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AP English Language and Composition Fall 2016
Dr. Margaret Smith Elliott B 009 A
(765) 285-7419
Office hours: Mon 3-6 Tues 10-1 Wed 3-6 Fri 3-4 and by appointment
Texts:
George Ehrenhaft, Barron’s AP English Language and Composition. 6th ed. Barron’s 2015
Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruskiewicz, Everything’s an Argument. 5th ed. Bedford/St. Martin’s 2010
• writing composed by you and your classmates
• many handouts, paper and digital
COURSE POLICIES
Materials: a folder for handouts from this class only, laptop or tablet for homework and class work, storage device for keeping copies of all work handed in. Every day, bring a laptop or tablet. Keep all work through the end of the semester on a storage device separate from your computer. Keep all graded work through the end of the semester.
Late work:
• Formal essays
o Turned in late on assigned day: minus 2 points
o Turned in after the assigned day: minus 5 points per school day.
• Drafts for formal essays: When a draft is due in class or due in a conference with me, it will not be accepted late. A missing draft will earn a zero that will remain on your record.
• Journals and exercises (including any written assignment composed outside class other than the formal essays and drafts.):
o These are due at the beginning of class, on paper, unless otherwise specified.
o Have an excused absence on the due date? Turn in the exercise on your first day back and I will accept it. Think
you have a good reason for an extension? Discuss it with me.
o Don’t have an excused absence on the due date? Accept a zero for that exercise. You are allowed one missed exercise without penalty. Failure to bring an essay draft on the due date will not be excused, however.
• Printer problem? Email the work to me on time and turn in the paper copy by the next class day. Work turned in after that loses 1 point per class day.
• Turning in work to my mailbox: Have an Academy adult sign the paper and write on it the time and date.
Blackboard:
· You can find the syllabus and most assignments on Blackboard.
· Please post each of the formal written essays on Blackboard, as well as handing them in on paper. I may require that you post other assignments on Blackboard, as well.
· I may refuse to read your work until you have handed it in both digitally and on paper.
Absences and Tardies: Academy policy applies. You may be reported absent or tardy if you sleep in class, are found in violation of the dress code and are sent back to Wagoner to change, or are found using your laptop for something that I consider unrelated to our class work. Absence on the day an assignment is given is not an excuse for failure to hand in the assignment on time. It’s your responsibility to find out what you’ve missed and catch up. Blackboard is very helpful in such cases, and I recommend that you also consult with fellow students to find out what you missed. Need more info to catch up? Ask me.
Laptop use: Sometimes you will be instructed or allowed to use your laptop in class. Do not use your laptop in class at any other time, or for any purpose that I deem unrelated to our work.
Academic Integrity: It is extremely important that you hand in our own work and give credit for any borrowed ideas, words, or information. Use MLA rules for documenting published sources, and I will show you how to acknowledge unpublished sources (e.g., your roommate). Do not use the work of someone else without documenting your use, and do not let anyone else use your work without documentation. I take plagiarism seriously and will follow Academy policies on Academic Integrity, which are laid out in the Handbook.
Help: If you ever have any questions about anything to do with this class, please get in touch with me. I would be very happy to talk with you. Come by or call during my office hours, or catch me before or after class to make an appointment, or e-mail me. I’m here to help!
Work will include:
• In-class essays (practice for AP Exam: synthesis ((text-based arguments)), rhetorical analysis, independent argument; 50 points each)
• Journals (including informal reading responses, reading notes, reflections, prose imitations and experiments, steps in composing process for formal writing; usually 20 points each)
• Evaluation of classmates’ writing (15-30 points each)
• Essays composed outside class (50-200 points)
• In-class multiple-choice AP tests (52-55 points each)
• Style exercises
• Reading assignments for discussion, analysis, and response
• Participation in class discussions
• Participation in group and partner work
• Meeting individually with instructor
• Reading and responding with constructive criticism to the work of your classmates
• Allowing classmates to read and respond constructively to your work
Grading: Each assignment will have a specified point value, and your grade will be based on your accumulated points. PowerSchool will translate your points into percentages and letter grades, using this scale: 97-100 =A+ 93-96=A 90- 92= A- 87-89= B+ 83-86= B 80-82=B- 77-79=C+ 73-76=C 70-72=C- 69 and below=D*
COURSE GOALS
• To help students continue to develop as attentive, critical, insightful, and rhetorically alert readers of texts on a variety of subjects from a variety of time periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts. Rhetorical alert readers recognize the importance of discerning audience, purpose, context, and genre as they work to understand any text.
• To help students continue to develop as effective, thoughtful, rhetorically alert writers of prose on a variety of subjects for a variety of purposes and audiences. Rhetorically alert writers make linguistic choices informed by an awareness of their own audience, purpose, occasion, and genre.
• To prepare students for the AP English Language and Composition exam.
COURSE CONTENT
(Quoted from The College Board, 2014)
· “Composing in several forms (e.g., narrative, expository, analytical, and argumentative essays) about a variety of subjects
· Writing that proceeds through several stages or drafts, with revision aided by teacher and peers
· Writing informally (e.g., imitation exercises, journal keeping, collaborative writing), which helps students become aware of themselves as writers and the techniques employed by other writers
· Writing expository, analytical, and argumentative compositions based on readings representing a variety of prose styles and genres
· Reading nonfiction (e.g., essays, journalism, science writing, autobiographies, criticism) selected to give students opportunities to identify and explain an author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques
· Analyzing graphics and visual images both in relation to written texts and as alternative forms of text themselves
· Developing research skills and the ability to evaluate, use, and cite primary and secondary sources
· Conducting research and writing argument papers in which students present an argument of their own that includes the analysis and synthesis of ideas from an array of sources
· Citing sources using a recognized editorial style (e.g., Modern Language Association...)
