AP Language and Composition Course Syllabus

2013/2014 AP Language and Composition Course Syllabus

Ms. Dobbs

Mr. Murphy

General Course Goals and Overview of Objectives

AP Language and Composition will provide students with an opportunity to study various forms of written discourse (narrative, expository, argumentation, etc.) by others from a variety of historical periods and from different academic disciplines. The chief emphasis will be non-fiction. Students will increase their awareness of how authors use their rhetorical choices to particular aims and learn techniques in analyzing those texts using rhetorical devices.

As this is a college-level course, performance expectations are appropriately high, and the workload is challenging. Students are expected to commit to a minimum of four hours of course work per week outside of class. Often, work involves writing and reading assignments, so effective time management is important. Because of the demand of the curriculum students must bring to the course sufficient command of mechanical conventions and an ability to read and discuss prose.

This course is constructed in accordance with the guidelines described in the AP English Course Description.

Writing

The Advanced Placement English Language and Composition course assumes that its students already command Standard English grammar. Instruction and course readings will help students develop stylistic maturity, characterized by the following:

· Wide ranging vocabulary used with denotative accuracy and respect for connotation.

· Variety in sentence structure (subordination and coordination)

· Logical organization coupled with techniques such as coherence, repetition, transactions and emphasis

· Rhetorical effectiveness: controlling tone, maintaining consistent voice, parallelism and antithesis.

· Awareness and stylistic effects created by various syntactical choices and levels of direction.

· Competency using MLA Documentation

· Test taking skills and preparation for the AP exam

Cultural and Media Literacy

Students will analyze graphics, visual images and a variety of media (radio, TV, internet) and how they relate to written text and also serve as alternative forms of text themselves.

Course Texts

· The Norton Reader (10th edition)

· The Bedford Reader (9th edition)

· The Elements of Style (4th edition)

· Barron’s 601 Words You Need to Know to Pass Your Exam (4th edition)

Course Planner

Semester 1 (September – January)

I. Storytelling

Reading: Bedford: Narration – Telling a Story pp. 76-79

Everday Use: Rhetoric At Work in Reading and Writing:

Rhetoric in Narrative, pp. 179-206.

Analysis: Bedford: Maya Angelou, “Champion of the World”

Amy Tan, “Fish Cheeks”

Jessica Cohen, “Grade A: A Market for a Yale

Woman’s Eggs”

Barbara Ehrenreich, “The Roots of War”

Novels: John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried

Movies: The Grapes of Wrath

Born on the 4th of July

Visual Images: Photographs of Vietnam War

Dust Bowl video stream

Language Strategies: Point of view, style: detail, diction, dialogue, tone,

sentence fragments and run-on sentences. Clarity, conciseness, and avoiding wordiness.

II. Education

Reading: Bedford: Example – Pointing to Instances pp. 188-191

Analysis: Bedford: Sherman Alexie, “Indian Education”

Colleen Wenke, “Too Much Pressure”

David Sedaris, “Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa”

Norton: Frederick Douglas, “Learning to Read”

John Holt, “How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading

Carolyn Bird, “College Is a Waste of Time and Money”

Robert Frost, “Education by Poetry”

Supplemental: Plato, “The Republic – Books VI & VII”

John Locke, “Some Thoughts Concerning Education”

John Dewey, from “Experience and Education”

Visual Image: Cartoon by Barry Blitt

Non-Fiction Book: The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates

Wes Moore

Movie: The Butler

Language Strategies: Generalization: using illustrative examples, accuracy and

fairness. Focus on sentence variety, semi-colons,

analogy and rhetorical questions.

III. Community/Culture

Reading: Bedford: Compare and Contrast pp. 230-235

Analysis: Bedford: Fatema Mernissi “Size 6: The Western Women’s

Harem”

Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery”

Brent Staples, “Black Men in Public Space”

MLK, “I Have a Dream”

Scott Russell Sanders, “Signs”

Non-fiction Book: Truman Capote, In Cold Blood

Visual Image: American Gothic painting by Grant wood

Rural Rehabilitation Client photo by Ben Shahn

American Gothic photo by Gordon Parks

Supplemental: Gandhi, “This I Believe”

W.H. Auden, “The Unknown Citizen”

Edward Arlington Robinson, “Richard Cory”

Language Strategies: Sentence patterns: combining tone, diction, organization,

transitions, verb tense, and passive voice versus active

voice, subordination and coordination, semi-colons,

analogy, and rhetorical questions.

