AP English Language & Composition s2

Ms. Jane Tran Room: F-203 AP English Language and Composition

Office Hrs: Monday and Wed 3-4pm 2016-2017

e-mail: or

Course Overview

Since learning to write is best fostered by reading, reflecting, and writing about serious issues, the course is designed to extend the students’ existing abilities to interpret and analyze a wide range of texts, to write and revise sustained arguments, to carry out independent research (how to research; how to find information; how to evaluate websites, search engines, databases, web pages, and individual experts; how to use MLA or APA documentation; how to use problem-solving models; how to use secondary and primary sources; and, finally, how to synthesize all this information into a thesis for a researched argument paper), and to integrate multiple sources into essays. Since good writing is the clear and organized translation of ideas into language, and critical reading is the essential key to unlocking the power of language, textual analysis will be the primary sharpening stone for students’ critical thinking skills. Writing skills proceed from an awareness of the composing process, the way writers explore ideas, reconsider strategies, and revise; therefore, students will be asked to write essays and revisions that progress through several stages. These stages will include explicit instructions in syntactic multiplicity, sentence variety and construction, using context clues to determine unknown vocabulary, and a combination of generic and specific details. In addition, our class will continually reference rhetorical strategies (tone, voice, diction, sentence structure, figurative language) and how the author is using those strategies to affect the reader. Both the assigned reading and writing will make students more aware of the interactions among purpose, audience, and subject as well as the way in which conventions and language contribute to effective writing. Students will demonstrate that they have mastered a variety of rhetorical strategies. The course objectives are constructed in accordance with the guidelines described in the AP English Course Description published by the College Board.

Student Evaluation

Grades will be based on a cumulative point system. Students are assessed on major assignments such as out-of-class papers, timed writings, student-led discussions, grammar exercises, annotated readings, practice on multiple-choice questions based on reading passages, reading tests and quizzes, informal writings, oral presentations, and class participation. Each graded assignment or activity is assigned a certain number of points based on its complexity and overall importance to the objectives of the course. The following grade scale will be used:

93-100: A

90-92: A-

87-89: B+

83-86: B

80-82: B-

77-79: C+

73-76: C

70-72: C-

Below 70: F

Students will always submit their original and major assignments through www.turnitin.com. Students may check their grades and comments on the website. Comments will focus on critical thinking and use of textual evidence, syntax variety that is clear and express their ideas elegantly and persuasively. Throughout the writing process, students will receive models of writing, practice with the teacher and their partners, and receive ongoing and frequent feedback, through rough drafts and student-teacher conference.

Course Planner

The following is an outline for the required reading and writing assignments for this year. All writing must be completed according to the Modern Language Association (MLA) style: this includes in text citation and a works cited page at the end of every essay. Additional assignments may be added to supplement the course work. Furthermore, lessons on styling sentences, grammar, and vocabulary will be used throughout each unit to improve reading and writing skills.

Fall Semester

Introduction: Course Orientation, Introduction to Close Reading and Rhetorical Awareness: What past experiences have shaped you? What does your future hold? What choices are you making now that will determine your future?

·  Summer reading assessed for fictional choice

·  Summer reading assessed for AP required non-fiction: Black Boy

·  Lundberg & Keith’s “The Essential Guide to Rhetoric”

·  “The Box Man” (syntax focus)

·  “I am a cripple” Mairs

Unit 1: What are some of the obstacles people face in life? How do people overcome these obstacles? To what extent does society control an individual’s ability to achieve their goals?

·  From Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick Douglass

·  From The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano

·  “To the Right and Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth, His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for North-America, Etc.” by Phillis Wheatley

·  David Walker’s Appeal in Four Articles, Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World by David Walker

·  “An Address to the Slaves of the United States of America” by Henry Highland Garnet

·  First inaugural speech by Abraham Lincoln

Unit 2: Is fear an effective form of control? How do people find ways to rebel within a constricting society?

·  The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

·  The Crucible by Arthur Miller

·  From Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards

·  from Civil Disobedience by Ralph Waldo Emerson

·  “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell

·  The Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson

·  The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln

·  “Speech in the Virginia Convention” by Patrick Henry

·  From Stride Toward Freedom by Martin Luther King, Jr.

·  “Necessary to Protect Ourselves” interview of Malcolm X by Les Crane

·  “The Declaration of the Rights of Women” by Olympe de Gouges

Unit 3: What does it mean to educated? Who decides?

·  Louis Menand “Live and Learn”

·  Edmunson “On the uses of a liberal education”

·  Jean Anyon “Social Class and the hidden curriculum of Work”

·  Beverly Tatum “Why are all the black kids sitting in the cafeteria”

Unit 4: What is the role of gender on identity and society?

·  “Black Men in public spaces” by Brent Staples

·  “The myth of the Latin woman” by Judith Ortiz Cofer

·  “Letters” by John and Abigail Adams

·  “I Want a Wife” by Judy Brady

·  “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

·  “Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls” by Katha Pollitt

·  Poetry: “Barbie Doll” Marge Piercy

·  + visual texts

Unit 5: Satire and humorous writing

·  “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift

·  “Me Talk Pretty One Day” by David Sedaris

·  “All-Consuming Patriotism” by Ian Frazier

·  “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” by Peter Singer

·  One selection of a choice of nonfiction (Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt,102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive inside the Twin Towers by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All American Meal by Eric Schlosser, The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry, A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League by Ron Suskind, Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, etc.)

Parents and students, please review these guidelines together.

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