2
This course is a continuation of French 3. Learners will examine the history, contemporary life, art, and culture of the French-speaking world, while reinforcing and building upon the skills developed in Levels 1-3. This course uses authentic literature and film to expose learners to diverse Francophone perspectives. Learners are expected to make cultural comparisons, participate in individual and group analysis, and draw conclusions about historical and current events. By the end of the year, learners will be able to express themselves fully and spontaneously in paragraph-length language on a wide variety of everyday topics as well as topics of personal or general interest. Learners will be able to formulate and support hypotheses, make arguments, and sustain narration in multiple time frames. Students will be able to negotiate meaning in a wide range of unfamiliar contexts with confidence.
Prerequisite: French 3
In this course, students will focus on strengthening their reading and writing skills. Students will read texts from a range of genres, including comic strips, excerpts from novels, short stories, essays, articles, and film reviews. Students will engage in extensive written practice in a variety of forms (e.g., summaries, essays, compositions) in order to to inform, explain, persuade, and narrate in French with greater accuracy, fluency, and complexity. Although the primary focus on the course is on written skills, students will also engage with oral texts (e.g., podcasts, radio), cinema, and music and will further develop their speaking skills through class discussions and short presentations. The course is conducted entirely in French.
Prerequisite: French 4
This course is for students who have a strong background in elementary algebra, including systems of equations, radicals, and quadratics. They must have demonstrated a good aptitude for mathematical reasoning. The course begins with an extension of Algebra 1 topics and continues with the study of complex numbers, quadratic functions, rational and polynomial functions, exponents, radicals, and logarithms.
Prerequisite: Honors Geometry and departmental approval
In this course students will review advanced concepts they studied in Algebra 2, explore basic statistics and probability, and be introduced to trigonometry. These topics will challenge students to solve real world problems, apply skills, and work collaboratively with peers. The course is best suited for students who need further review of topics covered in previous math courses before considering higher-level courses, such as Calculus.
Prerequisite: Algebra 2
This course is for students who have a strong background in advanced algebraic topics. Students must make the challenging transition from a focus on algebraic skill building and processes to that of their application and conceptual analysis. In order to make connections and to contribute to class discussions and discoveries, students are expected to be quite proficient with a graphing calculator and to extract information from the textbook effectively. Topics reviewed and studied consist of various functions (including compositions, inverse, polynomial, rational, exponential, and logarithmic) and trigonometry.
Prerequisite: Algebra 2 or FTM
This course is for students who have a strong background in advanced algebraic topics and have demonstrated a good aptitude for mathematical reasoning and intellectual curiosity. Students must make the challenging transition from a focus on algebraic skill building and processes to that of their application and conceptual analysis. Precise arithmetic and algebraic skills are essential to ensure accurate data for proper analysis, and to attain a strong level of command and understanding of the concepts studied. In order to make connections and to contribute to class discussions and discoveries, students are expected to be quite proficient with a graphing calculator and to extract information from the textbook effectively. Topics reviewed and studied consist of several types of functions (including compositions, inverse, polynomial, rational, exponential, logarithmic, and circular) and an introduction to limits.
Prerequisite: Honors Algebra 2 and departmental approval
This course is a survey of topics in Calculus from limits and continuity to basic differentiation and basic integration. It is an opportunity for students to integrate ideas from algebra and geometry, and to do analytical applications of trigonometry, rational functions, compositions, and logarithmic functions. It is a course geared toward deeper understanding of the material but without the focus on preparing for the standardized testing.
Prerequisite: Precalculus or Honors Precalculus
Advanced Calculus 1
Credits: 1
Prerequisite: Precalculus or Honors Precalculus and departmental approval
The methods and techniques of differential and integral calculus are developed and applied to algebraic, trigonometric, logarithmic, and exponential functions. Students are required to use a graphing calculator. This course is for the young mathematician looking to be challenged. Students who take this course will have the option to take the Calculus AB Advanced Placement Test in the spring.
Prerequisite: Precalculus or Honors Precalculus and departmental approval
This is a one-year course that will introduce students to the major concepts and tools for collecting, analyzing, and drawing conclusions from data. Students will explore univariable and bivariable data, research methods, sampling, probability and simulation, and statistical inference. This course emphasizes the use of technology, critical analysis, and scientific writing as students build statistical understanding.
