AP Language and Composition Syllabus
Perry High School
Massillon, Ohio
Submitted by Debra Warstler
This AP Audit begins with an overview of course elements and specific discussion of the connections to College Board standards for AP Language and Composition, and then moves to the detailed syllabus that I distributed to students. The syllabus contains course objectives, all reading selections, writing assignments, projects, in-class activities, exam requirements, and assessment details.
Overview:
This course is designed to teach students the skills needed to rhetorically analyze a variety of prose texts and to compose solid written analyses and arguments. The reading material is almost solely non-fiction: essays, books, speeches, commentaries, editorials, images, and full-length books. The Honor’s level courses at grades 9 and 10 in our district are primarily fiction based; therefore, students entering junior year have had minimal exposure to non-fiction literature. While I use one memoir and one full-length novel during the year, the rest of the material I use reflects the types of prose typically found on the AP Language and Composition exam.
Students read and annotate two books during the summer identifying how the authors use rhetorical devices in their writing. Students also study a list of rhetorical devices during their summer work—both the definitions and effects on composition. During the first two weeks of school, I teach them to recognize basic rhetorical appeals (Ethos, Pathos, Logos) and text analysis strategies. Students learn to apply the SOAPSTone strategy (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, Tone) when analyzing text selections, and the OPTIC strategy (Overview, Parts, Title, Interrelationships, Conclusion) for visual images.
The course syllabus is designed to maximize class time and provide learning opportunities for every necessary skill outlined by the College Board. Students bring annotated reading assignments to class discussion, and following discussion, students write essays that move through a lengthy writing process. Students take practice Multiple Choice reading tests, and we work as a group to analyze areas of confusion. I am then able to provide direct instruction for skills in vocabulary, grammar, denotation/connotation, and rhetorical elements that are still not clear. Students regularly complete Free Response Questions from previous AP exams and then work together to determine strengths and weaknesses. This process helps me assess areas for additional writing instruction. Additional formal and informal writing assignments (detailed below) give students further opportunities to develop necessary skills.
I handle assessment differently in this class compared to a typical college prep class; very few points are recorded until the end of each grading period. Half of the grade is based on writing, and I have found that waiting to assign grades pushes students to work diligently on every assignment.
*50% of the student grade is based on writing. Rather than assigning a grade to each essay, I assign a holistic score on a portfolio of all work written during each grading period. The portfolio includes all writing: Out of class essays, In-class essays, rhetorical précis, written responses to reading, and a final reflective letter from the student analyzing and defending his/her writing performance. This grade is based on both process and product. I look for solid growth.
*40% of the student grade is based on objective evaluations: quizzes over reading material, vocabulary quizzes, grammar tests, homework, and presentations.
*10% of the student grade is based on class participation: peer response, discussion, conference readiness, and workshop activities.
Course Alignment to The AP College Board:
Curricular Requirement 1: The course teaches and requires students to write in several forms (e.g., narrative, expository, analytical, and argumentative essays) about a variety of subjects.
During the first semester, students write three multi-draft essays (Outside of Class/OCE): a narrative essay, in which they analyze a time in their lives when they came to know something about themselves, the world, or the people in it; a process essay in which they describe/analyze a process; and a comparison/contrast essay in which they analyze the effectiveness of rhetorical devices used in two political cartoons dealing with the same issue, two print advertisements for similar products, or two commercials for similar products. Each essay follows the annotated reading and discussion of essays representing the genre.
In addition to the Out-of-Class essays, students write 20 timed In-Class Essays (ICE) throughout the year as preparation for the AP test. I pull sample questions from previous AP tests, and I also compose my own topics based on reading selections discussed during class. I begin the year focusing on analysis questions, then move to argument and synthesis. By the end of January, I move back and forth between argument/synthesis and analysis.
Throughout the entire year, students write rhetorical précis (CEP) over current event opinion essays/commentaries (4 times each quarter). Students have the option of selecting a single commentator for a quarter or a specific topic in the news. Each quarter they select a new focus.
