Advanced Placement Language and Composition Syllabus

Instructor: Jennifer S. Daniel School Year: 2012/2013

Course Description (as described at “An AP course in English Language and Composition engages students in becoming skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts, and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing.”[1]

Reading List:

Selections from the following textbooks:

  1. Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience. Volume One. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2013.
  2. Murray, Donald M. Crafting a Life in Essay, Story, and Poem. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1996.
  3. Kennedy, X.J., Dorothy M. Kennedy and Jane E. Aaron. The Bedford Reader. Eighth Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003.
  4. Lunsford, Andrea A., John J. Ruszkiewicz, and Keith Walters. Everything’s an Argument. Third Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004.
  5. Roskelly, Hephzibah and David A. Jolliffe. Everyday Use: Rhetoric at Work in Reading and Writing. AP Edition. New York: Pearson Longman, 2005.

Selections from the following journals:

  1. The New Yorker
  2. Atlantic Monthly[2]

Novels and Plays:

  1. Giardina, Denise. Storming Heaven. New York: Ivy Books, 1987.
  2. Wiesenthal, Simon. The Sunflower. New York: Schocken Books, 1998.
  1. Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience. Volume One. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2013.
  1. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter.Austin: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1995.
  2. Douglass, Frederick. The Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass.Clayton, DE: Prestwick House.
  3. Smith, Lee. Fair and Tender Ladies. New York: Ballantine Books, 1988.

PLEASE NOTE: As Advanced Placement courses provide students with the opportunity to attain college credit at the high school level, college level material is used as part of the instruction in said courses. Such material may contain adult themes and/or language. If you have a question or a concern about any material covered, please see me. Alternate assignments are available.

Nine Week Grading Period Objectives:

First Nine Weeks

  • Students will complete an overview and assessment of summer reading.
  • Students will be able to define and analyze essay and literature with the basic terms of rhetoric. Students will conduct said analysis through both in-class discussion and timed writings (essay), as well as, through out-of-class reading and writing assignments.

Sample of Specific Assignments:

  1. In order to help students grasp the concept of rhetorical terminology, students will create graphic organizers using recipe boxes that divide the elements of rhetoric (form, style, and rhetorical devices). Each rhetorical element will be introduced using an extended metaphor of dress making (form is the shape of the dress, style is the way in which it is put together, devices are embellishments included for effect, etc). Students will add each element of rhetoric to their graphic organizer as the element is covered through the metaphor, which, of course, uses a visual aid of an evening gown. Students will complete this activity with two assessments requiring the matching of rhetorical devices to samples.

Following the completion of the above activity, students will be expected to not only be able to identify rhetorical devices within various pieces of literature, but will also be able to include their own examples in order to achieve their purposes. For example, upon completion of preliminary essays within the course, students will participate in writing workshops, where they will review various grammatical structures, including but not limited to introductory participial phrases, gerund clauses, cataloging, parallelism, introductory adverb clauses, etc.

Students will examine how they have used variety in syntax in order to increase the effectiveness of their own writing by highlighting passages within their own essays which contain reviewed grammatical structures. Students will then work in small groups to analyze how each group member has effectively used syntax to achieve purpose. Ultimately, students will reconvene for whole class instruction, in which, along with the teacher, students will create sample paragraphs on the prompts from class essays with a specific focus on how diction and syntax can be used to achieve purpose.

Students will also actively search for this use of grammar to emphasize purpose as they revise their classmates’ papers within future writing workshops (some of which are discussed in the following objectives).

In addition, students will be introduced to the acronym SOAP (Subject, Occasion, Audience, Purpose) and will apply it to their own writing by considering how these four aspects apply to this writing sample and how the use of specific divisions within their narratives contribute to the overall purpose of their piece.

  • Students will practice analysis skills, as well as complete a study of a variety of superior model essays through a unit on Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower. During the course of this unit, students will engage in journal writings, as well as group presentations and a small research project.

In conjunction with techniques outlined in The Bedford ReaderandCrafting a Life in Essay, Story, and Poem, students will complete an extensive study of how to write the essay during this unit. MLA documentation and plagiarism will be covered here (students will always have this information to refer back to at any time as it is in their copy of The Bedford Reader).

  • Students will gain a background in the Puritan Literary Period.
  • Students will study primarily Native American and Puritan literature; however, Postmodern literature and essay will also be introduced in order to further rhetorical analysis skills and in connection with the themes of earlier literary periods.