Prerequisite: Algebra 2 and departmental approval
Advanced Topics in Calculus
Open to Grades 11-12
Credits: 1
Prerequisite: Advanced Calculus 1 and departmental approval
This course will build on the skills and topics introduced in Advanced Calculus 1 and introduce students to topics including but not limited to various techniques of integration, sequences and series, polar and parametric functions, and an introduction to college-level Calculus III. Students are expected to develop accurate recall of calculus topics previously covered and use multiple representations and mathematical connections in problem solving. Students will continue to learn new terminology and develop an understanding of new symbols in order to represent, solve, and justify the application of higher level mathematics. Students who take this course will have the option to take the Calculus BC Advanced Placement Test in the spring.
Prerequisite: Advanced Calculus 1 and departmental approval
Advanced Multivariable Calculus
Open to Grades 11-12
Credits: 1
Prerequisite: Advanced Topics in Calculus and departmental approval
This course will extend the study of calculus to functions with several variables. It will additionally cover topics that are not currently included in a traditional high school calculus course but may be included in a college-level calculus course. Students will explore topics including but not limited to partial derivatives, double and triple integrals, vector fields, and integration over curves and surfaces.
Prerequisite: Advanced Topics in Calculus and departmental approval
Statistics: Business and Finance
Open to Grades 11-12
Credits: 0.5
Prerequisite: Algebra 2 and departmental approval
This is a semester-long course that will provide students an introduction to statistics with an emphasis on the ways in which statistics is used in the world of business and finance. Statistical topics include sampling, data analysis, combinations/permutations, and notation. This course will provide students with math skills that are readily applicable to their lives.
Prerequisite: Algebra 2 and departmental approval
Introduction to Sports Analytics
Open to Grades 11-12
Credits: 0.5
Prerequisite: Algebra 2 and departmental approval
This is a semester-long course that will expose students to a wide variety of ways in which math is used in sports. Topics will include an extensive study of data analysis and a wide variety of applications from Algebra and Geometry. This course will provide students with a deeper understanding of the ways in which mathematics is necessary in sports.
Prerequisite: Algebra 2 and departmental approval
The Honors Chemistry course covers content similar to the Chemistry course with the addition of stoichiometry and acid-base chemistry. The course is fast paced and requires a sophisticated depth of analysis. As students progress through the year, their work increasingly focuses on the applications of basic concepts and involves complex, multi-step problem-solving. Laboratory work includes a focus on experimental design and requires more involved error analysis. This is a rigorous course with high expectations for student effort and commitment.
Prerequisite: Physics 9 and departmental approval
Recommended: Completion of or concurrent enrollment in Honors Algebra 2
The Biology course surveys the field of biology from biochemistry, cells, and genetics to evolution, microbiology, and ecology. Many of the most important topics in biology rely heavily on an understanding of the fundamental concepts from physics and chemistry, which is why this course is offered after the completion of these other disciplines. Generous amounts of laboratory work allow students to develop laboratory skills that include experimental design, data collection and analysis, and proficiency with laboratory equipment. Students will work collaboratively and independently as they learn to research numerous biological topics and engage in argument-driven inquiry. Through field work, students will become familiar with the woodlands and ponds that surround The Ethel Walker School and will come to appreciate the biodiversity of life that exists in our community.
Prerequisite: Chemistry
Honors Biology
Open to Grades 11-12
Credits: 1
Prerequisite: Honors Chemistry and/or departmental approval
The Honors Biology course is designed to give students an overview of the biological sciences such as biochemistry, cellular biology, genetics, evolution, microbial biology, human anatomy and physiology, plants, animals, and ecology. The Honors Biology course proceeds at a faster pace than the Biology course and requires students to integrate multiple content areas at one time in their analysis of the material. Students will develop laboratory skills that include experimental design, data collection and analysis, proficiency with laboratory equipment, and error analysis through numerous inquiry-based labs throughout the year. Laboratory work in this course is more demanding and allows students to have more independence involving laboratory design.
