AP English Language and Composition Syllabus
2014-2015
Instructor: Jane Herndon
James Clemens High School
General Course Information
Grade level: 11
1.0 Credits
Prerequisites: Pre-AP 10 is highly recommended
Course Description
AP English Language and Composition is designed in accordance with the guidelines described in the AP English Course Description.
The AP English Language and Composition course is composed of four crucial components of reading and examining texts, primarily nonfiction. Those components or “the four pillars” are close read, rhetorical, synthesis, and argument. The course is also designed in accordance to the College Board AP English Language and Composition Course Description, and therefore students focus on evaluating “author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques,” “writer’s linguistic and rhetorical choices,” and express in their own writing, “an effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure” through focusing on those four pillars (Workshop Handbook 2012-2013, AP Course Audit p 1-2).
The course is organized around five essential questions, one for each unit. Those five essential questions are examined through the support of various texts, including expository, analytical, personal, and argumentative texts from a variety of authors and historical contexts within, but not limited to, the following literary forms: letter, speech, sermon, essay, short story, novel, poetry, and images.
Students will write for a variety of purposes, including academic, personal, and professional. The writings are to spur student thinking, stimulate class discussion, and focus on the connection of ideas.
Students will create analytical writing to address various rhetorical modes. Students will learn how to examine and critique external sources to synthesize thesis-based research. Writing will be graded based on the following: effective word choice, inventive sentence structure, effective organization, exhaustive supporting details, parenthetical citations (where appropriate), connection of ideas, and connection of all ideas to the thesis.
Students will prepare for the AP English Language and Composition Exam, which in turn may grant advanced placement, college credit, or both, due to a satisfactory performance.
Course Objectives
Students will be trained in stylistic analysis, logical reasoning, and rhetorical skills necessary for the AP Language and Composition Examination in the spring.
In addition to the above, students will also be able to:
ü Critically analyze texts of varying form and purpose
ü Recognize and utilize rhetorical strategies and stylistic devices
ü Analyze, formulate, and develop arguments
ü Compose clear, coherent prose
ü Read and write personal narratives, short stories, letters, essays, poems, reports, research, evaluation, critiques/persuasive writing
ü Actively and consistently incorporate newly acquired grammar skills and vocabulary into composition writing
Course Structure
Students will be able to showcase their growth as readers, writers, and thinkers of nonfiction through the use of several course routines and structures.
Daily Notes/Responses
Students will have daily notes/responses which may contain but are not limited to reader-response investigation, which examines a text for stylistic clues, argumentative responses, or rhetorical reflection. In addition to responding to a daily journal, students will also use the journal to record annotations relating to the skill focus of the class when reading a new text. For example, when reading Brady’s “I want a wife,” students will focus on pathos, ethos, and logos in their writing, which is the skill focus of this piece. The next step in the process is to perform an interrogation of the text with a partner, during which the team questions the purpose and meaning of the clues they have gathered. Finally, students will propose a theory as individuals to explain their feelings.
Dialectical Notes
Dialectical notes is a system of note taking that involves the reader in the story. It will help students to read critically and encourage reflection on the reading. The focus for the notes should be examining elements of style such as the use of dialect, specific diction, tone, and imagery. Each of these elements is used for a particular effect, and you are meant to comment on what these intended effects are. Students will use this during independent reading/homework assignments of articles before class discussions.
Reader’s Response Journal (due every Thursday)
Students will create a reading journal for two outside assigned reading assignments, one on a columnist of their selection (1st 9 weeks) and one on a nonfictional book (2nd 9 weeks). The journal will allow students to communicate their thoughts and feelings on the selected assignment. It will give me a window to view student-thoughts about the selection as well as their over-all knowledge. The journal will include the SOAPS Tone and DIDLS analysis for the selected column and a vocabulary word list created by the students themselves, an analysis for an assigned character, and entries for five different roles: Straight Talker, Judge, Memory Keeper, Artist, Palm Reader, for the nonfiction text.
Straight Talker: Students will speak directly to a character. For example, if the student could stop the action at a particular point, what would he/she say?