During the second semester, students write two multi-draft essays. The first is a research paper in which the students develop an argument dealing with an aspect of education. This paper stems from the reading, annotation, and discussion of three previously published articles/essays focused on issues in education today. The second is an argumentative essay in response to one of the articles they previously read and analyzed for the Current Event Précis (CEP) assignments.
The semester exam is an analytical essay over the non-fiction book they selected to read with a partner outside of school and then discussed with others that read the same book for the project. The final exam is an analytical essay over a novel that has been recognized for its literary merit. These two essays are not multi-draft. Students write them before the exam dates so that they have time to carefully edit and proofread their work.
Curricular Requirement 2: The course requires students to write essays that proceed through several drafts, with revision aided by teacher and peers.
Five times throughout the course (3 first semester; 2 second semester), students will revise essays (OCE). When the essays are submitted, I first select one essay, make copies of it for the class, and I lead them through a class revision; students then (working in groups of 4) read two separate essays and respond in writing to a feedback prompt I have prepared. After students review peer feedback, they then have one week to revise before submitting a second draft. At that time, I give written feedback and meet with them in individual conferences to discuss further revision. Students submit final drafts along with final drafts one week later.
Students also revise 1 or 2 Current Event Précis each semester, selecting one that I have previously assessed; they work with peers to improve wording, sentence structure, and overall rhetorical analysis.
Curricular Requirement 3: The course requires students to write in informal contexts designed to help them become increasingly aware of themselves as writers and of the techniques employed by the writers they read.
Students begin annotating work with the books they read for summer (On Writing by King; The Glass Castle by Walls) and continue the annotation process for everything they read throughout the year. As students read during the summer months, they discuss the material in an online blog site that I established for this class. At the beginning of the year, students use journals to dialogue with partners about Walls’ work—exploring her craft; this replaces a formal assessment over the memoir. I frequently have students use journal response to think through an essay or article that we read in class before starting class discussion.
Curricular Requirement 4: The course requires expository, analytical, and argumentative writing assignments that are based on readings representing a wide variety of prose styles and genres.
After students read, annotate and discuss The Glass Castle (Walls), “Salvation” (Hughes), “Superman and Me” (Alexie), and “The Serpents of Paradise” (Abbey), they write a narrative essay in which they allow the narrative itself to reveal how they came to understand something about themselves, other people, or the world around them.
After students read, annotate, and discuss “Dumpster Diving” (Einger), “Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain” (Mitford), and “Homer’s Odyssey” (Scott), they write an expository essay in which they explain a process.
After students read, annotate and discuss “Fremont High School” (Kozol), “Of Youth and Age” (Bacon), and “Rapport Talk and Report Talk” (Tannen), they write an analytical essay comparing/contrasting the rhetorical strategies in two print advertisements, two commercial messages, or two political cartoons.
After students read, annotate, and discuss a non-fiction book (see below), they write an essay in which they analyze the author’s rhetorical strategies. (Semester exam assignment)
After students read, annotate, and discuss “Best In Class” (Talbot), “From Degrading to De-Grading” (Kohn), and “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read” (Prose), they select a research paper topic within the area of education. This is an argument essay that includes 5-6 sources as support.
After students read, annotate, and discuss a novel in a Literature Circle setting, they will write an essay in which they analyze the author’s rhetorical strategies to convey theme. (Final exam assignment)
Curricular Requirement 5: The course requires nonfiction readings that are selected to give students opportunities to identify and explain an author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques.
Essays:
"Salvation" Langston Hughes
"Superman and Me" Sherman Alexie
"The Serpents of Paradise" Edward Abbey
"Dumpster Diving" Lars Einger
"Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain" Jessica Mitford
"Homer's Odyssey" Tom Scott
"Fremont High School" Jonathan Kozol
"Of Youth and Age" Francis Bacon
"Rapport Talk and Report Talk" Deborah Tannen
"Get a Knife, Get a Dog, but Get Rid of Guns" Molly Ivins
"In Defense of Prejudice" Jonathan Rauch
"Kid's Stuff" Michael Chabon
"America's Real Dream Team" Thomas Friedman
"From Degrading to De-Grading" Alfe Kohn
"Best In Class" Margaret Talbot
"I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read" Francine Prose
Various short essays used for Multiple Choice practice and rhetorical analysis exercises.