ASSIGNMENTS

· Reading/Writing Journal – Students are required to complete a two-column style journal entry format for every course reading, incorporating the SOAPS+ Tone format. Students will average three to four entries per week. The RWJ is a running record of selections read outside of class. The purpose is two-fold: Firstly, it will capture the student’s thought processes, insights, questions, comments, reflections, connections, criticisms, and analyses as they read various works. Secondly, it is a record of the course content and study guide for course exams. On occasion, students will enter homework assignments into this journal, usually in the form of analytical selection questions. The journal will be graded three times during the semester.

· Vocabulary Development – Students will be required to learn vocabulary culled from course readings, novels, and Barron’s 601 Words and will be evaluated every two weeks on their knowledge and understanding of the vocabulary usage and meaning.

· Independent Reading – Students will be required to read one book of their choosing each month. Half of these books will be completely up to the student and the other half will be from a list of recommended books provided by Ms. Dobbs and Mr. Murphy. Students are required to get these books themselves, either from home, from the school media center, from the local library, or from a book store. At the end of each month, students will have an in-class assessment of their reading for the month.

Writing Assignments

Students will write in two contexts, in class and at home. Classroom essays will often follow the AP format (40-45 minutes for one essay question): more classroom timed essays will be written during second semester. All papers will be graded using the AP

9-point rubric scale. Take home essays will allow for the unhurried development of style and content.

Format for At-Home Writing Assignments

All papers prepared out of class must be typed. Documents need to be double-spaced: typed in 10- or 12-point font, centered title, not underlined, and regular font style (Times New Roman). All papers will have 1-inch margins and follow the MLA Documentation style.

Models of student writing will be used to define and refine excellence. Students will be given the opportunity to confer with the instructor outside of class (by appointment) concerning their papers.

Written Assignments for Semester One

In-class timed writings: Students will write an impromptu AP-style essay every two weeks.

Outside class writing assignments

Narrative Essay (Personal Reflective): Students will write a first-person memoir or a story written in the third person, observing the experience of someone else. They must define their purpose, the purpose of their paper as an anecdote, single narrative, or essay that includes more than one story,

Example Essay: Students will write an essay in which they make a generalization about the fears, joys, or contradictions that members of minority groups seem to share. To illustrate their generalization they may draw examples from personal experience, outside reading, or from two to three essays from course readings.

Compare and Contrast Essay: Students will write an essay in which they compare a reality (what actually exists) with an ideal (what should exist). Possible topic example: “The Affordable Car” or “The Perfect Society”.

Cause and Effect Essay: In an essay, students will explain either the causes or the effects of a situation of personal concern. The topic should be narrow enough to treat it in some detail and provide more than a mere list of causes or effects.

Discussion

Students are required and encouraged to participate in class discussion regarding readings, analysis of rhetoric, current events, themes, and other related topics. Preparation of readings and diligent note taking prior to class discussion is critical to student success. Sharing ideas enable students to sustain, develop, and better comprehend the work studied.

Note taking

Students are required to take notes during class lecture and during class/group discussions. The notes aid students as they study for tests, write in or out of class essays, or prepare for the AP exam. Students are expected to have their notebook and pen or pencil out at the beginning of each class period. They should copy down assignments written on the board and write down any information that is given by the instructor daily. Notes should be dated and have subject titles.

Multiple Choice Objective Tests

Students will take AP style multiple choice practice exams related to course readings and impromptu practice tests published, AP released exams biweekly throughout the semester. Students are strongly encouraged to take practice AP style tests at home.

Literary and Rhetorical Terms

Students will learn a comprehensive list of literary and rhetorical terms. Throughout the course they will apply these terms to the reading selections.

Final Exam

At the end of the first semester, students will take an exam featuring a released AP multiple choice exam as well as a released AP argumentative essay and a synthesis essay.

