AP English Language and Composition Syllabus

Course Objectives:
The purpose of this course is to help students understand and analyze
expository, analytical and
argumentative writing so they can effectively communicate for various
audiences and purposes
to fit the needs of their future lives. The course is organized around
particular forms including
description, narration, exposition and argumentation, an organizational
possibility described in
the May 2007, May 2008 AP English Course Description. During this course,
students will learn
to read critically and to write analytically. By the end of the course, student
essays should
demonstrate depth of analysis and stylistic maturity.
Course Structure: This course consists of 18 weeks on a 90minute
block schedule. Students
must have taken Honors English 11, a preAP
English Language course, before they may enroll
in AP Language and Composition.
Grading System:
Essays 30%: Students write descriptive, narrative, expository, analytical and
argumentative
essays. Most essays begin with inclass
writing or planning and progress through two or more
rough drafts that include peer and/or teacher editing to a final copy that is
graded. All drafts
must be turned in with the final copy.
Tests 25%: Each unit includes a test that includes multiple choice questions
and one passage
analysis essay. Multiple choice questions test knowledge of the readings and
application of the
rhetorical devices studied in the unit. Each passage chosen for the analysis
essay is new material
that reflects the rhetorical form and rhetorical strategies discussed for the
unit.
Quizzes 25%: Quizzes over the literature check for reading. Vocabulary,
grammar terms and
concepts, and rhetorical terms are also tested on quizzes.
Homework 20%: Homework includes grammar and vocabulary exercises, AP
multiple choice
sample passages, short writings, steps in the writing process for an essay,
practices from Voice
Lessons, journal entries for novel choices and other short assignments given.
Most lessons begin with a warmup
anticipatory task. These focus on a journal writing on one of
the two novels students may select from a reading list, a short lesson from
Voice Lessons,
vocabulary exercises, or grammar exercises. These activities will include the
first five or ten
minutes of class.
Unit 1
Description
Reading:
• Dillard, Annie, “Heaven and Earth in Jest”
• Dillard, Annie, “The Giant Water bug”
• O’Conner, Flannery, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”
• Updike, John, “The Brown Chest”
• Crane, Steven, The Red Badge of Courage – Chapter 7
• Wright, Richard, “Between the World and Me”
Assessments:
Quizzes: Reading quizzes that check for meaning and strategies
Quiz: Vocabulary from reading
Quiz: Grammar for unit
Test: Multiple choice and passage analysis
Composition: Analysis
Analyze how Annie Dillard uses tone shifts to convey her shifting view of
herself
and nature in “The Giant Water Bug.” Remember to consider the rhetorical
devices we discussed as part of your support.
Composition: Analysis
Analyze how Flannery O’Conner uses direct characterization and indirect
characterization to portray Mr. Shiflet as a grotesque character. Be sure to
use
description as one of the defining factors in your discussion.
Composition: Descriptive essay
Prompt: Choose one place in which you have experienced two different
atmospheres, each of which had some significance to you. In a wellorganized
essay, use the tools of language we have discussed in this unit create the
atmosphere and to make the significant clear to the reader. You may write in
first
or third person.
Visual Connections: Choose two advertisements from a magazine that evoke
different
emotions through the pictures used in the ads. Staple a paper to the back of
each
picture that identifies the emotion you felt and the specific details in the
photograph that help create that emotion. You will ask the class to discuss
the
same aspects and compare them with your ideas.
Timed Writings: Descriptive writings from recent AP Exams as time permits
Example: Mary Oliver’s “Owls”
Unit 2
Narration
Reading:
• Momaday, N. Scott, “Names”
• Nye, Naomi Shihab, “Mint Snowball”
• Harjo, Joy, “Suspended”
• Malcolm X, “Coming to an Awareness of Language”
• Hughes, Langston, “Salvation”
• Winston, Barry, “Stranger Than True”
• Orwell, George, “Shooting an Elephant”
• OgundipeLeslie,
Molara, “The Stranglehold of English Lit.”
• Sanger, Margaret, “The Turgid Ebb and Flow of Misery”
Assessments:
Quizzes: Reading quizzes that check for meaning and strategies
Quiz: Vocabulary from reading
Quiz: Grammar for unit
Test: Multiple choice and passage analysis
Composition: Analysis
In “Shooting an Elephant” Orwell tells us repeatedly that his sympathies are
with the
Burmese. Does the language Orwell uses to describe them support his claim?
Discuss
Orwell’s complex view of the Burmese people based on the language he uses
to
describe them in his narrative.
Composition: Analysis
Analyze the importance of the vague pronoun usage in “A Rose for Emily” by
William
Faulkner, especially “we” and “our.” How does the point of view reflect
Faulkner’s view
of Southern society during the period? Does he use the pronoun “we” to
have even wider
significance? Use specific references from the text to support what you say.
Composition: Analysis
Discuss the rhetorical strategies that Margaret Sanger uses to convey her
view of the
plight of poor women in “The Turgid Ebb and Flow of Misery.”
Composition: Narrative Essay
Using MalcolmX’s essay as a model, narrate an experience that gave you a
new
awareness of yourself. Use enough telling detail in your narrative to help
your reader
visualize your experience and understand its significance to you.
Timed writings: Narrative essays from recent AP Exams as time permits.