Prerequisite: Honors Chemistry and/or departmental approval
Physics 11-12 is designed for students who enter Walker’s after 9th grade and who have not yet taken Physics. This is a laboratory science course in which students develop skills in conducting experiments, working collaboratively, and solving problems that allow them to understand and describe the physical phenomena of the world around them. Through this course, students will explore the major themes of causes and effects of motion and the conservation laws of energy and momentum. Students will be introduced to physics concepts through the investigation of phenomena, hands-on activities, lectures, and interpretation of data. Through this course, an emphasis will be placed on students representing their understanding in multiple ways: verbally, diagrammatically, graphically, and mathematically.
Prerequisite: Algebra 2
Advanced Physics
Open to Grades 11-12
Credits: 1
Prerequisite: Physics 9 or equivalent and departmental approval
Advanced Physics is our most challenging physics course that parallels an introductory algebra-based college physics course. Major topics include kinematics, forces, energy, momentum, rotation, and simple harmonic motion. This is a rigorous, fast-paced course that also includes a significant laboratory component. In collaboration with their lab teams, students will have significant license in designing experimental procedures and in analyzing and explaining their data in ways that demonstrate a strong command of the underlying physics concepts. Students will also enrich their understanding of the physics concepts by learning how to create and explore computational models of physics phenomena using the VPython coding environment. This course assumes that students are comfortable with both algebra and trigonometry. To allow for the completion of college-level laboratory experiments, the course meets for an additional 70-minute block each week.
Prerequisite: Physics 9 or equivalent and departmental approval
Advanced Computational Modeling: 3D Models and Animations
Open to Grades 10-12
Credits: 0.5
Prerequisite: Physics 9 or equivalent and departmental approval
Are you interested in designing your own characters, animations, and games while also learning foundational skills in coding? In this semester-long, project-based course, you will create renderings of 3D models, physics-based animations, and user-interactive games using VPython, a coding environment that combines the Python programming language with a 3D graphics module. Through your projects, you will learn how to use coding elements such as variables, loops, lists, conditionals, functions, and more. We will use the engineering design process to develop each project, including research, brainstorming, iterative prototyping, peer feedback, and sharing. This is a highly collaborative class; you will share your codes with your classmates so that they can build upon them “open-source”-style, and you will adapt and cite some of the work of your classmates to move your own projects forward. No previous coding experience is required, but students should be comfortable with mathematical thinking, troubleshooting, and sometimes feeling confused! Since we will be drawing upon physics concepts to create animations, students should enter this course having completed a year of Physics 9 or equivalent.
Prerequisite: Physics 9 or equivalent and departmental approval
Offered Fall 2024
Advanced Computational Modeling: Data Science and Machine Learning Models
Open to Grades 10-12
Credits: 0.5
Prerequisite: Departmental approval
What makes some internet videos more popular than others? Where do gender inequities pop up in the music industry? What are the demographics of police stops in the United States? Did you know that you can explore and analyze real-world questions like these using code? In this semester-long course, you will develop the skills to use the Python programming language to mine public datasets for interesting patterns and to statistically analyze and visualize those patterns using beautiful, code-generated graphs. You will then build upon these skills by learning how to create your own machine learning models that you can use to make predictions in fields of your choice, and even enter some of your models into competitions. You will come away with skills to critically analyze and evaluate trends in science, society, and culture with the goal of using code to dig deep into questions that you are interested in exploring. No previous coding experience is required, but students will be expected to take initiative in the process of researching and developing project topics, learning any extra skills required for the projects that they select, and tinkering with their codes to accomplish their goals. Enrollment in the first-semester course, 3D Models and Animations, will be useful but is not necessary for this second-semester course.
Prerequisite: Departmental approval
Offered Spring 2025
Advanced Scientific Research in Molecular Genetics
Prerequisite: Completion of or concurrent enrollment in Honors Biology and departmental approval
This course is based on the Stan-X experimental biology course developed by Professor Seung Kim of Stanford University. Students will be introduced to fundamental concepts in molecular and cellular biology and genetics, in addition to laboratory and husbandry techniques specific to the fruit fly. The course is focused on laboratory research where students will use transposon biology to create transgenic fruit flies. Favorable strains of flies made and characterized by students will be used by researchers in Dr. Kim’s lab and made available to all scientists working on fruit flies. Engagement with primary research literature, bioinformatics databases and independent laboratory work is expected. To allow for the completion of college-level laboratory experiments, the course meets for an additional 70-minute block each week. Additional laboratory work outside of class time will also be expected.
