Through Kids Canon, we work not only with children’s technical language abilities and capacity to communicate with elegance and persuasion, but also their intellectual, moral, and imaginative development. By virtue of literary study, children come into rich contact with culture and history, deepen their aesthetic sensibilities, and find ways to apply their own creativity to produce original and valuable work. Exploration of literature and its themes, all concerning the human experience, obliges a certain way of thinking and discussing which expands the mind and leads to increased empathy and self-awareness. The intellectual use of language skills is necessary in achieving this aim, and advancement in each element of literary study in turn complements and enhances each of the others.

Progression through the intense and challenging Kids Canon courses fosters our values of discipline, imagination, thoughtfulness, and creativity. Through the in-depth study of five carefully selected books per semester, the innate curiosity of children is nurtured in a process of Socratic learning, where thoughtful engagement with a range of topics and differences of opinion are encouraged. In the pursuit of comprehension and the literary analysis of themes, genres, and characterisation, children are encouraged to consider meaningful responses to open-ended questions and generate and deliberate upon new questions, thereby stimulating genuine interest and engagement. In their reflections upon themes - such as good versus evil, and the importance of family – as well as the significance of characters’ experiences, children expand their minds and consider the implications of the human experience for themselves.

All Kids Canon courses (from Primary English to Teens Canon) are taught in maximum group sizes of eight students per class. For homework, students are expected to pre-read one-fifth of a novel each week and to write one long story per novel (five weeks), as well as to complete vocabulary exercises. In class, students spend a significant amount of time reading around the table and discussing the text. Also during class time, students write two essays per novel, a first draft in the first week and a second draft (from the teacher’s corrections and comments) in the following week. Students compile their second drafts of essays and stories in their portfolio (their ‘red folder’), which they take with them at the end of each semester. The blend of reading, discussion and writing provides an integration of the published authors’ art and the teacher’s prompting and guidance, igniting the students’ imagination and providing the frameworks for producing quality, substantial, original output.

Teacher

Ms Megan Dodd holds a degree from the University of California, Berkeley.  Previously she taught Montessori education in the US and has three years teaching experience in China.

Ms Patricia Wainhouse holds a MA in Education; Dominican University in Chicago.  She has made a career as a classroom teacher both in the US and Asia.  Ms Wainhouse is currently teaching IB Diploma Program in Shanghai.

Mr Shane Hennessy holds MA in Creative Writing from the University College Dublin (First Class Honors).  He currently teaches at Shanghai Shengwu Middle School.  Previously he has worked as an editor, correspondent, and publishers on numerous magazines, films, and television.

Mr Dylan White holds MA in International Security and Diplomacy; Tel Aviv University. He has is BA in Theater Film and Television from UCLA. Mr White has experience in Public Speaking, Teaching and Film Production.

Ms Victoria Kane attended Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she graduated summa cum laude with a major in philosophy and a minor in English. To continue her philosophical inquiry, Ms. Kane attended Tufts University in Massachusetts where she received her MA in philosophy. During her time at Tufts, Ms. Kane worked as a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University for an Ethical Reasoning course and as a Teaching Assistant at Tufts University for an Introduction to Ethics course. Her focus in graduate school was on ethics and metaethics. She is particularly interested in moral realism, questions about how we form moral judgments, and whether or not we can have moral knowledge. Soon after graduating from Tufts, Ms. Kane moved to Shanghai and lived there for 2 years before returning to the United States. 

Mr Daniel Harlan is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of Drama. He also studied at the Shanghai Theatre Academy. He is a practicing actor and drama teacher. He is the course leader for The Studio School of Speech and Drama Edinburgh Society.

Ms Jamie Harper-Havens holds MA in Education; School Administration, as well as a California Multiple Subject CLAD teaching credential. She has over 20 years of teaching across multiple grades and subjects. She has published research in education; specifically instructional coaching, effective literacy assessments and strategies, and non-verbal communication. She is a graduate of University of California, Santa Cruz (Distinction Honors).

Mr Joel Fetherlin holds a B.S. Degree in International Politics. He has over eight years of teaching experience with children from around the world. He currently works at The Walt Disney Company where he designs and develops educational APPs and learning material.

Mr Thomas Brown has a Masters Degree in Historical Education, a Bachelors in Liberal Studies and Education, and spent nearly ten years working and volunteering on archaeological sites across Europe. He has written theses and dissertations including a linguistic history of the US military, counterfactual examinations of the US Civil War, a history of the Roman military, and an analysis of political and philosophical trends in Muslim Spain. 

Mr David Salinas holds an MFA in Creative Writing Fiction from Columbia University and a Bachelors of Science in Radio-Television-Film from The University of Texas. He has been working as an Education Consultant and Teacher, with an emphasis on writing, in both Shanghai and NewYork City since 2012.

Mr Neal Blacker is a Visual Arts teacher with years of experience working with the indigenous community in Australia and students in international schools. He studied visual art with a focus on contemporary practices and the history of Pacific and South East Asian art. He has professional interests in the effect of visual arts in the secondary classroom and indigenous schools. 

Ms Tess Patalano is a published author and Humanities Teacher from the United States. She holds a Masters of Arts, concentration in Creative Writing, from San Francisco State University and a Bachelors of Artsin English from Hamilton College. Ms Patalano has been teaching English at the primary school, middle school, high school and university levels for nearly ten years, both in Korea and Hawaii. 

Explore the Kids Canon and Teens Canon courses below, or for younger children visit the Primary English pages.