In Waldorf Tenth Grade, much of the literature focus in a Waldorf School is on dramatic literature in Ancient Epic form – the Edda, Beowulf, Gilgamesh, etc.  There is usually study of epic poetry and the writing of comparisons, essays, short storys, literature analysis and perhaps a research on a pre-Christian theme.  This is what is published on the Waldorf School Curriculum:  An Overview for American Waldorf School Teachers as published by AWNSA.

I think in the home environment we have possiblities in some different ways than just this description.  I took apart our tenth grade literature year in several distinct ways:

Poetry (combined with seventh grade): “Fundamentalism” by Naomi Shihab Nye; “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou; “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks; “Eventide” by Gwendolyn Brooks; “Georgia Dusk” by Jean Toomer; “Chicago” by Carl Sandburg; “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman; “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allen Poe; “A Valentine” by Edgar Allen Poe; the riddle poems of Emily Dickinson;  “Thirteen Ways of Looking At A Blackbird” by Wallace Stevens. For the spring semester, I am not sure if we are going to focus more on poetry or on essay writing.

Independent Reading/Book Reports:  I am requiring six book reports this school year, most from people of color or women authors.  So far this semester our tenth grader has read “Siddhartha” by Herman Hesse; ” The Bean Trees” by Barbara Kingsolver; ” Copper Sun” by Sharon Draper; and “The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan.  Not sure what we will read in the spring semester yet.

Ancient Epics/Dramatic Literature Blocks:  “The Allegory of the Cave” by Plato (compared to the movie The Matrix); Gilgamesh; The Odyssey by Homer; scenes from the Ramayana; Beowulf.

Contemporary African-American Literature Block (time from of Black Arts Movement to the present):   “Rootedness: The Ancestor as Foundation” by Toni Morrison; “Haiku” by Sonia Sanchez; “Get It Together” by India Arie and “The Evil That Men Do” by Queen Latifah; “The Sky Is Grey” by Ernest Gaines; “The Rose That Grew From Concrete” by Tupac Shakur; “Ego Tripping” by Nikki Giovanni; “The Burden of Race” by Arthur Ashe; “American Hero” by Essex Hemphill; “To Some Supposed Brothers” by Essex Hemphill; “Women With Meaning” by Haki Madhubuti

Short Stories:  “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty; “The Necklace”; “The Open Window” by Saki.

Would love to hear what you are working on with your high schooler!

Blessings,
Carrie