Example: Virginia Woolf’s “Two Dinners”
Unit 3
Exposition
Process Analysis Readings:
Roberts, Paul, “How to Say Nothing in 500 Words”
Giovani, Nikki, “Campus Racism”
Comparison and Contrast Readings:
Twain, Mark, “Two Ways of Seeing a River”
Britt, Suzanne “Neat People vs Sloppy People”
Division and Classification Readings:
Viorst, Judith, “The Truth about Lying”
Definition Readings:
Mairs, Nancy, “On Being a Cripple”
Cause and Effect Readings:
Katz, Jon, “How Boys Become Men”
Ackerman, Diane, “The Face of Beauty”
Exemplification Readings:
Tannen, Deborah, “Sex, Lies, and Conversation”
Assessments:
Quizzes: Reading quizzes that check for meaning and strategies
Quiz: Vocabulary from reading
Quiz: Grammar for unit
Test: Multiple choice and passage analysis
Composition: Analysis
Discuss the rhetorical strategies Twain uses to relate the change of attitude
he underwent
as a result of seeing the river from the perspective of a steamboat pilot. Be
sure to
identify the two attitudes and explain how he views the change.
Composition: Write an essay in which you discuss Tannen’s organizational
method and tone in
“Sex, Lies, and Conversation.” Explain both. What is the effect of each in
achieving her
purpose?
Composition: Comparison and Contrast Essay
Viorst wrote “The Truth About Lying” for Redbook, a woman’s magazine. If
you were
writing this essay for a men’s magazine, would you change the examples? If
so, how
would you change them? If not, why not? Do you think men are more likely
to tell lies
of a certain category? Explain. Write an essay in which you discuss whether
men and
women share similar perspectives about lying.
Composition: Definition Essay
Think for a while about the slang of students at school. Is the language of
high school
students different from that of middle school students? From adults? How
does their
language allow students to distance themselves from their teachers or
parents? In an
essay, identify some current buzzwords or catchphrases that you and other
students use,
explain what each means, speculate how each word or phrase evolved and
discuss the
purpose each phrase might serve.
Timed Writings: Expository essays from recent AP Exams as time permits.
Example: Herman Melville/ Charles Darwin “Description of the Galapagos
Islands”
Unit 4
Argumentation
• Angelou, Maya, “Living Well. Living Good.”
• “LeGuin, Ursula K. “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”
• King, Martin “I Have A Dream”
• Cruz, Victor Hernandez, “Today Is a Day of Great Joy”
• Forche, Carolyn, “The Colonel”
• Auden, W.H. “The Unknown Citizen”
• Swift, Jonathan, “A Modest Proposal”
• Brooks, Gwendolyn, “The Children of the Poor”
• Gaylin, Willard, “What’s So Special about Being Human?”
• McKibben, Bill, “A Path of More Resistance
• Van den Hag, Ernest, “For the Death Penalty”
• Morrow, Lance, “Why I changed my Mind on the Death Penalty”
Assessments:
Quizzes: Reading quizzes that check for meaning and strategies
Quiz: Vocabulary from reading
Quiz: Grammar for unit
Test: Multiple choice and passage analysis
Composition: Compare and Contrast essay
Look at The New Yorker cartoon that follows Maya Angelou’s essay. Compare
and
contrast the points each is making; then write a personal definition of what it
means to be
“rich.” Can one be rich without happiness? Can one achieve happiness
without being
materially rich? How could one achieve a balance? What would it entail?
Composition: Synthesis Essay
How can the individual find fulfillment in modern society? In an essay that
synthesizes
and uses for support at least three of the readings from this year, discuss the
choices an
individual has or does not have for finding happiness and meaning in his or
her life.
Remember to attribute both direct and indirect citations. Refer to the
sources by authors’
last names or by titles. Avoid mere paraphrase or summary.
Visual Connection: Bring in two editorial cartoons that satirize an element of
modern day
society. Be prepared to tell the class what the cartoon satirizes with details
to support
what you say.
Research Paper: The Documented Essay
Choose a current event that reflects an issue that you see as important.
Research the topic through different types of sources (newspapers,
magazines, news
stories, interviews, online sources, visuals, etc.)
Take careful notes, making sure that you cite your sources accurately using
MLA
format.
Develop an argument about this topic.
Establish a claim.
Integrate a variety of sources into a coherent, wellwritten
essay.
Use the sources to support your position; avoid mere paraphrase or
summary.
Your argument should be central.
Remember to attribute both direct and indirect citations, using MLA format.
(Give
credit where credit is due.)
Create a Works Cited page using MLA format.
Plagiarism will result in a zero.
Final Exam:
Students have two hours to take their final exam. It includes the multiple choice and
essay
sections of an AP Released English Language and Composition Exam. The essays
are graded
one the AP rubric ninepoint
scale.
Course Texts:
Abcarian, Richard and Klotz, Marvin. Literature The Human Experience. 6th
ed.
New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996.
Dean, Nancy. Voice Lessons. Gainesville, Fla.: Maupin House. 2000.
Eschholz, Paul and Rosa, Alfred. Subjects/ Strategies. 9th ed. New York:
Bedford/St. Martin’s,
2002.
Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience. Glenview, Ill.: Prentice
Hall, 2002.
Prentice Hall Grammar and Composition: Communication in Action. Glenview,
Ill.: Prentice
Hall, 2002