Judge: Evaluate an action or decision by a character/characters. For example, does the student feel a wise or a poor decision has been made? Why? What decision should have been made in its place?
Memory Keeper: Students will make a personal connection with the text and discuss how that experience connects with the story.
Artist: What visual images comes to mind as students read the story? Draw and color these images. Explain what the images mean or represents in the novel. Dialogue between characters and captions for the images should be included.
Palm Reader: List out any foreshadowing that was included in the novel. As you list them, write a response to what you believe will happen next in the novel.
Columnists are selected from www.headlinespot.com. Nonfiction novels for student self-selection include but are not limited to: In Cold Blood, The Color of Water, Outcasts United, Gatekeepers, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, This Boy’s Life, and Reading Lolita in Tehran.
Timed Writings
Timed Writings help prepare students for the AP Exam in May as well as develop the students’
fluency as writers themselves. Students can expect a weekly timed writing assignment.
Major Papers
Major papers will end each unit. Each paper will be in development and will revolve around a guiding question. Students will use comments generated during peer edits and teacher conferences to help them with the structuring of these papers.
Students are expected to use rhetorical strategies learned in class to revise their papers.
Grammar and punctuation errors on these papers are unacceptable, as they will go through
numerous drafts. Topics for the papers are dictated by the content being studied at the time.
Essay Format: Essays should be typed, double-spaced, in 12-point font, 1-inch margins, stapled.
In-class essays are to be written in ink.
Research Format: Students are to follow MLA guidelines
For each reading assignment, students must identify the following:
· Thesis or Claim
· Tone or Attitude
· Purpose
· Audience and Occasion
· Evidence or Data
· Appeals: Logos, Ethos, Pathos
· Assumptions or Warrants
· Style (how the author communicates his message: rhetorical mode, rhetorical devices including
diction and syntax)
Workshops
We will carry out workshops on writing in numerous ways, including, but not limited to, individually, in pairs, in small groups, or as a class. The ultimate goal is always for students to work with classmates on their writing.
Academics
Vocabulary – a weekly list of SAT words will be given each Monday; students will be quizzed every Friday
Writing – This is the primary focus of the class. This will occur daily, including journals and major papers.
Reading – Reading will occur both inside and outside of class.
Tests/Quizzes – There will be tests and quizzes on every unit. Many of them will be practice AP tests.
Discussion – This class relies heavily on class discussion. Discussion points will be averaged into your final grade each nine weeks.
Assessment
· Assessment of understanding of literature is done primarily through writing
· Some quizzes will be given
· Knowledge of literary terms will be tested
· Students are expected to be active participants in all discussions
· A test is given at the conclusion of each major unit
· An exam is given at the end of the semester
· Students will create a writing portfolio to help with self-assessment of writing
Teaching Strategies
ü Journals
Students will use journals to explore their thinking about reading and to practice their expression of ideas by keeping their journals. Journals will be assessed mostly by completion.
ü Multi-draft Essays
Students will complete several multi-draft essays including: literary criticism, persuasive, descriptive/narrative, comparison/contrast, and multi-source synthesis. Papers will be assessed on the basis of strength of assertions, quality of evidence, and sophistication of style.
ü Research
Students will complete a multi-source, MLA-style research paper. In addition, the students will complete shorter research assignments culminating in writing and/or discussion.
ü AP Test Practice
Throughout the year, students will practice both objective and timed open-ended AP test questions, usually related to the curriculum. College Board materials will be provided, including marker papers for students’ understanding and revision. The students will be assessed based on AP provided rubrics.
ü Critical Reading
Excerpted, as well as full length, fiction and non-fiction texts will be read throughout the year. Students are expected to do these readings outside of class and come prepared to discuss the texts beyond a superficial level. The students’ reading is inherently assessed by all activities of the class.
ü Discussion
Discussions in class will take various forms, ranging from graded formal Socratic Seminars to informal classroom chat. Students will be assessed on their meaningful contributions to discussions at all levels.
