American Literature/AP English Language and Composition
Course Overview*
Advanced Placement courses offer a student the opportunity to work at an accelerated pace with other peers who have similar interests and academic goals. The course focuses its attention on the study of rhetoric and composition. In other words, AP English Language and Composition is a college level course for “high school students who are interested in studying and writing various kinds of analytic or persuasive essays.” AP English Language students read works that “emphasize the expository, analytical, and argumentative writing that forms the basis of academic and professional communication.”
As an American literature course, students will read various genres, including nonfiction, fiction, poetry, drama, essays, etc. Mandated by the standards set forth by the State for Georgia Performance Standards, the AP curriculum and coverage in this course, far exceeds those standards. Therefore, like other American literature courses, this course entails a chronological study of American literature as well as composition, grammar and vocabulary. It is a challenging course designed to foster higher order thinking skills and to meet the needs of all students, including the gifted and high achieving. As such, the varying needs and abilities of students are addressed through differentiation of content, process, product and environment.
Course Goals*
Students write in both informal and formal contexts to gain authority and learn to take risks in writing. Imitation exercises, journal keeping, collaborative writing, and in-class responses are all good ways of helping students become increasingly aware of themselves as writers and of the techniques employed by the writers they read. As well as engaging in varied writing tasks, students become acquainted with a wide variety of prose styles from many disciplines and historical periods and gain understanding of the connectionsbetween writing and interpretive skill in reading. Concurrently, to reflect the increasing importance of graphics and visual imagesin texts published in print and electronic media, students are asked to analyzehow such images both relate to written texts and serve as alternative forms oftext themselves.
In addition, the informed use of research materials and the ability to synthesize varied sources (to evaluate, use, and cite sources) are integral parts of the AP English Language and Composition course. Students move past assignments that allow for the uncritical citation of sources and, instead, take up projects that call on them to evaluate the legitimacy and purpose of sources used. One way to help students synthesize and evaluate their sources in this way is the researched argument paper.Researched argument papers help students to formulate varied, informed arguments. Unlike the traditional research paper, in which works are often summarized but not evaluated or used to support the writer’s own ideas, the researched argument paper asks students to consider each source as a text that was itself written for a particular audience and purpose.
The AP English Language student will use:
• a wide-ranging vocabulary used appropriately and effectively;
• a variety of sentence structures;
• logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence;
• a balance of generalization and specific illustrative detail; and
• an effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, establishing and
maintaining voice, and achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and
sentence structure.
*(taken from the College Board’s Advanced Placement Course Description: English Language)
Texts
Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes: The American Experience. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2010.
Vocabulary Level G
Parallel Readings
Various essays, various news articles in news magazines, National Public Radio/podcasts, The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jailby Robert E. Lee and Jerome Lawrence, choice full-length nonfiction
Fall Semester Units of Study: We will use Gladwell’s Outliers throughout the semester.
Unit 1: American Literature Colonial Period
“How societal and political forces influence the individual”
Skills: diction and syntax
Writing: narrative and descriptive, rhetorical analysis
Reading: The Scarlet Letter and Colonial non-fiction
Unit 2: American Literature Revolutionary Period
“How individuals change society”
Skills: Tone
Writing: an introduction to the argument and speech writing
Reading: The Revolutionaries and various contemporary political figures
Unit 3 : American Literature Romantic Period
“Howa person’s social status influences his views of self and society”
Skills: rhetorical triangle study
Writing: rhetorical analysis
Reading: The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail
Student Needs
In order to meet the learning needs of all students...
●The curriculum and instructional strategies for this course are differentiated in
content, process and product.
●Not all students or classes will necessarily being doing the same thing at the same
time.
●Assignments may vary from student to student or class to class to ensure that
students have the opportunity to explore, create, maximize their potential, and apply
themselves.
Attendance
Attendance in class is vital. Discussions and writing opportunities in class cannot be replicated for those who are absent. Students who cut class will receive a zero on the day’s work and will be referred to an administrator.
Make Up Work
All make-up work must be completed according to the policy in the student handbook. You are responsible for finding out what was missed during an absence.
Tardy Policy
Tardies will be handled as outlined in the student handbook. Please be in your seat when the tardy bell rings. If you do come in tardy, you must sign the tardy sheet by the door before you take your seat.
Grades
Tests will count 25%.
Essays will count 40%.
Quizzes will count 15%.
Homework will count 10%.
Your fall semester final comprehensive test will count 10%.
AP English Language Exam
Walton requires that you take the AP English Language exam that is offered by College Board in May. If you do not take the AP English Language exam, you will receive honors credit, not AP credit.
Contact Information:
E-mail:
Office hours: Mondays 7:45-8:15 and 3:30-4:00, WEB, 3rd lunch, 4thand by appointment
Blog: Go to waltonhigh.org, click on Departments, click on English, then on my name
Academic Integrity
*What Is Plagiarism?
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionarydefines plagiarizing as committing “literary theft.”
Plagiarism is presenting another person’s ideas, information, expressions, or entire work as one’s own. It is thus a kind of fraud: deceiving others to gain something of value. While plagiarism only sometimes has legal repercussions (e.g., when it involves copyright infringement—violating an author’s exclusive legal right to publication), it is always a serious moral and ethical offense.
What Does Plagiarism Look Like?
Plagiarism can take a number of forms
- Copying another student’s assignment
- using the same sentence structure or thesis as another source without citing it, or simply changing words using a thesaurus or synonym/antonym function
- buying papers from a service on the Internet
- reusing work done by another student
- copying text from published sources without giving credit to those who produced the sources
- borrowing just a few words from an author without clearly indicating that you did so
- unintentional plagiarizing by hastily taken notes—copying phrase/s from a source as your original thought and then using it without crediting the source
*If someone or something else has done the work (or any portion of it) for you, and you do not acknowledge it in writing, you are being academically dishonest.
Does Absence of Documentation Indicate Plagiarism?
Documentation is not required for every type of borrowed material. Information and ideas that are common knowledge among your readers need not be documented. Common knowledge includes information widely available in reference works, such as basic biographical facts about prominent persons and the dates and circumstances of major historical events. When the facts are in dispute, however, or when your readers may want more information about your topic, it is good practice to document the material you borrow.
From theMLA Handbook, 8th ed., published by the Modern Language Association.
Honor Code
The Walton High School English Department believes that students should uphold the Walton High School and English Department Honor Code provided in the student agenda, on the class blog, and the Walton website. Your signature represents your agreement to abide by these standards. Please read the following carefully before you and your parent sign on the appropriate lines.
Please detach, sign, and return this page.
I have read and I understand the attached rules and expectations. I have received a copy of the parallel reading selections. I agree to uphold the Walton English Department Honor Code.
Student’s Name (please print) ______Class Period ______
Student’s Signature ______Date ______
Parent’s Signature ______Date ______
Last year’s teacher ______Grade in class ______
Parent Contact Information
Please indicate your preferred method of contact. If you’d like to be called at home, please include the best times to reach you. Please also let me know if there is someone you would like me to try to contact first.
Father’s Name ______
Phone Numbers (H) ______(W) ______
(Cell) ______(e-mail) ______
Address ______
Mother’s Name ______
Phone Numbers (H) ______(W) ______
(Cell) ______(e-mail) ______
Address ______
Note: In order to control germs, I ask that each student bring in a box of tissues—I will supply the hand sanitizer.