AP English Literature and Composition
2015-16
Instructor: Lacey deShazo
"I was unhappy for a long time, and very lonesome, living with my grandmother. Then it was that books began to happen to me, and I began to believe in nothing but books and the wonderful world in books — where if people suffered, they suffered in beautiful language…”— Langston Hughes
“A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.” –William Styron
Course Description
AP English Literature and Composition culminates with an exam that, depending on the student’s score and college or university of choice, will lead to college credit. The rigors of a college-level course will be reflected in the workload. Students will do close readings of texts using tools of analysis and explication. Discussions may focus on the literary, social, or historical contexts of the works we are studying. We will write critically and creatively, formally and informally, under time constraints and with time to revise. In order to develop our writing, vocabulary study of critical terminology will also be crucial. Note: This course is weighted one additional quality point for GPA calculations.
Course Objectives
· Read, discuss, and write critically and at or above college freshman level
· Recognize and analyze the use and effects of literary techniques used by authors
· Write for a variety of purposes
· Write clear, concise, and well-organized compositions
· Study representative literary works from various periods and genres (breadth) and intensely study a few select works (depth)
· Foster vocabulary skills to cope with unfamiliar language
· Develop AP test taking skills
Weighted Grading Method
Essays: 40%
Tests and Projects: 30%
Quizzes: 20%
Classwork and Homework: 10%
AP Exam Information:
The AP exam for this course will be given on Wednesday, May 4 at 8:00 am. Students will report to the high school by 7:45 and they will be excused for the rest of the day after the exam. All students are required to take the exam.
Cost: $91 for your AP test fee (paid at registration) + $20 for four primary texts (see below—does not include monthly reading outside texts)
Note: Please bring a check made out to HTHS to Mrs. deShazo by Tuesday, August 12.
Supplies: Pen, pencil, watch, highlighters, paper, text(s) we are studying
Mock Test: You will be required to attend a mandatory mock test on a Saturday (date TBA soon) in January. This will count as a test grade for the class. The purpose of this test is to give you practice in taking an AP multiple choice test followed by three essays. It is important that you prepare yourself by attending this mock test so that you will be prepared to sit for the real AP exam in May! Students who cannot attend the mock test in January will be required to make the test up within the next week after school. You will be required to stay for three hours to complete the test.
Activities and Assessments
Methods of assessment will include but are not limited to:
· Monthly Outside Reading
o Each month, you will read a book on your own and be tested on it. These tests will be comprised of quote identification and analysis. You must also complete a MWDS and turn it in on the day of the test. Please do not commit plagiarism while doing your MWDS. Students are responsible for purchasing or finding these books. Many of them can be checked out from our library or a local library. You will also find many of the classic texts for free online at Project Gutenberg or on your preferred reading app. The two book lists are below:
Classic Lit
Wuthering Heights (Bronte)
Jane Eyre (Bronte)
Dracula (Stoker)
Pride and Prejudice (Austen)
Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
Oliver Twist (Dickens)
Great Expectations (Dickens)
1984 (Orwell)
Brave New World (Huxley)
The ABC Murders (Christie)
Hound of the Baskervilles (Doyle)
East of Eden (Steinbeck)
Mrs. Dalloway (Woolf)
Heart of Darkness (Conrad)
Their Eyes Were Watching God (Hurston)
The assignments for each month are as follows:
September: One book from the Classic List not previously read
October: One book from the Modern List not previously read
November: One book from the Classic List not previously read
December: One book from the library list (TBA) + a film project over the break
January: One book from the Modern List not previously read
February: One book from the Classic List not previously read
March: No outside book (we’ll be doing something else outside of class)
April: One book from the Modern List not previously read
· In-class reading: While you are reading a book a month on your own outside of class, time during class will be spent doing intense close readings of texts. Each nine weeks will cover the following:
First Nine Weeks:
· We will complete a poetry bootcamp. I will provide you will all of the poems we study.
· The Tempest: William Shakespeare
Second Nine Weeks
· Ethan Frome: Edith Wharton
Third Nine Weeks
· Frankenstein: Mary Shelley
Fourth Nine Weeks
· Beloved: Toni Morrison
We will be using a variety of secondary texts and resources: novels, articles, essays, short stories, poems, etc.
· AP Practice Tests
· Multiple Choice Exams and Practice Exams
· AP Essay Practice
At least once every nine weeks, we will write an essay based on a former prompt. Some of these essays will count as unit tests and be timed accordingly. Other practice exams will be completed and returned for in-class revisions and workshops. On some essay practice days, we may analyze old prompts, sample essays, and/or do prewriting and first paragraphs for three to five essay prompts.
At least one essay completed will be based on each of the question formats on the AP Literature and Composition Exam: a poetry analysis, a prose analysis, and a free response essay in which the student will be asked to give an interpretation and analysis of a novel or play as a whole.
· Discussions
ALL discussions, whether informal or formal, will involve the text and the use of specific quotations from the work being discussed. The current work being discussed MUST be present every day.
· Research Papers
· Poetry Analysis Essay: During the second nine weeks, students will turn one of the poetry responses they have written into a formal analysis of the artistry and quality of the poem. This assignment will ask students to draw upon evidence from the poem itself as well as criticisms of the poet or poem from secondary sources. Students will receive a handout which further explains this assignment during the second nine weeks. This essay will be written outside of class.
· Research Paper: During the third nine weeks, students will write a research paper meeting MLA requirements for proper citation format. This paper will require students to not only analyze a particular text, but also to apply a literary criticism theory to the work. You will receive a handout detailing the requirements in the third nine weeks.
