AP English Language and Composition 2016-2017Mrs. McHugh
Introduction: AP English Course Description, Classroom Expectations and Rules, Grading.
The Harkness Discussion Method; entering the conversation with Hamilton; summer reading discussion; summer reading-based essay.
Analysis: Introduction to Rhetorical Analysis
Essential Question:What does it mean to be a citizen rhetor?
Quarter One
Organizing Principle:“Reading usually precedes writing, and the impulse to write is almost always fired by reading. Reading, the love of reading, is what makes you dream of becoming a writer.” Susan Sontag
Essential Question: How does one analyze rhetoric?
The Language of Composition – Chapter 1- “An Introduction to Rhetoric: Using the ‘Available Means’”
Lou Gehrig’s Farewell Speech- rhetorical situation, rhetorical triangle, SOAPStone, rhetorical appeals, analysis of visual texts.George W. Bush – September 11, 2001 speech; Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Selma” speech; Apollo 11 speeches, visuals, and articles.
The Language of Composition – Chapter 2- “The Art and Craft of Analysis”
“Benny Paret”- Norman Mailer; “Save the Redwoods” – John Muir; “Speech in Philadelphia” – Angelina Grimke Weld; “On Bird Watching” – Ralph Ellison, “The Santa Ana Winds” – Joan Didion; Groucho Marx letter to Warner Brothers; “The Stranger in the Photo is Me” – Donald Murray; John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address; “On Compassion”-Lois Ascher; “Speech in the Virginia Convention” – Patrick Henry; “The Crisis” – Thomas Paine; “The Gettysburg Address” – Abraham Lincoln; “Death of a Moth” – Annie Dillard; “Joyas Volardores,” Bryan Doyle; “Second Inaugural Address” – Abraham Lincoln; “Amazing Grace” – Barak Obama.
Writing and Grammar
Exercises fromMichael Degen’s Crafting Expository Argument; Writing Assignment One: Final copy of Degen draft (varied syntax); Writing Assignment Two: “The Stranger in the Photo is Me”;AP Analysis Essays – Florence Kelley; Benjamin Banneker
Independent Reading– The Great Gatsby
Quarter Two
Analysis in Action - Entering the Conversation: The Economy
Essential Question: What is the true measure of wealth?
The Language of Composition Chapter 7 (2nd edition)
From “Serving in Florida” – Barbara Ehrenreich; “A Modest Proposal”- Jonathan Swift (Toulmin Argument); “In Strawberry Fields” – Eric Schlosser; “How to Restore the American Dream” – Fareed Zakaria; “What the Bagel Man Saw” – Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt; “Waste” – Wendell Berry; cartoon – “The Great GAPSby Society”
Documentary – Inequality for All
AP Argument: 2005-“The Singer Solution to World Poverty”; 2012-Certainty and Doubt.
Outside Reading –Nickel and Dimed.
The Foundations of Argument, Persuasion and Logic
Essential Question: How does one argue effectively?
Organizing Principle: “When I’m getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I’m going to say, and two-thirds thinking about him and what he is going to say.” Abraham Lincoln
Logic and Argument Unit– Defining argument; arguable propositions/claims; types of claims; turning claims into thesis statements; evidence; argument structure; inductive and deductive reasoning; fallacies of logic. Readings: “Star Wars,” Roger Ebert; “The C-Word in the Hallways,” Anna Quindlen; “Not by Math Alone,” Sandra Day O’Connor and Roy Romer; excerpts from Angela’s Ashes and Blink; “Sex, Drugs, Disasters and the Extinction of Dinosaurs”-Stephen J. Gould; “Why I Wrote The Crucible”-Arthur Miller; “Tragedy and the Common Man” – Arthur Miller; “Grease and The Crucible”; McCarthyism cartoons; “Witchcraft or Psychedelic Trip?”; “To His Coy Mistress” Andrew Marvel; “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” – Christopher Marlowe; “The Nymph’s Reply” – Sir Walter Raleigh.
Analysis Essay – 2005 - Magnasoles
Independent Reading - The Crucible; logical fallaciesin real life and The Crucible. “Love is a Fallacy.”
Combining Analysis and Argument: Synthesis
Essential Question: How does one develop an informed opinion that considers multiple perspectives and possibilities?
Organizing Principle:“We are approaching a new age of synthesis. Knowledge cannot be merely a degree or a skill... it demands a broader vision, capabilities in critical thinking and logical deduction without which we cannot have constructive progress.” Li-Ka-Shing
The Researched Argument - Students write about a current controversial issue in classic Aristotelian style following MLA format and evaluate the sources for their papers.
Quarter Three
The Language of Composition Chapter 4 – Synthesizing Sources
Entering the Conversation: Language and Identity
Essential Question: How does language reveal who we are?
“Politics and the English Language” - George Orwell; “Doublespeak” – William Lutz; “Mother Tongue” – Amy Tan; “The F Word’ – Firoozeh Dumas; “Challenger Speech” – Ronald Reagan; excerpts from Words Don’t Mean What They Mean;The Stuff of Thought; and The Evolutionary Social Psychology of Off-Record Indirect Speech Acts all by Stephen Pinker.
Independent Reading -Nineteen Eighty-Four
AP Synthesis Essays – 2013 AP Synthesis Essay – Monuments; 2015 AP Synthesis Essay-Honor codes; 2016 - Monolingualism
AP Argument Essay: 2015 - Polite speech
AP Analysis Essay – 2014 - Abigail Adams
Entering the Conversation: Gender
Essential Question: What is the impact of the gender roles that society creates and enforces?
“Women’s Brains” – Stephen J. Gould; “There is No Unmarked Woman” – Deborah Tannen; “Meals” -Virginia Wolf
Visual Arguments
Students examine visual evidence: graphs, charts, advertisements, websites, and political cartoons, “Killing Us Softly 4,” The John Oliver Show, and The Onion.
Combining Synthesis, Analysis, and Argument
Organizing Principle: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead
Essential Question: How does one “disturb the universe”?
Macbeth – William Shakespeare
“On Civil Disobedience” - Henry David Thoreau; excerpts from “The Prince” – Machiavelli; “Shooting An Elephant” - George Orwell
AP Argument Prompts: 2009 -“Adversity”; 2014 - “Creativity”; 2016 - Disobedience
AP Analysis Prompt:2014 - Caesar Chavez; 2016 - Ronald Reagan’s eulogy
Quarter Four
Entering the Conversation: Nature
Essential Question: What is our relationship to nature?
“The Blank Slate,” Stephen Pinker, “The Clan of One-Breasted Women,” Terry Tempest Williams; “A Fable for Tomorrow,” Rachel Carson, “Where I Lived, And What I Lived For,” Henry David Thoreau; excerpts from “Self-Reliance,” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Independent Reading – The Rediscovery of North Americaby Barry Lopez
Preparation for the Advanced Placement Exam; Timed Essay Prompts and Multiple Choice Passages
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Essential Question: What lesson does the work reveal about human nature?
Independent Reading –Frankenstein
Preparation for the Common Core Regents Exam – June 14