Experimentation with many forms of writing is encouraged, with an emphasis on poetry, short stories, plays, and additional forms of descriptive writing. Students continue to expand and refine their ability to create through analyzing and evaluating their own writing and that of other students. In Creative Writing II, students also participate in the layout, design, and overall production of the Symposium , the West Springfield High School literary magazine. Debate Debate teaches students to think. Debaters research current and philosophical topics, prepare affirmative and negative cases, then debate their cases in class.
Successful debaters learn to think extemporaneously, listen carefully and speak clearly.
They learn the importance of careful note taking. The course, open to tenth through twelfth grade students, provides students with an opportunity to improve their writing through an intensive study of structure, writing styles, and expository forms. It is designed to teach students to write grammatically correct, coherent, and well-developed essays. The objective is that, by the completion of this course, the student will be able to summarize data, analyze writing, apply principles of logic and reasoning, use proper documentation of sources, and write coherent essays. Students are required to read short assignments on the technical aspects of writing, as well as selected essays as models for student writing.