Ms. Rachel North

Biography:

Ms. North hails from New England and is a proud Red Sox fan and Penn State University Alum.  After earning her BA in English, she spent two years as a volunteer English, math and social studies teacher in the coastal town of New Bedford, Massachusetts.  After leaving teaching for a few years to gain experience in the business world, Ms. North is extremely excited to return to English education and so happy to be joining the GWCS community!  Outside of teaching, she spends most of her time in rivers and lakes on a kayak, wandering around in hiking boots and running shoes, and attacking crossword puzzles. 

Courses Taught:

World Lit I:

Literature is history!  Discover the world's past through the earliest writings known to man!  Travel through the storms of Mesopotamia and discover what was really happening after the dinosaurs left us to our own devices!   Explore literal interpretations of religious texts, and understand the beauty and the turmoil of the past through poetry.  In this course we will look closely into ancient writings and learn to read between the lines of literature to find deep meaning in it.  Through examination of our own writing and open discussion, we will learn reading techniques and interpretive strategies to help us understand and write about these cryptic messages.  Become a professional story teller, poetry writer, and an essay building machine! Test the limits of your literary prowess through early writings from around the globe!
 

World Lit II:

Curious about iambic pentameter?  Wondering who Sir Gawain is?  You can stop here!  In World Lit II, we'll learn just how wild things were back in the days of kights, royalty and the like far before Disney made it cute.  Prepare yourself for an intensive writing course as well.  We'll be spending plenty of time tackling our keyboards and showing paper who's boss.  Let literature take us all the way into modernism in World Lit II! 
  

English 11:

This course will help make you an expert in modern literature.   We'll be closely reading authors like William Golding, Ray Bradbury, and JD Salinger, and learning to speak and write intelligently about each one.  Plug into the social conversations of the last few centuries through the commentary of these authors, and tell us what you think about it!  Through socratic-style learning and original writing, we'll know these authors' works inside and out.  
  

English Senior Seminar:

Nature Literature and Writing:  Take a deep breath of fresh air through this course on good ol' Mother Nature.  After a pretty wacky summer, (environmentally speaking), we should all have plenty to say about it.  We'll experience nature through authors and poets like Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Aldo Leopold and Robert Frost, as well as create our own opinions and images about the outdoors.   Designed like a college course, we'll take a look at academia's perspective on nature through the writings of professors and other intellectuals, and explore current writings about experiencing the natural.  We'll be exploring genres of environmental literature including poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction, and themes including sense of place and the relationship between landscape and story.  Prepare to be prepared for college!  

Hours Available For Extra Help:

Thursdays from 3:30 – 5:00 pm, or by appointment.

Links:

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