Prerequisite: Completion of or concurrent enrollment in Honors Biology and departmental approval
The Climate Change course allows students to take an interdisciplinary look at this complex issue. Students spend the first semester exploring the causes of climate change, discovering the scientific reasons behind the environmental effects we observe, and looking at the roles humans have played in these changes. The second semester focuses on climate justice, activism, and solutions: who benefits from climate change, who suffers, and what can we do about it? Throughout the course, students follow current events and keep a weekly journal documenting their thoughts and findings.
Equine Science
Open to Grades 11-12
Credits: 1
Prerequisite: Current enrollment in or completion of Biology
The Equine Science course is an intense equine biology class that encompasses the anatomy and physiology of all the systems of the horse, including nutrition, toxicology, parasitology, health management, neonatology, epidemiology, and sports medicine. Students will explore numerous case studies and immerse themselves in the world of equine medicine. Through hands-on labs at the Frank O.H. Williams Barn, students can apply the skills and knowledge of the class while they perform health and lameness exams and use stethoscopes to listen to heart, lung, and intestinal sounds.
Prerequisite: Current enrollment in or completion of Biology
Students will learn about public health through a multidisciplinary approach that includes biology, chemistry, psychology, sociology, history, English literature, language and culture, economics, anthropology, geography, statistics, communication, film, and visual arts. This course will center around leading health indicators that include access to health services; clinical preventive services; maternal, infant, and child health; mental health; nutrition; physical activity; obesity; reproductive and sexual health; social determinants of health; and substance abuse. Course topics will include environmental health, biostatistics, epidemiology, public health policy, problem-solving in public health, population dynamics, social and behavioral sciences, health literacy, community assessment, health informatics, global health, and women’s health and human rights.
This semester-long course is designed to cover a broad range of digital photography techniques, principles, equipment, and image subjects. A Nikon DSLR camera is supplied for the duration of the course. The course also covers areas of post-production and image manipulation. It includes principles of exposure, portrait photography, landscape photography, macro photography, sports photography, food photography, black and white photography, low light photography, light painting, wildlife photography, in-class challenges, and more than 20 other topics. Over the course of the semester, independent shooting, collaborative peer critiques, and historical research will contribute to each student’s final portfolio that exhibits her individual photographic style.
Offered Fall 2024 and Spring 2025
This course is designed to follow the prerequisite Photography 1 and includes elements of studio photography, fashion photography, staged photography, modern photography, street photography, drone photography, photojournalism, and the study of contemporary artists. DSLR cameras are supplied for the duration of the course. The course incorporates field trips for photography assignments. It will also include an emphasis on independent studies as students focus on their own interests, all while creating an online portfolio of their best work.
Prerequisite: Photography 1
Offered Spring 2025
This course is designed to give students an overview of dance technique, improvisation, composition, and history. We will focus on several techniques and history to build strength and knowledge in the art form. The study of dance composition through improvisation and design concepts will also be a focal point of the course. Recommended for students with little to no experience in dance.
Offered Fall 2024
This course focuses on the process of choreographing original dance pieces. Students will learn composition through experimenting with the elements of movement: time, space, weight, and flow. This course is recommended for students with some dance experience through the advanced level.
Offered Spring 2025
The goal of this course is to develop self-awareness, master acting guideposts, and build on previous knowledge of stage acting through the use of scenes, improvisation, and monologues. This one-semester class introduces students to basic acting techniques rooted in Stanislavski and Meisner, incorporating effective use of the voice, principles of stage movement, building a character, playwriting, story creation, and improvisation. The course is designed for students interested in exploring theater as a means of personal development and expression, as well as for those who wish to begin to study the craft of acting and/or playwriting. Students are expected to memorize lines, write journals, and be evaluated on their performances. This course may be taken more than once, so the course will be tailored to the students’ interests and needs.
Offered Spring 2025
A full Arts credit is given for this course. It fulfills the arts graduation requirement but is not figured into the GPA. Walker’s Choir performs regularly at many school functions and presents two major choral concerts. This ensemble enjoys meeting a varied repertoire and honing musical skills such as sight-reading and vocal production. Students interested in Grapes must be part of this ensemble.