· Revising their work to develop o A wide-ranging vocabulary used appropriately and effectively; o A variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination; o Logical organization, enhanced by techniques such as repetition, transitions, and emphasis; o A balance of generalization and specific, illustrative detail; and An effective use of rhetoric including tone, voice, diction, and sentence structure.”
The College Board, AP English Language and Composition: Workshop Handbook 2014-2015. 2014. 79.
Semester 1: Major Essays
Essay 1: a rhetorical analysis of a written argument (200 points) You will analyze the rhetoric and evaluate the effectiveness for purpose and audience of an argument on problems in higher education. Requires analysis, evaluation, and argument.
Essay 2: a rhetorical analysis of visual arguments (100 points) Multi-modal project describing, analyzing, evaluating, and comparing two visual arguments (2 ads or 2 editorial cartoons). Presented both as written text and through some other medium (power point or video or pictures, for example). Requires description, analysis, comparison, evaluation, and argument.
Essay 3: a research-based argument (200 points) Choose your topic, find and analyze at least 10 credible sources, and develop and argue your own position on the topic. Requires inquiry, exposition, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and argument. May involve definition, classification, identification of causes, evaluation, and/or proposal, depending on your topic and approach.
SCHEDULE
Here are many of the planned assignments, in the order in which they will be assigned. Page numbers refer to Lunsford and Ruskiewicz, Everything’s an Argument (5th edition). More specific information, including due dates, will be given in class and posted on Blackboard. Other assignments will be added, and the schedule may change to accommodate our needs.
Week 1
Kinds of argument & what is rhetoric?
Leonard Pitts editorial: “You Also Have the Right to Tell a Bigot What You Think”
HW: Analyze rhetoric in Pitts
Rhetorical analysis introduced. In class: examine diction, syntax, tone, and rhetorical appeals in Pitts.
HW: Read and take notes on Chapter 1 in L&R, “Everything Is An Argument” (3-35).
Practice timed essay in class: rhetorical analysis.
Week 2
AP Exam introduced
Study previous student responses to analysis prompt.
In groups: study scoring guidelines; justify scores assigned. Hand in group justifications.
HW: Score own essay and reflect on current writing and progress needed.
Receive essays back with teacher’s score.
HW: notes on L&R Chapter 5, “Rhetorical Analysis” (95-129).
Week 3
Rhetorical analysis, cont.
HW: Read Mark Edmundson, “On the Uses of Liberal Education: As Lite Entertainment for Bored College Students” (handout). Mark it up and take notes for yourself.
Essay 1 assignment introduced: rhetorical analysis of Mark Edmundson
Go over hw for rhetorical analysis notes.
HW: Rhetorical analysis notes on Edmundson.
Discuss Edmundson.
Week 4
HW: Summarize Edmundson.
Further readings on higher education: Shorris, Levine & Cureton, Tagg.
HW read and take notes
Discuss readings in relationship to Edmundson.
Extended weekend. No class Monday
Week 5
Sentence variety; practical uses of subordination
HW, Friday September 9: Draft 1 of Essay 1 due for peer review
Workshop draft 1.
Week 6
HW for Monday, Sept 12: Turn in draft 2 of Essay 1. Teacher will comment and return.
Once you have it back, you’ll get a deadline for the final draft to hand in for a grade.
Style workshop: clarity and concision
HW: Notes on Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” (on Bb)
Discuss Orwell
Practice bad prose. Make Orwell weep.
Week 7
Parallelism
HW: Imitate passage of parallelism.
Week 8
Introduce visual argument
HW: Chapter 14 I L&R “Visual Arguments” (4441-463)
Go over Essay 2: describe, analyze, evaluate, and compare 2 ads or 2 editorial cartoons
Describing an advertisement.
HW: Analyze the rhetoric of an ad
Week 9
Analyzing editorial cartoons.
HW: Analyze an editorial cartoon..
Describing; creating a context for the reader; informal language compared with academic language
HW: draft 1 of Essay 2 for peer review
Workshop Essay 2
Week 10
Extended weekend. No class Monday.
HW: Draft 2 of Essay 2 handed in for teacher comments on Friday, Oct 14.
Research introduced.
Research as inquiry and entering a conversation.
Introduce Essay 3: a research-based argument on a topic of the student’s choice.
HW: Bring in 3 possible topics.
Week 11
Topics on board; class discussion of related issues.
HW: Read L&R chapter 4: “Arguments Based on Facts and Reason: Logos.”
In groups: exercise 3 in L&R (p. 94) on using statistics
Credible sources
Week 12
HW: Know your research topic
In-class writing: issues and questions, your current views, sources for influences on your current views
Finding and using sources, cont. Primary and secondary sources.
MLA citation review
HW: Notes on 2 sources due on 5 successive days.
Week 13
While you work outside class on your research, in class you will practice responding to AP exam prompts.
Week 14
Logical Fallacies
Problems and challenges you’re encountering
Nutshell your argument .
See types of argument in L&R yellow pages (229-392). What kind of argument are you composing?
HW: Chapter 7 in L&R: “Structuring Arguments” (170-206)
They say/I say templates
Week 15
HW: thesis, audience, evidence and/or reasons
Discuss students’ theses.
Paraphrasing
HW: Brief or Toulmin outline
Bibliography review
Thanksgiving vacation!
Week 16
HW: Wednesday, November 30, draft of Essay 3 for peer review
Workshop draft of essay 3.
Week 17
HW: On Monday, December 5, hand in Essay 3 for a grade.
In-class work TBA