Express Yourself - Kingswood Oxford

Express Yourself

We are a Community of Writers, Speakers, and Listeners

 

What a Difference a day Makes

 

Self-discovery at KO is fostered by abundant opportunities for self-expression. As students develop their points of view, they also develop the skills necessary to share their unique perspectives.

 

Every day, KO students practice thinking critically, processing different kinds of information, and expressing themselves—beginning on the first day of sixth grade. They write and present across all disciplines—gradually increasing skill development, complexity of content, and nuance of expression.

On any given day, a KO student might write and/or present:

  • A concise conclusion from the collection of scientific data

  • A comparison of historical and current events

  • An analytical essay arguing an original thesis about a text

  • A research paper on a meaningful topic of their choosing

  • A creative poem and/or short story

  • A persuasive oral argument about a pressing social issue

 

KO students learn the importance of listening to and appreciating the work of others—whether created by their peers or a best-selling author. Critical analysis and workshopping are elemental parts of every assignment.

What a Difference practice and confidence Make

 

There has been an immense amount of progress from my writing freshman year to now. When I first transitioned to KO, I was focused on standard writing, but now my sentence structure is more complex, and my ideas are more cogent and articulated. I’m confident that I can manage any paper that a college professor assigns.

— Faith, senior

Baird Symposium Writer Series

KO annually hosts a world renowned writer-in-residence to lead workshops and engage in deep-diving dialogue.

Learn more about this signature program

Middle School Spider Web Discussions

This team-oriented, literature-based activity promotes active listening and provides a safe place to develop personal points of view.

 

Learn more and watch a short video about this classroom element.

Senior Thesis

This is a culminating research and writing project that draws on literary texts, academic scholarship, and the student’s own insights.

Learn more about our Senior Thesis project.

Award Winning Writers

KO students are consistently multiple award winners in the National Cum Laude Society’s National Thesis Competition and the WALKS essay contests with area schools: Watkinson, Avon Old Farms, Loomis Chaffee, and Suffield Academy.

English Curriculum: 9th & 10th Grade Foundations

What a Difference foundations Make

Student-Driven Co-Curricular Extensions

KO News

Student Newspaper

 

epic

Literary Magazine

 

thread Magazine

Student-Run Fashion Publication

 

Forensic Union & Mock Trial

 

Two of our most active groups on campus continually garner praise and awards. Last spring, our Mock Trial team won first in the state and was co-state champion in 2020. One of our students was named Best Lawyer in the competition. In Forensic Union, two of our students qualified for the International Debate Tournament, placing in second and third in the spring.

WALKS Essay 

 

WALKS is a consortium of five Hartford-area independent schools comprised of Westminster, Avon Old Farms, Loomis Chaffee, Kingswood Oxford, and Suffield Academy, and their Constitutional essay has been an annual event for over 60 years.

Gwendolyn Brooks  Poetry Contest

KO’s annual poetry contest was endowed by the poet when she visited the school as a Symposium author in 1994.

Model U.N.

 

KO participates in the Yale Model U.N. and other Model U.N. competitions in the world (Portugal, Poland, Spain, England). Model U.N. features strong writing and public speaking component.

Public Speaking Center

The Public Speaking Center is a transformative resource, expanding far beyond the classroom, aiming to provide students with innovative learning opportunities by supplying positive and constructive feedback. Students partner with experienced mentors, in this case, fellow students who have taken advanced public speaking. The four main goals of the center are to encourage compassionate collaboration, to help supply positive and constructive feedback, to enhance transformative risk-taking, and to provide honest, constructive criticism.

Writing Center

 

Run by 20 junior and senior peer tutors, the Writing Center’s goal is to offer writing support that is purposeful while fostering connections among the community around writing. To begin the editing process, a student ‘interviews’ with a peer tutor on his or her writing assignment to set up a game plan so that they engage in the process together. The main goal is to keep the writing session on the student – not ‘can you fix this for me?’ The peer limits their feedback to the most time-sensitive aspects of the process. The peers consult a collaborative asynchronous discussion doc posted with various scenarios, role-playing what they would do in a given situation to aid them in working with others.