During the 2025-2026 school year, Dana Hall introduced a new AP Literature and Composition course called Diamonds Formed Under Pressure: Literature’s Search for the Meaning of Life taught by Kaitlin Brandt. The course explores how literature helps us find joy and meaning amid adversity, guiding students through Shakespeare, Toni Morrison, James McBride, and more while preparing them for the AP Literature exam.
Besides AP Diamonds, Dana Hall offers Women at the Edge, and Being Human: Literature of the Monstrous and the Humane, all of which follow the AP Literature guidelines.
All the courses take the same AP exam in May, but there is no set curriculum by the College Board, so individual teachers can assign works of their choosing. Dana Hall embraces this flexibility, shaping senior year to feel more like a college experience through a wide range of course options.
“I had the idea for Diamonds Formed Under Pressure due to a student who graduated last year. She had endured some personal tragedy, and despite that, whenever we discussed the challenging literature, she always looked for the lesson in the literature and the way that the writer showed the character’s finding hope or meaning through their struggles”, said Ms Brandt.
Though all the AP Literature courses offer the same level of challenge and the same set of skills, but big ideas and actual literature are different. “It’s very hard to choose books to teach, especially in AP Literature because they need to meet the College Board’s standards for rigor in literature, and often books that meet those standards are incredibly dark. Given that I work with teenagers, I want to choose books that have lightness in them. And the books we read are very dark, but I do think they all have that beauty and lightness. I want them to be beautiful and fun to read,” said Ms Brandt. Her favourite book to teach is Beloved by Tony Morrison, which discusses slavery. “I think it’s an incredible novel because the content is horrific. It describes horror that real humans endure, but it’s also one of the most beautiful pieces of literature I’ve ever read. It’s amazing to contemplate how an artist can create beauty out of horror.”
In class, Ms Brandt hopes that her students will “improve their critical thinking skills, their writing skills, and their reading skills. In my course in particular, I hope that they will see that challenge and adversity can help us grow as humans, and it’s through those challenges and growths that we find real meaning in our human existence.”
Personally, Ms Brandt always strives to have fun in her classes. “I am having fun, I love the classes. I chose my favourite books to teach, and I hope the students find the same joy and meaning in those books that I have found over the course of my life.”
Sophia Lopez ‘26, a student in AP Diamonds, said “I have had Ms Brandt for almost three years now and I specifically chose her class because she has created a safe and encouraging space where I have felt I can grow and learn as a writer, reader, and person. I am excited to continue to analyze literature that can be positively impactful even if they seem to describe difficult experiences.”