AP English Literature /Dual Enrollment Literature
Fall 2009/Spring 2010
Instructor: Jenny Pennington
College Board Course Description
An AP English Literature and Composition course engages students in the careful
reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature. Through the close reading of
selected texts, students deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language
to provide both meaning and pleasure for their readers. As they read, students consider
a work’s structure, style, and themes as well as such smaller-scale elements as the
use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone.
AP Literature focuses primarily on British authors but includes authors from diverse backgrounds as well as a balance of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Literary periods are studied but not in chronological order. Works from the Greek and Medieval periods are not studied in this course because of time constraints and the fact that they do not appear on the AP Literature exam.
Note: An Advanced Placement course provides students with the opportunity to attain college credit at the high school level; therefore, the workload is heavier and the expectations are higher.
Students are highly encouraged to attend three Prep Sessions outside of school hours and attend tutoring, available four hours per month, to further prepare for and acquaint themselves with the AP exam and college-level work.
Assessment
Students are expected to take the AP Literature exam in May 2010. The exam is provided without charge; those earning a qualifying score of 3, 4, or 5 receive a monetary award. Students may also attain college credit for sophomore literature courses, ENG 243& 244: Survey of English Literature, through Wytheville Community College.
Required Materials
Three-ring binder
Loose-leaf paper
Pencil or pen (blue or black ink)
Flash/Thumb Drive
Textbooks
Meyer, Michael, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2008.
Novels will be issued to students as they are assigned and may be taken out of class.
Note: Extra credit opportunities are rarely available. The lowest grade will not be dropped.
Classroom Etiquette
Students should show respect for their teacher and classmates. Comments or actions that make anyone feel uncomfortable or disrespected will not be tolerated. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but should only share it in a respectful manner. Use common sense and common courtesy.
Responsibilities
By choosing this course, students agree to:
Come to class on time.
Come to class prepared.
Turn in work when it is due or before an expected absence.
Keep the cellphone, food, and drink (other than water if necessary) out of class.
Abide by rules and expectations set by the school.
Failure to comply will result in:
1. Verbal warning
2. Student/Teacher conference
3. Call to parents
4. Office visit
Late Work Policy
Students will have one day for each excused absence to make up work without penalty. Students turning in work the day after the due date, without an excused absence, will receive only half credit on the assignment. For each day late, the points available will drop by ten points (2nd day late—only 40% credit, etc.). After an assignment is five days late, no credit is available. Everyone is expected to turn in work on time. Do not expect a snow day to create an extension for an assignment. If work is due on a day we are absent from class because of snow or a school-related event, that work is due on the day we return.
Plagiarism Policy
In accordance with preparation for the AP Language exam, students will complete most of their writing in class through timed essays and in-class writing assignments. Students must be aware that plagiarism is using another person’s thoughts and accomplishments without proper acknowledgement or documentation. It is an unconscionable offense and a serious breach of the honor code. Students who plagiarize will receive a grade of zero for the assignment. No exceptions. Be advised that college students breaking the honor code are often completely dismissed from school. Any cheating will result in a zero, a call to the parents, a referral to guidance, and possibly worse.
Grading Scale
We will use a ten-point grading scale: 100-90=A, 89-80=B, etc. To adhere to common practice in AP courses, a 9-point rubric will be used for grading essays (9 is the highest score). Students will be given a copy of the rubric, with expectations for more advanced writing as students move through the course. Major assignments’ percentages per nine weeks are as follows:
Assignments
Essays: 35%
Essays will be a mixture of in-class timed writings and out of class writings. Each essay has the opportunity to be revised since students write rough drafts and “workshop” them through peer review and instructor comments. Essays include Interpretive writing based on a unit’s focus (i.e, character in Death of a Salesman), Writing to Explain through the Literary Analysis of a novel, Writing to Evaluate through an Argumentative focus on the elements of Renaissance, Romantic, Victorian, and Modern verse, as well as arguing a work’s impact on the society and culture of its era. Essay prompts will mirror the structure of AP Free Response essay questions on prose and verse exploring elements from figurative language to structure to theme, and so on.