· Instruction, Feedback, and Revision for Writing
· Students will receive instruction on essay writing before each practice AP essay. In class, we will go over sample student responses to old AP Literature and Composition tests and discuss scoring rationale. After receiving graded essays, students will be given class time to review their essays and receive feedback from other students as well and/or Ms. Johnson.
· After receiving graded essays, students are encouraged to revise essays and resubmit them. On occasion, class time can be utilized for one-on-one conferences with Ms. Johnson about revisions. Otherwise, students are encouraged to make appointments for conferences any day before or after school.
· Grammar
Because so much work we do in the course involves the analysis of an author’s style, our grammar work will be directed towards analysis of diction, syntax, use of punctuation, sentence structure, etc. and the effects these decisions create in works we study and in our own writing. For example, when we come across difficult lines of poetry, we need to make sure we understand where the simple subject and simple predicate are.
· Poetry Projects
Along with the regular analysis-based weekly responses, we will also complete several units of creative writing involving forms of poems such as sonnets, villanelles, haiku, etc. One of the most useful ways of studying form and figurative language will be by creating our own works in these forms. Our sonnets will be written during our study of the English Renaissance.
· Presentations: TBA
· Quizzes
Reading quizzes can take the form of simple comprehension questions, responses to an author’s tone or style, or an analysis of a work’s themes or historical importance. Quizzes may be used as informal lead-ins to discussion or even to formal writing assignments.
· Tests
· Homework You will be required to turn in poetry responses or reading responses throughout our study of poetry, novels, and plays. I will discuss the format for these responses as they’re assigned. The purpose of these assignments is to help you engage with the texts as you’re reading them.
Makeup Work and Absences: If an assignment is assigned PRIOR to a student’s absence, students must have a friend submit the assignment, drop it off at the main office prior to the schedule class time, or email a copy of the assignment. For handwritten assignments, students may take a cell phone photo of the assignment to submit it. The original copy is due upon the student’s return. If a student fails to turn in the assignment on time using one of these methods, it will be considered late.
If an assignment is given DURING a student’s EXCUSED absence, the student has two days upon their return to complete the assignment. Additional days will be given if student is absent many days in a row. If the absence is UNEXCUSED, students still have two days to complete the assignment, but it will still be counted one day late.
If a quiz or test is given on the day a student is absent, the student has two days to make up that assignment before or after school. If the student needs to come before school to make up an assignment, the student must fill out a pass and have the teacher sign it. If the absence is UNEXCUSED, 25% will be deducted from the overall grade. Whenever possible, students should makeup quizzes and tests in advance of an absence.
You can either make up work/tests on Thursday mornings at 7:15 on the English hall or schedule a time to meet Ms. Johnson after school or during advisory period.
Late Work: Students may always turn in late assignments; they do not need permission to do so. However, only assignments for the current grading period will be accepted. In other words, if an assignment was made in the first nine weeks, you have until the end of that nine weeks to turn it. The penalty for all late work is as follows:
One day late = -25% off Two days late= -40% off Three or more days late= -50% off
Plagiarism Policy:
HTHS Plagiarism Policy: Anyone who plagiarizes will receive a zero on the assignment, administrative referral, as well as possible disciplinary action for the incident. All students who copy others’ work will receive a zero and disciplinary action, whether that student gave or received the information. Students who plagiarize will be able to re-submit that assignment; however, this will only be for partial credit (scoring begins at 50%). The assignment will be due the following day (Effective 11/1/11).
As a department, we believe this to be a fair consequence, due to the severity of plagiarism in the academic community. Students who attempt plagiarism in college can be placed on administrative probation or dismissed from said college. Plagiarism is serious and we want to treat it that way. Our own organizations (i.e. Honor Society, Student Council) will not accept members who have disciplinary action for cheating (including incidents of plagiarism).
It should go without saying that copying and pasting from anywhere without crediting the source is plagiarism, as well as copying the work from another student. All assignments (unless otherwise specified) are the responsibility of each individual student. In other words, if you choose to collaborate on homework, you still must turn in original, unique responses.
Plagiarism is defined as…
a. Using the exact words of another person’s work/writing without acknowledgment of your source through the use of quotation marks and correct citation/documentation;
b. Rephrasing a passage by another writer without giving proper credit;
c. Using someone else’s facts or ideas without acknowledgment;
d. Using a piece of writing for one course that was already used in a previous course (or in courses in which you are simultaneously enrolled) without express permission from both instructors to do so; and
e. Presenting fabricated or falsified citations or materials. (Source: The University of Montevallo)
How to Avoid Plagiarism: 5 Simple Rules (Adapted from an originally produced document by Amanda Esslinger)
Rule 1: A fact that is not common knowledge must have a citation.
“Scientists have found that the featherless chicken makes as much protein as the feathered chicken” (“Featherless” 43).
You may write a fact that is common knowledge-- something that most people in the society would know—without a citation.
Rule 2: When you write about an idea, you must make clear whose idea it is. If it is your own idea, you do not cite the source.
The tone and structure of the poem suggest peace and repose.
No citation—student’s own observation.
Rule 3: If you are writing about someone else’s idea, you must cite your source.
By the year 1856, San Francisco’s growth was practically certain (Lotchkin 60).
Rule 4: If you use someone else’s exact words, you must put them in quotation marks and cite the source.
Later, the author wrote, “Chapter VI (the hotel scene) will never be quite up to mark—I’ve worried about it too long and I can’t quite place Daisy’s reaction” (Fitzgerald 9).