The English Department will offer two new, non-Advanced Placement courses next year for seniors, Shakespeare as a year-long course and Senior Practicum.

Senior Practicum “will be a literature-centered course that will engage students in questions about issues of relevance and interest,” English Department Head Larry Weber said. Weber designed the course over the summer on a curriculum grant.

Though the course will include a midterm exam, the year-end final will be a “self-generated, theme-based project, pursuing a question of choice,” according to the course description.

Students will be able to take the Shakespeare course as an elective.

AP Language teachers, led by Lisa Rado, also worked on a curriculum grant to redefine the focus of AP Language, hoping to place the course’s study of rhetoric and nonfiction on par with the AP Literature class’s study of fiction.

“We’re excited about offering these courses,” Weber said. “The onus will be on us to counsel students well, to counsel juniors well to the courses that will fit for them. And we’re ready to do that.”