Sample of Specific Assignments:

  1. In keeping with a study of Alexie, students will then read “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” (online link provided through teacher’s webpage) and examine through class discussion and journal activities how Alexie’s style and rhetorical devices contribute to the overall purpose of the piece.
  2. Students will enter into a more formalized study of American literature with a reading of pieces such as Jonathon Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (Holt Elements of Literature: Fifth Course). Upon the reading of this piece, students will write a partner rhetorical analysis essay on the sermon with particular focus on Edwards’ use of imagery to achieve purpose.
  • Students will begin a study of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible through both study of the play and film (screenplay is also by Arthur Miller). The study will focus specifically on an analysis of the rhetoric used in argument and analysis of the visual image. As part of this study, students will participate in both class discussion and various writing assignments.

Sample of Specific Assignments:

  1. Students will receive a background lecture on the Toulmin argument method (as it is defined in Everything’s an Argument, third edition). Students will then practice the creation of Toulmin diagrams through the use of prompts provided by Everything’s an Argument and take notes on how to translate this diagram into the essay format.
  2. Students will examine Judge Danforth’s speech in Act III of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and analyze his argument that those accused of witchcraft do not require a lawyer by breaking it down into a Toulmin diagram. Students will the write their own argument essay analyzing how effective they feel Danforth’s argument is.
  3. Upon completion of the in-class essay assignment, students will meet with a small group of their classmates in order to revise the essay. Each student will read their essay one time while group members simply listen. Then each student will reread their essay to the group, but this time, following each reading, the group will discuss (and revise as needed) the overall effectiveness of the essay.
  4. During the course of reading the play, students will also watch selections of the 1996 film version of The Crucible directed by Nicholas Hytner. In order to understand how these visual images relate to and deepen understanding of the play, students will focus on the way in which a scene is staged and how camera angles are used effectively toward purpose.

For example, students will identify the purpose of the following two sections of Act III: Elizabeth Proctor lies about her knowledge of her husband’s adultery and John Proctor proclaims that “God is dead!” Then, the students will watch each of these sections and discuss how the blocking of character movements along with camera angles contributes to the overall purpose. To further this study, students will watch the final shots of the film, which vary from the plot of the play, and write a paper analyzing why Arthur Miller chose to make this change in his screenplay from that of his original work and how this change is a reflection of genre.

Second Nine Weeks

  • Students will complete final work on The Crucible.
  • Students will gain a background in the Federalist Literary period.
  • Students will analyze and use the Toulmin method of argument in both their analysis of Federalist writings and in their own sample essays. Students will particularly focus on Patrick Henry’s “Speech in the Virginia Convention” as example of the argument essay by analyzing how it not only effectively builds an argument, but by also writing a rhetorical analysis essay on the piece.
  • Students will complete a study of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter in preparation for the next American literary period study. Students will complete out-of-class readings and journals on the novel. There will be reading quizzes to check progress. During the course of this unit, students will connect elements of the novel to the elements of the Romantic literary period. Students will also analyze the elements of rhetoric present in specific sections of The Scarlet Letter.

Sample of Specific Assignments:

  1. Students will complete rhetorical analysis essays on topics based on Arthur Dimmesdale’s speeches to Hester Prynne and Roger Chillingworth throughout the course of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter.
  2. Students will write a major paper (out-of-class) examining the following prompt: Does Arthur Dimmesdale truly confess to adultery at the end of Hawthorne’s novel? In order to complete this assignments, students will base their papers on their construction of Toulmin diagrams defending, challenging or qualifying Dimmesdale’s response at the close of the novel.

As part of the overall writing process, students will participate in in-class writing workshops in which they read the papers of assigned partners. Each student will attempt to Toulmin diagram his/her partner’s argument as it is presented within the partner’s rough draft. Each pairing will then discuss weaknesses within the arguments and ways to address those areas needing improvement.

  • Students will take practice multiple choice AP exam tests. Students will take a small section of sample multiple choice questions and complete it in class, untimed. Problem areas will then be discussed the following day. Students will continue to take sections of the test each successive six weeks, building up to the point where they can work successfully at the timed pace required of the exam.
  • Students will complete a study of name symbolism.
  • Students will gain a background in Transcendentalism, as well as, analyze the rhetorical strategies of Transcendentalist essay writers Thoreau and Emerson through in-class essay.
  • Students will review for the midterm exam.
  • Students will take practice multiple choice AP exam tests (see description of activity listed above).

Third Nine Weeks

  • Students will complete a portion of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass over the Winter Break along with journal writing assignments in preparation for a study of Douglass’ rhetoric and argument. The novel will be completed during the first section of this grading period.

