As course registration for the 2022-23 school year schedule approaches in mid January, many departments are planning to offer new classes and opportunities.
The social studies department, for example, has provided a proposal for new classes in their department. For the first time, LGBTQ+ studies will be offered; a class that explores LGBTQ+ identity, history and culture.
Positive Psychology is another new course that is going to be offered next year. In this class, students will learn how positive psychology can impact one’s happiness and well-being. The overall goal of the class is to improve the condition of the student community as a whole. Political Psychology and Behavior is another new offering with the main gist being the application of concepts of social and cognitive psychology in order to better understand political issues.
The social studies department will also offer a course about American history through film where students will view, write and discuss both historical and contemporary pieces on topics related to the political, social, economic and racial history of the United States.
To spread knowledge about these updated course opportunities, staff and department heads have updated their status on new classes being added to the course list.
“The department heads for each academic discipline at WJ [English, Math, Social Studies, Science, etc] are working on updating their course offerings for next school year right now,” Counseling Resource Teacher Imani Ladson said.
The English department will be offering two new courses for either next semester or next year as well.
One is Culture in Literature in which students examine texts whose authors represent cultural and ethnic groups from around the world. Oral Interpretation and Media Study is another class which will offer opportunities for students interested in forensics, effective speaking and oral interpretation.
“Oral interpretation and media study stands out to me because it is an original course idea and I will definitely consider signing up,” junior Andrew Pan said.
Many students have complained of the lack of diversity in the courses offered, so students are definitely eager to take classes such as Culture in Literature because of the different texts it has to offer.
“Culture in Literature sounds very interesting to me because I would love to learn about texts coming from different points of views from around the world,” junior Martin Forero.
Students are very excited to sign up for the new classes being offered for next year. However, most of these courses will require a minimum number of students to register in order to operate. Students should keep these courses in mind when finalizing their schedules in order to take advantage of the multitude of new opportunities available.