A two-semester course that involves the study of the laws, forms, and language of music with a focus on assimilating these skills and demonstrating them in compositional forms. The course is taught at the level of the student and progresses according to her capacity. It presents the basics of music theory, dictation and notation, and ear training before composition is introduced. The advanced student may study composition and harmony and musical analysis.
This class moves at the pace of the Advanced Placement Music Theory course with the intent to prepare the student to participate in the Advanced Placement testing program. This course includes fundamentals of music theory and related aural skills, score analysis, sight-singing, and harmonic and melodic comprehension. Students’ eligibility will be determined by the instructor.
Prerequisite: Departmental approval
Credit is given to students who wish to take two private lessons a week or two music disciplines, not including Choir. A half credit is given along with grades and comments for each semester. Music majors are expected to perform during the school year.
Private lessons are offered for many instruments. Numerous recitals and assemblies involve the music program, and public performance opportunities continue to expand the musical experience here on campus.
Financial Commitment: Private lessons are billed through the Business Office. The Music Instruction Agreement must be signed by a parent/guardian and returned before lessons can begin. Please contact the Business Office for additional details.
Gospel Choir
Open to Grades 7-12
The Gospel Choir is a lively vocal ensemble that incorporates musical styles from the spiritual, blues, and gospel genres. This ensemble demands a willingness to participate in the appropriate style that this music commands. All singers are welcome.
Voce Felice
Open to Grades 6-12
This course provides students with an opportunity to learn and improve vocal technique and to experience a repertoire of various styles. Enrollment in Choir is not required. Voce Felice, a fine vocal ensemble, is formed from members of this class. Individual singers have the opportunity to perform as soloists at the end of the school year concert. All singers are welcome.
The Chamber Ensembles afford the serious musician the opportunity to perform fine works. Students must be proficient on their instrument and enjoy working in a focused, musical environment. These ensembles are called upon to perform at many functions throughout the school year.
By audition
This vocal ensemble is an a cappella singing group. Only members of the Choir may audition. This ensemble performs music from a wide range of genres. Auditions take place at the beginning of the school year and include a simple sight-singing exercise, presentation of a piece that best shows the singer’s voice, and a group piece that determines vocal blend and intonation.
By audition
Harmonious Bells
Open to Grades 9-12
The Bell Choir performs for many events on campus and can be taken as a music discipline for Music Majors. This course teaches a basic understanding of rhythm and note reading and allows students of all levels to perform in an ensemble. All musicians are welcome.
Orchestra
Open to Grades 9-12
Orchestra is open to instrumentalists who are capable of individual preparation and working toward a standard of musical excellence in a group setting. This is a wonderful environment in which to develop technique and broaden the musical experience.
African Drumming
Open to Grades 9-12
African Drumming is an essential part of Walker’s music program. The group utilizes a variety of drums, some of which were constructed from trees on the school property in Simsbury. Students study a wide array of styles and develop an appreciation for the intricate musical sounds, and variety of moods the different drumming disciplines convey and express. The tones of the instruments as well as the use of a particular rhythm open the mind to the rich world of music and enhance the capacity of each drummer. Students are encouraged to both read and hear patterns so that they engage the better part of themselves when they play together. The group often performs on campus and continues to create a moving presence at Walker’s.
Rock Band
Open to Grades 9-12
Each year, our campus rock band morphs and evolves as new students join the group. Students who sing and play drum set, keyboard, guitar, bass, percussion, and other instruments collaborate as an ensemble to play classic rock and more contemporary covers, learning how to exchange musical ideas and work together as a group towards a rock concert performance at the end of the school year.
Seminars
The Seminar Program at Walker’s allows students to explore a wide array of topics over the course of their four years in the Upper School. Digital citizenship and public speaking are among the cornerstones of the program as are the development of awareness of the world around us and the empowerment of girls to effect change through the understanding of social justice. In this program, students develop financial literacy, communication, and leadership skills along with heightened level of confidence as they gain new skills and acquire information. Juniors meet regularly with the college counseling office during these class blocks and in the spring semester, seniors are enrolled in a course to learn about what life will be like in college.
