It’s that time of year where underclassmen and juniors begin to choose their courses for the upcoming school year. Every year there are new courses that are introduced to Taft students. This year Science Fiction is one of those courses.
In the 2023-2024 school year Taft Language and Literature teacher Darren Tuggle and Barbara Newton introduced Experimental Literature or commonly known as Horror to Taft. Many students chose this course as an elective for their junior and senior year.
“The class comes from the club, Tribe of Terror, but it dates back to when I started at Taft six years ago,” stated Tuggle.
“People started asking about us doing activities on relaxed days and I came up with the idea for a short horror film festival that got kids really interested. Then it turned into a club, we started meeting after school on Tuesdays, and then I decided to turn it into a class,” continued Tuggle.
Tribe of Terror (Horror club) is a favorite to many students, Tuggle and Newton play various Horror films every Tuesday in room 114 and students eat Ramen Noodles. Before the holidays Tuggle and Newton play horror films based on the Holiday.
Tribe of Terror focuses on the film aspect of Horror while Experimental Lit dives into the different genres that surround it and the stories and lore of the horror genre.
Experimental Lit is a creative based class. Tuggle stated, “It’s called Experimental Literature in a sense that we’ve always seen it as horror and multiple genres.”
Experimental Lit is loved by many students, students loved it because it was a class where they felt they could let out their creativity and take a break from their structured classes.
Former Experimental Lit student senior Maya Michalowicz, “I loved that Experimental Literature was refreshing and different, it was my place where I could express my creativity.”
Students study internet lore regarding Horror and the genres that surround it. Students also study traditionally written short stories, horror video games, and music. This year they studied the attractions of Haunted House, and actually put on a very successful full size haunted house in the Taft auditorium in late fall.
“A lot of the materials we cover in class come from the students, everybody in there has their own expertise,” stated Tuggle.
This year Taft Language and Literature teacher Anakin Morris hopes to introduce Science Fiction to Taft students for the 2025-2026 school year.
Morris came up with the idea for Science Fiction while sitting in a meeting with teachers and talking about electives. Morris looked through the CPS course list of every course offered across the city and found Science Fiction courses and decided to add it as a course at Taft.
“I really like Science Fiction, I think it’s a fun genre, I think it’s cool stories,” stated Morris.
Science Fiction is a very popular genre, people often don’t realize it. Science Fiction is the beloved Marvel Superheros to classics like Back to the Future or 2001: A Space Odyssey. Science Fiction revolves around a lot that we consume alongside Horror.
“It’s also the genre that we kind of academically don’t take seriously, that when we were teaching, we were teaching ‘real books.’ We’re teaching ‘literature,’ we’re not teaching rocket ships, and we kind of separate the two and there’s no reason for that. They’re both good literature, they’re interesting, they all have the same stuff in them, and they also have rocket ships,” continued Morris.
Similar to Experimental Lit, Science Fiction will dive into various Science Fiction short stories, films, books, and even music. Some examples of music will be David Bowie’s 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and Janelle Monáe’s 2018 album Dirty Computer.
“I think it’s important for kids to study stuff that they’re excited about, and if they’re excited about Sci-Fi then I want them to be doing that intentionally. If you’re not into Sci-Fi don’t do it, but if you come and hang and we’ll do it and I’ll give you credit for it,” stated Morris.
“Make sure you pick your classes sooner than later, many close quickly. Talk to upperclassmen or teachers about classes you’re interested in. Have some backups in mind, Taft has a lot of classes but a lot more students to accommodate,” expressed Michalowicz about picking courses for the upcoming school year.