Books:
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft Stephen King
The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth Alexandra Robbins
Non-fiction selections for the semester exam:
Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America Jill Leovy
No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, The NSA, Glenn Greenwald
and the US Surveillance System
Fast Food Nation Eric Schlosser
God Is Not Great Christopher Hitchens
Outliers: The Story of Success Malcolm Gladwell
Things That Matter Charles Krauthammer
I Am Mali: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Malala Yousafzai and
Was Shot by the Taliban Christina Lamb
Novel selection for final exam (Literature Circle unit)
Speeches:
"I Have a Dream Martin Luther King, Jr.
"9/11 Speech" George W. Bush
“Tribute to the Dog” George Graham Vest
Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation
Curricular Requirement 6: The course teaches students to analyze how graphics and visual images both relate to written texts and serve as alternative forms of text themselves.
Several times throughout the year, students analyze visual images either as the focus of a writing assignment or in conjunction with essays of the same topic area. In the early weeks of instruction of rhetorical analysis, I use these images for group discussion and practice:
The Heroes of 2001 Stamp
Girl Scout Ad 2011
Working in groups, students select 2-3 examples of Holiday Advertising and analyze their rhetorical effectiveness, stressing which is the more effective
During the week before Thanksgiving and following the group visual analysis presentations of Holiday Advertising, students do a timed analysis writing comparing these two visual images:
“Freedom from Want” Norman Rockwell
“The Last Thanksgiving” Roz Chast
In conjunction with the three essays that students analyze before the research paper unit, they also examine the rhetorical techniques of the following images:
“The Spirit of Education” Norman Rockwell
“What I learned: A Education Sentimental From Nursery School Through Twelfth Grade”
Students create their own Multi-modal presentations following a group analysis of these visual arguments. These selections provide a variety of possible modes that can effectively help them develop rhetorically effective arguments.
“Death to Pennies”
“God Made a Farmer”
“Yes, We Can Save the Planet”
When students practice timed writing (ICE) focused on synthesis, I provide visual images as possible source material.
Curricular Requirement 7: The course teaches research skills, and in particular, the ability to evaluate, use, and cite primary and secondary sources. The course assigns projects such as the researched argument paper, which goes beyond the parameters of a traditional research paper by asking students to present an argument of their own that includes the analysis and synthesis of ideas from an array of sources.
The researched argument paper is taught in January/February. Following the reading of essays and analysis of images dealing with issues in education today, students develop an argument focused on a single question in modern-day education. In addition to printed materials, students must include a variety of sources in their analysis, including visual images, interviews, and charts or graphs. During the research paper project, students complete two 1-2 page typed responses—each evaluating a single article as to how it supports the argument being constructed.
Curricular Requirement 8: The course teaches students how to cite sources using a recognized editorial style.
Throughout the year, students learn necessary guidelines for MLA documentation and formatting. In addition to the in-class handbook (The Writer’s FAQs), I introduce them to two sites that are easy to maneuver when working on a paper: www.owl.englsih.purdue.edu and www.guides.boisestate.edu.
Curricular Requirement 9: The AP teacher provides instruction and feedback on students’ writing assignments, both before and after the students revise their work, that the students develop these skills: a wide-ranging vocabulary, a variety of sentence structures, logical organization, a balance of general/specific detail, and an effective use of rhetoric.
For each of the multi-draft essays, I confer with students throughout the writing process, examining purpose, tone, diction, development of ideas, organization, etc. When they submit their second drafts (following the peer responses to first drafts), I then provide written feedback. I provide further written feedback on the final drafts, but I do not grade them until students submit their portfolio reflections at the end of each quarter. Following each multi-draft unit, I design instruction to directly address common weaknesses that emerged during the process.