Tests: 25%
Tests assess the elements of the Unit Focuses, such as flashback and foreshadowing in Structure, or point of view, conflict, and epiphany in Character, along with elements of a literary period, such as existentialism and disillusionment in Modern works, transcendentalism and the supernatural in Romantic works, etc. Tests are not checklists for rote memory of the elements, but rather assessments of understanding through selections from released AP free response questions and multiple choice questions that highlight character, structure, Modern era, etc.
Quizzes: 20%
Quizzes are not an unexpected, or surprise, component of the course. They are given to assess mastery of new vocabulary in reading selections, knowledge and understanding of aspects of a literary period, knowledge and understanding of elements used to create character, setting, style, etc., and, when necessary, to check for continued reading of novels, which are read outside of class, individually, over a three week period. Throughout the reading of each novel, students complete a Moment Sheetof 10 significant moments and their relevance in a novel for a daily grade and, if the sheet is completed by the due date, they are eligible for a quiz on 10 significant moments from each novel that the teacher has selected. Quizzes may be used as study guides for the tests at the end of each nine weeks.
Daily Activities: 20%
Daily Activities make up the core, or bulk, of the course. Assignments include opportunities for group collaboration and individual writing activities demonstrating understanding and application of the Literature, Writing, and Grammar Skill focuses for each nine weeks; daily questions and/or insights into a work discussed in a roundtable format; Writing to Understand through freewriting activities on various aspects of a work, such as the use of figurative language, structure, style, its place in a literary period, etc.; practice of exploring the same facets in a freewriting exercise that will be revised for formality; weekly practice with released AP material to gain familiarity with rigor and format; completing a Moment Sheet on each novel (see above), and group oral presentations for each novel on the significant moments from the novel.
Note: Students and parents may access information about our class through the Faculty/Staff page at The course information is updated weekly.
First 9 Weeks
Note: Readings may be added or omitted based on time and need. The order is tentative. Pacing is also tentative—readings may take more or less time than stated. Each 9 weeks includes selections from various literary time periods.
Literary Periods:Modern & Contemporary Universal Ideas: Existentialism, Absurdity, Isolation, Cynicism, Disillusionment, Deconstruction, Gender Studies, Cultural Diversity
Unit:Character& Setting
Literature Skill: Symbolism,POV, Dialogue, Conflict, Epiphany, Motivation /
Mood, Incongruity, Contrast, Imagery, Conflict
Writing Skill: Thesis, Purpose, Topic Sentences
Grammar Skill: Independent & Dependent Clauses, Parallelism, Sentence Variety
Course Intro: 1 week
Thomas Lux, “The Voice You Hear When You Read Silently”
Billy Collins, “Marginalia”
Character: 4 weeks
Michael Hollinger, Naked Lunch
Sylvia Plath, “Mirror”
Jamaica Kincaid, “Girl”
Margaret Atwood, “Bored”
Lisa Parker, “Snapping Beans”
Alice Walker, “Everyday Use”
Seamus Haney, “Digging”
Ted Kooser, “A Death at the Office”
Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman
Setting: 4 weeks
Martin Epada,“Latin Night at the Pawnshop”
Annie Proulx, “55 Miles to the Gas Pump”
James Wright, “Autumn Begins in Martin’s Ferry, Ohio”
Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”
George Orwell, 1984
Weekly Practice
AP Prose Free Response Released Questions
AP Multiple Choice Released Questions
Assessment
Character Essay (Outside Class): Interpreting how character contributes to WillyLoman’s demise in Death of a Salesman
Setting Essay (Timed): Interpreting how setting contributes to the control of citizens in 1984
Unit Test
Second 9 Weeks
Literary Periods:Realism, Modern & Victorian Universal Ideas: Psychological Realism, Fatalism, Social Criticism, Naturalism, Determinism / Modern era elements / Imperialism
Unit:Style & Structure
Literature Skill: Rhetorical Question,Diction, Syntax, Audience, Irony / Flashback, Foreshadowing, Plot, Suspense, Motif, Antithesis, Setting, Mood
Writing Skill: Order of Direction, Transitions, Support & Development
Grammar Skill: Phrases: Prepositions, Verbals (Gerunds, Participals, Infinitives), Appositives / Modifiers
Style: 4 ½ weeks
Margaret Atwood, “Happy Endings”
Marge Pierce, “Barbie Doll”
Sharon Olds,“The Death of Marilyn Monroe”