Sample of Specific Assignments:

  1. To further develop the initial literary studies of the grading period, students will also complete a research based argument question using selections from the following Civil War primary sources: Robert E. Lee’s “Letter to His Son,” Warren Lee Gross’ “Reflections of a Private” or Randolph McKim’s “A Confederate Account of the Battle of Gettysburg,” Abraham Lincoln’s “The Gettysburg Address,” and from Mary Chestnut’s Mary Chestnut’s Civil War. Using examples from within these sources to back their arguments students will defend, challenge or qualify the following statement by Civil War historian Shelby Foote: “Any understanding of this nation has to be based, and I mean really based, on an understanding of the Civil War. [. . .] the Civil War defined us as what we are and it opened us to being what we became, good and bad things. [. . .] It was the crossroads of our being.”
  • Students will gain a background in the Naturalist literary period and analyze the rhetorical strategies of Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” as an example of said period.
  • Students will complete a study of Lee Smith’s Fair and Tender Ladiesand Denise Giardina’s Storming Heaven as an example of Local Color Writing. Journal writing and reading quizzes will accompany reading assignments. Students will also engage in class discussion on Smith’s rhetoric, as well as, issues raised by the novel (journal writings will serve as a “springboard” for discussion).

Sample of Specific Assignments:

  1. As Lee Smith’s novel is divided into five specific sections with each section focusing on a particular sensory appeal in terms of imagery, students will engage in a study (based in whole class discussion) of how appeal to a particular sense within a given section is effective in terms of Smith writing towards her purpose.
  2. Students will complete a timed, in-class essay on the following prompt: How is Lee Smith’s use of the epistolary novel effective given her overall purpose?
  • Students will write a major research paper (out of class) on the following prompt: Through comparing and contrasting the two texts, defend, challenge or qualify who more accurately portrays an element of Appalachian culture—Smith in her novel Fair and Tender Ladies or Denise Giardina in her Storming Heaven. Students will be provided with a list of elements ranging from the unionizing of coal mines to the bluegrass movement. Students will then use research on their chosen topics along with examples from Smith’s novel to support their argument theses. Students will document all research according to MLA guidelines (detailed in The Bedford Reader).
  • Students will take practice multiple choice AP exam tests.
  • Students will complete timed writings on actual 2006 AP Exam essay questions.
  • Students will complete a review in preparation for the SOL Writing Test.

Fourth Nine Weeks

  • Students will gain a background in Existentialism through a study of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Winter Dreams,” considered by many critics to be a “first draft” of Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby, as well as Fitzgerald’s “Babylon Revisted.”
  • Students will complete timed writings on actual released AP Exam essay questions.
  • Students will gain a background in Postmodernism through aselective study of Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” (Handout). Students will focus their study on the examination of rhetoric in narrative.
  • Students will take practice multiple choice AP exam tests.
  • Students will complete a review in preparation for the 2007 AP English Language and Composition Exam.

Sample of Specific Assignments:

  1. Students will write on a range of topics from the examination of compulsory voting (2006 Argument Question, Form B) to a rhetorical analysis of Jennifer Price’s “The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History” (2006 Rhetorical Analysis Question).

While writing on these subjects, students will also participate in writing workshops in which they examine released sample essays on the same prompts. Students will compare and contrast their own work with that of high scoring AP papers from the past and revise their papers accordingly.

  • Students will complete a review in preparation for the state mandated English Reading Comprehension exam.

PLEASE NOTE: I have tried to list as many reading assignments as possible within the actual objectives. However, due to a desire to include current publications and a need to tailor the course as students’ writing and analysis needs arise, it would be impossible to list all specific reading assignments at this point. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding any assignment that comes up during the course of the school year.

Grading System:

Worth of Grade in Average

  • Homework grades count one time each. As the purpose of homework is to either prepare to learn or to practice a new skill, homework is checked for completion and effort, not accuracy.
  • Quiz grades count twice. During the course of the school year, some essays and other homework assignments will be given the worth of a quiz grade. Students will always be informed of this grading procedure when instructions are given for these assignments.
  • Test grades count three times. Project grades count as test grades.
  • PLEASE NOTE: Students participating in AP Classes are graded on a ten point scale (90-100=A, 89-80=B, 79-70=C, 69-60=D, 60 and below=F). Students’ papers are graded using the 1-9 AP rubric with 9 being the highest score. Students are provided with a copy of the rubric prior to the first in-class essay assignment.

Homework Grades “Check” System

  • Check Plus = 98%
  • Check Plus Minus = 93%
  • Check = 85 %
  • Check Minus = 72%

Make-up Work and Late Work Policy

  • In compliance with school policy, students will have two school days to make up work if they have been absent two or fewer consecutive days and one additional day to make up work per each additional day’s absence.
  • Students must make up work before or after school. According to school policy, a student may not make up work during class.
  • If work is not made up during the course of the six weeks in which the absence occurred, the student will receive a zero on all uncompleted assignments, including tests and quizzes.
  • On certain assignments[3] students will have the opportunity to turn work in for a late grade. There will be an automatic twenty-point deduction for any work that is turned in a day late, including projects and papers. Another ten points will be deducted from the assignment’s total score for each additional day it is late.

Classroom Management Plan