ü Stylistic and Rhetorical Analysis
As the backbone of this course, students will learn and practice, on a daily basis, the language of stylistic analysis, including:
· SOAPS (speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject)
· DIDLS (diction, imagery, details, language, syntax)
· Literary Terms
· Detailed Analysis of Tone
· Detailed Analysis of Diction
· Detailed Analysis of Syntax
Unit 1: Required Summer Reading
Weeks 1- 2
Essential Question: What is rhetoric and its purpose? How does O’Brien’s use of rhetoric shape his stories and characters? What makes an argument effective?
Anchor text: The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
ü Examine structure through small and whole group discussions
ü Examine author’s purpose
ü Examine author’s attitude and tone
ü Define rhetoric and how it is used
ü Introduction to close read strategies, SOAPStone and DIDLS, and Claim, Data, Commentary
Assessment: In-Class essay
Unit 2: Gender
Weeks 3- 5
Essential Question: What is the impact of gender roles in relationships and their place in social status and responsibility?
Anchor text: Shakespeare- Macbeth
Supporting texts: “I want a wife”-Brady, “Story of an Hour”-Chopin “The Men We Carry in our Minds”- Sanders, “Being a Man”- Paul Theroux
ü Introduction to www.headlinespot.com. Students will be required to select a columnist to follow with weekly assignments in reflection of columnist’s article looking at purpose, tone, rhetorical devices, pathos, ethos, and logos
ü What is synthesis? Practice AP synthesis essay prompt from past test
ü SOAPStone
ü Close Reads
Assessment: Practice AP synthesis essay from past test: According to The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, 2nd edition, gender is defined as “the socially constructed identities man, woman, masculine, feminine. . . . Unlike sex, which is anatomical, gender is widely held to be the product of the prevailing mores, expectations, and stereotypes of a particular culture. . . . Most critics agree that Western civilization had been predominantly patriarchal and has thus tended to devalue the feminine (to which it has assigned such traits and passivity and emotionality) while extolling the masculine (which is commonly associated with activity and rationality.” What are these commonly held mores, expectations, and stereotypes? To what extent do the commonly held mores, expectations, and stereotypes which define gender shape the way we behave or perceive the world? Have the mores, expectations, and stereotypes changed? (Sources: from “Being a Man” -Theroux, “I Want a Wife” -Brady, “Mind over Muscle”- Brooks, "What Would You Do If You Saw a Woman Being Abused?”- Angyal, and “What Makes a Man”- Walker.
Because this will be the students’ first exposure to synthesis essay response, students will answer the following gender role synthesis question using the above previously studied texts: What is the impact of gender roles in relationships and their place in social status and responsibility?
Unit 3: Communication and Language
Weeks 6- 9
Essential Question: How do authors use language (diction, syntax, etc) to support their purpose? Can you define evil without defining good? What is evil? What is goodness?
Anchor Text: Night- Weisel
Supporting texts: “Mother Tongue”- Tan, “Slang in America”- Whitman, “Evil: An Old-fashioned Word”- Keller, Meno- Plato (http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/meno.html), “America Needs its Nerds”-Fridman, “Anger”- Gordon, “The Fires Within”- Berreca, “Me Talk Pretty One Day”- Sedaris
Art piece: Holocaust photography, David O’Lere art, William Blake art
ü Intro influence of language in argument with Tan and Whitman essays
ü What is an argument? Types of arguments.
ü After reading Night, complete close read focusing on connotation of good and evil.
ü DIDLS/SOAPStone on Night
ü Review William Blake art. Without knowing the title of the pieces, argue an appropriate title of the piece using analysis of the artwork for support- in groups.
ü Analysis Keller’s definition essay of evil. Examine comparison to Weisel’s idea of evil.
ü Definition essay of goodness: Define goodness
ü Soaking in Socrates essay focusing on: inductive logic, deductive logic, rhetorical question/syllogism, analogy and explication as techniques (Steve Heller, AP training 2013).
Assessments: In class, argumentative essay defining ‘goodness.’ Soaking in Socrates: argumentative definition essay of a sin or virtue (Steven Heller, AP Training 2013).
Unit 4: Community
Weeks 10-13