SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY

1818 Advanced College Credit Program (1818.slu.edu)

ENGLISH 202: Introduction to Literary Studies

AFFTON HIGH SCHOOL

AP English Literature and Composition Syllabus(Spring 2014)

This class has been approved as a St. Louis University 1818 program English 202 course and as an AP English Literature and Composition course. As such, Honors English IV is constructed as a college course expectedto challenge and hone the literary analytic, evaluative and writing skills of seniors who have followed a rigorous program in their high school studies.

STUDENT EXPECTATIONS:

This course is NOT designed to get you ready for college. This course assumes you already have the skills and the desire to engage in intellectual inquiry at the collegiate level.

READING ASSIGNMENTS:

Reading assignments will be given in advance and all students will be expected to have completed the day’s reading. You should expect typical daily assignments for prose to be @ 20 pages. It will be impossible to engage in learning activities on days reading is due if you have not read, so it is essential that you are up to date with the readings. Therefore, I reserve the right to give reading quizzes for a grade if it appears students are not reading. This class should be extremely relaxed and enjoyable if you have read. If you haven’t, well… let’s not go there.

First Semester Texts:

Assorted Poetry from the Poetry Out Loud website

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest

Selected stories from: Aleksandr Hemon’s The Question of Bruno

and Jhumpa LahiriThe Interpreter of Maladies

Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man

ESSAYS:

You will write two major essays this semester. Each of these assignmentswill challenge you to engage in a thoughtful writing process to analyze and evaluate one or more of the texts you read in class. This year, you will be introduced to and explore a variety of the most prevalent critical approaches to literary analysis.

Your first essay second semester will use an approach defined as Formalism or New Criticism to explore a poem selected from the poetry out loud website.

Your second essay will use one of the approaches below to explore a work of drama.

PsychoanalyticalMarxistDeconstructionStructuralist Cultural Feminist Postcolonial Historical New Historical

ArchetypalComparativeFormalism/ New Criticism

If this list of terms seems daunting, don’t worry. Every literary analysis you have ever written can most likely be categorized as one of these types of criticism. The goal in introducing these methods is to let you explore each and determine which type of criticism best suits your approach as a reader and thinker. In addition, we will continue to increase the number of outside sources and scope of each essay by the following guidelines:

ESSAYS (CONTINUED)

MINIMAL NUMBER

ESSAY #MINIMAL PAGE #OF ADDITIONAL SOURCES

1—Formalism30

2—Critical theory 153

Out of Class Writing/ journals:

You will need to keep a dialogue journal for responding to the texts we read. You will be given suggested journal prompts for each reading and each journal entry must reveal an in-depth engagement with the text (no points will be given for journals that do not reveal this engagement). We will review several methods of journaling at the beginning of the semester. Journals will be collected daily. Journals are called journal dialogues because they will be a space outside of class for us to communicate back and forth about your responses and reactions to your reading.

Class participation:

Is what it says. You will be evaluated on how well you are prepared for class and on how well you engage in class discussion and class projects. Presentations and leading class discussion will be incorporated into your participation grade. Be engaged.

Exams:

Exams will consist of multiple choice and essay questions over the reading, terms and processes we have covered up to that point. You WILL need to reread to do well on these exams.

Final Exam:

The final exam will consist of multiple choice and essay questions that cover the reading, terms, and processes we have covered up to that point.

GRADES: Grades will consist approximately of:

Class Participation:10%

AP Practice Exams: 5%

Poetry Out Loud/Poetry Island 5%

Reading Quizzes 5%

Journals/Presentations:20%

Final Exam:20%

Midterm exam:15%

Essays:20%

Letter grades will be assigned following the system defined in the AfftonHighSchool handbook.

ACADEMIC HONESTY:

Students are expected to abide by the academic honesty policy of the AfftonSchool District. Any practice which involves a student receiving credit for work that is not his or her own is considered a violation of this policy. This includes, but is not limited to cheating and plagiarism (presenting part or all of a work as if it were your own when it is not). Intentional academic dishonesty will result in disciplinary action including removal from the class with a failing grade. In addition, as a 1818 course, students are expected to abide by the policy on academic honesty established by St.LouisUniversity. This policy may be found at

INSTRUCTOR CONTACT INFORMATION:

Teacher: Mr. JenningsRoom: 50

Email Address:

Work Phone: 314-638-6330x11050

Home Phone: (only in case of emergencies please) 314-963-0177