Linda Pastan, “Marks”
Edna St. Vincent Millay, “I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed”
Charlotte Perkins Gillman, “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Kate Chopin, “The Story of an Hour”
Kate Chopin, The Awakening
Structure: 4 ½ weeks
Rudyard Kipling, “If—“
Tobias Wolff, “Bullet in the Brain”
Thomas Hardy, “The Convergence of the Twain”/David Slavitt, “Titanic”
Stephen Crane, “A Man Said to the Universe”
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Weekly Practice
AP Open Prompt Free Response Released Questions
AP Multiple Choice Released Questions
Assessment
Style Essay (Outside Class): Literary Analysis of how stylistic elements illustrate female oppressionand rebellion in The Awakening
Structure Essay (Timed): Examine how the structure of the novel reveals Marlow’s growing obsession with Kurtz in Heart of Darkness
Unit Test
Third 9 Weeks
Literary Periods:Renaissance/Romantic/Victorian (with Modern comparisons) Universal Ideas: Ambition, Power, Humanism, Romantic Love/Focus on Individual, Imagination & Supernatural, Transcendentalism/Industrialization, Imperialism, Male Dominance, Sexual Repression, Social Darwinism
Unit:Verse
Literature Skill: Figurative Language:Hyperbole,Understatement,Simile, Metaphor, Personification, Onomatopoeia, Apostrophe, Internal Rhyme, Alliteration, Paradox, Imagery, Blank Verse, Elegy, Epigram, Allusion, Pastoral, Symbolism
Writing Skill: Writing a Strong Introduction & Conclusion
Grammar Skill: Verbs (Active & Passive), Rhetorical Questions
Renaissance: 3 weeks
Anne Bradstreet, “To My Dear and Loving Husband” / Jane Kenyon, “The
Shirt”
Christopher Marlowe, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”/ Sir Walter Raleigh, “The
Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”
Robert Herrick, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”/ Andrew Marvell, “To His Coy
Mistress”
William Shakespeare, “Not marble, nor the gilded monuments”/ Susan Minot, “My Husband’s
Back”
---, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”/eecummings, “she being Brand”
Romantic: 4 weeks
William Blake, “The Lamb”/ “The Tyger”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Victorian: 2 weeks
Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Pied Beauty”/Theodore Roethke, “I Knew a Woman”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways”/Billie Bolton,
“Memorandum”
Weekly Practice
AP Poetry (Verse) Free Response Released Questions
AP Multiple Choice Released Questions
Assessment
Verse Essay (Timed): Argue the value of imagery, symbolism, metaphor, etc. (choose three elements) in one of the four literary periods focusing on verse
Unit Test
Fourth 9 Weeks
Literary Periods:Realism, Contemporary, & Enlightenment Universal Ideas: Realism & Contemporary era elements / Logic, Order, Deism
Unit: Satire
Literature Skill: Irony, Hyperbole, Understatement, Paradox, Oxymoron, Pun, Incongruity
Writing Skill: Creating Metaphor, Chunking the Essay, Tone, Voice & Style
Grammar Skill: Pronouns & Agreement, Punctuation Review
5 weeks
William Faulkner, “Barn Burning”
Annie Proulx, “People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water”
Kurt Vonnegut, “Harrison Bergeron”
Jonathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal”/Elaine Magarrell, “The Joy of Cooking”
Robert Frost, “Mending Wall”/John Ciardi, “Suburban”
William Butler Yeats, “Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop”
Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach”/ Anthony Hecht, “Dover Bitch”
Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken”/ Blanche Farley, “The Lover Not Taken”
2 weeks
Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
2 weeks
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels
Weekly Practice
AP Free Response Released Questions Review
AP Multiple Choice Released Questions
Assessment
Satire Essay (Outside class): Using Wilde and Swift’s works as a focus, argue whether the effectiveness of satire has/had a more significant impact on society and culture in the Realism, Modern, or Enlightenment era
Unit Test
AP Literature Exam
AP English Literature
Syllabus Acknowledgment Form
I, ______, have reviewed the syllabus for AP English Literature. By affixing my signature below, I signify that I understand the course requirements and know how my grades will be determined.Further, I understand the attendance, late work, and make-up policies for this course, and I am aware of the commitment that enrollment in an AP course requires. My signature also signifies that I have read and understand the course plagiarism policy and will abide by its guidelines.
______
(Student’s Signature)(Date)