Semester Two (January – June)

Unit V: Economics

Readings: Bedford: Argumentation pp. 515-529. Purposes of Argument, Inductive and Deductive Reasoning, Syllogism and Enthymeme,

Logical Fallacies,

Stephen Toulmin, The Toulmin Method, Data, Claim and

Warrant – Internet Article.

Analysis: Bedford: Barabara Lazear Ascher, “On Compassion”

Anna Qundlen, “Homeless”

Johnathon Swift, “A Modest Proposal”

Norton: Lars Eighner, “On Dumpster Diving”

Thomas Jefferson, “Declaration of Independence”

Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter From a

Birmingham Jail”

Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an

Angry God”

William Jefferson Clinton, selected speeches

Books: Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed

Movies: Thirty Days

Visual Images: Corporate America Flag, Adbusters Media Fdn.

Magazine Advertisements, News Media

Language Strategies: Toulmin Method, Burke’s Pentad, deductive and inductive

reasoning, logical fallacies, tone, diction, syntax,

antithesis, anaphora, rhetorical questions, ethos, pathos,

logos, and thesis.

Unit VI: Language and Politics

Readings: Bedford: William F. Bucley Jr., “Why Don’t We Complain

Zara Gelsey, “The FBI Is Reading Over your Shoulder”

Viet Dinh, “How the USA Patriot Act Defends Democracy”

Stephanie Ericsson, “The Ways We Lie”

William Lutz, “The World of Doublespeak”

Norton: George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language”

Thomas Jefferson, “Declaration of Independence”

Abraham Lincoln, “Gettysburg Address”

Supplemental: Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobediance”

Thomas Paine, “Common Sense”

Language Strategies: Review of the writing modes, themes, symbolism, and

motifs in literature and film, analysis of style in both

written and visual rhetoric.

Special Focus: Looking at visual rhetoric and considering the Modern Novel

Readings: Independent Reading Project: Students will select a novel from

a variety of genres: non-fiction, fiction: suspense, mystery,

romance, science fiction, fantasy, etc. They will draw parallels

from course readings throughout the year and write a paper,

complete a visual project, and deliver a presentation to the class.

Public Monument as Argument: Students will consider public

sculpture, art, and memorials as social commentary and argument.

Also, they will conduct an independent survey of monuments in

their local community, researching the purpose and enduring

significance as to why they were established. In addition, students

will analyze these visual texts that exist around them and conduct

discussions about their findings.

Film: A Social Commentary

Students will compare/contrast several films and consider common

social themes from both Modern and post-Modern Eras. They will

write a compare and contrast essay which analyzes theme, motif,

and symbolism.

Suggested Films: Citizen Kane

Gattaca

Field of Dreams

The Truman Show

AP Exam and ACT Test Preparation

Students will spend a large of amount of class time learning useful, time management and test taking strategies for both the ACT and AP Examination. The focus will be on impromptu essay writing and multiple choice practice.

Written Assignments for Semester Two

Persuasion and Argumentation Essays

1. Students will write an out of class paper arguing for or against an issue from course readings and class discussions. See specific guidelines below.

2. They will also write an essay arguing something that they believe strongly about which should be changed, removed, abolished, enforced, repeated, revised, reinstated, or reconsidered. They must propose some plan for carrying out whatever suggestions they make.

Guidelines for Writing an Argument Paper:

· Refer to Toulmin and/or other strategies of argumentation arrangement from course readings.

· Engage in both primary and secondary research by reading critically, annotating, summarizing, and synthesizing a variety of sources to provide evidence of support for claims made.

· Take notes, citing sources accurately using MLA format.

· Establish and claim/position and develop an argument based on research.

· Support the position with credible source, attributing credit for both direct and indirect citations, using MLA format.

· Conclude with minimal summary and an appeal to the audience for belief in your claim and/or action.

· Create a Work Cited page using MLA format.

· The writing process will include: prewriting, rough draft, revised draft, and final copy.

In-class Timed Writings: Students will write an impromptu AP-style essay every two weeks.

Discussion

Note taking