HUMANITIES
HUMANITIES
St. Edward High School ensures that students connect our Holy Cross values, standard of excellence and vision for the future to our humanities curriculum.
English - The English Department has been devoted to expanding our reading list to include other voices and perspectives, while at the same time increasing student choice to improve our students' sense of agency. We work to make our students savvy in their evaluation and use of digital information. Most importantly, a long-standing aspect of our approach has been to use literature to develop our students' empathy.
In Spring 2019, the St. Ed's English Department used the Porter Prize Fund to create the St. Edward Writer Series, inviting renowned poets, essayists and fiction writers to come speak and read their works to our students. On April 1, St. Ed's welcomed Ohio's Poet Laureate Dr. Dave Lucas from Case Western Reserve University, the first speaker of the St. Edward Writer Series.
Mr. Lucas, a Cleveland teacher and writer, is the author of Weather which mythologizes Cleveland's past and present and visited St. Ed's to read his poem "River on Fire," recounting the burning of the Cuyahoga River. "The St. Edward Writer Series' beauty resides in its simplicity: faculty and students getting together to hear the spoken word in a college-level environment. Simplicity like that achieves real depth in the classroom and encourages students to enter into the conversation," says English teacher Mr. Elliot Zetzer. "The English Department at St. Ed's works really hard to ensure that our students are reading contemporary writers in all of their classes, but we hope that getting to see and hear those writers makes reading and writing more energetic and vital for our students. Writers are rockstars and we'd like to foster a culture at St. Ed's around that," says Film Department Chair and English teacher Ms. Lydia Munnell. St. Ed's English Department intends to continue the St. Edward Writer Series into the 2019-2020 school year.
History - The Social Studies Department aims to encourage students to not only be knowledgeable, analytical and inquisitive but caring, compassionate and understanding as well. The skills they acquire will allow them to be leaders in a competitive era of globalization as they engage in meaningful dialogue, construct reasoned conclusions and work collaboratively to problem solve the challenges of contemporary society.
St. Ed's Social Studies Department has also taken an innovative approach to maximize classroom setup for learning. After pitching their ideas as part of the Porter Prize Fund Competition, the department has secured funding for new furniture to create a more interactive and dynamic classroom atmosphere for students.
Language Acquisition - The Language Acquisition Department offers a culture-rich, comprehension based approach to language learning that is rooted in the belief that communication across cultures is a powerful unifying force needed in today's world. To provide students the opportunity to practice their language and cultural awareness skills, the department offers international trips, as well as newly added local excursions.
Theology - The Theology Department is rooted in the vision and mission of the Holy Cross Constitutions. With the Word of God as our inspiration we aspire to develop students’ abilities to hear, read, write, speak, and know the word in ways that challenge and lead the world that they are called to serve.
St. Ed's Theology Department also received funding to purchase a GoPro Fusion, a 360 action camera, and additional technology to film spaces around the city of Cleveland, creating an experience for students to explore our city's Church history without leaving the classroom.
